The farmers in the area have started harvesting. The fields surrounding this place were picked clean yesterday. I took some pictures with my good camera, now I just need to develop the film. I hope they came out, my 200mm lens seems to have sustained some damage and wasn't focusing quite right (I had to hold the focus at less than infinity even for distant objects).

I was rather surprised at just how fast they can scoop up a field. They were clearing away about an acre every minute or so.

When I arrived here, this house was surrounded by vast expanses of green soybeans, corn and alfalfa. Now it looks like an atomic bomb went off. There's nothing but devastation as far as the eye can see. The farmers vacuumed up every trace of plantlife in the field, so it looks like a desert. Doesn't help any that the trees are losing their leaves as well. Of course, in a few months, they'll replant the fields, and a few months after that everything will be lush and green again.