The Southern Utah Sky



Glorious sunrise over the high western edge of the Colorado Plateau
Just outside my kitchen door.



Everywhere I travel in Southern Utah I see beauty, whether I am stepping just outside my kitchen door or on foot for a hike or riding in the truck exploring back country roads.  You can look up and out into the sky and experience fantastic cloud patterns, streaming sun rays, and fire lit sunrises and sunsets. Hawks, eagles, magpies, crows, ravens, doves, ducks and flocks of snow geese fly overhead. There is always something to enjoy in our Southern Utah sky.

My Bike Ride Around Cedar City, Utah

I took off riding down the country road.

I took off riding down the country road. It was a beautiful day in Cedar City.

The wind blew the grain making each stalk gracefully bow.







The sun cast western bound shadows off the bales of hay, making it appear to be a giant alfalfa chessboard.

Alfalfa Chessboard

The Crow Tree

Here is the Crow Tree. Lot's of loud cawing and ruffling of wings.









My favorite rural road has been newly paved and I must adnit it is easier to peddle on.

My favorite rural road.

No dust to swallow today, only sunflowers and blue sky to absorb.

The expanse of land is breathtaking

I can see forever along this northbound road to Lund...Green and deep brown & red earth and fields, bordered by Willows, Russian Olive Trees and Elm.There are barns and silos, cows, sheep and many mountains ranges as far as you can see, in all directions. the expanse of land is breathtaking.

My kind of place!

I turn right into a muddy bog which spread under  a stuck irrigation sprinkler. 

I can not pass, I thought.

I saw a detour through the willows in a wash, so I ventured carefully off the beaten path.

The small sandy bank caught my pedals and the rabbit bush grabbed at my spokes. But once down I had planty of room to weave in and out of the willows in the wash.
40-50 yards I traveled while the barbed wire fences screamed in the wind. I turned my head from  the hard spray of water shooting out across the wash.

I approached the dry road. I pushed my bike up the sandy clay bank.


I peddle eastward, facing the rising edge of the Colorado Plateau.




A silver grey horse comes out to greet me.



A silver grey horse trots out to greet me, snorting, head bobbing, mane blowing in the wind.
I smiled at his startled face and stance as I passed.



I turned towards home,

The highway stretched before me,

Lined with tall yellowed grasses, silver green sage and the deep dark purple alfalfa flowers.

Facing south, I think of the red cathedral cliffs at Kolob Canyon and the wild lifted rocks at 

Virgin Gorge.




The Yellow Farm House



Here is the big yellow farmhouse, where I turn for home.




My neighborhood. Cedar City, Utah .



SUMMER TIME GARDEN SO GREEN

The warm green fields of summer.

There is a lot to be said for the vast changes that occur where the seasons are true. The promise of Spring, the warm green fields of Summer, the colors and mystique of Fall and the sparkling snowscapes of Winter. They all cause me to appreciate their fleeting beauty.













I am so happy with the many shapes, colors and surprises the green gives me this summer. Walking through the arbors with the now tall willows and soon to climb Black-eyed Susans.

Iceland Poppies

The little shade garden of wildflowers are a delight with their delicate pastel fancy shapes and habits. A sure place for Faeries and Tea Parties.

The volunteer sunflowers

The volunteer sunflowers reach their faces into the wild blue sky and the smell of harvested alfalfa permeates the cool night air.

Sunflowers

Our new lawn.

Our new lawn has grown in so green! The grassy knoll we constructed with clods
 of leftover grass, grew many wildflowers.

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

And the bounty of food and the pleasure of it's color.

My bowl runneth over!

My bowl runneth over...with squashes, beans, Chinese peas, fennel and corn. Heirloom tomatoes and peppers galore.

Green, Green, Green



Corn is not yet as high as an elephant's eye.



Green, Green, Green



The corn is not yet as high as an elephant's eye but... My Deborah Maple is even higher into the sky. about 20 ft.



Our  New Deborah Maple



Oh beautiful earth with your thunderheads.

With your ethereal paper white moons...

Ethereal paper white moons

and your circus blue ribboned sunsets

   Heavenly gilded clouds of  gold.

I am truly where I love to be. Thank you.

Hurray For Llama Beans - A New Green Lawn

In April we dug up the old lawn in the garden and threw all the clod of grass and roots into a mound or knoll along the fence. Then we sprinkled llama beans (manure) evenly over the the ground.

