Checking out the field across our road

We've been curious about the blue and purple flowers in the hayfield across the road from our house.  

I've been seeing distinctly purple-tinged fields lately in our nearby field, a contrast to the hues of tan and golden that mark the ripening grain fields.  They're all beautiful now.

 Joe-Pye weed and vetch, I recognize, but at a distance, the identity of this plant wasn't clear.  Canada thistle is about the same color, but it didn't look like a thistle.  A compact vetch, we mused?

Late this afternoon, I decided to forge the ditch and check it out.  It's alfalfa, Medicago sativa, more familiar to me as a forage plant before flowering.  I don't think I'd seen it in flower before, although I undoubtedly have.

Tim took a photo of my return, thinking that I looked like I fit in nice in a wave of blue and purple.