Mountain Roots Produce CSA - Harvest Week #1

Basil basil! 

Good morning! 

It's June and feeling like Summer! I love it, the morning and evenings are so perfect and dreamy. Our bodies are slowly adjusting to temps in the 80's and the plants are loving this weather and couldn't be happier! Everything has really started to grow this week, I feel like I blink and the plants (and weeds) are noticeably bigger. Perfect timing for our first CSA Harvest, scheduled for Wednesday! 

Plant plant plant... that has been the motto around here. We seeded and transplanted all the things this week! Zucchini, green beans, pickling cucumbers, carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, radishes, dahlias, hot peppers, a second round of broccoli and cauliflower as well as the next succession of greens! We are planting the winter squash this afternoon and then the farm is mostly planted for the season! I still have a few trays of tomatillos, peppers and eggplant to sneak in somewhere... 

Head Lettuce starting to size up

The game fence is up! Mike and Sadie hung the gates on Thursday evening, wahoo! I am already sleeping better. I'm not sure I can express just how much time and energy I spent worrying about deer getting into the field... and I am oh so excited and relieved to remove that worry from my mind. We still have a lot of finish work to do on the fence and we'll slowly tackle that over the next couple weeks. 

Blooming Vetch!! So gorgeous

Mike used our neighbor's grain drill this week and planted about an acre of sorghum sudangrass! This cover crop should grow quickly and very tall and help us control the canada thistle... wish it luck!  We'll be posting updates on this throughout the season. 

Seed crop updates! We are growing a couple seed crops in collaboration with Laura Parker of High Desert Seed and Gardens this season. The Joan Rutabagas are blooming and the Bronze D'amposta Onions are close! Such beauties. 

CSA Harvests start this Week! This Wednesday, June 7th, marks the first CSA Harvest and pickup for the 2017 Season! Telluride CSA pickup will be held every Wednesday from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. in Spruce Park (right next to The Butcher and The Baker). Your CSA Shares will be packed in harvest crates this season, please remember to bring your bags with you to collect your bounty as we need to bring the harvest crates back to the farm for packing up the following week. 

Check your email for this week's CSA Newsletter for additional CSA Pickup details, Recipes, etc.

CSA Harvest - Week #1:

• Little Gem Lettuce
• Salad Greens
• Arugula
• Baby Kale
• Mustards
• Carrots
• Radishes
• Hakurei Turnips
• Green Garlic

We are excited to see you all on Wednesday! Please contact us if you have any questions.

Have a great day!  

CSA Harvests start Next Week!

Cabbage field being irrigated with the side roll

Good morning! Oh my goodness, what a difference 10 days makes. It suddenly feels like Summer, the mornings are warm, the afternoons are hot and the sunsets are long and incredible. May is wrapping up gently and we're excited to welcome June. 

It's been a week of transplanting and completing tasks here. So many plants have found their way into the fields and the greenhouses and it feels GOOD. We're shooting to have the farm mostly planted by Saturday... fingers crossed!

Cucumbers were seeded earlier this week in the high tunnel and have already germinated. Won't be long now!

Cucumbers! They were soaked and seeded early last week in the last open high tunnel bed and by yesterday they were all up and looking good. I'm excited for cucumbers as we haven't focused energy on them in a couple years and we're overdue. I tried a bed of them outside here last season but by the time they were finally starting to fruit in late August we got a hail storm that damaged the majority of them. These beauties will be protected in the high tunnel and trellised which should make harvest a breeze. I'm hoping we have many cucumber salads in the near future! 

Lining up the basil transplants

We transplanted the first round of basil in one of the moveable tunnels last week... mmm, hands down on of my favorites to transplant (and harvest), as the smell is so intoxicating I could almost taste pesto while planting these. 

It's official, we are done building greenhouses for the 2017 season!!!! Woooooohooo! We had a few awesome friends come over Sunday morning and we attached the plastic on a perfectly calm morning, followed by a long breakfast and catching up. Thanks guys!! I am so excited to have this complete... and I'm equally excited to put away the drills, hammers, saws, tool belts, etc. for a little while. We spent Sunday finishing up the endwalls and building the doors and had her all prepped for planting on Monday. 

This house is now filled with tomatoes, shishitos and sweets peppers. Yes! 

Shishitos! Get your cast irons ready folks

Today we're planning to stretch the last couple lines of fence, do a serious farm clean up, make some adjustments to the side roll and prep for seeding a block or sorghum sudan grass, which we're hoping will help us get the Canada Thistle under control. More details on this to come!

Later this week we'll be seeding the hot crops (winter squash, zucchini, pickling cucumbers and beans) as well as the root block (parsnips, carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas, winter radishes) and transplanting another round of greens.