We covered the area with llama bean (manure)



The little llama beans protect the seeds from the winds and are just the right height to cover them. I run a rake gently over the beans in an up and down motion just enough to vibrate the seeds down a bit to cover them. The llama beans are a balanced fertilizer and keeps the grass seeds and surrounding area moist.

Below you can see green blades of grass are peeking thought the layer of llama manure we applied.  It took awhile to sprout with the weekly snows and cold temperatures. But Mother's Day I noticed the welcome green haze coming up from the lawn. The right side was planted first. The left side of the garden lawn was seeded a week later. Notice in the far upper right hand corner of the picture there is the little knoll we built from recycled clods of grass. We will plant wildflowers there when the weather warms.

A new green lawn is sprouting

Animals In A Storm

Cattle facing northeast in a storm.

I spotted these cattle one blustery morning. I was touched by the sight of their backs turned toward the storm. I had seen this in western paintings and perhaps in a few movies but to see this in real life was very moving. Animals are connected to the web of life. They move through their challenges with dignity and grace. I have always admired in their natural instincts.

Horses with no complaints.

These horses face northeast away from the storm. Snow collects on their back sides without any complaint. The animals take what nature gives to them. They allow rather than survive.

Rose In A Storm- By Jon Katz

This book was highly recommended by my friend. I am now reading katz's book on dog training and I find his writing very healing and comforting. If you love dogs, his books will make you love dogs even more. When you click on the image below, it will take you to Jon Katz books on amazon. I buy all my books on this site.

Product Description

Rose In A Storm

From New York Times bestselling author Jon Katz comes a moving and powerful novel, the first one inspired by life on his celebrated Bedlam Farm—and perceptively told from the point of view of Rose, a dedicated working dog.



Rose is determined and focused, keeping the sheep out of danger and protecting the other creatures on the farm she calls home. But of all those she’s looked after since coming to the farm as a puppy, it is Sam, the farmer, whom she watches most carefully.



Awoken one cold midwinter night during lambing season, Rose and Sam struggle into the snowy dark to do their work. The ever observant Rose has seen a change in her master of late, ever since Sam’s wife disappeared one day. She senses something else in the air as well: A storm is coming, but not like any of the ones she’s seen over the years. This storm feels different, bigger, more foreboding.



When an epic blizzard hits the region, it will take all of Rose’s resolve, resourcefulness, and courage to help Sam save the farm and the creatures who live there.



Jon Katz consulted with animal behavior scientists to create his unique and convincing vision of the world as seen through the eyes of a dog. Poignant, thrilling, and beautifully wrought, Rose in a Storm is a wonderfully original and powerful tale from a gifted storyteller.

LLAMA BEANS FOR EVERYTHING

My Llamas produce the most wonderful manure ever. It is perfectly balanced in potassium, phosphorous and nitrogen. Llama manure discourages some harmful bugs and discourages deer from entering into your garden. You can compost it and make the little beans into a manure tea for your garden plants.  Over the winter, I layered fresh llama beans with leaves and hay and a small bit of chicken manure like lasagna in the garden area. It really improved the hard clay soil.

Our Llama Bean
Factory


Llama beans are sturdy but break down very well when kept moist.
 I sprinkle them right on top of a prepared planter for seeding vegetables and flowers.

The  llama beans protect the little seeds from wind and when the planter is watered it provides a time release fertilizer and it keeps them moist. We used llama beans to cover the grass seed we planted, to keep it moist and protected from the wind. Prepare llama beans tea for fertilizing flowers and vegetables and trees. Just add a shovel full of llama beans to a 5 gallon bucket add water to 3/4 full and let sit overnight. Pour it right where you want it. The tea won't damage most plants or burn in the sun. Please test an area if you are not sure. Experiment with different plants and trees.

I discovered the benefits of these little jewels last year. I was experimenting with what techniques worked best for my windy, dry climate and hard clay soil. I sprinkled llama beans into one planter and dropped in some basil seed. The other planter had steer manure and top soil and amendments I planted basil seed in them also.  The planter with the llama beans produced a hundred sprouted seeds that were later thinned and produced beautiful throughout the season. The other planter had none. Yep, I vote for llama beans. I used them everywhere.

