We are having HUGE wind storms
Dirt fills the air, the sky, and our eyes
It blows fast enough, and hard enough that I almost tip over into the ditches several times
It ruffled the hen’s feathers—in general giving all us headaches.
Gradually it dies down (to return tomorrow)
Gradually we are waking up to truly warmer days full of sunshine!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Entwining their little lives with ours
Singing the song of Spring
And the coming of Summer
Orioles and others eating delightfully at the feeders
I savor each day from now until winter!
Happy Mother’s Day to each of you!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Outside of all the bending, stooping, picking up, laying down, walking, walking, walking, shoveling.
There is always and forever the delight in being out on the ditch bank watching the seeds pop up out of the ground, growing straight and tall.
There is so much happiness in being a farmer, and a protector of the land and the water.
And having a wonderful, furry kitty. Kitties are an important part of this farm.
There are so many things kitties do: we hang out with our people when they are stressed and just need to hear a purring voice,
we follow along as they work in the farmyard, keeping a silent, watchful eye on all they do,
we keep monster mice away from the house, the feed, the chicken pen, and everything on the farm,
we warm beds in the night, (sleeping RIGHT BETWEEN our people!), and lick them in the face when it’s time to get up in the morning.
(Meow—it’s hot!)
Kitties are very, very important!
Thanks for coming along. We, (Mom, Dad, and I) appreciate your stopping by and reading.
TLC Cai-Cai
Our apple tree has expanded itself in a most delightful way
Completely filling each and every twig and branch with lovely, lovely flowers.
We will see if another freeze comes along and wipes them out; like all the other fruit we have.
Time will tell….until then I will enjoy this massive show of abundance.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
We had a huge log come down the canal and knock the warning poles off their foundation
What a mess!
Linkin was spending Friday and Saturday with us;
Terry and I had (Thankfully) lots of help.
It was a huge long process…taking two hours to get the two logs jacked up and out of the water
The water was running
fast and scary—and would have flipped us under the bridge if we fell in it
TLC Cai-Cai and Linkin ready to help
Terry finally got one log up, then had to get the second log up
Linkin holding up one of the logs
After much pulling, straining, lifting, and pondering. Terry got all the logs up, wired together—good to go until this winter when the canal is dry and we can get in there to work on everything.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Take these wee little gifts of Mayday flowers
Let them lift your heart from all your responsibilities–those things you can never stop doing
Marvel, with me at these perfect little jewels
Lighting up your computer screen
Saying: Rejoice!
So many of us Love you!
From my heart to your heart,
Linda
Water is not only the backbone of the farm.
Water is a tool.
To irrigate properly you not only need to understand water, the needs of the water, and how the water performs on the land.
You need to also understand the land you are using the water on!
For some people, like Mom, watering yard…she just turns the spigot on, moves the hose with the sprinkler head here and there all over the lawn in 30 minutes stretches.
Also, Mom takes off the sprinkle head and puts on a soaker head so she can water her flower beds.
Yes, this takes lots of time, because Mom doesn’t have a sprinkling system.
But for the water on the farm, on this side of the Rocky Mountains, in the high mountains desert…water is moved through furrows.
Other places rely on rainfall—that will never happen here.
Some other places pump water out of a river, or lake, or pond, or an aquifer into huge sprinkler systems that never stop. (Because sprinkle systems only put down a tiny amount of moisture at a time, so the sprinkler has to be moving constantly to get everything wet down to the roots of the plant.)
Some places flood-irrigate…like rice paddies, for instance, or some other type of crop which moves lots and lots of water onto the crop then take it away and let it dry, only to repeat again later.
Here we take our water onto the land in a big head — the head is made up of shares. The Shares are the amount of water allowed for that farm.
Moving water onto the farm takes timing, balance, athletic ability (you have to stand or jump on the ditches), and an understanding of the farm and water.
Mom says there is something so beautiful, soothing, and marvelous about working the water on the land. Just listening to the water is calming; making sure the water is doing what it’s supposed to —
run down each row…the row that amount of water is allotted to is exciting.
Sometimes the water wants to ‘cut over’ into its neighbor’s row, or something jumps into the row—like a clod of dirt, or the remainder of last year’s corn cob/stalk — getting the water BACK into its own row and taking the block out can be a tad exciting (and muddy and stressful.
But seeing the water running nice and even, the sides of the furrow’s turning browner soaking up the water, watching the ground soak up the water all the water to the middle.
WONDERFUL!
At least two more chapters in the backbone of water—Stay tuned!
(See my gift to Mom—MOUSE!)
TLC Cai-Cai
Joy is everywhere
Delight so profound it permeates everything
The bird’s song is so loud it actually echos
With bouncing walks
And twittering voices.
Colors always changing bright and iridescent
The beauty of Spring
Everywhere…full of jubilation, exultation, rejoicing, happiness, glee—every word which expresses Triumph over Winter!
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Step Three—On the Land
Once the headgate is opened, Dad and Mom have forked out all the ditches in use, then it’s time to start the water into the fields.
Water is never, ever wasted. It goes into one field and runs to the bottom of that field in a small ditch, which takes the water to another field.
This goes on until the last field of the farm,
then that water goes back into the canal to go to other farms along the way.
This happens over and over and over again until the water winds up in the Colorado River.
Water is never wasted ever!
We move to step four—keep watching this place for more interesting information about the backbone of our Farm! (and wonderful photos of ME!)
TLC Cai-Cai
Ahh…Senior prom…Linkin is a Junior this year
And Caleb a Senior.
The delight of Prom entwining itself all around these two.
Scattering sunshine everywhere.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 