The sparkle of light through the willow tree leaves
The shadow of a big bird
A bumbly Bumble Bee
Each day is a day of delights and contentment.
The sweet Endless song of Spring work.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Slowly, slowly we are greening up. We go from a couple of warm days then back to very cold, spitting snow, wind-blowing days. Then it’s a repeat.
I guess that really is what Spring is about. Warm up too hard and fast we will have floods and the drought will come back.
So slowly, slowly forward we go.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Yes! It! Does! All the Time! WIND!
It starts around the last week of February or the first week in March. And it doesn’t stop blowing.
Oh. That maybe a bit of a stretch, but, I think you get it.
Mom is silly. She likes the wind. Well, most wind.
She doesn’t like the kind of wind that picks up buildings and flings them here and there.
But she does like the kind of wind that lifts her hair off her head and flinging it everywhichwayandup.
Mom is crazy.
Just say’n.
TLC Cai-Cai
Well, as you found out I am talking to you about our weather. For now, in this post, we have now moved to Spring (although, it IS NOT Spring right now. Just for this wee report on the weather here on the farm)
Spring weather is busy weather. Always. That is why I told you about all the ‘work’ on the farm…work is a type of weather, you see. All that tooing and froing brings a sorta wind to everything.
Spring brings all the songbirds back so that (yum, slurp, lick) the whole world sounds like BIRDS!
Also, it’s time to say goodbye to those BIG birds. They rise up one day and point south in a huge arrow, call GOOD-BYE to Mom. Mom waves goodbye to them; throws a kiss, tells them safe journey, and come back again. The farm is always waiting for them.
And they are —- gone!
But for REAL Spring weather we turn to RAIN!
Good ole make your fur so wet it takes three hours of constant licking to ever get dry again.
Mom pets me and tells me…rain is good, TLC Cai-Cai, it cleans the earth, washes everything new, and helps all the plants grow and turn green.
Mom doesn’t understand how TIRED my tongue gets.
Just say’n.
TLC Cai-Cai
First…yes, each and every time…first is Dad getting one of the tractors out and hooking it up to something. More than likely to the disk.
Then he uses the disk, after which he will plow, then roll, then level, then mark out.
Yep…each and every day in each and every field Dad will do this.
ALL except to the alfalfa field. That requires something different.
In-between all that ‘tractor work’ Dad will figure out something he wants to do BEFORE everything gets too busy.
There will be — hauling stuff to the dump,
or hauling a load to the metal buying place, or maybe even finishing up something he started in the winter.
Spring gets to be B.U.S.Y!
In the meantime, when Mom isn’t helping Dad do something, Mom is getting her yard ready for Spring. This means, raking EVERYTHING, spading up the ground where she wants to plant something new,
plus keeping on hauling in wood.
Because, You See, March is still COLD!
Which works for me!
Because I LOVE the COLD!
Just Say’n.
TLC Cai-Cai
By the end of February Dad is getting pretty excited to start farming. Why even some of the other farmers…the BIG GUYS… have started. It all depends on the frost in the ground, or not in the ground.
Dad and Mom have been busy ‘doing stuff’ most of January and most of February. This stuff usually consists of whatever it takes to make the FARMING SEASON go smooth.
Sometime in late March or April, the Apricot trees will start to bloom.
Mom says LATE APRIL, please. If you must bloom make it LATE APRIL!
You see there are still many, many cold nights and days that kill things that burst forth into robustious blooms.
A cold snap (or a terrible freeze) doesn’t seem to hurt the trees or the leaves (or lack thereof) on the trees, but it does take a huge whack out of the blossoms!
First, there are lovely sweet-smelling flowers and BAM! They are brown and dead and fall off the trees.
Of course, that also means there is no fruit to can later on.
Anyway, by the time March comes roaring in (we hope it roars in not out)
Mom and Dad are farming—
Which isn’t weather, but still…it is SPRING!
TLC Cai-Cai
Terry finished rolling all the plowed fields. (Think of plowed fields the same as double-digging up your garden bed—double digging is deeper than using a rototiller), but then it must be rolled (or raked, if you are in a garden) to smooth out the ground again.
Then after rolling comes leveling (in this case putting a slight grade to the field so the water will run to waste ditch. Leveling is akin to taking a board and smoothing out your garden or the cement on a sidewalk.
As for me….well, I’ve been cleaning up all the winter trash (corn leaves) blown around all the buildings and into my yard
Spring works also includes…getting my yard and the farm yard ready for spring! 🙂
Ethel and Thomas Davis (recently here for a wee visit) have a marvelous website Called FourWindowPress, where delightful poems and other things are published.
Ethel wrote a wonderful poem about their visit to our farm. Terry said she captured the truth about why he/we farm—work and joy together!
You have a good day today…spring is in the air.
I saw my first Robin yesterday!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
The hard frozen ground of winter is giving way to spring.
The crunch of leaves is gone…leaving soft leaves of mush, and long-ago brittle twigs even drier than when they first fell from the trees
The big birds are migrating now.
The large flocks, which slept on the farm over-night, are starting to shrink to smaller flocks. The air, in early morn and late evening ring with sounds rippling through the air –the songs of their flights
All the snow is gone…the wind having dried the ground.
Only patches remain here and there.
Although, the wind today is strong, I never mind the wind. I actually I am one of those rare people who likes the wind. I love feeling it on my face, in my hair, swirling around me in all directions.
Once, when I was a child, I took the black plastic that covered ensilage pits; tied each end to my arms and legs (behind me) and turned myself into the wind—I became a human KITE!
The wind blows most of spring, in our area (March through June), —we are surrounded by mountains on all four sides—wind is necessary to melt the snow, stir the sap, dry out the ground, open the earth for growth.
Today my heart lifts with the birds in the sky—I can feel the faint movement of velvet Spring not far off now!
From my Heart to your world,
Linda
We ride out to check the cows at least once a day. (I need a new work coat.)
The cows watch us, but never running in fear. Boomer is their main concern, but he never leaves the four-wheeler.
Moma’s hide their little ones out, saying to them —-‘stay, don’t move, don’t draw attention to yourself in any manner’.
The older calves no longer care what we are doing or how close we ride. Their concentration is usually set on something else they find wondrous and marvelous….never seen before.
This little on has one eye on us and her ears cocked so she can run if necessary.
The wind was quiet, the sun warm and bright, as we traveled slowly, ever so slowly counting heads, counting babies.
This is my favorite, so far. She is very particular about her fur, keeps it herself well groomed and very clean. See the curls on the side of her belly from all her licking? 🙂
We (Terry, Boomer and I) stop along the hillside listening to the cows moving through the grass, talking softly to each other and/or their calves, the chirping of the Red Winged Black birds adding into the softness of a very lovely spring day.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
This Spring the Red-Winged Blackbirds came!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5R4wU3VBnc&feature=youtu.be
I don’t know why they have left the Upper End with it’s lush pond and a swampy area, but they have. When they came (and they are still here) the Western Meadow Larks and all the other birds left for the Upper End, although yesterday I saw Robins on the Western side of the house and yard.
I’m not complaining I love their cheerful little songs and watching them flit and fly from branches to my feeding stations.
They are most joyful birds, don’t you agree?
Your friend,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 