Tuesday, May 7, 2013 Fields I Love

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Dayphoto

I know this is rather daffy, but I have certain fields on our farm that I just, well, LOVE! I enjoy the slope of the land, the color of the soil, how the water flows so rapidly without help…unlike the 1/2 mile field which is always lots and lots of work.

We are in one of those fields right now….complete with a dust devil.

It is middle’n in size, I call it the Middle Field. (it’s a 1/2 mile also, but different) Terry doesn’t like it because it has lots of short rows, (hard for turning the tractor and equipment around in) places where there is gravel, (the water wants to sink instead of flow) and a shallow place he can never get level.

I don’t work with the land/soil like Terry…I work with Terry and the water.

Still there is just something about this field, maybe you can see it with me. Part of the enjoyment is the water is always heading west. Why that appeals I can’t tell you, but it does.

The other hay field has the same layout but not the same feel to it.

Ah, well, I can’t explain why I like this field so much, I just do.

The setting sun was just perfect to show up the Black Canyon of the Gunnison…I hope you can see the canyon.

This was the route the early settlers took coming in to settle Delta…. they started in Gunnison and then drove their teams and wagons along the rim of the Black Canyon arriving in Peach Valley then across the waste land to the the fertile valley by the Gunnison River, now called Delta. (Not as easy as it sounds, but that is for another day.)

I must be off, Dear Friends, as I need to make a run to the gas station for gas for the 530 John Deere…this little darling of a tractor doesn’t use diesel fuel.

Your Friend,

Linda

(And of course, Fuzzy and Boomer)

Monday, May 5, 2013 Loss of Seeds to the Birds

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Dayphoto

I was asked a question of whether we have loss of seeds to the birds…no, not really. Since it is very important that all the seeds take –we take extra precautions. Pheasants, Quail, other birds and anybody else that might like to dig up and eat a seed, such as mice and squirrels, raccoon and skunks, we provide a lunch buffet near the end of the field and in selected spots around the edges of the field.

What we do is take any old corn that didn’t make it to market….spread it out by the bucket fulls along the edges. With that much food available we just don’t have hungry critters hitting the rows and digging up the seeds.

We DO have trouble with Deer, Raccoon and skunks went the corn ears get to the ‘just right to eat’ stage. Deer love the silks and the ear, the others love just the fresh ear of corn.

That is where the dogs come in handy. We have had enough trouble just before harvest that we have used a boom gun before…it runs on propane and shoots off a huge SOUND every thirty minutes. The neighbors that don’t farm always get upset at that, but it isn’t a real gun, only a sound and we only have to do it for a week. Then when we see damage we do it again for a few days until the corn is too dry for the animal to chew up comfortably.

Please remember we do not raise sweet corn, but corn for feed and for meal….corn meal. Sweet corn is picked and then rushed along to market at just the perfect stage. Our corn keeps growing until it dries way down in the fall.

So, no we really don’t have trouble with the birds taking the seed out of the ground. The Redwing blackbirds that are following us right now are bathing and playing in the water furrows. They are having a great time!

Thank you, Dear Readers, for your questions. The nice thing about this wide, vast blog world is we are all learning how each of us live in our little spot on the globe. Its all extremely fascinating.

Linda

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Dayphoto

I wish to THANK each of you for sending wishes of returned health for Riley. Kimberly says he is having some good days right now…with all of your Magic thoughts (and special medicine) we all hope he can turn the corner . We are going to Grand Junction today to see him…and his parents.

Nothing really new here. It’s cloudy today with thunderstorms predicted in the afternoon, those usually play around on the Plateau; sometimes they come in and we get drenched for a few minutes.

I was able to a take a photo of a Western Meadowlark singing…I enjoy their really cool little song.

The Swallows are back…I left the nest up from last year. They seem to be interested in doing some maintenance and redecorating. I see long strings of back horse hair, new feathers and other exciting bits of ‘stuff’.

Another bird I really enjoy and love hearing their songs are the Red-winged black birds.

(This is a horrible photo as I had the zoom out way too far; they fly off if I get too close.

They live over in the Back Forty, but have lately taken to following us as we irrigate. They stay a short distance away, but still rather close playing and ‘dipping’ in the irrigation furrows. Boomer doesn’t chase them (I don’t think he knows he is a beagle) and Fuzzy is too interested in the water to even notice.

It looks like a Robin pair have built a nest in the cottonwood tree (at least I think it might be a Robin’s nest.) I haven’t seen the birds in action, just one day it was there.

