Spring work has begun….
Terry has been disking the corn stalks.
I loved these photos of the spring buds and the spring work.
Still cold here, but warming up, it only got down to 20* last night.
Linda
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
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Tag Archives: plants
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The big nasty cold storm blew itself away last night and left us with a sunny (:)) day. The dogs went out as soon as the sun came up…they were ready.
Looking around I saw green
Everywhere
Little bits starting up
and the promise of tulips not far off!
JOY! JOY! JOY!
Linda
Maybe This Time
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
Sunday, December 2, 2012
The morning sunlight is always a welcome site, when a person gets up before the dawn.
Gradually the sun starts to light up the sky. (The flash of the camera made enough light you can see all the fore-ground ‘stuff’)
As I open up the hen house, feed the chickens, put out new water for them, the sky show more and more light.
By the time I get all the firewood loaded and heading back to the house to start up the fire
The day has arrived.
Then I forgot to go back out and get the sun actually up, because I got busy with the fire and starting breakfast.
What a glorious world we live in!
Tomorrow we start digging up ONE of the transmission ditches and laying down pipe. Should make for a lot easier season farming next year.
(Oh, yes, Terry has decided to farm one more year. Are we surprised? Although, he is still pondering if he should do pinto beans..they take a huge amount of energy (his) at harvest time.)
And, of course, if there is water to farm with!
Have a really nice Sunday!
Linda
The Party’s Over—Corn Harvest is Near
Willie Nelson
The Party’s Over
Songwriters: Daniel E. Stein
Turn out the lights
The party’s over
They say that
All good things must end
Call it tonight
The party’s over
It froze last night….
I am always rather sad this time of year. (the first killing frost time)
A bitter sweet sadness always take over on me. Although, I enjoy the thought of no more dragging the hose to water, and weeding the gardens, it also means that the dark, dreary days of winter are looming just ahead.
Time to think of putting everything to bed….digging the tropical plants and storing them in the basement, cleaning up the walkways of weeds, picking up all the garden ornaments and the summer furniture.
Out in the fields Terry and I will be adjusting pipe and I will gather and bring in and store the siphon tubes for another winter.
The good thing about the freezes is the field corn will start to get closer and closer to drying down for harvest. Depending on the how fast everything dries down harvest will start sometime this month.
Happy Sunday,
Linda
Fall Maintenance Work
Terry and I spent yesterday switching out the broken gated pipes for new pipes,
putting in new seals in the pipes that needed them.
He also decided that he wanted to not replace the four broken pipe but extend the dirt ditch further into the field.
If he likes this he might (MIGHT) turn the whole ditch into a cement ditch…heavy on the might. The cost will be high, but the work load (after the ditch is made) lots easier.
Fall Maintenance work just makes spring work that much easier!
Linda
The End of the Irrigation Season
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!
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.
Linda
Nearing the End
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.
Linda
When Walking the Shelter Dogs
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.
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
Life on a Colorado Farm 