I got my first real lesson on farm irrigation recently. Oh sure, I've seen the center pivot machines cranking out the water, but my recent experience was with a bit older technology... gravity.
It all started one dark and stormy night a few weeks ago... well it was dark anyway. At 10:30PM a mystery tractor with what appeared to be a corn planter showed up and did some work just west of the barn. Now ordinarily, a tractor working in your yard well after dark would be cause for concern if we were city dwellers, but we've learned farmers can work some pretty crazy hours now and then out here. We also knew our farming neighbor had been busy planting his field corn and just figured he was involved... not so!
OK, so maybe he was a little involved as it was his tractor, but not him at the controls. The operator, who will remain nameless, I understand planted around 5 acres of sweet corn in three different plots... one of those being 50 rows west of our barn. Well shortly after the corn was planted, farm protocol seems to dictate that each row needs to be "hilled" for irrigation purposes, and I've learned that works pretty good!
Since I'm not a farmer, and my thumb isn't even the lightest shade of green, I try and pay attention to what the professional experts around me have said about water requirements and corn. Well as soon as I noticed that sweet corn was starting to tassel, I started watering. And I watered, and watered, and watered. After about 8 hours of gravity feed from a garden hose, I had 5 rows of sweet corn adequately watered.
Lesson number 1... Don't plant more stuff than you can water and care for. This may come into play a lot more later on in the season as we're trying to water most of the plot with some success, but when that corn is ready, I wonder what we're gonna do with it all at the moment. I have some ideas but I digress...
Until the last couple weeks, I just figured that farmers fired up the irrigation pump and water poured into the fields with little further effort by the farmer. I suppose that is mostly true for those with center pivot machines, but the gravity feed irrigation it turns out is pretty labor intensive. I had no idea that those pipes had numerous shutoffs that had to be opened and closed manually. It's one of those things a city slicker never thinks about I guess, at least not this one.
To shorten the story a bit, I've helped open and close those irrigation spigots, found out wet soft dirt supports absolutely no weight... I sank in a good 10 inches in places, and worked the dumb end of a hoe quite a bit opening up waterways in my little experimental field.
Final note... neighbors stopped by with cucumbers already this summer. The green thumbs are at it again!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Throwbacks
In the last few years, National Football League teams have started wearing replica uniforms from their early years. My favorite Denver Bronco's wore their vertical stripped socks for a game. Yikes! You folks that go fishing probably brag about your last fishing trip... including the throwbacks that were over 2 pounds. But today I want to talk more about going back in time... my time to be specifically.
It was just a few weeks ago that I was reading the Denver Post online when I came across an article about a local Denver performer and the 5 year success of her business venture. Lannie Garrett is the performers name, and her Clocktower Cabaret located in downtown Denver. Ordinarily I don't pay any attention to Denver's entertainment scene, but Lannie Garrett has a special place in Margie and my lives.
It was the night of Oct 5, 1991. Margie and I were going out on our first Date. My life had changed in more ways than I every could have imagined. I'd gone through cancer and its treatment, with pretty significant consequences. During the course of the treatment I lost 110 pounds taking me to my low of 97. Okay, so it's a good thing I started out fat, but I don't recommend that sort of diet. Like many, my ex couldn't take the changes I went through, and I just figured I'd be a loner for the most part going forward but I digress...
Lannie Garrett was performing with the Denver Symphony Orchestra that night, and to shorten this story to a reasonable length, it must have been a great concert as Margie and I fell in love and are living happily ever after out here on the farm(stead).
What brings the above to mind is that the article in the Denver Post I mentioned compelled me to write Ms. Garrett an email thank you. I had never considered writing to thank her, but Margie and I often speak of that night and the concert, and I felt compelled to write so I did. Imagine my surprise when I got a reply from her, offering free tickets to one of her shows as her guest.
