One day at a time — Mountain Roots Produce

Wow. What a week. I feel like we have accomplished so much since last Sunday!

Having an extra set of hands at the farm is amazing and so much fun. Our employee ROCKS and helped us tackle so many projects this week. We feel on top of things and at the same time we have several impending deadlines that are causing a little farm stress at the moment. Deadlines such as... transporting a tractor and disc from Montrose to Mancos on Monday, installing game fence all week and building moveable tunnels before May first-ish. It will all happen, we just need to stay focused and keep plugging away. When I feel overwhelmed I find myself saying 'You got this!' and we do... just need to take it one day at a time.

The soil moisture was PERFECT earlier in the week and Mike was able to shape beds with the Farmall in one field for early seeding and planting and then he prepped the soil in the new field! Oh my goodness, the new field looks and feels dreamy.

Once beds were shaped we seeded beets, carrots, various greens and herbs. And yesterday we did the first transplant of spinach and lettuces. Everything is covered with row cover for a couple weeks to help with germination and to protect from any potential frosts.

I rose early this morning, pulled fence posts for a couple hours and then headed to Ridgway to visit with my family and to work on my new (to me) tractor with my Dad. We checked fluids and went over general maintenance. Growing up with a father who is a mechanic is pretty special. He has been wanting to do all the tractor maintenance on his own but I asked he wait until I could come home so we could do it together. I have no business owning equipment if I don't know how to take care of it, especially now that my Dad and his shop are 2.5 hours away!

Onions in the high tunnel awaiting their move outside...

The high tunnel is weeded and the crops in there glow in the evening when it's time to close up. Now that the days are getting longer and warmer I feel like everything is really beginning to grow quickly. The peas doubled in size this week and we plant to set up the pea trellis in a couple days, before they find each other and get all tangled.

Ooooo, and our honeybees arrived yesterday and we placed them in an empty hive at the farm at sunset. Gosh they're amazing and SO beautiful... I'm hoping they get settled and thrive here in Mancos. And it seems like good timing as suddenly there are dandelions blooming up all over the property.

And one final note, the seed crops we planted a month ago survived the cold temps of the last couple weeks and are starting to put on new growth. Yea rutabaga!