I spent a couple years working with a lovely and inspirational group of ladies, absorbing as much information about growing food as possible. And, in 2012 I started Early Bird Gardens, my own small, chemical free farm in Montrose, Colorado! I chose this name because I have always been an early riser. When I was younger it was always my Dad and I up first at our house, and he would remind me 'the early bird gets the worm'. Ha! Now I have somewhere to put all of my early morning energy.
My family lives nearby and helps me enormously, I could not have made it through my first growing season without their tremendous help. The 2012 season was challenging early on for a couple reasons: (1) I had knee surgery in March and (2) we did not see a drop, literally a drop, of rain until July 4th! Reminder to self, do not take your knees or spring rain for granted. Oh but when the rain finally came, it was heavenly.
The
2012 season went better than I expected. Once a little rain
came, everything started to grow like wild. It was my first season
being in charge and planning for my own CSA. This was exciting, a
little nerve wracking but in the end, so very rewarding. I am so lucky
to have the opportunity to produce food for family, friends and the
local community. And here we are, it's Spring and my knee is pretty well healed. I am busy prepping, planning, seeding and gearing up for the 2013 growing season! Today, I spent the early morning hours sipping coffee while transplanting peppers into larger pots so they can grow big and strong (yes, this may be something I whisper to my vegetables when nobody is looking) before they are transplanted into the greenhouse next month.
I
will
be posting updates with farm tidbits, photos and harvest info in the near
future. I hope you can get a sense of the joy farming brings me through
this blog. And.... we're off!