out in nature
Milkweed Makes a Comeback with a Little Help from its Friends
Story and Photography By JAson donahue
Spending most of my childhood on the family farm , I conducted a variety of chores in my early years . There was perhaps no job more monotonous and sweatier than the task of “ walking beans .” Hoe in hand , my siblings , cousins and I would walk up and down seemingly endless rows of soybeans as the Midwest July heat radiated off the soil providing a hazy road map ahead . You know that view when you are sitting at a stoplight in Loudoun during the summer staring straight ahead and can ’ t help but notice how blurry the view above the asphalt is ? Yes , that ’ s the heat I ’ m talking about .
The concept of walking beans was very straight forward — and one always conveyed to us by my grandfather before we took to the field . Use the hoe to dig up any plant in the field that was not a soybean . Although there were numerous types of “ weeds ” the one we most often encountered around the outskirts of the field
Pollinators love butterfly weed , a vibrant variety of milkweed found in Loudoun County .
12 wander I fall • winter 2020