The little Hummers are back, but very, very shy of the camera I hope I can get some photos of them this year…a goal of mine.

(He is using the 530 to plant with)

Terry decided to go ahead and plant a new alfalfa field, at this precise point we are 100% planted. But it won’t stay that way as he is taking the old alfalfa field out of production …therefore keeping us as the same percentage. The old field is just too old to produce well, water is just too short to waste on a field of low production.

Well off to chase water!

Linda

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Dayphoto

The gale of a wind blew all day yesterday filling our air with choking dirt and dust. It was a mess changing water —

Boomer wouldn’t even trot around looking for things to smell by the last set of the night, he just sat himself down in the lowest point on the earth (a furrow) and waited for us to finish. Fuzzy had to work hard to stay with me, but he did it.

The wind picked up over the night and went from gale to very strong gale-it even blew off some tin on one of the roofs.

Then around three this morning it rained.

Everything settled down, cool and clear by the time we went out and sat the first tubes.

It was just lovely!

By the time we came in the wind was back. If the wind blows in the morning here it won’t stop until sometime at night, therefore, we will have wind all day.

The weather guys have issued a freeze warning for tonight and a freeze watch for tomorrow night. Then I am hoping we move back toward warmer weather.

Not broiling weather, warm weather. I hope the weather gods are reading this! 🙂

Linda

Last Day of April

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Dayphoto

We had 84* yesterday…unheard of for April…that is more like July temps. By this evening a storm will be here (complete with 40 m.p.h. gusts of wind) and rain showers. It must be a fast moving storm as by Thursday we will be calm and settled once more.

The other thing with the storm is the temperatures are supposed to drop into the low 60s* and freeze.

We will see freezes from now until the snow is melted off the point on Grand Mesa….

Any who…I sure am enjoying all of this…the little Robin’s are waking up right after me and singing the day awake –I hear their cheerful little songs starting around 5:15. Lifts my heart up!

Terry is planting corn, in five days he will harrow the rows down so the little stalks can come through, then he will mark it back out and we will start water on it again. We have to be careful on when to start the water back up, if the seed is in one certain stage and you put water on it the seed will die and rot away.

Timing is everything.

We go out early, early and irrigate. We are in a field that has extremely long rows (think half a mile) which requires us to walk the water through…meaning we have to make sure the trash doesn’t plug up the furrow causing the ground to sub over before the water makes it to the end of the row.

We start the tubes and then start walking the water.

We are doing this three times a day, early light, 1 p.m. and then at 7:00 in the evening.

As time consuming and tedious this is I actually enjoy it. Which is a good thing, because I do most of this while Terry goes to the head gate (I’m rather afraid of the head gate) and cleans trash along the way.

Works out for both of us!

Have a lovely end of April day…tomorrow we will start MAY!

Linda

Monday, April 29, 2013

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Dayphoto

Boy, am I ever tired! Yesterday about did me in…way too much to do. But really I’m not complaining, just tired.

Everything turned out wonderful, although at that time I get concerned that I won’t get my part done, plus all the other stuff that needed put in place.

But it did.

Even my gluten-free birthday cake turned out very good. I’ve been cooking gluten free for four years now (after years and years of being sick we finally found out Terry, Misty (our youngest) and Linkin all have Celiac Disease.

Talk about a learning curve…cooking and eating without any form of gluten (grain or man-made chemicals) has been something else.

We just all went gluten-free, it’s so much easier that way…I didn’t want to cook one way for some and one way for another. Learning to make bread — I gave up and just buy Udi’s products — and moist birthday cakes has been hard.

I have finally made it! I can proudly say the Birthday cake was lush and moist!

So today I hope I can get done some stuff that “I” need to get done. A lovely day to do it in…tomorrow we will have wind and the next day the temps are to plunge 20* and be horribly cold with some rain.

Have a productive Monday everyone! See you in the morning!

Linda

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Dayphoto

Yesterday Terry and I had to change out the rubber gaskets, which had hardened over the winter. (They were leaking and making a mess)

We had to pull apart the pipes and then reset them after the gaskets were in place…not hard, but time consuming. One of those little housekeeping jobs that is so necessary, but tedious to do. I’m sure every last one of you can relate to that in some fashion.

Today we try to take off…as much as a farm and running water will let you.

Our grandson has two soccer games, either both or one of us will attend.
Our oldest granddaughter has a soccer camp, which we will NOT attend.
Our youngest granddaughter has a dance recital that Shannon and I will be taking her too.

Then after all of that we will be celebrating our youngest daughter’s 36th birthday…goodness time flies!

