Tag Archives: Wind

Down Time —It’s Spring Time in the Rockies

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The weatherman was right!

  A thirty-mile-an-hour wind blew in yesterday afternoon (you are looking at field trash flinging itself all over the road, on the fences and into the next field) bringing with it a very bitter cold front.

This onion farmer was rolling the last of the field trying to push the tiny seeds down far enough into the ground the wind would not blow the seed away.  Onion seeds are TINY.  And they are only planted 3/4 of an inch into the ground.  The roller packs and settles the soil on top of the seed protecting it.

The rain started around suppertime and stopped this morning.

  Farmers in the area kept going until it just got too muddy.

Then they were done. 

Some worked right up until they couldn’t drive their equipment off the field….every minute helps when you have way too much to do and way too little of a window to get it done in.

Terry and Misty didn’t work yesterday.  Having worked until dark the day before getting all the ground rolled.  Terry doesn’t like to ‘move soil’ when the wind is blowing.  (Our top soil then goes “who-knows-where”).   They will start leveling once everything dries out again.

On the bright side of this little storm we should start seeing green things popping up!

Now That is a wonderful thought!

Linda

Once What Was There is Now Here

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The wind came in.  (What am I talking about…we have had strong wind now for most of the year.  Shish!)

Anyway, another strong wind arrived

Lifting all the lose corn leaves and flinging them

Here

There

And everywhere.

The storm seems to be moving on, so by this weekend maybe I can get this stuff all raked up.

Or…maybe another storm will come in and blow everything far, far, away.

(I think I’m just wasting my time wishing that! 🙂 )

Linda

The Year of the Wind

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Wind became our constant companion starting this spring. Not just a now and then breeze but a real honest-to-goodness wind.  After our really long, last forever and ever winter ended, the wind began.

Now wind is normal for our spring….it takes the wind to melt the snow in the mountains and in the canyons surrounding us, and because we live on a mesa, we are subject to wind.

Our wind comes out of Utah.

Five miles away in the town of Delta, while we are blowing away, they have nothing, nada, zip, no wind.

(I took this at 4:00 p.m. last evening)

But this year, after the spring winds left, the winds continued on into summer, then fall, and now winter 15-35 and sometimes 45-60 M.P.H. wing-dingers. 

Even though the corn stalks, and the corn leaves, and the corn tassels are dry…the ears with their lovely little knurls are not. 

The tops are now broken, lying helter-skelter along the furrows and there is nothing we can do but wait.

A warm up is suppose to start today and get all the way up to 45* by Friday with the nights bottoming out around 16*.   But the best part is the wind is only going to be around 5 M.P.H.!

Say a little prayer for us that corn dries down to 14% or lower.  Once that happens we can begin the harvest.  A couple things rely on harvest…the cows are turned into pasture, which cuts down on the hay usage, and we get paid!  One paycheck a year per crop is how a farmer gets to stay in business. 

Sure has been a funny year.  Terry said in all his years of farming, or his father farming corn, has the harvest ever been so late.  We aren’t the only farmers hurting, so hopefully a corner has been turned and the corn can get out the fields into the elevators.

Linda

Crops

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The crops are starting to come along.  Everything is really slow because of the cold weather.  But finally the corn is poking through the ground in the middle field, and the east field’s seed is starting to soften and sprout.  If the weather would warm up and stay warm (corn likes warm weather) the fields will green up nicely.

Terry is watering the bean ground, last set, and then it will dry for awhile before he plants.  Here again we could use some warmer weather to dry out the subbed soil enough for planting.

I did get my garden planted this weekend, the garden rows share the same field as the pinto beans, I cut back some, instead of ½ of an acre I shrunk.  It’s just too hard to keep everything going at my age and still work at a paying job!!!  🙂

The alfalfa is enjoying the cooler weather though.  It won’t be long now before the first cutting, probably in about three weeks.

One thing about being out in the fields the views are amazing.  On one side is the San Juan Mountains, the other view shows you the West Elk peaks, and in the north is Grand Mesa, the largest flat-top mountain in the world.  But what butts up to our mesa is the Uncompahgre plateau.

Actually the Uncompahgre is more than a plateau it is a mountain range full of cliffs, canyons and mesas 90 miles long.  When the sun is just right you can see this amazing geology so full of mystery and wonder.

Anyway, the wind has some good use, besides bringing the sap up in the trees and bushes.  🙂

As long as there is snow up there we will have wind.

Linda

Thankful Thursday

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The rains came last night and cleared up the sky! 

The world is all shiny and new again and Utah’s dirt is meshing with Colorado soil.

Still cold here, but with the wind and the dirt settled I’ll take cold.

Linda

If You Don’t Like the Weather, Just Wait…It Will Change

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We went from this

(driving home Friday night)

and this

to more snow on Saturday

to a Chinook Wind on Sunday.

With really nice temperatures.

And it’s warmer today.  Welcome to Western Colorado weather!

Linda

The Corn is Tally High

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Tally-and-the-Corn-002

The corn is doing well; too tall now to cultivate.  And the rain has stopped.  Well, it has moved to the mountains surrounding us, we are only experiencing heavy afternoon winds.  Lots of sun!

Life is good.

In Spite of the Weather the Work Still Goes On

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Best-Swather-Photo

The last field of alfalfa has been cut, and we are waiting for it to dry.  You can see the showers playing around in Olathe in this photo.

(Come on sun, come on out and play!)

We are still irrigating.  We will never NOT be irrigating, right up until harvest.

Watering-Beans

A little sun is peaking through!

Here is what the beans look like right now.  I forgot to get a photo of the corn, but it is about calf high.

Watering-the-pasture

Watering the pasture

Oats-and-Hay

The new seeding of oats and alfalfa is looking good, but needs irrigating.  You can see the big cracks in the ground.  The water will rotate to this spot next.

Grass-Going-to-Seed

Every thing looks lush and wonderful because of the showers, sprinkles and downpours.

Rose-Garden

I shouldn’t complain—it is just hard to get the alfalfa to dry.  Otherwise, I guess I just miss the sun.

Wind and Rain

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What a mixed blessing we are having.  We are still experiencing lots of wind (this sure is an odd year for wind).  And some pretty nice rain, which is good for our semi-arid region. 

The hay is ever so close to first cutting, any day now (that is why we are getting rain ….chuckle  ),

but … sigh..

Rain-and-Hay

Here is what happens with a mix of tall alfalpha, heavy wind, and lots of rain. 

Wind-and-Hay

The alfalfa falls over, sometimes twists on itself, and can even lay flat.

Oh well, we can still cut it, it just takes longer and it a little harder to do.

Have a Happy Memorial Day!      See you on Tuesday.

Corn’s Up!

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New-Corn-003

And the lilacs are blooming!

Lilac-in-Bloom

Plus everywhere I get to pick up plastic shopping bags!  Even in the lilac bushes!  The wind has been amazing this year, bringing with it dust, dirt, mud rain, and other people’s trash. 

Plastic-Bags

As long as there is snow in the mountains surrounding us we will have wind, but once the visible snow is gone it stops.  We have had more wind than normal, so possibly there is more snow in ‘them thar hills’ than normal? 

Today it is around 81*, lovely.  No wind, just sun and blue, blue skies.  Ahhhh.