A Quick Update and a Week Off

New portal is great! 

Hens

Beets, broccoli and lettuce, collards and more beets recently planted.

Potatoes

Beds with shade cloth; L to R: wild arugula, mustards and kyoto carrots, then sunflowers, tomatillos, marigolds, calendula and hot peppers, then radishes, spinach, chard, beets, broccoli, and more!

Volunteer tomato in with chard.

Cover crop of rye and buckwheat

Planting of Amaranth

Planting of Red Scallions, Carrots and lettuce

Second planting of the Blue Corn

Tomatillos to the left and under shade with micro sprinklers is carrots, lettuce and radicchio.

In the next few weeks we are preperaing this area for a fall planting of more greens, carrots, herbs, beets and hopefully some sun chokes, strawberries and asparagus. We have big plans but can really only move one day at a time..,.. coming soon is a high tunnel greenhouse or two as well as more solar off the grid technology and pasture for more layers. Exciting time to be a farmer.

Calendula in a hollowed pine log and popcorn is tall!

View to the East

Tomatillos and a propped up sunflower

Beans with lettuce mix growing underneath and pickling cucumbers growing up the other side.

These were volunteers!

Carrots, tomatoes and basil

zucchini is lowing this location/ micro-climate, calendula in between plants and radishes all over too. 

New planting of pak-choi, chard, radish and lettuce.

Chicken pasture is growing

herb garden

new roof on the new portal

Birds eye view west of the house

arroyo

Shade Cloth and Micro Sprinklers

Got a good rain yesterday. Planted and set up about 2 dozen micro-sprinklers.

All four beds with shade cloth were uncovered during the rains. Hopefully this will help germination of lettuces, mustards, chard, tomatillos and flowers. 

Growing Food with Water Catchment

This is a February planting of beets, broccoli and lettuce.

Second cutting is going to be great on this patch.

New expanded beds all set up with irrigation from the cistern... Growing here now are potatoes , chard, lettuces, kales, cabbages,  radishes, beets, broccoli, mustards and soon sunflowers down the middle bed with the chamisa at the end. 

Inside view of the far left hoop.

Red Russian Kale 

Potatoes

Farming in the Rocky Mountains

Tomatoes getting their first true leaves.

Blue Flax Flower

Hot Peppers: Habanero, Jalapeño, Cayenne

Farm Work

New three hen tractor. 

 The new smaller design of this tractor is good for getting the birds onto beds in-between other beds in production. It is also easy to move around by yourself and they are drinking out of these handy rabbit water bottles. They're great, no poop in the water and no need to reach in the tractor but for harvesting eggs of feeding grain.

Blue Corn bed #2 

 For sale this week we have:

-Heirloom Italian Flatleaf Parsley
-Red and White Chard
-Baby Red Russian Kale
-Spring Garlic Greens
-Lettuce Cutting Mix (mild Plants of the Southwest blend)
-Pastured/ Farm-fresh eggs
-Email or comment for more info or prices.

Also for sale we have 1 gal. Chinook hop plants. These are a great brewing hop and have been wintered @7200 ft elev. for three or more winters, including last winter's 30 below. Each pot has compost blend and two to three rhizomes in there so it could potentially be three plants this year, or certainly next season.

contact for details on hops for sale.

Hoop-Houses for Growing Food Year-Round

Beets, Lettuces and Broccoli

1/4 in. drip in place ready for a pump to deliver water we caught from the sky.

All the broccoli is doing pretty well, including transplants from thinning.