Still Cold and Windy —- April 29, 2014

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Dayphoto

What a cold and windy day we had yesterday…and the day before….and again today! I’m holding onto the hope that calmer weather is heading in by the weekend. It sure needs too.

Some of the sweet corn has already been planted (no, we don’t raise sweet corn), but that that drew the early lottery already have the seed in the ground, just waiting for the weather to warm up before they put the water to the seed. Sweet corn harvest is timed to come off every two weeks starting around the 4th of July and ending in late September. Those that get the extremely early or the extremely late lottery always have a crap shoot going in…weather (the house) can be the winner in most cases.

The wind blew gusts of 40 m.p.h most of the day until late in the night, slowing down some, but back up again this morning. The weather people say to expect 35 m.p.h. gusts today. Freeze warning are in effect until Wednesday at 10 a.m. I’m pretty sure the fruit is all gone…I just don’t know how it could make it through all of this wind and extreme cold.

This Boomer on the run…he didn’t come when called so he had to hurry in behind me.

Fuzz always waits for me. He used to like to get out and chase the water, but not anymore.

Back home the cats know just what it takes to make life good

Now what more could you ask for? 🙂

Still all in all I thought the sunset was a perfect spot of Bling at the end of the day!

Linda

July 18, 2013 Sweet Corn Theft

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Dayphoto

A little of this and a little of that — our corn is starting to tassel and to make baby ears. Our corn is NOT sweet corn. We have corn that is used for corn meal and to make into feed for animals.

Not sweet corn.

BUT the sweet corn harvest has started in our area….you should be seeing western Colorado sweet corn arriving in your grocery any day now. This area’s sweet corn is raised for two companies, Tuxedo/Olathe Sweet and the other company, Mountain Fresh.

The sweet corn farmers around here are having trouble with people stealing the sweet corn — this whole story is really sad.

What happens is in the dead of night the thieves drive into the sweet corn field, drive to the middle of the field then take the pick-up and start driving through the middle of the corn…they strip the rows they knock down with the truck (someone must be in front of the truck picking — then the truck drives forward and knocks the rows down) while there must be people on either side of the truck because they strip the two rows on either side of the truck…they go through the whole field this way, evidence shows that they have a small fleet of trucks so as one if full the other one gets full until they get to the end of the field.

Then they drive off to who knows where, once they leave the field there isn’t a way to prove that that sweet corn in the back of their truck is stolen. The perfect crime.

This doesn’t seem like much, since the cost to you is in pennies or nickles or dimes or, possibly, quarters. But that is money to the farmer, for every ear of sweet corn a farmer sells he makes anywhere from $.02 -(at the most) $.05 an ear. Truck loads of luscious sweet corn leaving is either the break even point for the farmer or the profit, most times it’s the break even point.

Gradually, as the sweet corn harvest went on last year the farmer’s grew desperate and hired night guards to protect their fields and their crops.

This also happened with the onion crops last year.

So this year farmers are starting out with night watchmen to protect their hard earned investment. This whole thing is sad.

There is a fire in Utah somewhere. Sometimes we see the smoke.

I’m off to get some of my yard work done now that the pinto bean field is cleaned of corn.

Have a good one!

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!