CSA Harvests start next week!!! The first Telluride CSA Harvest and delivery is set for next Wednesdsay, June 7th. CSA Members, please open and read your Mountain Roots Produce emails as we're sending out a Newsletter each week that is filled with farm updates, recipes ideas, details on our pickup works, etc. CSA Pickup will be held in Spruce Park (right next to The Butcher and The Baker) from 11-2 pm every Wednesday. 

Also, if you haven't already, check out and join the Mountain Roots CSA Facebook group. We created this group for our CSA Community to connect, share recipe ideas, ask questions, etc. We will be posting some of our favorite recipe ideas to this group and hope the CSA Community will get involved and share their favorites as well. Click here to Join the Mountain Roots CSA Facebook group.

Have a beautiful week and we look forward to seeing you all next Wednesday!! 

It's time... lets get these fields planted!

Last week brought snow and cold temps

Wowza. Last week was an eventful one around here... we had heavy, slushy snow and quite cold weather for late May. There was a little stress involved prepping the farm for a couple nights in the low 20s... I spent hours cutting and setting up row cover in the greenhouses and the field. It took a few layers of row cover in the greenhouses but I'm happy to report the tomatoes are all OK. When we are expecting a 8-10 hour freeze this time of the year it's a bit nerve wracking and hard to imagine the tomatoes will survive. But they did are now they are really starting to put on some growth! Some of the greenhouse outside did get a light burn here and there, but nothing major. Whew! Lets hope we're past the cold until Fall?

The Planting Frezny has arrived and we will be switching gears and moving away from building/fencing projects to transplanting for several days. The brassicas and lettuces are hardening off and will all find their way into the fields in the coming days. Mike has been setting up irrigation and we'll finish planting the tunnels with tomatoes, peppers, basil and a few dahlias for good measure! It's going to be a full week, hopefully our planting legs are ready. 

We spent the days following the storm stretching lines of fence and getting it tight and stapled onto the posts. We're so close to completing this project I can hardly stand it! 

The second moveable tunnel frame is up and we are prepping it for plastic this morning. I think it was a blessing we didn't complete these moveable tunnels earlier in the Spring like we had initially planned as I would have planted them during the warm spell and crops like peppers and basil would not have appreciated the cold nights last week. 

Telluride CSA Members: Harvests start in 2 weeks! We will have our market booth and the CSA pickup set up in Spruce Park from 11-2pm on Wednesdays starting June 7th!

We're sending out weekly CSA Newsletters (please check your email to make sure you're receiving these) with updates on the farm, recipe ideas, info on the produce provided in that week's CSA Share, etc. 

Also, we have set up a Mountain Roots Produce CSA facebook group! We're hoping this becomes a great place for our CSA Community to connect, share recipe ideas, ask questions, etc. Please click here to join the group if you haven't done so already!

Ok, I'm keeping this post short and sweet as I need to tackle some things early this morning. Have a great day and be on the look out for many transplanting photos and updates next week! 

Cold Snap's Coming

Mmmmmm sunset

Good morning! 

Last week was just as they predicted, rain (and some hail) fell at the farm for two days straight and it was incredible. Mike and I took a couple days off and our bodies were so rested when Thursday rolled around. 

I was anxious to get the plastic on the moveable tunnel last Monday before the storm and made a caffeinated decision that we should go for it in the morning, as the sky was calm. It was touch and go for a little while as we had to pound in T-posts and make a couple last might adjustments and we were waffling if the wind was going to stay calm long enough to make it happen. Luckily, we're surrounded by amazing friends (also farmers) who showed up and within 30 minutes the plastic was on. Thanks guys! We couldn't do this without you! I spent the next couple days finishing the end walls and doors and we planted two beds of tomatoes on Friday! Once this upcoming cold snap passes we'll plant the other beds with peppers and basil. Mmmmm hmmm. 

Carrots are starting to size up in the high tunnel

Speaking of this cold snap, it's supposed to be FREEZING on Thursday night. A few days ago they upped the rainfall for this coming Wednesday and the temps were supposed to drop to 30 degrees or so for a few nights. Big deal. Even with those temps we decided to push back our big brassica planting until next week, why push it? BUT NOW they saying 25 degrees. Goodness gracious. Most things in the field will be fine (as long as that number doesn't continue to drop) but the tomatoes will have me worried. I'm going to be blanketing as much as I can with extra layers of row cover during the cold nights in hopes that things don't get too cold or freeze. Lets be honest, I shouldn't be surprised. What's May in Colorado without some winter like weather?

Snow peas blooming! 

In other news, the snow peas just started blooming in the high tunnel! Woohoo! They're so gorgeous and it's exciting to see blooms at the farm. The carrots, beets and turnips are sizing up in the high tunnel, and the tomatoes are adjusting to their new space and beginning to grow. 

