I came upon a crow singing a most unusual song. It was soft and gentle and oh, so sweet.
I sat still for a spell just listening.
Then, over-head, another (tantalizing) crow flew and the spell was broken. Up up and away he/she flew to be with that intriguing, rather intoxicating ‘other’ crow!
What a gift I was given.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
A delightful package arrived in the mail, full of hand-created treasures
Two scrubbies, two wasp nests, and a lovely, lovely hand-made card.
TLC Cai-Cai and I are most delighted.
Thank you ever so much, my Multi-Talented Friend, Connie, from Far Side of Fifty.
So exciting!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
While out irrigating, last evening
I found a Sandhill Crane feather.
Feathers are from the Heavens, from a loved one or an Angel.
A lovely gift—
from a beautiful bird
And those who love me from across the Veil.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
The Spring winds have arrived. They come after the air warms
The mountains surrounding us are still chilled and full of snow
They are a delight to see with the sun shining on them–
But, they too, need to warm and melt—-bringing water to cities, towns, and farms
Therefore, the wind blows.
Sometimes bringing more snow (The Universe is very thoughtful….it would not be good to have the snowmelt ALL AT ONCE)
Sometimes bringing rain;
Helping the trees bring the sap from the roots to the tips of branches.
Wind…,here where we live, blows from now until the middle of June (or so)
Bringing freezing cold, dusty warm, heart-stopping beauty back to our land.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
We had to put out all the siphon tubes
Which was a big, big, back-bending job
Some neighbor up the road a-ways was burning off a field. Scary.
Then it was time to open the headgate. See that little long chute-like box with the little waterfall. That is the headgate to our farm. This is where the water is taken out of the FN Lateral Canal (just our amount) flows into the headgate, where there is a tin dam stopping or letting the water through the long box going off toward the edge of the photo.
That is our allotted water. The water is measured and monitored by the Uncompahgre Valley Water Ditch Rider assigned to whatever ditch.
Water is expensive, much more so than the taxes for the farm—and it is precious.
This is our fork to clean out the trash which collects in the headgate.
Once we turn the water onto the farm, we have to clean out the trash in the ditches.
The easiest way is to let the water push it into a pile, then take your pitchfork and lift it up and over the side.
We do this all the way through all the cement and
dirt ditches until we get to the end of the farm, where (then) the water flows back into the canal. Cleaned of trash; moving toward the next farm.
Terry takes the first stand and I take the second stand. In other words, Terry lifts the most and I pick up the trash that gets away from him as he is flipping the big wad out.
Then back we go to the Upper End, where we cleaned and planted a new pasture. Here is where we started the first of the irrgation.
Then (as the pastures water started flowing back into the transfer ditch, we laid out the siphon tubes in the Middle Field.
Once the water got to the Middle Field Terry put in dams and we set the tubes
Water! Gurgling and flowing, shimmering across one of the alfalfa fields.
A whole long day of hard work, but a perfect result!
Thirsty ground, happy plants.
Perfect!
The water will be changed twice a day—just as the sun comes up in the morning and then in the evening before the darkness descends.
Every day from now on out. And if we have our water cut (which they might) then we change it even more…sometimes even in the night.
I suppose some would say it’s a hard life, but honestly, Terry and I love it.
But you know that, don’t you? 🙂
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Terry made the ditches Saturday for the whole farm.
Then we worked on the new section of ditch, which will hold gated pipe.
It took some doing,
But we ‘got’er done’, as my Daddy would have said.
Lots of leveling, lifting, and pushing together.
Whew! Long day, but it felt good to have everything in place.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Terry took the shed down with the loader
It wasn’t too hard, just a little on the concern side of things
Then once down we hooked it to the loader
Where he took it over to a ‘spot’
After that, he went back to work,
and I dismantled the whole thing.
Saving the tin and tossing the braces….well, most of the braces.
Finished.
No more shed. 🙂
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
No longer are we waiting for Spring!
For Spring arrived yesterday with the bringing of the life-giving irrigation water
See the water pushing all the huge amazing amount of weeds before it?
The earth and the grass and the dried weeds smelled delicious
So exciting!
The water has returned!
We concentrate now on finishing the ground…this time next week—if all goes well—we will start the water on our farm.
Turning our backs to winter we concentrate on Spring!
Your friend on western Colorado farm,
Linda
P.S. I am NOT liking WordPress’ new block system. UGH!
A beautiful Downey Woodpecker
Sandhill Crane feathers are just lovely
They look grey until you see them in the sunlight
The red-mask is a lovely touch
These are very large birds…they stand about four feet tall.
These Quail are just darling —see the pheasant running off at the top of the photo?
I love the hawks and falcons who hunt across the farm.
But the most unexpected, (and lucky for me) thing was seeing a flock of Western Bluebirds!
They stopped for a search among the weeds for a bite to eat and I got a photo!
That was so exciting! Not a good photo, but still one!
Living here on the farm is such a good life for Terry and me.
We love it.
The work is hard and never-ending, but here is the secret, we Love it. The work, the farm, the everything—making up our daily life.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
