Irrigation Sights

Sometimes after church I'll join Joel on an irrigation shift.  We put the little boys down for a nap and leave the older kids home with a church movie on.  We take quality time whenever we can.  On this particular Sunday we spotted 2 different deer.  Both babies, one a doe, one a buck.  So pretty. 

 

If you've eaten today, thank a farmer.

Ben Ben

Joel works with his uncle Ben on the farm.  His cousin Ben just returned from an LDS Mission in New York.  Here's a proud papa.  Ben got home on a Saturday and was assigned at 4:30am irrigation shift.  Welcome back Ben!

 

If you've eaten today, thank a farmer.

Hay

Our alfalfa is cut and baled for hay.  Any crop that is cut and baled is called hay.  There can be barley hay, wheat hay, alfalfa hay.  We get 4-5 crops of alfalfa hay a year.  Alfalfa is cut and left in rows to dry.  The baler comes and packs the hay.  Our kids think it looks like baler is pooping out the hay.  Nice imagery. 

This field was baled on June 10.

 Here is the same field a month later on July 4.  It will be cut and baled again by July 13.  Harvest season is in full swing here.

 

If you've eaten today, thank a farmer.

The crops

I took a bit of a break here but am back with some cool photos of the wheat and alfalfa.  I decided to use a handsome model to show how high the crops were growing.  So here we have month's worth of growth in the wheat. 

 

It's starting to tassel out at the top.  It will be ready for harvest when it turns golden.

 

With the alfalfa we decided to switch fields.  The field I've been photoing is a first year crop, meaning this is the first year it's growing in the field.  Production is not as good the first year so I switched to a different field where the alfalfa is already established and you can see how big it gets.  So here's the original field on May 6 and the new field on June 3.

It is so pretty on the farm right now.  I love it.

 

If you've eaten today, thank a farmer.

Catching Geese

Joel often works the the division of wildlife resources.  This has been a fun project the last few years.  In the spring they catch baby geese from parks, golf courses, apartment complexes and relocate them.  E and M helped catch these geese.  They had to herd them all together, which you can imagine the geese don't like.  This would have been hilarious to watch.  E and M are brave and awesome.  E got bit by a bigger baby goose and it left a mark on her arm.  The geese get banded so their migration can be tracked.  Then they get loaded into crates and travel to their new home. 

We got 160 baby geese to come live on the big pond at the farm.

The crates get unloaded and then the birds are all released all at once.  Different than releasing pheasants.

W kept saying, "Hi du-du" as translated to "Hi ducks."

Everybody got a turn to hold a goose before releasing them into the pond.

B lets his little goose go.

Then they opened up all the crates.

And the birds ventured to their new home. 

 These geese will now view this pond as their home and will come back here to nest.  Joel manages the wildlife on the farm in a way to help the cow herd and fields.  Good times.

If you've eaten today, thank a farmer.

The Canal water is here

We get our irrigation water from the Bear River.  Joel calls it the Mighty Bear.  When the water is "turned on" the canal company lets the water out of a dam into the canal.  We have water rights from the canal that feed into ditches along our fields.  We flood irrigate our fields with this water.

Here's the canal with just an inch or so of water before irrigation season began.

Here are two photos of the canal.  Full as can be.  Water is life.

If you've eaten today, thank a farmer.

A finished project

There is a ditch on the farm that is used to irrigate a wheat field that has not been working well.  Joel and our employee Blaine put in a pipe to make it more efficient.  Joel's the man for the job because, as he always tells me, "If there's one thing I know how to do, it's lay pipe in the ground."

 The master at work.

 Joel and Blaine planning their strategy.  The ditch is on the right.

 Tools needed: a backhoe and someone bossy to run it, pipe, laser leveling device, a shovel and someone to stand in the ditch and take orders. 

 Making sure the pipe is level with the laser.

 Working down the ditch.  The pipe will go under the road and fork in a Y shape to run along side the top of the field.

 Taking out an old pipe.

 Leveling the ground where a new cement box will divert the water at the Y.

 Moving the cement box inch by inch.

 Perched precariously.

 Joel then got the pipes all connected to the cement box.  All that's left is pouring concrete to secure everything in place.

 And he's done.  This will make it easier and less wasteful to water this wheat field.

And what a pretty wheat field it is.

If you've eaten today, thank a farmer.

Today

Joel had the kids come out today to help him with a small project.

 Here comes Dad!

Gloves on for safety. Joel needed all that pipe loaded onto the trailer. Get to work kids.

This pipe had been used for surface irrigation where there was no ditch or canal nearby.  These tubes were on top of the ground and had water flow through them to water fields.  Then they had to be moved by hand to water another area. Joel has put in a new irrigation system so these are no longer needed.

M is hammering off plastic pieces.  No injuries to report.

 

I took photos of the rest of us not working.  W is entertaining the cows with his stare.

 A pretty view.

 Always rocks to throw.

 Always.

There was a family of rock chucks living in one of the pipes. E mothered the babies and asked to take them home.  One reason to be glad we're living in an apartment- no pets allowed.  We had a long conversation about rabies and mother animals protecting their young.

 The last pipe was a two man job.

 All done and making faces.

 

If you've eaten today, thank a farmer.

The Roots

 Here are the roots of an alfalfa plant.  Can you believe that? I had no idea. 

 The roots can get much deeper than this little plant which means they can tolerate drought-like conditions.  Alfalfa reseeds itself and grows for a few years before we rotate the fields. 

If you've eaten today, thank a farmer.