Sunshine!

Good morning, 

The last couple days have been amazingly gorgeous. Sunshine, light breeze and warm temps. Woohoo! Summer here we come. The lows this week climb into the mid 40s and even high 50s, ooo ooo ooo. It looks like we will stop covering the tomatoes up a night, which will save us some time. And something about heading outside in sandals first thing in the morning makes me a very happy person. 

It was a pretty great week here, we seeded, planted, watered, weeded, made repairs, organized, and started prepping the wash station for harvests. 

A large block of roots was seeded on Friday and should start germinating in in the coming days.  Carrots, beets, parsnip, turnips and rutabaga. Here are the rutabaga seeds waiting in the seeder. I'm always amazed that these itty bitty seeds grow into such large and beautiful plants. Magic! 

I transplanted jalapeños and basil and seeded sweet slicing cucumbers in the greenhouse for the CSA a couple days ago. And we transplanted parsley, celery, celeriac and a pepper trial in the field yesterday. Mmmmm PEPPERS. I'm curious to see how peppers do outside here, we'll know in a few short months ;). 

And we have started the never-ending task of weeding. I love looking back at a freshly weeded bed, it's so satisfying! The weeds are coming up thick in spots and I'm determined to keep them in check. Watch out thistle... it's on and I intend on making you struggle this season. 

Have a great day!! 

Brassica Focus

Good morning! 

It's the last week of May and it's still feeling pretty cool around here. I was outside earlier and the grass around the house was frosted. It looks like we're going to be in the 60s most of the week with temps in the 30s at night. Brrr, I'm ready for a warm up! 

We have been focusing on brassicas most of the week and are going to finish transplanting them today. Woohoo! So many less starts to take care of on a daily basis, yes! I love this time of the year, when everything moves outside and makes it's way into the soil. The red and green cabbages, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and kohlrabi have been transplanted. Today we're wrapping up with broccoli, kale and collards. My legs will be happy when we're done transplanting, so many squats... 

The greenhouses are looking good! I spent Saturday morning weeding the new house and it looks awesome without thistle popping up everywhere. Grow maters grow! We have had some vole issues though... they'e eating/destroying peppers and cherry tomatoes along with some of the early beds outside. Little stinkers! They're driving me crazy. 

We have been watching this sweet little nest of kill deer eggs in the onion block for weeks! Mike noticed them when we were preparing beds and worked around them. We have been checking on them off and on and last weekend they hatched and now there are four adorable, teeny tiny kill deer babies running around. Super cute.

Two weeks until harvest time! 

Spring Green

Hello Everyone, 

I'm loving how green and rich things are this spring! The temps have been gentle and not too cold at night (knock on wood) and with the weekly storms everything is growing. Looks like one more day of rain here... then it starts to break up tomorrow and we'll see some sunshine?! One evening last week after a pretty strong hail storm this amazing rainbow popped out and made my day! Magical. 

Last week flew by! We finished planting the greenhouse and filled a few beds with peppers and tomatillos to keep the tomatoes company. The tomatoes are looking great and starting to grow fast! When I planted them they were starting to look a little rough and were over being in their 2" pots. I was pretty worried (per usual) and gave them a pep talk and told them they had a week to grow out of it before I pulled them up and replanted... luckily within a week they had put on tons of healthy green growth and started to bulk up. Woohoo! 

Late in the week we planted potatoes! So. many. potatoes. That was a big project and it feels good to check it off the list! 

I spent the last two days in Ridgway helping my Mom weed and seed her garden, my former garden. The cover crops are higher than my hips, and it's overflowing with overwintered spinach, cilantro, scallions and lettuce and the herbs are all coming back very healthy and strong. Mmmm Spring!

We're going to start transplanting cabbage and alyssum tomorrow, followed by all the kale, collards, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower. Excited to get all of these starts in the ground! 

Countdown to CSA harvests starts... NOW. First delivery to Telluride is in 3 weeks, whoop whoop! Sign up now to become a member of our farm, join us for a wonderful season of bountiful harvests and support local agriculture. Check out the CSA page for more details and contact me if you have any questions.

I cannot get enough of the garlic field in the evening light... dreamy.

Have a wonderful day! 

Planting Frenzy

Rainy morning! The low clouds and cool damp air feels so cozy... mmm morning coffee never tasted better. It rained off and on for most of the night and everything is pretty soaked outside. Looks like the perfect day to catch up on emails and paper work, which isn't my favorite task but needs to be done... 

The past week was wonderfully productive! We completed the greenhouse with the help of our amazing friends. Thanks guys! Feels so good to have this project complete so we can start to focus our energy elsewhere. We tilled and built beds in the greenhouse, set up the irrigation and planted a few beds of tomatoes on Friday in the midst of the first real wind test. Wow, the wind was crazy, strong and relentless. The first round of tomatoes are in the ground, which has me psyched! Come on maters, do your thang! 

I'm suddenly having dreams/nightmares about the temps dropping way lower than expected. My oh my, calm down brain, it's 40 degrees outside not 15. Relax. 

We also completed the allium planting! All of the onions, leeks and scallions are transplanted and adjusting to their new space. I imagine they're loving all this rain! And, we ordered a new seeder this Spring and I took it for a spin on Wednesday and seeded more salad, spinach, arugula and radishes. It's awesome and speeds things up tremendously, love it. 

The early greens are growing (slooooowly). I spent yesterday weeding, thinning and getting excited to start harvesting CSA shares in a month! 

Enjoy all the moisture, looks like sunshine and heat are arriving later in the week.  

Once things dry out a little we'll be planting potatoes... for days! 

May!

The month of May has arrived, and it's go time here at the farm. So much to plant in the next 30 days, woohoo! The rain over the last few weeks has made everything so green and gorgeous, it's wonderful. But I must say, I'm excited and oh so ready for some warm sunny skies. 

We took advantage of the nice weather last week and got the tractor in the field and turned in the triticale and winter rye cover crops that have been protecting the soil. The rye needs a couple weeks to breakdown before seeding the next crop. The soil looks, feels and smells amazing! I remember helping my Dad plant trees around our house when I was a little girl. As we were filling the holes back in I grabbed a handful of the soil, pushed it to my face, inhaled deeply and proceeded to say, ' mmmm, that's good dirt'. Ha! Should've known then I would be a farmer and in love with soil. 

We tilled a block for the onions and a section in front of the almost complete greenhouse (which needs a name...!) where we will be growing greens and herbs for the CSA. So, we're digging up the gorgeous onions, leeks and scallion starts that were seeded back in February this morning and planting them outside in the coming days. Yes!


All the brassica starts are looking strong and happy. If I'm stressing or frustrated about something I can go peak at these babies and instantly feel better. They'll be moving outside in a couple weeks. 

The carrots are starting to size up and should be ready for the first CSA harvest, which is only 5 weeks away!! We seeded a variety of greens and roots outside a few weeks ago and with all this rain everything is up and growing.

Tomorrow morning we're hoping to finish the other greenhouse! We're working on the last door and side walls today and rallying an amazing group of friends to help us skin it with the huge piece of plastic tomorrow morning. Yay! So ready for this project to be complete. And the tomatoes are looking anxious to be planted so it will feel good to get the plastic on so we can prep beds and PLANT later in the week. 

Enjoy the sunshine folks!