We’ve been busy…the type of busy where you work from dawn till dark, then work some more. Scarf down some quick meals in between and fall into bed aching and exhausted.
gated pipe watering a pasture
But it’s a good feeling of tiredness. Knowing that the gated pipe and wheel-lines are put together right, the alfalfa is planted, the weeds are sprayed, and the farm is ready for the water rushing down the canal.
wheel-line irrigating a field of alfalfa
The pasture fence is tight and the cows are happily grazing in their new pasture.
After growing up in Arizona (me) and Texas (Ross)…farming in Oregon is comparable to falling into a time capsule and being shot back through time three-score years.
We were both used to wide-open spaces, irrigating 120+acre fields with pivots, and large equipment doing most the work. Now we spend hours in our tiny 10-20 acre fields, doing vast amounts of shoveling, walking up and down rows to check water, and moving hand-lines and wheel-lines.
There are fortunate others around us who turn on their pivots from the ease of their John Deeres set on auto-steer. Perhaps we too someday shall join the lucky crowd. But for now, I’ll enjoy all the extra exercise, outdoor romps with Buster, and the feel of cool water on my bare feet.
In a future post someday I’ll explain the irrigation process from start to finish. For now here’s a few pictures from Down Highway 20.
This is called a bubbler.
This is a small drainage ditch.. I call it my creek!
