Friday, December 30, 2011

Resting on our laurels just a little while...

http://newscenter.nmsu.edu/news/article/8086/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UpLFyqY6t0.

DEAR FRIENDS, HERE IS A RE-POSTING OF OUR NEWS ARTICLE AND VIDEO CLIP FROM A FEW WEEKS AGO....

WE ARE CHOMPING AT THE BIT FOR "THE HOLIDAYS" TO BE DONE SO WE CAN GET BACK TO WORK AND RESCHEDULE THE SUNFLOWER WORKSHOP...

MEANWHILE WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT? WILD BIRDS ARE STEALING OUR WILD BIRD SEED CROP FROM THE DEMONSTRATION FIELD IN PENA BLANCA, THE NERVE!! WELL, AT LEAST WE KNOW THERE'S A MARKET FOR IT, EVEN IF IT'S THE "BLACK (BIRD) MARKET".   STAY TUNED.......

Friday, December 16, 2011

This is how the BIG BOYS do it !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxs4nzCyF2k

Here are a set of videos from the National Sunflower Association on you tube.  doesn't that look like fun?  can we have that much fun here in New Mexico? click on it !

Monday, December 5, 2011

TONIGHT'S WORKSHOP CANCELLED

REGRET TO ANNOUNCE TONIGHT'S SUNFLOWER WORKSHOP IS CANCELLED
DUE TO ROAD CLOSURES.
PLEASE WATCH THIS SPACE FOR RESCHEDULED DATE.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

New Mexico State University supports us in Pena Blanca

Here's a link to NMSU's photo of our Agriculture Extension Specialist in the demonstration field in Pena Blanca.
http://photo.nmsu.edu/public/photo/details/?id=24661

The field no longer looks so pretty ... flowers are dipping their heads and all the green and yellow has turned to brown....  However, a moisture test done this week reveals 24% moisture still in the flower heads.  This means we will have a nice, relaxed Thanksgiving week and re-test the week of November 28. 

Stay tuned!  A lot of neighbors will be turning out to watch the thrashing after the flowers are cut.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Here is a very sunny video clip from our demonstration field......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UpLFyqY6t0

Today, the flowers are bowing their heads a bit and the bees and butterflies are continuing to do their work for the seeds...  we have been blessed with above-freeze overnight temperatures and hopes are high for the maturing of the crop!

Our good neighbor, Mr. Heimmerich y Valencia, anticipates harvesting for us with his John Deere combine... but this is about a month away, as we guage the moisture content in the seeds before harvest.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5UpLFyqY6t0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Thursday, September 29, 2011

OCTOBER 18 SET FOR FIELD DAY

Tuesday, October 18 from 4:30 to sunset has been set as the Field Day for viewing the demonstration field of blooming sunflowers in Pena Blanca.  Local farmers, media folks, photographers and others interested in our progress are invited for refreshments and a beautiful sight.  The half-acre field will be in full bloom!

We recently hosted a film team from New Mexico State University in the field to create a short documentary/press release -- watch this site for a U-tube link soon!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

50% BLOOM TODAY !

Today, we photographed the demonstration field with approx. 50% bloom. How we wish we could produce one of those "time lapse" videos and show you how these flowers track the sun from east to west! Halleluia! It's really true, they do.
Up until now, the photos of blooming flowers on this site have been taken from stock photos.  THIS one is our very own! YOU are invited to watch this site for announcement of our blooming event. first week of October. ....visit the field and know you are witnessing the start of something GOOD.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Thursday, August 25, 2011

FLOODING CONTINUES

Rains continue here in our part of Sandoval County with terrible flooding in the burned canyons and disasterous results for the orchard at La Canada-Dixons.  Our hearts go out to the Mullane-Dixon families as they look for rest and refreshment until the monsoon weather pattern is finished and they can reassess the orchard.  All our neighbors are invited to attend a fundraiser for the support of the Mullane family who lost their home in the fire: this coming Saturday at the corner in El Dorado.  Should be fun and a good way to help out!
Lots of erosion in Sile along arroyos and ditches, but so far  no real damage to homes over here.  The nighttime rains  and hot days are not harming our sunflower field at all... watch here and on our facebook page for new photos of the plants as they get taller and taller................. Thank you to Nadia Lucero for her fine photography.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Out of These Ashes Beauty Will Rise

      In July 2011 on a Sunday afternoon the Las Conchas Fire Incident erupted on the north side of our much beloved Jemez Mountains.

      Within a single hour, the downed power line and spark has become an inferno so hot that our local Pena Blanca and Cochiti Volunteer Fire Fighters could not come closer than half a mile without, as one volunteer, Les Harrison put it “Feeling like we just stuck our heads into an oven”.
     
      Flames crowned and jumped from ridge to ridge until, that same day, there was only news of “the fire in Los Alamos” (miles away, this city and it’s National Laboratory, commanded the true concerns of everyone). Our own neighborhood, Cochiti and Bland Canyons burned the hottest and the fastest and many recreational properties and a few primary residences were lost, along with the delightful structures, nearly a hundred years old, of our “Dixon Apple Orchard”, though many of their fruit trees were saved through the efforts of our fire volunteers and the Mullane-Dixon family.
     
      Four weeks of fire fighting by the professional “Type I” teams followed and, now the last week of July, the BAER reclamation forestry teams are still hard at work. The biggest concern now for our Pena Blanca, Sile, Cochiti and Santo Domingo communities is flash flood danger from the sparse, but quick summer thunder showers that are expected. This week, the arroyos ran thick and coal-black with rain run-off bearing the ash from our once-beautiful canyons.

      The Rio Grande is blackened by this ashy water and fish are dying. There is threat to farmland on the west side of the river should there be even a one-inch rain ( there were two of these last summer, even in that “drought year”).

      In the midst of these troubles, The Pena Blanca Sunflower Project went ahead with its pilot field: a half acre in Pena Blanca. “Out of these ashes, beauty will rise” !