Part 1 - 2009 Canadian Crop Formations:
Wheat Circles in Stettler, Alberta, Canada

© 2009 by Linda Moulton Howe

“The first thing we did was to see if any tracks went in and out,
and I couldn’t see anything from atop the sprayer 16 feet off the ground.” 
 - Colby Squires, Stettler Crop Sprayer  

Stettler, Alberta, Canada, is 62 miles east of Red Deer, location of a huge
wheat hexagram formation discovered eight years ago on September 16, 2001.

Eight years ago on September 16, 2001, farmer Ken Bickford
discovered a 422-foot-diameter hexagram in his Red Deer, Alberta, wheat field.
The swath on the left was his first drive through on his combine. After that,
Mr. Bickford drove around the formation to preserve it. A pilot said he flew over
the wheat hexagram on September 2, 2001, but did not report it. Aerial
photograph © 2001 by Lyle Ford, CCCRN.
Also see:  092201 Earthfiles.

Discovered on August 25, 2009, at 7 PM MTN by Colby Squires
while spraying a wheat field to dry it out before combining in Stettler, Alberta,
Canada. The field is farmed by Gordon Smith, who decided to harvest around
the wheat formation. September 9 aerial image © 2009 by Mustafa Eric, Stettler Independent.

Green, shallow, slough behind wheat formation. Aerial image © 2009 by Rob McNeill.


Diagram © 2009 by Paul Anderson, CCCRN.

September 26, 2009  Stettler, Alberta, Canada -  A month ago on August 25, 2009, at 7 PM MTN, Colby Squires was running his 100-foot-wide sprayer through the wheat field that Gordon Smith farms in Stettler, Alberta, Canada. Stettler is a small community of about 5,500 people who work on farms or in surveying and laying pipes for the oil and gas industry.

That early evening, Colby was spraying Roundup herbicide (a glyphosate product by Monsanto) to “desiccate” the wheat, to dry up greener plants to make the field uniformly dry for combine harvesting. Colby is 35-years-old, born and raised in Stettler and for the past several years has been a crop sprayer. Colby recently explained to me the desiccation process and how he found the wheat circles.

Interview:

Colby Squires, Professional Crop Sprayer, Stettler, Alberta, Canada:  “Desiccation is a practice of going into a wheat crop when it's still green and to ripen it up. We spray the crop with Roundup to even out the dryness. Basically, you’re killing the crop, is what we’re up to. Then a farmer can go in there and straight-cut the wheat. There are different stages, depending on how risky you want to be. You can spray wheat fairly green without hurting the seed. Lots of desiccation goes on in the fall here because we’re so far north and the growing season is so short. It’s a way to gain at least ten days – you can speed harvest up by about ten days if you desiccate.

It became apparent to me at least 100 yards away from the formation that something was not quite right. I mean, I saw the wheat was down. As I got closer to it, I could see from the sprayer - you sit quite high, at least 16 feet above ground - so I was able to see down on the formation very clearly. When you’re spraying, you’re spraying at a fairly high rate of speed. So, it took me a couple of seconds to shut things down and I ended up spraying right into the circles.

DOES YOUR MACHINE DAMAGE WHEAT PLANTS?

No, I have what are called crop dividers on the front of the sprayer, one in front of each tire. What they do is divide the crop ahead of the tires, so you don’t really drive on much crop beyond where the sprayer lines go through 100 feet apart.

DID YOU SHUT THE MOTOR OFF, GET OUT AND TAKE A LOOK?

Yes, I shut things down, but I didn’t get out of the sprayer. I crawled on top and stood on the roof. Then I phoned my wife, Toni, and told her to meet me and to bring her camera for photographs. It was pretty interesting and she got some good photographs.

FROM 16 FEET UP, YOU COULD HAVE SEEN ANY SMALL TRAILS IN THE WHEAT AROUND THE FORMATION?

Oh, absolutely. The first thing we did was to see if any tracks went in and out and I couldn’t see anything from atop the sprayer 16 feet off the ground.

