The earth shakes...

  It was another clear, warm and sunny afternoon in Iowa. Our life was as peaceful as could be. We had overcome the odds of nature, whatever form of surprise lay in store for us, we overcame it. As one. We knew of nothing to fear, for as we loomed 6-8 feet above the ground, I felt at ease looking at the beauty of the greens, yellows and the clear cloudless blue sky. And suddenly, I heard the deep, chugging, rumbling, roaring sound of a beast. It emerged at a speed from a red and white barn not far from us. This beast which snorted thick black smoke, was to be our doom.

  We bagan to panic! Desperately trying to devise a plan to stand strong against this beast, known as the "Combine Harvester". Our only hope was to remain as a unit, it couldn't possibly eat all 300 acres of us. "We will survive! Be STRONG!" I shouted to my brothers and sisters. But I have never been so wrong.

  Like a tidal wave it swept over one line of corn, then another then another. Quickly the beast had devoured 5 lines of us. Each line stretched 50 acres in length, this beast was to be our doom. And soon it was upon us, it's gnashing, bladed teeth shredded us from our stalks. Crushed us, sliced us and spat us out into a trailer to it's side. As we caught a glimpse of the destruction this beast had done to our homeland above the high walls of our new metal compound known as a trailer, we were flooded with emotion. We were lost, uncertain of our future ...and scared.

  We then were loaded into bags, and watched in terror as to the cruelty of the farmer. Discarding "poor kurnles" because they were inadequate. It was survival of the fittest at this point. We were then loaded up into bags, thrown into crates and then hauled into lorries to be carried off to the Kellogs factory. Battle Creek, Michigan. 582 miles away..