The Start of the Pinto Bean Harvest, Thursday, September, 17, 2015

Posted on September 17, 2015 by Dayphoto

Right after breakfast and the next set of irrigation water on the alfalfa field, Terry, Boomer, and I header over to hook-up the bean puller and bar.

This is the bean puller

And hook up the bar on the back of the 730. You understand that Terry does most the work. Boomer is off somewhere checking out the news and I’m pretty much there to give him a tool, or the handyman jack, or move something out the way. 🙂

That’s the blade…the puller pulls the beans out the ground and the blade cuts off any stems the puller misses.

The pinto beans are ready. The plant is dry, with only the weeds staying green and growing.

Up and down, careful, careful…you don’t want to run over the plants and loose your crop.

Slowly, ever so slowly,

The beans are put into rows. Once the day warms up, Terry stops— warmer air will dry the dew off the pods causing the pods to split and spill the beans.

Tomorrow (if all goes well) he will put on a different blade and go out and lift all the rows UP so they are fluffy and can have air circulate among the plants.

Then we wait. Terry says (if the warm weather holds and NO rain), in about a week the green weeds should be dry and he can start combining.

Harvest! A huge process with nice results.

Your friend on a Western Colorado farm,

Linda

A Very Strange Harvest —Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Dayphoto

Yesterday there were 40 trucks in line to unload their corn. The wait was long, long, long. Most of the trucks are semi’s with belly dumps so it goes fast ONCE they get there.

BUT….the corn harvest has turned out to be another one of those terribly hard to ‘dry down the corn’ years. Everyone is struggling and frustrated. The joke is we will be doing corn in January —OH! LET US HOPE NOT!

A field will test dry then as they get to different area, within the SAME field, the moisture content zooms up and the harvest has to stop.

So we do what we can, then wait until the moisture drops and start all over again. Terry is out checking all the fields now…a sample here and a sample there…at the end of the field, in the middle of the field, in a random spot. You sure don’t want to combine wet corn, have it turned down at the elevator and then lose the whole load because it molds. We could get the drying granaries ready, but Terry much prefers to haul straight the elevator. Keeps the crop costs down (electricity to run the big dryer) and we don’t have to load the bins, then get back in and unload them. Unloading a grain bin is TONS of work—we’ve reached an age where back breaking work is something we don’t want to do anymore.

Yes we use a auger to get the corn out of the bin, but you still have to get inside and scoop out the last of of the corn.

Anyway…life goes on. The other house is done, until the furnace is put in; now we will need to look for a renter. But that process won’t start until we get the furnace in. It will be nice to find just the right person who would like to live in the country, take care of a lawn, and maybe enjoy an animal or two in the corrals…our daughter and family had goats.

Today I’m still setting up Christmas…I’m thinking the tree…it’s fake so I can set it up anytime and enjoy the lights. (It’s the lights I love). (Or I’ll be helping Terry…we will see)

Your friend on a western Colorado Farm,

Linda

The Song of Fall—Monday, October 27, 2014

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Dayphoto

Soon now. The stalks and the ears are getting that ‘look’. Soon.

Sometime today Terry will go out and pick a ear from every field —shell each ear in it’s own test bucket, then take the ear to the elevator to get a moisture test. To harvest our corn the moisture needs to be at 14, any higher than that the corn will mold in the elevators. If you are selling to a feed lot then can take a higher corn moisture….but not where we take it.

Our haystacks are shrinking! Very little left now. The man that is loading out will take that whole stack he is working on, as I took the photo. There is a smaller stack (100) which goes to a horse woman, and the stack that is still covered (we cover all the hay) goes to Delta Elevator. Terry’s goal is for the hay to be gone before winter sets in and Hank’s cows arrive. We have to build pretty good fences around the stacks if we still have hay and cows; preferably we just give them the run of the place otherwise.

