Winter Wheat Update

     Since I talked all about the Spring Wheat yesterday, I figured that an update on the Winter Wheat couldn't hurt. Nothing smells more pure and clean than a young, healthy, growing plant. In my opinion, wheat smells best.

     As you can see, it's doing well. In this field the wheat has grown to between 5 and 8 inches tall. These little grass plants are industrious little factories. In the leaves is where photosynthesis happens. Photosynthesis is a process where the plant makes the sugars it lives off of. Leaves are wide and flat to maximize exposure to the sun, which is what powers the photosynthesis. The sugars are carried in the sap through the veins. The lines you see in the leaf below are the veins of the wheat plant's leaf. In this leaf, as with all grasses, the veins are parallel.

     For those of you who are interested (and even if you're not) there are two kinds of vein in a plant. Xylem bring water and minerals up from the roots. Phloem move the sap and the sugar it carries.
     The leaves are also where the plant "breathes." They don't breathe quite like we do, but what you need to know is that the plant will take in some of what it needs from the air. In the process it takes in carbon dioxide and releases oxygen.
     While the leaves do their work up top the roots are working just as hard absorbing water and minerals from the soil. As there are plenty of water and minerals, it's a race to see which plant can grow the fastest.

     In short, the Winter Wheat is doing what it does best: Growing. The entire purpose of explaining it all is to hopefully illustrate the magnitude of what is happening. These plants which you may not have seen as being any different from your yard are actually taking elements that we cannot directly use (sunlight, carbon dioxide, etc.) and turning them into a usable (vital, in fact) energy source. I hope that every once and a while  when you're eating you think of the amazing plants (and people) that make it all possible.