Where We are With the Farming—Sunday, April 7, 2024

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Dayphoto

The plowing is all done!

All the plowed ground is now rolled—you have to smash all the plowed earth flat, the roller does that

The plowed and rolled ground is leveled—meaning fixing the ground so there are no humps, lumps or bumps in it so the water can go through from the top of the field all the way to the bottom of the field

All the grass fields and the alfalfa fields have been marked out ready for the water to start

Equines (not cows) are very hard on gated pipe—-we now have all the gated pipe repaired.

Getting closer to starting water on the farm. Soon now.

Very soon!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm

Linda

What We Have Been Doing — Part 2, Sunday, April 25, 2021 (AND A RAINBOW)

Posted on April 25, 2021 by Dayphoto

One of the gated pipes had a huge crack in it’s side—therefore, we had to go through our extra sticks of pipe and haul one over for the repair

Once there the pipe had to be pulled apart

The broken one removed.

(Mindy is helping. She had to check out the pipe to make sure we got the broken one.)

She approved.

Then we had to put the new pipe in place of the damaged pipe. And hook up all the pipes together again.

Took lots of time–pulling and tugging, then rolling the gates up into position.

You would think gated pipe would make irrigation easier, but the reality is they are lots of work.

So. There you go…the time-consuming repairs on top of all the ‘regular stuff.

And the gift of the day—A RAINBOW!

Oh, the joy!

From my world to your heart,

Linda

That Musical Sound of Water —- Monday, May 4, 2020

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Dayphoto

Some of our fields are irrigated by gated pipe

We have two different types of pipe, both are gated.

This means there are little gates cut into the pipe which are opened and closed as needed

The gated pipe sounds like a really nice way to go. No dipping into the water, no setting up of dams..just open or close the gate.

But, even things that seem like a gift in reducing the workload; has its drawbacks.

In this case TRASH!

Trash is a problem in all the ditches, (we have trash cleaners, but sometimes the wind blows in the trash after the trash cleaner has done its work.

Sooooo….here you are looking at a gate all plugged up with trash..stopping the water.

We come along and clean out the trash. Sometimes the trash is a stick or corn cob–those things get really, really, stuck. They are very hard to get out. Gradually, working and working our fingers into the little gate we can break up the item and force it out through the hole.

It takes time, but it can be done.

In a siphon ditch, a person just lifts the trash out with a shovel. 🙂

Happy Monday, Everyone!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

The Many Wondrous Gifts—-Monday, September 3, 2018

Posted on September 3, 2018 by Dayphoto

I was zipping back toward home when I spied out of the tail of my eye a most unusual rock…one I had driven by many, many times, but didn’t notice until just then

Turning back around, and getting off the four-wheeler (telling Boomer to stay)

I saw it was a gift from the gods to me—

A little heart-shaped rock. I picked it up. Gave a silent thanks to earth and the rock; brought it home where it now resides in my garden.

Then later on, as I was picking up the garden hose in preparation for mowing the lawn…I saw a Rainbow!

A huge delight!

Yesterday

while Terry and I were working on the gated pipe—-gated pipe has a tendency to work itself apart

I saw

Another heart-shaped rock

and

ANOTHER ONE!

Three in two days!

WOW!

But that wasn’t all the gifts bestowed on me (or anyone who might be around)

There in the sky…just as the sun was starting to set

We saw a sundog. In three-days-time, a cool down will arrive.

Magnificent Gifts! Perfect in every way!

From my world to your heart!

Linda

Ditch Work—Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Dayphoto

We are working on winterizing the farm. Boomer and I started picking up the siphon tubes and the orange dams. Cows are very hard on things like that—they love to walk on them to hear the snap! Silly girls.

Today we are back at the settling pond. He was going to finish it up in the spring, but has since decided to do it now. The huge pile you see in the corner we will do just before the water turns in, but the rest of the dirt will come out this fall.

Actually today.

Four-wheeler jump on a dirt pile!! Tee Hee

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

Rolling Along—Monday, March 23, 2015

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Dayphoto

Terry has started rolling down the plowed earth. Thankfully the rain and the sun and the wind did not damage to the soil. By damage I mean it didn’t cause our clay type of soil to turn into bricks, ready to be fired. 🙂
It’s always nice to see the soil smooth out and start to look like a seed bed. He will still have to level the field, fertilize, and then mark it out. We always irrigate before we plant–it’s called ‘wet planting’. Some of the farmers around here do ‘dry planting’, which means they plant first then water.

We have also been moving the gated pipe around, we had three pipe break over the winter so now we have to do some adjusting.

You can see the broken pipe on the left, we will set this good pipe in it’s place. (One down two more to go 🙂

We have to have the pipe set before the fields are done with the tractor work—-everything has to be in place to start the water…time is moving along fast now. By the first week in April we hope to have the water on the land.

Our weekend was outstanding! The whole family from Craig, Colorado was here, then on Sunday we were (all) the two sets of kids and their spouses, the Craig family, Terry and I were at our son-in-law’s 43 birthday party. Good food and family, really who could ask for more?