In checking the ground in the alfalfa field we realized that it’s terribly dry, so we will start the irrigation water this week. We MUST do it this week since the Ditch Company will turn all the water off November 1st. A week is enough to get the whole thing wet then the alfalfa will go into the winter nicely. The wind is blowing now and it’s cold. A cold front is moving in today and will linger for at least five days. I love walking in the fields with the wind blowing —- here is an old video from a long time back of the wind in the corn…

I find listening to the wind in the corn as lovely as wind whistling through pine trees.

Late afternoon Fuzzy, Boomer and I go for a four-wheeler ride around the farm…up to the headgate, through the Upper End, into the Back Forty, down the road by the alfalfa field, sometimes over to the equipment area and then to the other house, or we just drive into the corn fields and sit and listen to the sounds.

Peace floods my heart, mind and soul. I am so thankful to be able to live and work here.

Life is Good, My Friends, Life is Good!

Wishing you the best of the day!

Your Friend,

Linda

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer—Harvest

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Dayphoto

The end of Summer has arrived!

Fuzzy doesn’t have any swallows to bark at anymore, but the crows have returned so he barks at them.

It goes something like this:

CAW! CAW! CAW!

Bark, bark, bark, bark!

You silly dog, you can’t hurt us!

You silly crow, I can let the world know you are here!

You funny old dog, they already know!

You funny crow, I don’t care…I’m still going to bark at you!

And so it goes…..

Fuzzy and I love the busy season! Well, to be honest, Fuzzy and I love EVERY SEASON!!!

Dad is out pulling the pinto beans.

That is step ONE (!) in the process of harvesting pinto beans. When Dad comes in Mom, Fuzzy and I will go out and fork the pinto bean ends back. After that Dad will come through and blade the beans.

Step TWO…blading the beans. First they are pulled out of the ground and laid in neat rows, then a blade comes back under them lifting them up into fluffy rows to dry.

All of this has to be done early in the morning or the pinto beans will shatter out of their little shells. That works for Fuzzy and I —later in the day it gets HOT! We spend lots of time panting, while Mom works, as it is. Mom says she gets warmed up so she doesn’t need a jacket. Dad has to wear a jacket because he says it’s a little cold on the tractor.

Step 3 with the Pinto Beans will be to combine them. Mom and Dad are STILL working on the combine. THEY HAD BETTER GET DONE SOON!!!

Step 4 will be to haul the pinto beans to the Beanery, with Step 5 selling them!

(But step 2-5 is still to come. We are still on step ONE!)

After Mom and I get the bean ends forked onto the rows, we will head up to the alfalfa field, which is now a HAY field. Up there we will roll and straighten the bales. Fuzzy doesn’t go up there anymore. He says it’s just too hot and tiring; he stays home in the shade.

Once the bales are set in a straight row Dad comes along and loads them in the stack wagon and takes them to the hay yard. By that time Mom and I are done.

I’m always ready for DONE as that is even HOTTER work.

Later in the day…sometime after lunch Mom and I go down to Misty’s and work in her yard. Mom is painting the fence while the sprinklers madly fling water onto the lawn and the soakers soak into the ground under the bushes.

Mom says we have to keep the yard watered so off we go. Fuzzy doesn’t like to go down there either. He says the morning has tired him out. That is okay…we just let Fuzzy rest, after all he IS fourteen years old, that’s pretty old in Mom’s years!

As soon as we get all the hay in we will start water on the hay field…once we do that the field will become an Alfalfa Field. How neat is that?

Dad checked the field corn yesterday…the corn is starting to dent. If a dog was to eat the corn now it would be hard to chew. (Fuzzy and I love corn, we sometimes go out and grab one or two ears and haul them back into the yard for a snack.)

“Hummmm”, said Dad. “One more irrigation and we are done irrigating the corn. All that we have to do is let it all dry down until it’s bone dry. Then we will start the harvest on it.”

Later in the afternoon Mom works in our yard…she says the weeds are taking over!! We like it when Mom is working in our yard. We stay right by her as she pulls and hauls and deadheads and whatever else she is doing. Sammy-Sam the cat stays with us. Often-times he rides in the wheelbarrow while Mom moves from here to there.

