Terry and I spent the morning cleaning out the waste ditches yesterday.  Then as I continued getting the rest of the ditches cleaned he came along with the 4240 and the blade making the ditch that carry the water from our field to the farm just below us.

All of our water comes from another farm(s) to us. After we use it then it goes on to the next farm then to the river and onto California.

I was asked how we siphon out of a pipe under ground.  We don’t.  The transmission pipe/ditch is just that….a huge ditch that brings the water onto our place.  Our head gate is on our place but some peoples’ head gates are a mile or so above their place.  The head gate is the beginning of the transmission pipe.

We are putting as much as we can under ground so the water stays weed free, seed free–safe from the sun.  We still have sections of transmission ditches that are open (pipe is extremely expensive).  We use siphon tubes out of smaller ditches, either made of dirt or cement.  Then we use gated pipe for the rest of the place.  Lots of ways to get water into the fields.

I also was asked if we practice crop rotation…YES we do! 🙂  We were green before green was cool!

Anyway, we always plant corn after pintos, sometimes alfalfa, but alfalfa is a five-year crop so once it is in the field it stays five years until it is old (showing signs of weeds).  We plant pintos after corn or maybe alfalfa…always always working toward good soil maintenance.  After all healthy soil is the most critical way of having healthy plants.

So moving on so you aren’t bored we heard the water was at Pea Green last night.  That is 5 miles from us.  Today we will finish the ditches, fix the gated pipe and then mark out the fields.  We want to be ready for the water as soon as the head gate is unlocked!

Spring work is here!

Linda