Irrigation project underway!

A farm project that has been in the works for at least two years is finally getting underway this week. *insert happy dance and shouts of joy here*  Since this is Mike's project and I have not been intimately involved with all the details, I am unable to recount all the boring details and twists and turns that have led to where we are right now.  I do remember standing in a cold rain out the middle of an old meadow and talking with the excavators while we planned where to dig a pond that would serve as a water source for irrigating the vegetables. That was somewhere around November-December of 2011.  Yep, 2011.  The sun has come up and gone down many times since then.  The bright red flag that staked out where the pond was to start has turned to light pink.  We would call the excavators and they would say they would be coming, but then they never would.  But we know these folks and they do a great job and we have used them before, we wanted to give them our business and so we waited.  And actually, it didn't really matter that the pond wasn't getting dug because the other part of the project was not getting anywhere either.

The other part was securing grant money to install the field irrigation system.  The endless paperwork, changes in policies, waiting for other people to do their part of the work, waiting and waiting some more.  *insert twiddling thumbs here*  There were so many starts and stops it wasn't funny.  Well actually it was funny.  You know.  One of those situations where if you didn't laugh you would probably cry.  And so the irrigation system that we THOUGHT would be in place by spring of 2012 was not even underway.  No pond.  No grant.  No nothing.  And then we lived through the drought of 2012.  Now wouldn't an irrigation system have been a handy thing to have as we watched plants wither in the summer drought?  Yeah.

The project wheels are finally turning though.  The sand filter, pumps and various hoses were delivered last week.  While they are crucial to the project, those items are quite boring.  However this week there was much more excitement to be had on the farm when the track hoe showed up to dig some test holes for the pond.

Nothing like a big ol' track hoe to cause some serious equipment envy.  After the test holes had been dug and all was quiet, Mike and I HAD to go back to the meadow later that evening to pay a visit.

Even I was wishing we had one of these things on the farm so I could drive around and dig holes whenever I wanted.

The smaller of the two dozers that are going to be used got delivered as well.  The bigger one was supposed to come this morning, but it thunderstormed all morning long.  Even so, just having some of the equipment sitting on the ground at the site of the future pond is a sure sign that this project is finally happening.