Anyway, off to get some stuff done. I hope your day is a good one.

Your friend on a Western Colorado Farm,

Linda

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Dayphoto

Yesterday Terry and I had to change out the rubber gaskets, which had hardened over the winter. (They were leaking and making a mess)

We had to pull apart the pipes and then reset them after the gaskets were in place…not hard, but time consuming. One of those little housekeeping jobs that is so necessary, but tedious to do. I’m sure every last one of you can relate to that in some fashion.

Today we try to take off…as much as a farm and running water will let you.

Our grandson has two soccer games, either both or one of us will attend.
Our oldest granddaughter has a soccer camp, which we will NOT attend.
Our youngest granddaughter has a dance recital that Shannon and I will be taking her too.

Then after all of that we will be celebrating our youngest daughter’s 36th birthday…goodness time flies!

Most of the time Terry and I don’t really feel old, but when we look at the ages of our four children we realize we HAVE moved into the last part of our lives.

But we AREN’T Dead Yet….so onward we go! 🙂 🙂

Have a great Sunday you’all! It’s supposed to be 80* here today.

I’m delighted!!!

Linda

Opening the Fields

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Dayphoto

We opened the fields Friday — which means we started water. This is a big job as all the ditches have to be flushed, the weeds cleaned out.

Hank enjoys helping the water move through the mud at the bottom of the ditches. He gets the mud packed into his nose. Such a goofy dog! (said with love)

Then the water is set in the proper fields.

Boomer only likes the water to get a drink out of, most the time he is out scouting around!

The day started out cold, warmed up, and then cooled down again. Of course when you are working you warm up fast!

We had help, Misty and Tallen, Hank, Boomer, and Fuzzy.

Fuzzy didn’t want to get off the four-wheeler so I just let him stay up there. This is not normal for him as he loves ‘chasing water’. I guess, he has decided he is just too old now and will opt for directing the other dogs on what to do. The patriarch of the dog pack so to speak.

I would set him down and he would hang out in the shade, go over and get a drink and then head back to the shade. Sort of sad really, but at least he still like going with us.

Tallen really does help…we gave her a row of her own and she truly worked at getting the water down it.

These little grandchildren may never live or work on a farm, but they are getting a good taste of what it takes to make a row crop farm go. 🙂

This photo shows you the gated pipe at work. The little gates are nice in some ways, in others not so nice….like having to clean the trash out of them. You have to reach clear inside and pull the trash out, lots of bending over and getting your hands and fingers wet.

The end of the day we were all back out there.

When you open a field every end of the row has to be dug out so your water goes down the row it is supposed to be in. Corn is watered every other row. Lots of digging when you first open a field, lots of digging after you plant and after you cultivate.

Terry always waters the corn fields first so he doesn’t have to worry about cold weather coming along and causing the VERY EXPENSIVE corn seed to rot.

We will soak the fields, let them dry, then he will plant.

In the beginning your winter body doth protest loudly, by the end of the season you are ‘fit as a fiddle’ — as my beloved maternal grandfather would say.

Terry packed rows ahead of us so we didn’t have to walk the water through the field, sometimes packing helps sometimes not. Yesterday and Friday it worked great!

I hope each and everyone of you have a really nice Sunday…a day of just doing whatever you feel like doing!

Linda

Wednesday April 4, 2013

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Dayphoto

Terry and I spent the morning cleaning out the waste ditches yesterday. Then as I continued getting the rest of the ditches cleaned he came along with the 4240 and the blade making the ditch that carry the water from our field to the farm just below us.

All of our water comes from another farm(s) to us. After we use it then it goes on to the next farm then to the river and onto California.

I was asked how we siphon out of a pipe under ground. We don’t. The transmission pipe/ditch is just that….a huge ditch that brings the water onto our place. Our head gate is on our place but some peoples’ head gates are a mile or so above their place. The head gate is the beginning of the transmission pipe.

We are putting as much as we can under ground so the water stays weed free, seed free–safe from the sun. We still have sections of transmission ditches that are open (pipe is extremely expensive). We use siphon tubes out of smaller ditches, either made of dirt or cement. Then we use gated pipe for the rest of the place. Lots of ways to get water into the fields.

I also was asked if we practice crop rotation…YES we do! 🙂 We were green before green was cool!

Anyway, we always plant corn after pintos, sometimes alfalfa, but alfalfa is a five-year crop so once it is in the field it stays five years until it is old (showing signs of weeds). We plant pintos after corn or maybe alfalfa…always always working toward good soil maintenance. After all healthy soil is the most critical way of having healthy plants.

So moving on so you aren’t bored we heard the water was at Pea Green last night. That is 5 miles from us. Today we will finish the ditches, fix the gated pipe and then mark out the fields. We want to be ready for the water as soon as the head gate is unlocked!

Spring work is here!

Linda

Fall Maintenance Work

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Dayphoto

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.