Life in the Old Barn

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Dayphoto

Although we stopped milking cows, (we still raise beef cows)

and we stopped using horses, (we use four-wheelers now)

and we stopped raising pigs (the price of baby pigs is too much).

We still have life in the old barn.

Wasps

These little bugs are a pain.

They are helpful…they prey upon lots of garden pests, they feed their young on lots of invertebrates which cause damage to plants and flowers such as aphids and caterpillars, and they pollinate flowers.

It’s good to leave them alone so as not to disturb the natural control of pests and reduce the need for insecticide.

But they ruin your work, they get into your hair and face and, of course, they sting.

As annoying as they are, wasps are very beneficial and interesting insects, with a highly developed social structure. Wasps work really hard during their short lives and maybe deserve a break from their status as the creature we most like to eliminate.

Generally you are unlikely to get a wasp sting until autumn, unless you accidentally put your hand or foot on one and they are defending themselves, or unless you disturb a wasps nest. (Which could be anytime you come near one).

Up until late July and early August they are busy bringing up and feeding larval wasps, chasing insects, and foraging for food and maintenance materials for the wasps nest. After that their job is mainly done and they gorge themselves on the food they collect, especially on ripe and fermenting fruit; they become more and more dependent on sweet foodstuffs like these and will aggressively seek it out.

Additionally it will be getting hot and very crowded in the nest. It is at this time when they are most likely to sting humans, partly due to bad tempers caused by the heat and overcrowding in the nest, and partly in a semi-drunken reaction to being obstructed in their quest for sweet food.

I thought about going and on and on about these beneficial pests but I’ll stop here.

The old walls of the barn were full of these tiny creatures, it was rather disturbing to them and us (stings are not fun) but the walls had to come down and they had to move on.

I’m sure they were able to find a new house to rent close by!

Wasps

Rainbow Snow

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Dayphoto

It’s cold here!

We started a fire in the wood stove, it’s just that cold.

According to the Farmer’s Almanac winter is going to be rough for some of us.

Sadly we seem to be jumping from almost fall right into winter.

But in the midst of the rain, wind, sleet, hail, and almost snow I saw this!

Rainbow-Snow

(Look real close-I forgot to enlarge it)

In spite of everything there are still rainbows.

After You Retire…

Posted on October 7, 2009 by Dayphoto

You take on all the projects you were wanting to do, but couldn’t because of working TWO jobs.

Our days of milking, feeding out spring’n heifers, and raising pigs are now over.

Barn-Step-2

For years and years DH wanted a shop that he could put his ‘toys’ in and keep the other shop for his work equipment—tractors and such.

So DH decided he wanted to tear down the old barn and build a shop!

New-Barn-Step-One-001

Surprisingly we got a teary eyed over tearing the barn down—

Down-Comes-the-Barn

lots of memories of brushing down the horses, baby calves, milking the cows and having them step in the bucket, hauling feed to the pigs,

It-All-Falls-Down

you know all those memory making events.

Up-comes-the-floor

But now that it’s down we are anxious to get the walls up and the roof on.

Gravel

Sometimes change is hard, the end result is good.

The Last Step in Irrigation

Posted on October 6, 2009 by Dayphoto

1909-Water-Pipe

We are now flushing the ditches and the gated pipe, sending mud and dirt into the fields for one last time. If we don’t do this we will have to manually shovel out the cement ditches and have to manually scrap out the pipe in the spring.

For those of you who are just now joining us you can use the search box and type in Step One to find out more about the different steps in irrigating.

Irrigation is using the water out of rivers and streams, diverting it according to a strict metering system (through a measuring device called a partial flume) down ditches to fields. This water is usually the result of melting snow runoff, and is fully subject to droughts.

First all of the water in any given river is already spoken for.

For instance the water in our canal (prior to emptying into the Gunnison River, then the Colorado River) has owners; there are ditch “companies” along the Gunnison River and the Colorado River, each ditch supplies water that runs through private land (as opposed to National Forest or BLM).

Each of these farms has a pre-determined amount of claim to a PERCENTAGE OF THE WATER FLOWING BY. So if the canal is running 1,000 cubic feet per second and the farms, who share the ditch, are at the top of the water chain.

There is a state water inspector, called the ditch rider, who comes in and regulates the flow of water into the ditch through a head gate. He –and he alone- opens that gate and allows the proper cubic feet per second allotted to that farm into the ditch. This allows the rest of the water to remain in the canal and flow down to the ranches, cities, and towns that have claim to a share of water in the creek. And yes the amount of water (EVEN IF YOU PAY FOR IT) can and is cut back to barely making it during times of dought.

The ditch rider must insure that no one farm takes out more than their allotted share (the rights to water go in order of date the claim was made, so a newer farm, defined as new fields, or arable land–not the sale of existing land and water rights to a new owner–will be bypassed during times of drought in favor of established claims to the water based on the order received.

Then there are Cities. The Cities of Palisade, Grand Junction, and Fruita, Colorado, Moab, Utah, cities in Nevada, and Los Angeles, California, all have claim to some of the water flowing down the Gunnison River and into the mighty Colorado. Some of these claims are very old, and trump the rights of the oldest of ranches/farms.

