On the 9th of November I had to stop over at the shop by the processing tower where I work. This is a tall building full of equipment to separate soybean seeds from plant debris, insect parts, and other non-seed items. Pretty industrial. Concrete and steal all around. Not the sort of environment one imagines as home to a little plant.
There it stood, anchored in a small crack in the concrete, facing the morning sun. Tough as nails – or perhaps – tougher than a nail. This little dude is probably three weeks old in the photo. A seed from the crop of 2020 which escaped its peers and rolled off in search of a new life. Tough timing though. Real tough.
We’ve had some freezing temps, and just today received a couple inches of snow. The poor dear made a valiant effort, but its time has passed. We might credit it with fixing some carbon dioxide for us. Heaven knows we can use all the help on that front we can get.
Life is a fascinating thing. Given a chance it will flourish in the darndest places. No one told this little dude about the virus. Wouldn’t have made any difference – the virus wrecking our season wouldn’t phase it anyway. Soybeans do have their own viruses to deal with. And in the field we hardly leave them any social distance. No masks either. They’re tough, or they die.
Gulliver's Pulse 
Ah, Clem, your tenderness for this young legume is heartwarming. Perhaps there is an animist to be found in some of your better scientists.
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Thanks Michelle.
I walked over to the shop this morning to see whether a carcass might be found. None. So the photograph is all we have to remember this little guy. But Life will toss us other magnificent little wonders to appreciate. Animist or not, if we fail to notice – it is our own fault.
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