Most of the time Terry and I don’t really feel old, but when we look at the ages of our four children we realize we HAVE moved into the last part of our lives.

But we AREN’T Dead Yet….so onward we go! 🙂 🙂

Have a great Sunday you’all! It’s supposed to be 80* here today.

I’m delighted!!!

Linda

An Interesting Photo Plus the History About the Photo

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Dayphoto

LA VETA PARK

An aerial view of La Veta Park taken in 1921. The sugar factory had just been completed, visible to the left. The park is the “circle” to the right of the sugar factory. At the time of this photo, La Veta Park had been closed for years.

You’ve heard of Cleland Park and Confluence Park as our two major Delta city parks, but have you heard of La Veta Park? La Veta Park was created in 1908 and was unique in that it was a park completely surrounded by water. It was a man-made island of the Gunnison, but it wasn’t the land that was created, but the water, or moat, around the island.

In North Delta there is a large shopping area occupied today by Delta Hardware, Big-O Tires, and KFC, but back in 1907, a large, round moat was hand-dug and surrounded this area, creating an island, with the moat connected on the north side to the Gunnison River. In April, 1908, an arch gateway was erected at the entrance to the park, accessible by means of a bridge over the moat. In the park, a “dancing platform” was erected along with a refreshment stand and picnic tables. Local musical groups were the source of dance music, and the park became quite a novelty.

There was only one problem, apparently not anticipated. When the Gunnison was in flood stage, as it was frequently in the spring time, La Veta Park was under water. So La Veta Park, while it was dry, was a popular local park, but after a number of years, the park was abandoned, and was officially clos

It was not until 1924 that the City of Delta began work on their new “City Park.” Originally a two acre swamp, City Park began to take shape and was renamed Cleland Park after Dr. Cleland, a prominent Delta physician who was the driving force behind the swimming pool built in 1927. But that’s another story!

Jim

Museum Director / Curator and Newsletter Editor

Jim Wetzel (970) 874-8721

deltamuseum@aol.com

Linda

https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com

My Project at the Museum

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Dayphoto

I’m working on this huge camera collection— which is taking lots of tedious time, but should be a really interesting display later on!

Linda

CAMERA COLLECTION ALMOST COMPLETED

Work on cataloging the large collection of cameras and accessories described in the last newsletter is almost complete. The cameras vary from a 1908 Brownie No. 2A box camera up to once very pricey Pentax and Canon models dating to the 1970s. The collection includes over 40 cameras plus an assortment of flash units, lenses, and other accessories.

The museum already has on exhibit the large camera collection donated by Ben Walker years ago, and this collection is on permanent exhibit. Add to this a number of additional cameras in storage, and the museum now has a rather extensive collection of cameras and related artifacts

We are currently planning a huge – temporary – camera exhibit for later this year.

Jim

Museum Director / Curator and Newsletter Editor

Jim Wetzel (970) 874-8721

deltamuseum@aol.com

Linda

https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com

April 23, 2013

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Dayphoto

A very cold winter wind is here!

The lovely spring day we had yesterday is just a distant memory now. A tease of warmth and loveliness.

The wind turned cold last night, waking us up to freeze warnings until tomorrow morning sometime.

The fireplace feels good!

Still the work must go on.

We got word that we just might be able to have 55% water, instead of the 50% so Terry made the decision to go ahead and plant pinto beans. This will put 70% of our farm into production. ( I was hoping for alfalfa, but pintos don’t take as much water and their growing season is much shorter.)

We’ve started the water in the established alfalfa field — another field that has an earth ditch and siphon tubes. This morning when changing the tubes…moving the water on down the field … there was ice along the rows.

Alfalfa at this stage of it’s life can handle some freezing, but newly planted and just starting to pop up alfalfa would be killed.

Today Terry has finished leveling the pinto bean field (putting a slight grade on the land so the water will run ‘down’ the rows and on out to the waste ditch), and started marking out the rows.

(Terry is marking out the bean ground, even as I type)

As soon as we are through the alfalfa field we will start water on the pinto bean field.

I sure hope this last nasty/cold winter wind/storm is the last of winter’s hurrah! It’s been so cold the snow hasn’t even started to melt in the mountains…which is a blessing and a curse wrapped up as one.

Well, enough of this whine at least it must be snowing somewhere, its just that cold. And snow means water and water means less worry about drought and less drought is good for everyone.

Stay warm, my friends! At some point winter really will leave and spring will arrive! When it does—We all will be ready!

Linda