We plowed up the old lawn in the garden and recycled grass clumps by piling the heavy clods of soil roots and grass into a long hill along the fence. I topped it with llama manure and later in the spring I planted wild flowers. The chuncky clods of lawn grew thick green grass and the flowers seeds grew into baby's breath, California poppies, bachelor buttons and dianthus and camomile. There were few weeds, even the bindweed was discouraged.




Tilled garden plot on the left. recycled grass knoll on left.

 
















Our Wedding Arbor



The wooden planters in the back along the fence were set in place and filled with some of the new

 mixture and of course more llama beans.



Llama beans were spread out onto the ground



                                                                        





Then we scattered grass seed and topped it with composted llama manure, 365 days worth.

This little spreader came in handy. I spread some seeds by hands and some spots were quite uneven. The wind began to blow and this seed broadcaster did a great job.












Paul built us this wooden compost bin.  He also made me a path for dumping after I clean the corral.

Related post

 Hurray for Llama Beans- A New Green Lawn

SummerTime Garden So Green



THE SENSUAL SPRING

At Dawn I walked outside and smelled the farm fields coming alive. The snow has evaporated, the ground is moist and the green in reaching for the sun.

Our Journey Home-Little Utah Farm

Deborah Moen 
of Little Utah Farm

We dreamed of living in the country some day.  Then came the time we began searching for a place to live that had enough land to keep our llamas and chickens, 4 seasons, wilderness, and farms.  Our journey began in 2005. Our vacations were filled with adventure and hope that somewhere somehow our home existed. We posted a Dream Board in the kitchen. The board hung on the wall and we gathered and posted pictures of all the things we desired in a home like  the four seasons, barns, animals, gardens and wild horses. Every time we passed that board our mind filled with the possibilities to come. We also wanted to begin practicing for our farm. We planted a 2 sq ft alfalfa field in the back yard just to get the feel of it and raised hens to learn about them and gather eggs. You can read about Raising Chickens in The City on this site just click the link.

Our travels lead to Oregon where we enjoyed camping along the Rogue River and salmon fishing. We searched in Northern California and on our anniversary week in June 2007 we planned a trip through Arizona and Utah where we found our Little Utah Farm. Everything fell into place with little effort only the fun we had on our vacations. Now the days mirror our initial love for the country, the old west and nature. Our little farm was a diamond in the rough. We planted trees and a garden, cleared the tumble weeds, built a shed and corral and pasture, marked out an alfalfa field and had a barn built. We now have a herd of llamas, a flock of hens and fresh eggs. We grow our own alfalfa and have lot's of room to play and live in. Believe in your dreams ! And along the way have fun and  "BE" the change you are wanting to create. You may find your dreams coming true.  

Thank you for visiting Little Utah Farm,

Until next time, 

Believe In Your Dreams 

They Do Come True !

Deborah Moen 
of Little Utah Farm

A STORM AND MANY CALVES

I was fortunate to see this storm from beginning to end. They usually creep in during times I am sleeping or unaware. This morning our sun rose behind the mountains and there was blue sky above me. A storm rolled towards Cedar City like a giant tidal wave from the west. The green that reached for Spring was blanketed in white. The newborn calves lay at their mother's heels in the fields. The storm left as quickly as it came over the eastern range. The wildness here fascinates me.

Winter Sunrise-First Glimmer of Light

A crisp 19 degrees this morning. The ice crunches under the wheels of the truck as I pulled out of the driveway.  The  Rocket Science Quiz comes on the radio and my grandson and I ponder over the  multiple choice  answers as we do most every day on the way to school. The valley lay under the sliver grey cast of morning.  We passed the herd of cattle with their calves. I love the way the herds look against the snowy mountain range.




Looking east towards Cedar Canyon



 In February the sun is low in the sky.  The southwestern range catches the first glimmer of light  as the sun rises over the eastern range,

First glimmer of light

 On the way home sparrows stood over the frozen pools along the road looking in at the world upside down.

I turned at the yellow farmhouse towards home past the frosted red willow branches. It was another beautiful morning.

The Magic Moons

The moon over Kanarraville, UT

The moon waxes and wanes in the night sky, always following the same cyclical pattern, lighting the darkness with its luminous glow. It has been this way as long as the earth has been here. The same moon grew from dark to full and back again, catching the eyes of our grandparents, our great grandparents, and those at the beginning of humanity. The moon guided our ancestors in the planting, sowing, and reaping of their crops, and we can be inspired to observe and honor these same cycles today with simple rituals that help connect us to the natural ebb and flow of life energy.
From Daily Om .com