7 PM MTN, August 25, 2009
First Wheat Formation Images © 2009 by Toni Squires
Standing 16 Feet Up on Top of Spraying Machine
Stettler, Alberta, Canada

Central ring measured 38 feet in diameter by Don Tash, retired Stettler high school
science teacher. Half of the central ring was widened by another layer of wheat flattened
in the opposite direction of the wheat in the main ring. Diagram by Don Tash to follow.

But we didn't get off the sprayer because I was in a hurry and kept on spraying. My sprayer tracks basically went right through the center of it and I carried right on to the highway. So the next day, my wife and some friends were able to walk in my sprayer tracks when they went back to look at it closer without damaging any of the crop.

It’s very strange because the formation is in a field right beside a busy highway day and night in our area. But nobody has seen a thing. And I was the last guy in that field probably six weeks before around July 10th doing an herbicide spray. I didn’t see any disruption of the crop then.

COLBY, IS THERE ENOUGH AIRPLANE TRAFFIC OVER STETTLER THAT A PILOT WOULD HAVE SEEN IT BEFORE AUGUST 25TH?

That’s a good question. I think so, but we’re a pretty small town center, so I don’t know for sure. But you’d certainly think that someone would have said something if they had seen it before August 25th.

CAN YOU SEE THE FORMATION FROM THE BUSY ROAD?

No, you can’t. The highway is several feet higher than the wheat field, but the formation is out there 500 to 600 yards away from the highway.

EVEN THOUGH THE ROAD IS HIGHER, YOU STILL CAN’T SEE ANY OF THE FORMATION?

Yeah, because the wheat is pretty tall. The wheat is probably 3.5 to 4 feet all, so it hides a lot. And there was no signs of entry into that field. There was nothing like a path there that even suggested there was anything to look at. It’s just a real nice, even-looking wheat field. No tracks into it at all.

IN YOUR 20 YEARS OF WHEAT FARMING IN STETTLER, HAVE YOU HEARD OF SUCH A FORMATION BEFORE?

No. This is a first for everyone around here. There are guys here who have been farming a lot longer than I have and nobody has seen anything like that in Stettler before.”

Afternoon of September 14, 2009
(20 Days After Discovery)
Images © 2009 by Ian Lamie, Red Deer, Alberta, Resident

Twenty-year-old Ian Lamie traveled with his family to the wheat formation after learning about it from a TV news program the second week of September 2009, after the pattern was first reported by local media. Ian told me by phone that he was on his hands and knees following several wheat stems in the flattened circles and rings into the ground. “I could not find any creases, wrinkles or breaks where the stems went flat to the ground. It was like the stem was kind of molded to the ground.” Unfortunately, he did not take any close-up images of that phenomenon.

Crop specialist, Neil Whatley, of Stettler, also visited the formation early on and told me he was amazed to see wheat stems neatly curved over 8-inch high old canola stubble without any creases, cracks or breaks. He did not photograph that anomaly either.

Continued in Part 2

More Information:

For further information about worldwide crop formations, please see Earthfiles Archive  for reports (a few listed below) and my book Mysterious Lights & Crop Circles in the Earthfiles Shop.

