Summer is in full swing. Life on farm lately has been hot, busy, and beautiful.
While living and gardening at 8,000 feet elevation presents a lot of challenges, we’re also supremely grateful for cool mountain nights. The afternoons are still incredibly hot, but come sundown the temps drop and we can comfortably sleep with that fresh mountain air blowing in.
Enough about that, let’s get to the fun stuff – strawberries, sprouts, peonies & puppies! Ohmy.
We’ve successfully been growing strawberries in Colorado for years now, but we planted a fresh bunch of strawberry plants this year. On a whim, I ordered 500 strawberry plants. And bless that sweet husband of mine, he happily (for the most part!) took on the planting of said berries.
This year we decided to plant strawberries in plastic. Worry not, it’s a biodegradable weed fabric made from all natural ingredients. It’s a bit more work upfront to properly hill the strawberries in plant in plastic, but overall we’re really happy with the results. The strawberries are thriving and by using the bio plastic, we’re able to keep weeds at bay and reduce water needs.
I’ll keep you updated on how it goes. The strawberries are putting on a lot of blooms, but won’t fruit this year. It’s best to pinch the blooms in the first season to allow the plants to develop larger roots.
The peonies came on strong this year and were absolutely stunning. We cut peonies for the vase to enjoy around the house, but we didn’t actually sell many this year. Without a cooler, it’s hard to store them and then they bloomed all at once.
It’s honestly one of the challenges of being a small family farm (especially living so remotely). Each year we adjust to find the balance of earning an income from the homestead and enjoying life on the homestead. This year that meant enjoying the abundance of peonies in the field and not worrying about selling any.
The garden continues to grow and thrive. As soon as one thing wraps up, another begins. The next round of radishes are coming up and looking great. Matt sells them (and so much more!) every week at the Westcliffe Farmer’s Market. If you’re ever in town be sure to visit every Friday morning.
And get ready for a cuteness overload, because we’ve got Colorado Mountain Dog puppies for sale! These pups are unbelievably cuddly and large. If you’ve been around a while you know we love and rely on our Colorado Mountain Dogs. They protect our off-grid homestead and regularly chase off bears and mountain lions.
We definitely would not have chickens free-ranging and goats wandering about without these amazing livestock guardian dogs working hard all night. Plus they’re just super sweet and fun to have around.
Matt keeps everything running around here and spends long days (and nights) planting, harvesting, and watering. And he usually does it with a little sidekick shadowing him and stuffed animals in his pocket. He’s the best farm dad and we sure do love him.
It’s not lost on me that this life would not be nearly as possible or fun without all of his hard work.
And let’s end on that bit of gratitude. Life out here isn’t always easy but we sure are feeling blessed.