Well, Fuzzy says I really need to come help him; he has an important job for me.

See ya soon!

Boomer

Stretch Marks, Labor Day, Monday, September 1, 2014

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Dayphoto

It’s that time of year….

(Third cutting of alfalfa)

When all of spring and summer come together

Third cutting of hay is cut and drying…Terry is raking and turning the rows even as I type away.

Soon, very soon…maybe tomorrow or the next day…it all depends on the weather, he will pull the pinto beans.

The corn has passed the blister stage, moving into the dough. After that it will be ready to ‘dry down’.

We are on the last little bits of irrigation. No more changing water on the pinto beans, only one more good soaking of the alfalfa, after the last bale has been hauled and stacked (possibly two if the fall is terribly dry—alfalfa can’t go into the winter dry or the crop will die.)

All that is left is watering the corn, by the end of September (in 30 days, maybe a few more, but not many-maybe even less) the irrigation water will be turned off to our farm.

We will be done.

After that we wait…until the last of October or the first of November when the harvest of the field corn begins. Those that have ensilage or chopp’n corn, or silage (it’s all one in the same) will start filling the silos this week.

The stretch for harvest has begun!

Then winter’s silence will descend.

But not for awhile.

Not for awhile.

Not just yet.

The gift of the spring and summer’s work will be collected. The work is has begun!

We will stretch ourselves thin, eat on the run, get up before dawn and settle back down way after dusk. It will look easy to those driving by—people who have moved to the country to get away from the crowds.

I suppose it is, after all these years…it’s because we practice all the time. The continuing education credits come when this year’s paycheck comes in. (We are paid once a year for pinto beans and corn. The hay brings in small checks as the bales are sold.)

Harvest! It is what we work for— the accumulation of the year.

Your friend on a farm in Western Colorado,

Linda

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Dayphoto

Terry is leveling the fields. He will plant only two fields this year. These two fields with the alfalfa field will be our crops.

The Uncompahgre Valley Water Users have cut the amount from 60% to 50% of your allotment. (Although, we will still have to pay for the 100% allotted to our farm–as does everyone else who farms. Doesn’t seem right to me, but that is what it is).

If–-IF — there is more water (which we all doubt) by the end of May, he will plant, possibly, some pinto beans. We just have to wait and see.

We would like to plant more alfalfa, depending on the water, maybe we will and maybe we won’t.

I guess, Dear Readers, you are in just as much of a quandary as we are. As my Mother used to say: “Time will tell.”

And so it shall.

Thank you for all of your magic thoughts and your concern…we are moving forward in faith and hope and with a little luck we will make it to harvest!

Linda

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Dayphoto

A huge storm is supposed to come in tomorrow, bringing 40% rain for Monday, 30% for Tuesday, and 20% for Wednesday.

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We are still working on the pinto beans. Keep your fingers crossed it misses us and stays in the mountains only.

Talk to you in the morning…we have lots to do today!

Linda

Harvests are Starting in Our Area

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Dayphoto

It doesn’t seem possible but we are on the last irrigation of the season for the pinto beans. The pods are full and the beans are starting to harden up, once the pods stripe Terry will put the bean puller on the tractor and pull the plants. This will allow them to dry. Then he will combine.

About the middle of September (is our prediction) we will begin the harvest of the pinto beans.

This year I have raised 10 different varieties of dry bush beans (like pinto beans). Because they are in the yard they are ripening and getting ready for harvest sooner.

I just harvested my Red Mexican bean.

I have several others in the drying stage,

of course my harvest is all done by hand 🙂

The sweet corn harvest is in full swing also. We wake up every morning (5:00) to the sound of the sweet corn pickers on thier way to work. The first load of corn heads into the cooler around 6:30. They stop picking about dark. If you see Olathe Sweet or Mountain Sweet—-sweet corn in your market you will know it came from a farm somewhere close to ours!