Harvesting Pinto Beans

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Dayphoto

Of course you have to hook everything up to the tractor. Terry likes to use the 730 to pull the beans

That thing on the front is the bean puller…here’s a better photo of it

Then the bean blade

The puller lifts the beans up and the blade cuts them off

Moving down the field everything is pushed together into rows

The rows are allowed to dry for week (unless it rains, then a mess occurs)

All pulling of the beans occurs in the morning, while the dew is still on the plants. If you look you can see how dry the bean pods look. They are very dry. A little dew holds the pods together so they don’t shatter and spill the beans into the ground. If a pod shatters and the beans spill, that is then end. There is not a way to pick up the beans from the dirt.

After a week. It’s time to start combining. Combining is ALWAYS after lunch. You don’t want the plants to be wet and clump in the combine and cause a wad mess. You also don’t want wet beans going into the combine and molding. If you deliver wet beans to the beanery (where they sort, sack, and sell the beans) they will refuse your load.

For a farmer that is money and time lost.

Dry beans for the combine only!

We are not big farmers and our equipment is not new, but it is paid for and Terry knows how to fix it if something goes wrong. He also has a small combine herd of combines that he uses for parts since our stuff is really dated.

Here the combine is picking up two rows of a time and shelling them and putting the beans in the hopper

The weeds and the bean straw is flung out the back

Leaving just the straw behind.

Once the day turns to evening and the cool comes on, the farmer must stop. Lots of time the lights run until the operator just gets too tired and calls it a day.

The hopper of the combine is dumped into the bin of the grain truck

When the truck is full, but no over flowing it will be driven to the beanery about 5 miles from our home. The trash you see in the beans (weed leaves that made through the trasher into the beans) will be screened out. Then the beans are sacked ready for market.

But first….we got to get them there!

After we get done with the pintos our next crop to harvest will be the corn. But that won’t be until the end of September.

Linda

The End of the Irrigation Season

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Dayphoto

This morning at 6:45 Terry called the ditch rider and turned the water off. We are done until next spring.

He is pulling beans as I write this.

Harvest is happening!

Linda

Rain and Rainbows!

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Dayphoto

Although, we are doing pinto beans, we keep having little storms pop-up. So far the rain hasn’t stayed or pushed the beans into the mud.

(Which would be horrible, you can’t get the beans out of the mud so the crop is lost.)

But we have been blessed and only received the the gift of the rain.

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Linda

Sun Rays for Sunday Stills

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Dayphoto

Our next assignment from Sara is — “light and how you use it is one of the most important aspects of photography. Let’s play with some interesting natural light this week. Rays of sunshine can be found during the sunrise, sunset or even just beaming through a window during the day. Of course, if it rains all week, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing for much of the country either ;-) “.

So for my Sunday Stills I give you

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Sun Rays (and one photo of a neat rainbow, although we didn’t get rain someplace around us must have.)

Perfect!

Linda

Nearing the End

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Dayphoto

We are nearing the end of the irrigation season. The water for the pinto beans has been stopped, the alfalfa field has been watered and the last round of two is now in the corn.

Terry will start pulling the pintos either today or tomorrow morning, depending on the dew. The pinto beans MUST be pulled in the dew so the pods do NOT shatter and the beans fall to ground to be lost forever.

Last night the dogs and I sat 23 rows of siphon tubes while Terry was at a meeting.

The sky was lovely.

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Linda

When Walking the Shelter Dogs

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Dayphoto

When walking the shelter dogs, yesterday morning, these returning birds made a great landing and settled in for the long winter stay.

These Canada Geese picked Confluence Lake Park to settle in and rest up a bit. Later in the morning they will head to Confluence Lake.

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It won’t be long now when we will see them in the harvested sweet corn fields.

They will have to wait for the feed corn and some of the pinto bean fields to be harvested, but they can settle down in some of the onion fields as they are going to market.

Hummm, I forgot…pinto bean harvest has started here for some of our neighbors. If the weather holds (no rain for two weeks) our pinto beans will be harvested and at the Beanery ready for purchase.

Linda

Something Wet Came Last Night

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Dayphoto

A couple of nice showers came through during the night.

Wonderful!

It’s cloudy and cooler here this morning with showers playing around us…in Cedaredge, on Grand Mesa, in Peach Valley and from my upstairs window (where my desk and office are) it looks like it might be raining in the desert between Delta and Hotchkiss.

I found out yesterday that we have FOUR (4) wildfires around us…two near Paonia, one closer to Montrose and one over by the west end somewhere. I don’t know how my source knows, but they seemed very sure. So their fires are adding to the smoke.

But yesterday we had clouds and scattered showers and then last night the cooling/healing rainstorms…no lightening or thunder, that I know of. All of this should help.

We off here in a few minutes to get our last load of firewood to get us through the winter. It takes 7 loads…I’m not sure how many cords that comes to, but seems like lots as we are loading and unloading. Then it always seems like not enough as the winter wears on. In the end it usually turns out ‘just right’.

Have a nice Wednesday, everyone! It’s cool and lovely here. Just right for hauling and stacking wood!

Linda

Fall is Fixing Spring

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Dayphoto

The horrible burn we had (two days worth) last spring is starting to heal itself. Green is everywhere, although, lots of the green is invasive weeds. Still it’s green.

Also, a “little” green arrived in the mail…the insurance company covered the cost of the gated pipe on our land and some of the fence posts. The whole west side of the fence is not covered yet…lots of dickering on amount and such is going on with the two other farms who experienced they same horrendous fire.

Then yesterday the Ditch Company came and fixed the fences on the north side and the east side of our place!

The Ditch company said they would even fix the bridge (they burned) this winter with a cement top instead of the burnable wooden top.

We are really feeling blessed. Once the fence on the west side gets fixed we will have everything back to where we started.

Linda

Fall is in the Air

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Dayphoto

A lovely heavy rain came in yesterday, bringing with it cooler temperatures.

We slept with only one window opened last night and woke to a beautiful wet morning.

Other signs of change include: yellowing of leaves on the cottonwood trees, the pinto beans getting ripe, the corn starting to dent, golden rod blooming, and the rabbit brush in bloom.

As soon as the earth gets dry enough and the rain leaves our area the third cutting of hay will begin. Which should be Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

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Our sunset last night was just a dot of color the clouds were so thick, and the sunrise this morning was of a huge red orb peaking though the cherry trees. The birds are still here, a hummer greeted me early, early, as I went out to the chicken house, and songs were filling the sky after a very wet and LOUD/CRASHING/FLASHING night.

Good Morning everyone! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Linda

It Happened Last Night

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Dayphoto

My four-wheeler didn’t want to start last night so the dogs and I walked up to the middle field to help irrigate. I have to go slow as Fuzzy just can’t walk fast but he does so ever want to come along.

We were taking our time, Fuzzy and I, Boomer was searching out something in the corn field.

To get to the pinto bean field by Misty’s we must go through two corn fields, to get to the pinto bean field where the water is flowing. We need to walk along the bean field by Misty’s and our largest corn field, it’s a walk, but not bad and one I have done more than once.

The evening was starting on, the day had been hot, and Fuzzy and I were taking our time, when I suddenly knew…

a shift has occurred with our time.

Something about the air, the look of the sky, how the plants feel and smell and the soil underfoot–if I didn’t know better I would have thought that this evening, this walk through the crops, was an evening in September.

There was just that sort of feel about it.

I stopped and checked an ear of corn…the kernels are starting to dent…

When I got to the first bean field I noticed that there are yellow bottom leaves showing up everywhere

The weeds even look fallish…

Goldenrod is in full bloom and the rabbit brush is blooming