• 08/18/2009 — Part 3: Silbury Hill “Quetzlcoatl Headdress” First Filmed At Dawn
• 08/17/2009 — Part 2: Windmill Hill and West Overton After Rains
• 08/12/2009 — Part 1: Windmill Hill Pattern Near Ancient Avebury Came in Rain
• 08/05/2009 — Extraordinary Details in New Silbury Hill Formation Destroyed by Farmer
• 08/03/2009 — "Settlement" Wheat Formation Inside Ancient Celtic Settlement
• 07/31/2009 — Silver Disc Videotaped Near Barbury Castle
• 07/31/2009 — Infrared Video of Light Flashes, Moving Darknesses - and Entity?
• 07/30/2009 — Inside the 12-Armed Ogbourne St. George Wheat Formation
• 07/16/2009 — Part 2: Silbury Hill “Quetzlcoatl Headdress” and Mysterious Tall Blonds
• 07/15/2009 — Part 1: Silbury Hill “Quetzlcoatl Headdress” and Mysterious Tall Blonds
• 07/14/2009 — 2-Stage Cannings Cross Wheat Formation Scene of Farm Arrest
• 07/12/2009 — Mysterious Aerial Lights Mimicking Stars in Texas and Oregon
• 07/11/2009 — Update Podcast: Is Sudden Solar Intensity of July 5 - 7 What U.K. Spring Crop Formations Forecast for Oddly Quiet Sun?
• 07/06/2009 — UK “Quetzalcoatl Headdress” and “Sixth Sun Tzolkin”?
• 07/03/2009 — UK “Nazca Hummingbird” - Astronomical and Mayan Counting
• 07/03/2009 — Part 3: “Alien Symbols” in Milk Hill and South Field
• 07/02/2009 — Part 1: “Alien Symbols” in Milk Hill and South Field
• 07/02/2009 — Part 2: “Alien Symbols” in Milk Hill and South Field
• 06/09/2009 — Update Podcast: Aerial Lights That Mimic Stars, Helicopters and Airplanes
• 05/12/2009 — Part 3: Astronomical Information in U.K. 2009 Crop Formations?
• 05/10/2009 — Part 2: 800-Foot-Long Pattern in U. K. Oilseed Rape - A Sigil Someone Wanted Destroyed?
• 05/09/2009 — Part 1: 800-Foot-Long Pattern in U. K. Oilseed Rape - A Sigil Someone Wanted Destroyed?
• 10/01/2008 — Cross and “Bar Code” At Avebury Down Near Avebury, Wiltshire.
• 07/16/2008 — Astronomical Data in July 2008 U. K. Crop Formations?
• 07/12/2008 — Updated - Part 2: Roswell Rock Matches August 2, 1996, U. K. Crop Pattern
• 07/11/2008 — Updated - Part 1: Roswell Rock Matches August 2, 1996, U. K. Crop Pattern
• 06/27/2008 — More Military Sightings of UFOs in U. K.
• 06/12/2008 — Barbury Castle Pi Formation: “Perfectly Clean” in Muddy, Rain-Soaked Field
• 06/08/2008 — 2008 Barbury Castle Pattern is Pi to 3.14159265358
• 11/02/2007 — Mysterious Orbs - Emanations from A Divine Field?
• 10/21/2007 — Viewer Comments About Big Triangles and Lights - In Conflict?
• 10/19/2007 — Updated: Huge, Silent, Black Triangle Craft Over Youngstown, Florida
• 10/04/2007 — 070707 East Field Wheat Formation: Lab Analysis
• 08/25/2007 — Woodborough Hill Wheat Pattern Made for Rock Band Video
• 08/21/2007 — More News About August 2007 Woodborough Hill Formation
• 08/17/2007 — Latest 6-Fold Wheat Geometry in Wiltshire, England
• 08/13/2007 — Another U. K. Wheat Formation in August 18th Countdown
• 08/06/2007 — Crop Circle Research and Photography by U. K.'s Lucy Pringle
• 07/27/2007 — Updated: Part 1: 1,033-Foot-Long East Field Wheat Formation "Happened Within 90 Minutes."

Websites:

Canadian Crop Circles, CCCRN:  http://www.cccrn.ca/

English Crop Circles, Current and Archived:  http://www.cropcircleconnector.com

Silent Circle Information Center, Calne, U.K.:  http://www.silentcircle.co.uk/Avebury.23.04.09.html

Lucy Pringle:  http://www.lucypringle.co.uk/

Andreas Mueller Crop Circle Science:  http://www.kornkreise-forschung.de/

Frank Laumen:  http://www.VisibleSigns.de/

American Crop Circles, ICCRA:  http://www.cropcirclenews.com/

Dutch Crop Circles, DCCA: http://www.dcca.nl

“Isaac” and CARET Document:  http://isaaccaret.fortunecity.com/