We took the short notice opportunity to go to Denver and accepted the invite to Ms Garretts sold out show. Margie and I have not been in downtown Denver in many years and I admit the downtown area has all kinds of things going on with big crowds of people seemingly everywhere. All I want to say about that is I'm so glad we live on the farm(stead).
Our seats in the renovated basement cabaret were great. The show Lannie put on was entitled "Great Women of Song: From Billie to Bette", and was nothing short of wonderful as far as Margie and I were concerned. She is a first class entertainer, and we enjoyed the show as much as the last time we saw her 19 years ago. The last song, Judy Garlands "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", was performed so beautifully that it brought tears to Margie's eyes... one of her all time favorites I learned. Pay attention guys, I don't think we will ever completely know 'em.
To wrap up our weekend, we stopped in to visit an old friend on our way out of town. We related our previous nights excursion into the depths of downtown Denver only to learn that our host knows Ms. Garrett and quite well if I heard correctly. I guess Dave knows or knew Lannies agent... anyway small world.
And my last throwback I want to mention today includes a conversation I had recently where I got to relate my feelings for one of my uncles. I doubt my uncle had any idea how much I looked forward to seeing him and my aunt. He was a big man with big stories, and his work had him in the Pacific Northwest in the timber industry. I loved going into the woods in his 4x4 pickups down logging roads dodging logging trucks and watching the fascinating process of moving trees from upright to the saw mill. His stories kept me entertained almost as much.
We never know what effect we may make on someones life. Lets all try and make it a good effect whoever we deal with.
It was just a few weeks ago that I was reading the Denver Post online when I came across an article about a local Denver performer and the 5 year success of her business venture. Lannie Garrett is the performers name, and her Clocktower Cabaret located in downtown Denver. Ordinarily I don't pay any attention to Denver's entertainment scene, but Lannie Garrett has a special place in Margie and my lives.
It was the night of Oct 5, 1991. Margie and I were going out on our first Date. My life had changed in more ways than I every could have imagined. I'd gone through cancer and its treatment, with pretty significant consequences. During the course of the treatment I lost 110 pounds taking me to my low of 97. Okay, so it's a good thing I started out fat, but I don't recommend that sort of diet. Like many, my ex couldn't take the changes I went through, and I just figured I'd be a loner for the most part going forward but I digress...
Lannie Garrett was performing with the Denver Symphony Orchestra that night, and to shorten this story to a reasonable length, it must have been a great concert as Margie and I fell in love and are living happily ever after out here on the farm(stead).
What brings the above to mind is that the article in the Denver Post I mentioned compelled me to write Ms. Garrett an email thank you. I had never considered writing to thank her, but Margie and I often speak of that night and the concert, and I felt compelled to write so I did. Imagine my surprise when I got a reply from her, offering free tickets to one of her shows as her guest.
We took the short notice opportunity to go to Denver and accepted the invite to Ms Garretts sold out show. Margie and I have not been in downtown Denver in many years and I admit the downtown area has all kinds of things going on with big crowds of people seemingly everywhere. All I want to say about that is I'm so glad we live on the farm(stead).
Our seats in the renovated basement cabaret were great. The show Lannie put on was entitled "Great Women of Song: From Billie to Bette", and was nothing short of wonderful as far as Margie and I were concerned. She is a first class entertainer, and we enjoyed the show as much as the last time we saw her 19 years ago. The last song, Judy Garlands "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", was performed so beautifully that it brought tears to Margie's eyes... one of her all time favorites I learned. Pay attention guys, I don't think we will ever completely know 'em.
To wrap up our weekend, we stopped in to visit an old friend on our way out of town. We related our previous nights excursion into the depths of downtown Denver only to learn that our host knows Ms. Garrett and quite well if I heard correctly. I guess Dave knows or knew Lannies agent... anyway small world.