In 1909 our water canal system was built and this year we celebrated-along with all of the Uncompahgre Water Users, water arriving on our farm (our farm was created in 1906 by Terry’s great grandparents; we are fourth generation farmers in our area.)

The two photos show a salvaged water transfer pipe laid in 1909.

Old-Water-Pipe

We’ve come a long way, Baby! Ain’t it grand!

The Storm Has Passed

Posted on October 2, 2009 by Dayphoto

The storm has left us, moving on passed the Rocky Mountains and into the interior of the map. We woke to a very cold morning! 24* and heavy frost lying everywhere.

The onions will still be able to be harvested; the farmers will just have to wait until they warm up and dry out. If the beans haven’t been pulled they are now cow feed.

The alfalfa is done for the year, no more hay to be made.

Snow-in-the-San-Juans

It’s still snowing in the mountains, but that will leave later on today.

October-Sky

All the songbirds are gone but the Canadian Geese are back. Lose one blessing gain another.

Frozen-Corn

We are continuing to wait for the moisture content to drop. We do not store our gain in the butler granaries anymore. The Elevator takes everything we have as soon as we get it off the fields. It win-win for both of us! Happy Fall!

Cold Here 51* Daytime Temperature +++ Freeze Warning Until 9:00 Tomorrow Morning

Posted on October 1, 2009 by Dayphoto

The storm brought snow in the rocky mountains, 8″ in some places. The wind was the worst for us. Some rain, but mostly wind.

Fall-Hillside

Our hillsides colored up wonderfully, though!

More-Fall-Hillsides

We are seeing reds and oranges that we haven’t seen for a long time. The sad part about all this early freezing is many of the farmers in our area lost crops. The yellow beans froze and many acres of the pinto beans. The chopping corn froze and so did the pumpkins, and any late sweet corn. (Yes, there were a few fields of late sweet corn.) Field corn isn’t hurt from freezing; in fact it helps the drying process along. Onions can sometimes withstand the freeze if it isn’t too thick.

The growing season is done for alfalfa now, so we only got the three cuttings instead of four. Four is nice, but three is okay.

DH is waiting for the field corn to get to 15 moisture, last week it was 18. With this freeze we might be doing corn in a week or so!

Fire in the Sky

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Dayphoto

Fire-in-the-Sky

(The storm was blowing in with 32 mile an hour winds, but the sky…oh my the sky!)

Honey the Guard Chicken Here—

Posted on September 29, 2009 by Dayphoto

A sneaky nasty coyote slunk into the yard last night and scared all of us! Of course not me! I started hollaring real loud so Mom would hear and come out. Dad came out first and that scared the homely furry species of a dissoulte style of life based on raiding, killing and other uncivilized forms of behavior!!! Actually Mom never heard me and she never came out, but DAD did and that is all that matters.

We have a nice chicken coop, heated in the winter, fenced in run with a fenced over top so other animals can’t get in, (here’s some nice plans if you want to build one for yourself-Plans from BackYard Poultry Magazine)

Anyway, just to let you know, chickens get really sleepy at night…..really sleepy, I mean there isn’t a way to stay awake, the sun goes down, we go to sleep . That’s why we have to sleep in the house…to stay safe.

Now when Roo was here ( I still miss him) he would crow at night randomly to scare anything away that wasn’t suppose to be there. But since he is gone– that just doesn’t happen.

Mean-old-Biddies

I wonder if the three mean hens ran him off? They are mean enough.

OH! Back to my story…

Anyway, coyotes kill more chickens and cats than skunks or raccoons, goodness they even kill stay dogs just for the sport of it! If you’ve never seen those lean-limbed, long-haried scruffy-tailed, yellow-eyed, slack-jawed, hungry-looking coyotes go here Coyote. There is a real good photo of one. Brrrr, shiver, shake, scary!

This coyote was skinny…I know cause I sleep by the window and when I heard the scratching on the side of the house I looked out and gave a sqwack of fright. I sure was glad Dad was outside ‘taking in the cool night air’. He likes to get up at night and check out things. BOY WAS I EVER GLAD!!!!!

That savage animal ran off! Just ran off. Mom was very concerned, the next morning. (Get that..the NEXT Morning!) We’ve been hearing them laughing and singing in the neighbors cornfield. Now one of them arrived at our house.

Mom said they were going to put up a motion light, good! Whatever that is! Keep those animals away!!!!

A Gift from Mountain Woman

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Dayphoto

When I got home last night I had a surprise package waiting for me; a delightful little book on Yankee Weather Proverbs!

I immediately sat down and started reading.

Gift-from-Mountain Woman

For people who live by the land, or for those who scan the skies, this book is a wonder. Here is one, we in the west also tout: “When robins leave early, expect an early winter” here is another, “Purple or very dark blue clouds indicate snow as do long flat banks of dark-colored clouds” —or “The first frost in autumn will be exactly six months after the first thunderstorm of the spring”

There are many more, but this gives you an idea.

Thank you so much, Mountain Woman, I am very surprised and grateful!

This One’s for You

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Dayphoto

This-One's-For-You

There is something just absolutely amazing about the sky lately. And I have seen on other people’s blogs you are seeing it too. Maybe it is because we are leaving summer and moving into fall, or maybe it is something else. But the sky is really a wonder to behold.