Crop Report—Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Dayphoto

Second cutting of hay is stacked and some is sold. Terry is delivering 60 bales to Delta Elevator as I write this. One more cutting and we are done for the year. Golly, summer is flying by.

The pinto beans have grown shut! See that corn stalk! Grrr! Corn is NOT good in pinto beans. Corn kernels and pinto beans are the same size so they go through the combine together and make a TARE on the pinto beans. Meaning the beanery has to sort the corn out, which they dock the farmer for the time and labor to do so. I am going to have to figure out how to get out there and get that stalk before harvest!!!! And NOT smash or harm the pinto bean plants in any way. 😦

The pinto bean plants are now setting pods and the ‘new crop’ of seeds starting grow in the pod. You can see the seeds developing.

The field corn is starting to grow kernels. The brownish/red silks are showing that the little hairs have been pollinated and the cob is starting to grow the seed. (We eat the seed in some form…ground up for corn meal, boiled on the table, or for animal feed). The white silk shows that the ear has not been pollinated yet. As the wind, or birds, or animals move through the corn the pollen from the tassels will float down and pollinate the silks. Then we wait for the kernels to grow and swell and develop.We have one row of sweet corn along side the field corn. Sweet corn is shorter than field corn. I picked 2 ripe ears of sweet corn yesterday and we had them for lunch. Yummm!
The raccoons and the deer and the skunks like the sweet corn also. 😦 I try to watch my crop closely to grab what I can before they get it. Most the time they beat me.

We heard that there were bears in one of the commercial sweet corn fields two nights ago. Bears think sweet corn is yummy. I hope they don’t come down here..I only have the one row …..

Our rain has moved on, although, they are saying there is the possibly of thunderstorms this afternoon. Still the day is fresh and lovely.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

August 1, 2013

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Dayphoto

Today is cloudy and cool. It is 67* right now…with rain showers here and there around us … nice!

Terry came in this morning and said he found stripped pinto bean pods…a sure sign we will be looking at harvest in a couple of weeks, by the third week of August for sure.

Today is Lammas Day—after Lammas Day the corn ripens as much by night as by day. Although, I think most of the wheat harvest is done here and in the other states next to or below ours. I am also sure that the wheat harvest is moving on up into the northern most states. Maybe it is over for those states also, hummmm.

The last load of hay is leaving today…every bales sold (now) until third cutting.

Boy, is summer flying now. We still need to get 3 more cords of wood, maybe 5 cords. We used 7 cords last winter and still ran out. It sure was a long winter. Geez, I dread winter.

I got all the corn up that I’m going to put up. That is always a good feeling.

Off to do my work for the day…it’s so nice outside I don’t think weeding is going to be much of a chore. All my seeds I planted are blooming now, sure makes me smile.

Have a good one everyone!

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.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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

We Live in the Middle of a Corn Field

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Dayphoto

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

Harvests are Starting in Our Area

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Dayphoto

It doesn’t seem possible but we are on the last irrigation of the season for the pinto beans. The pods are full and the beans are starting to harden up, once the pods stripe Terry will put the bean puller on the tractor and pull the plants. This will allow them to dry. Then he will combine.

About the middle of September (is our prediction) we will begin the harvest of the pinto beans.

This year I have raised 10 different varieties of dry bush beans (like pinto beans). Because they are in the yard they are ripening and getting ready for harvest sooner.

I just harvested my Red Mexican bean.

I have several others in the drying stage,

of course my harvest is all done by hand 🙂

The sweet corn harvest is in full swing also. We wake up every morning (5:00) to the sound of the sweet corn pickers on thier way to work. The first load of corn heads into the cooler around 6:30. They stop picking about dark. If you see Olathe Sweet or Mountain Sweet—-sweet corn in your market you will know it came from a farm somewhere close to ours!

Enjoy your summer, it’s starting to some to a close when the harvests begin!

Linda

The first correspondent of the first newspaper in Delta

Everything is Now in the Ground

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Dayphoto

Planting is done for the year.

These are Bill Zee pinto beans. By the end of the growing season they will be heading to someone’s cooking pot.

This is my corner of the field, where the garden usually sets– four rows from the top of the field to the bottom.

But NOT this year!

I’ve cut back when the wind beat what I planted to death. Now it’s all planted to sweet corn…well only 2 rows and only half-way down the field.

I graciously let Terry have the rest of the field for pinto beans. He graciously planted my sweet corn with his planter…we are both happy!

The tractor will weed for me and I only have to pick and can it.

Not a bad trade off!

Linda

Four Days of High Winds

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Dayphoto

What a long weekend, four days of very strong, 50-60 m.p.h. wind hit our area A.G.A.I.N.!!

This sure has been a hard spring for wind.

My poor garden plants didn’t survive. I tried covering them, but the wind blew off the covers. I guess I will settle for just stuff growing in my yard instead of the garden spot in the field. I will just turn the garden spot into a sweet corn patch and be done, sweet corn is always good.