Olathe Sweet Corn | Life on a Colorado Farm

We are in the middle of another winter storm…high winds, blowing snow and winter advisory over the Gunnison Mountain Range.

Terry and about 4 other neighbors were talking yesterday evening about the snow on the Gunnison Mountain Range…this is where we get our water.

The whole conversation was dismal, to put it lightly.

One of the neighbors is the Vice-President of the Uncompahgre Water Users (our irrigation water) and he said things are looking very bad in the water department. The snow pack is 77% of normal, but the snow is a very dry snow, with very little water.

The Water Users were going to turn the water on the middle of April, but now they aren’t….they are going to wait until the first day of May, hoping to have water for the heat of the season…July and August.

Now, no one knows what to do….everyone is looking at planting a maximum of 60% of their farm ground, but…can they? The sweet corn farmers and the onion guys need to have the seed in the ground in April, wet and ready to sprout by the third week of April to have a crop. With this late water start it is looking like the crop for Olathe Sweet Sweet Corn and Mountain Sweet Sweet Corn is going to be very slim…if at all.

Pinto Beans don’t have to be planted as early and can be harvested early, but they do need lots of water…the pinto bean guys are wondering if they should even try since they can’t afford to have the water shot just as the pods begin to swell.

Corn for corn bread, chicken feed and cow feed takes a long growing season and needs to be in the ground, watered up before the first of May…

Lets hope this storm is being very good to us and lots of WET snow is falling on the Gunnison Mountains…magic thoughts from all you, please!

Food is going to be sparse this year from our part of Colorado it seems, unless the Gunnison Mountains can get lots and lots of WET snow.

Thanks,

Linda

This year, (because we do rotational planting —-meaning all crops are rotated from one field to the next keeping disease and bug problems down as much as possible) the corn all happened to be planted around the house and the buildings.

The heat inside of a corn field is hot and humid, corn just loves a hot day, add in the water to keep the corn growing and you have a huge humidifier!

Breezes don’t make it inside this box of heat and moisture unless we have a wind…I relish wind now…

On the flip side I love smelling the corn, so rich and full and alive. Sounds carry from far away so it seems the train (6 miles away) is right down the field. The dogs can’t figure out if they should bark or not. They mostly don’t unless someone is right at the yard, so the nighttime dog phone has rather stopped.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

And we get an up close and personal daily report on how the corn is doing, just be looking out the window or working in the yard.

Harvest for sweet corn is on….you should be seeing Olathe Sweet Sweet Corn or Mountain Sweet Sweet Corn in your market soon. If you do just know that the corn was grown somewhere near our farm!

(No we don’t grow sweet corn, we grow corn that used for feed or to be made into corn meal. Our season of growing lasts much longer than sweet corn.)

Linda