And my last throwback I want to mention today includes a conversation I had recently where I got to relate my feelings for one of my uncles. I doubt my uncle had any idea how much I looked forward to seeing him and my aunt. He was a big man with big stories, and his work had him in the Pacific Northwest in the timber industry. I loved going into the woods in his 4x4 pickups down logging roads dodging logging trucks and watching the fascinating process of moving trees from upright to the saw mill. His stories kept me entertained almost as much.
We never know what effect we may make on someones life. Lets all try and make it a good effect whoever we deal with.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Free
Free is a pretty powerful word. When we see or hear the word free, we always pay attention. We've all figured that you can get something for nothing, but we also know it isn't necessarily the right thing to do, or that there are "strings attached".
Back in December of 1931, Ted and Dorothy Hustead bought a small town pharmacy after searching Nebraska and South Dakota for their perfect location. They settled in Wall, SD with a depression/dust bowl population of 326. At first they struggled, but a brainstorm came to Dorothy and the rest is history. Free ice water put Wall Drug on the map from the first day they offered it. You can read some of the history at... http://www.walldrug.com/t-history.aspx
We see advertising all the time offering something for "free". Free with the purchase of... you probably have your favorite example, but mine are the TV ads that ALWAYS say... "but wait, if you order now, we'll include another widget absolutely free, just pay shipping and handling" bla, bla, bla!
What got me thinking about free stuff was a story of a boy who made a pretty good income offering free lemonade. His "business plan" was to offer sweet and sour lemonade for free, and having a donation jar be his fee collector. You can read about him here... http://www.parentdish.com/2010/06/30/7-tips-for-a-successful-lemonade-stand/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl5|link1|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentdish.com%2F2010%2F06%2F30%2F7-tips-for-a-successful-lemonade-stand%2F
In reality, almost nothing is free anymore. Our atmosphere used to be free, but now it's regulated or taxed for companies and devices that operate within it. Water used to be free, but now it has to be treated before and after it's used, so we pay for these services. Taking a hike in the mountains used to be free, but now you need to pay a fee to park your car and use the facilities. The commons are being taken away from us ever so slowly by privatazation and nobody seems to mind a bit.
Still, we live in a relatively free society, and our freedoms have not come cheaply. As we celebrate the birth of our nation, lets take a moment and reflect on how we got started, what we have been through, where we are, and where we are headed.
Happy Birthday USA!
Back in December of 1931, Ted and Dorothy Hustead bought a small town pharmacy after searching Nebraska and South Dakota for their perfect location. They settled in Wall, SD with a depression/dust bowl population of 326. At first they struggled, but a brainstorm came to Dorothy and the rest is history. Free ice water put Wall Drug on the map from the first day they offered it. You can read some of the history at... http://www.walldrug.com/t-history.aspx
We see advertising all the time offering something for "free". Free with the purchase of... you probably have your favorite example, but mine are the TV ads that ALWAYS say... "but wait, if you order now, we'll include another widget absolutely free, just pay shipping and handling" bla, bla, bla!
What got me thinking about free stuff was a story of a boy who made a pretty good income offering free lemonade. His "business plan" was to offer sweet and sour lemonade for free, and having a donation jar be his fee collector. You can read about him here... http://www.parentdish.com/2010/06/30/7-tips-for-a-successful-lemonade-stand/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl5|link1|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentdish.com%2F2010%2F06%2F30%2F7-tips-for-a-successful-lemonade-stand%2F
In reality, almost nothing is free anymore. Our atmosphere used to be free, but now it's regulated or taxed for companies and devices that operate within it. Water used to be free, but now it has to be treated before and after it's used, so we pay for these services. Taking a hike in the mountains used to be free, but now you need to pay a fee to park your car and use the facilities. The commons are being taken away from us ever so slowly by privatazation and nobody seems to mind a bit.
Still, we live in a relatively free society, and our freedoms have not come cheaply. As we celebrate the birth of our nation, lets take a moment and reflect on how we got started, what we have been through, where we are, and where we are headed.
Happy Birthday USA!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
