irrigation water is extremely short | Life on a Colorado Farm

The irrigation water sure has Dad and Mom worried.

They don’t have to go out every eight hours right now because the water is in the corn and the old alfalfa field. See those fields have their plants up and growing so they don’t take as much water, but when the water gets BACK to the pinto bean field they will be back to the eight hour change No Matter What!

Dad is planting the very last of the corn today…this morning in fact. He has given up on planting the new alfalfa field.

He will start planting the pinto beans on Monday. Outside of the alfalfa field (alfalfa seed is like buying gold at today’s prices, so he is not going to chance losing the crop because of the lack of water) he will have everything planted. (Dad will plant the alfalfa seed after the sweet corn farmers start harvesting their crop. Once the sweet corn is gone, more water will be in the canals. Hay is a nice cash crop to have.)

Water is extremely short…they are working with 70% of 100% right now—as they move into the middle of summer the ditch riders have told everyone that water is going to be moved lower and lower until it gets to 40%. That will be a 60% loss of water.

Everyone is hoping 40% is as low as it does get!

We hope so too!!!!

So the race is on!

All the farmers HAVE to get the seeds in the ground, watered up, and growing well ….BEFORE…the irrigation water drops to 40%.

As the water levels shrink the nightmare, of keeping everything wet, will just get worse. But the critical stage is getting the plant UP.

Boomie is doing better about coming when he hears the four-wheeler start…Mom talks to him as soon as we get to the field…”Boomer…you can play, but when you hear the four-wheeler start, you HAVE to be back here ready to go home or you will have to run home by yourself!”

He has done real good, even coming back to check on us once in a while.

But the last evening he said he was clear over in the wet lands smelling out the birds and things when he heard the four-wheeler start. Everything was just getting really interesting so he decided he would run home.