Signs of life

Today has been the most wintry of this year so far. Dark, wet and blowing a gale. Roll on this afternoon when I go to a lecture on Russian Arts in Context.

Not very inspiring but here is today's blip found in the yard this morning. They are field beans escaped from the harvest heaps in the late summer. Earlier when the plants are flowering in the field the local beeman brings his hives onto the farm so that the bees can help with the fertilisation. The crop is not harvested until the pods turn black and the beans are brown and hard. Another advantage of growing field beans is that the root nodules leave nitrogen deposits in the earth which is beneficial for future crops.