Behind the Headlines

Remember that old saying about corn plants - knee high by the Fourth of July?

Driving my usual routes through the county, I’ve noticed that unless knees have suddenly gotten a lot further from the ground, the corn stalks are enormous for this early in the season.

Of course, this is all from an non-farmer eye. So I ask coworker/Ag reporter Dean C. what his take is. He said the knee high thing is not really a good measure anymore, but that some of the corn was looking a little tall. The other night while driving through the county, he said he and his family were trying to spot the fireworks off in the distance. When they drove by the tall corn, the view was blocked.

Of course, he said, this was likely the early corn, it didn’t appear to be pollinated yet and in outlying areas of the county such as Ida and the like, it was closer to knee high than towering.

What’s the deal? Does it seem like a banner year for tall corn to you or what? Will Monroe County suddenly become the setting for a sci-fi worthy experience where the corn grows into menacing stalks that come alive and enslave us?

Really, it’s what they do.

I was too wimpy to let one latch onto my palm, but I did stick one of my fingers into the lamprey’s sucker hole to see what the little ridges were like.

I just returned Saturday night from the Great Lakes Environmental Journalism Training Institute, run through the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism. We went up to the University of Michigan Biological Station on the outskirts of Pellston in the north of the Lower Peninsula.

It was pretty informational and fantastic.

Aside from the lampreys, we learned about diatoms, biofuels, wind power, farming operations throughout the state, how the forest breathes, shore birds and global warming issues.

I’m sure as stories come up I’ll be sharing anecdotes or things I learned along the way. In the meantime, if anyone has questions about the environment and the Great Lakes, I can try to answer them or at least knowledgably point you to someone who can.