Today we went to meet dh’s parents in a town about a two hour drive from where we live. They had some things we needed to pick up, so we arranged a time and met them for lunch. It was a lovely drive, one that we have made a few times since we got back for various reasons. The first time we drove the route, we had just had some rain and the farmers were sowing their crops. That was about three months ago. This time, we could see what they sowed!

At first all we saw was green fields and then this bright yellow in the distance, almost like an artist took his brush and just swept across the background with yellow paint….

Up a bit closer we could see that the yellow was really millions of flowers:

It is canola, which is grown for its seeds to make oil and margarine. Now I understood why it is described as “golden”. During our two hour drive we passed field after field, full of these yellow flowers. Here is the canola plant up even closer:

And I just love this photo. It looks like the sheep are on an island surrounded by a sea of yellow!

I wished I could pick some to put in the kids’ nature journals, but I didn’t think it was the right thing to do. After taking all the photos on the way home, I saw some yellow flowers on the side of the road and said to my dh, “Is that canola too?!” We stopped and sure enough, it was. The seeds must have blown across the fence and onto the roadside. I was so pleased. I felt like I could pick these without touching the farmer’s crop. As I pulled the stems of the flowers, the whole plant came out because they were in such shallow ground. I put them in a bag and took them home.

Tomorrow the children and I will plant some of them in pots and see what they do. We’ll also press some flowers and leaves to put in their nature journals. I’ll also get the kids to sketch them and write a bit about canola.

I am just amazed at God’s creation. He is the Artist that painted the pictures above.