Quila Says "Purrlease Have Some Lovely Soy Hot Chocolate"
My home is in West Central Illinois...in America's Heartland. Surrounding our town are many farms...some with swine, some with cattle, some with fields of corn, some with fields of wheat, but more than anything, there are fields of soybeans. Mew might think that soybeans are boring or that they don't really have anything to do with our daily lives, but that is not true. They are the source of many products...livestock feed, human food, vehicle fuel and scented candles to name a few. They are part of the product that drives our local economy as well as our national economy. If mew travel an hour from our place, mew will find one of the major players in soybean research and products, ADM. There is ongoing research at many of our universities, including, of course, the University Of Illinois. Mew can find a soycandle maker in a small village not far from here too. From a farm house kitchen to gigantic corporations, mew will find people working with these little beans to make wonderful new products.
When they start out, they look like this
The field soon looks like this
After soaking up the summer sun, the field looks like this
Along comes a combine
And this is what mew get
After being processed, soybeans sometimes look like this
Or like this
Or like this
Or even like this
Please visit these sites to learn more
College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Background photo courtesy of Gearlesr