Yesterday was another chill spring day of damp and moving air.
Terry continued planting the corn, then worked on the pinto bean fields. We are close to starting water on those fields, close, but not yet.
We are still experiencing lots of trash in the canals. It’s a daily job to keep the water ways clear. We will fight this trash until the middle of June. By that time all the fields above us will be planted, all the canals and laterals will be open, and the wind should have died down.
I’ve enjoyed my series of photos of the April full moon. They give me a small bubble of happiness whenever I look at them. What is so delightful is the moon really is tinged with pink. Therefore, the full moon of April is called the Pink Full Moon. Perfect I do believe!
While Terry planted I filled up several buckets, of our saved shelled corn from last year; soaked the corn in water for a couple of hours then took a bucket out to the end of the field (which I will do for every field) and started scattering the seed.
We do this because the pheasants LOVE scratching up the sprouting corn seed and eating them. If I can give them enough soft (easy to get too) corn they will leave the fields alone.
I came across one of the males running along in front of me as I worked. It was blowing a little hard so he thought he could out-run me instead of trying to fly into the wind.
Giving up running he took off; just watching him go gave me a breathless feeling! What a beautiful bird!
Although, it wasn’t raining right on us, huge rain chuts were drenching parts of the Uncompahgre Plateau. (Un-come-pah-gray—accent on the pah)
The sheer ordinariness of the day fills our farmer’s heart with good!
Your friend on a Western Colorado farm,
Linda
Nice of you to soften the corn for them:)
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They won’t eat it hard, that’s why they like to scratch up the soften corn in the field.
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Where does the trash come from in your canals? The pheasants are beautiful and we don’t have them unless a hunt club brings them in. There’s not enough grain fields around to keep them interested.
As usual, your photos are gorgeous!!
Rita
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From the fields and from the wind, and from winter weeds blown into the ditches. Seems like from everywhere.
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The farming year is not getting off to a good start here Linda.
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Us either, Pat. Just way too wet. But NOT at wet as you. 😦
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& …. still freekin’ wet !
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I love the taste of pheasant not just during hunting season but anytime. It’s always a treat to see these birds whether there is one or a hundred.
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One of our neighbors years ago killed off every pheasant leaving us with hardly any…gradually they are making a come back. This year we have 6 roosters and their pack of hens. Sure is nice to see them again.
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“sheer ordinariness”, heh, good phrase !
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I love an ordinary day!
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What do you do with the canal rubbish?
We have pheasant here, too! Saw one a few weeks ago. I was driving but still got that thrill!
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There is something so wonderfully reassuring about the ordinary.
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Great shots of the pheasant and the moon. Neat that you feed them like that. We barely ever see them here, maybe one every four or five years.
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They are slowly making a come back…we had a neighbor (doesn’t live here anymore) who hunted them to exhaustion. This year we are seeing lots of them. Makes my heart glad!
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Farming practices are the reason for low pheasant population here. Nice to hear they are coming back though. That first pic did my heart good in that it is a scene very seldom seen. But it works.
Farm on! Thanks for posting.
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Nice photos of the pheasant. They are amazing birds. It sounds like you have a good way to keep them from digging up all your seed corn.
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love the shot of terry and the full moon resting on the mount!
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So happy you’re getting your crop in. What an excellent idea feeding the birds. We use to put a bale of good hay out for the deer so they’d leave the stacks alone…it worked great.
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It does! We feed the deer also…have to or they eat the corn. Sigh!
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wonderful
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Hi there! You have a wonderful blog! We are also in Colorado, although in Boulder county. There are so many great ideas here. I could really just get lost in the posts. I was wondering if you would be interested in giving our farm management software a try. http://www.farmbrite.com. You can try for free for 30 days with no obligation. Our hope is that it helps keep small farms running smoothly. Thanks for your blog posts. They are really fun to read.
Janine
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Oh, Janine! Thank you so much for stopping by! I looked over your software and found it very interesting. But Terry does all the record managment and does it the old-fashioned way. I did ask him, but he doesn’t want to change. Thank you for thinking of us! Terry and Linda
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Hey Linda .. We have pheasants here too and the make is such a looker. Very timid birds though. How exciting getting in those crops .. What do you mean by trash .. Love the last image and your pink moon.
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Trash from the wind, the other fields, the other ditches, the other canals and yes, sometimes people dump their trash in the water. Which sucks!
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Oh dear ..
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Pheasants are so pretty ~ glad they are making a come back. I know it’s been too wet, but at least it’s not s*n*o*w! Beautiful photos, Linda! Love the moon.
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The beautiful ordinariness of a day :-).
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