Geometry I already mentioned in the hopyard

A good view of how the angled poles with their guy wires hold up the hopyard.

I already told the story of my friend who nipped the corner wire with the tractor and the whole yard fell.

The same principle applies to the end posts of a row in the vineyard. That triangle of post, wire, and ground on each end of a row keeps the support wire tight and the posts in between vertical and stable. The row can be incredibly long--quarter mile? half mile? and as long as those end posts are secure in the triangle, the row is stable.

Did you realize there was that much geometry in agriculture?

Maintaining the Geometry. It's Geometry Monday!

The geometry is important in the hopyard. Lines lines and more lines. The parallel lines of the poles, the parallel and perpedicular lines of the trellis. The block of forty rows of forty poles. And in an area where hops are a major crop, another block of forty forty next to it and then another. Then there are the angles and triangles at the edges and corners formed by the poles and the support wires.

All they were doing at those corners the other day when I shot this was posting up labels for the sections for the coming season, but a lot of work in the hops takes place with these tractors with the elevated platform. They are designed to fit beneath the trellis wires, and the poles and wires are placed so that they will fit.

I learned about the dimensions of the hopyard from my friend who grew up on a hop ranch not far from us. Each section is forty by forty. 

She told me a story that emphasizes the importance of the geometry, too. She had been playing on the tractor as a kid and accidentally nipped the corner support wire of a 40 by 40 section. The whole yard fell down. Oops!

It was a long time before she got to drive the tractor again.

Triangles! Can't live without them!

Today my world is hard to see.

On a clear day outside the season of growing hops, you can see through the hop trellis to the next road. It is a mile.

Yesterday dawned bright. Through my window blinds I could glimpse  bright sunshine peeking through. Someone on Facebook had mentioned sunshine in another part of the state. Wow! What a January day, I thought.

On that clear day shot I could count forty poles per row before they blend together. I know yesterday's picture is not shot with the same depth of field, but would depth of field show more than six poles?

Can we go for a drive? Can't much see where you are going. Good thing we know where to watch for stoplights. I remember driving to work in a fog like this and suddenly realizing I had no idea how far I had gotten because I could see no landmarks along the way.

I may go looking for some more eerie shots today. A walk in the park maybe.

What's the world like today in other parts?

Have a look here to see what others are seeing.