Acres and acres of flowery thanks to BATW Ambassador Bob Goodrich for taking the beans to the poppy fields!

Greetings, poppy seed lovers and those with a high-dosage prescription for Allegra, and welcome to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve! Today the beans have come to stop and smell the roses...oops, I mean poppies. Yes, it's here in these amazingly pretty fields that you'll find lots and lots of Escholtzia californiacas, AKA the California Poppy. The beans were really interested in seeing all those flowers, especially since they can't have a flower garden of their own inside their can. (There's not enough light in there - sorry.) But while it's too bad that poppies won't grow inside a sealed bean can, the frijoles are glad to tell you that the Chia Pet they got for Christmas is doing just gangbusters.

So here they are - vegetable meets flora. Kinda cool, dontcha think? Located in the Antelope Buttes about 15 miles west of Lancaster, CA, the Poppy Reserve is 1,745 acres of wildflowers, including owl's clover, lupine, goldfield, cream cups, coreopsis, and of course these happy little orange/yellow guys. There are 7 miles of trails in case you want to go tiptoe through the poppies (sorry - no picking allowed!), and you're welcome to bring a picnic lunch with you, in case dining al fresco con poppies is your sort of thing. The beans did enjoy a lovely picnic out here in the fields. While most people wouldn't consider chateaubriand and foie gras to be your typical "picnic fare", it seemed to work for our gourmet-palletted frijoles, and there was plenty leftover to share with the wildlife. I know it may seem strange to you, but let me tell you - those ants ate well that afternoon!

Do you remember the field of poppies in the Wizard of Oz? You know, the one that somehow slipped Dorothy and friends a handful of Tylenol P.M.? Makes the beans sleepy just thinking about it... Well, anyway, the beans are glad to tell you that didn't stumble across any Kansas girls, lions, or tin woodsmen snoozing out here, but there was a cranky scarecrow that looked like he was desperate for a nap...

So there you have it - a beautiful morning, a beautiful field, and a mighty handsome can of beans, if I do say so myself. The beans had a great time in the poppy fields, and thank everyone at the reserve for doing their part to keep these fields alive and blooming for everyone to see. The beans are hoping that someone makes a reserve dedicated to them, too, but alas - there wouldn't be room for a vast field and the hotel/casino/gift shop they'd like to have, too - so something will have to give. Oh, well - maybe we can put a potted plant of beans next to the roulette wheel. How's that sound?