Little Gems looking lovely... get ready CSA Members! 

The early crop block is looking good! I caught up on weeding over the weekend and am excited about the diversity we should have for our CSA Members in 3 weeks! That's right, CSA Harvests are only 3 weeks away and we are excited to start harvesting and seeing you all on a weekly basis! 

CSA Members, please remember to check the farm emails. We're sending out weekly emails with info and links for you. And, remember to join the Mountain Roots Produce CSA facebook group, where our CSA Community will be sharing recipe ideas, asking questions, etc. 

Fresh greens taste so good! 

We've started stretching fence! We have one line up and a lot of staples to hammer in but it looks great! I'm so excited for the fence, it's going to make the farm feel secure and my stress levels will be much lower this season without having to worry about deer. We started building the second moveable tunnel yesterday, now that the first one is up and feels solid I think the second one should go up rather quickly?! We may have to throw a party in a couple weeks to celebrate once these building projects are complete! 

The cover crop is growing quickly now and is hypnotizing to watch as the wind blows 

Mike has been busy setting up irrigation and doing tractor work. He shaped the cabbage beds and space in front of the high tunnel for me yesterday and he's shaping the rest of the field later today. Yes! I will be seeding a few crops this morning, ahead of the coming rain. Arugula, mustards, radishes, beets, colorful carrots, herbs, etc. We were going to transplant the next succession of lettuces and bok choy, but we may hold off until the cold weather passes. 

Mike shaping beds in front of the high tunnel last night

OK! I need to get moving. Have a wonderful day and enjoy our seasonal weather this week! 

Planting Push

Mike covering the last potato bed... check it off the list! 

Good morning! It's been a very full week here and our bodies are feeling it.

We were checking the weather forecast last week and they were predicting rain, alot of rain, for this coming Tuesday and Wednesday. We reorganized the priority list to prep and plant as much as possible so we wouldn't get locked out of the field and be unable to plant for a few days. Our short 'before the rain comes list' included plant potatoes and onions, and finish the first moveable tunnel and cover with plastic. 

So... with our priorities rearranged, Mike spent the first half of the week on field prep. He turned in the cover crop, spread fertilizer, disced the fields, shaped beds, marked trenches for the potatoes, etc. 

Field prep step one - terminate the cover crop

Sadie tackled some serious weeding projects on the early greens and roots outside and seeded the next succession of broccoli, cauliflower, basil and the tomatillos. More lettuces and spinach were transplanted and carrots were seeded.

Mike and Sadie pulling onion starts out of the high tunnel

We pulled the onion starts out of the high tunnel earlier in the week and transplanted into the field on Saturday and Sunday. I think we planted roughly 20,000 onions. I love onions... from the sweet yellows to the spicy reds, and especially the storage varieties that hold through the winter and are still feeding us into May! They're such a staple, I'm not sure I even know how to start making dinner without slicing or dicing an onion.  We had great success with a few varieties last year, so we planted a lot of those and are trialling a couple varieties as well. We are growing two varieties, Sweet Spanish and Valencia, from Dan Hobbs with Farm Direct Organic Seed as well as Gold Princess and Karmen from Adaptive Seeds. I'm excited to see and compare how the alliums do this year, how they size up, how they taste and how they store throughout the winter. 

Onions are so GORGEOUS! 

Potatoes! They're in the ground. Mike and I motivated on Friday and planted around 2100 pounds. It was a sunny full day but they were in and covered before dark. Woohoo! Grow taters grow.

We planted the first round of tomatoes in the high tunnel yesterday! Planting tomatoes always feels good... it's a sign that Summer is getting close. The plants normally take a couple days to adjust but then grow like weeds the rest of the season. If all goes as planned we should be harvesting tomatoes by the end of July! Wish them luck! 

The first moveable tunnel is so close! We just need to finish building the doors and set up the anchor system to hold her down, then it's time for plastic. I'm hoping we get the plastic attached this afternoon or tomorrow morning before the rain comes... but it all depends on the wind. We really need a calm 30 minutes to attach the plastic and lately the afternoons here have been very windy so we'll just see. If we're lucky and do attach the plastic in the next 24 hours... I will be able to prep beds during the rainy days and fill this house up with tomatoes and peppers in no time. Fingers crossed! 

Moveable Tunnel #1... almost ready for plastic

We have to focus and get as much done as we can in the next 24 hours, thank goodness for coffee. We'll be prepping beds in front of the high tunnel, transplanting the leeks, scallions, shallots, seeding a couple things, hopefully plastic the moveable tunnel and then... enjoy the sweet sound and smell of rain and a couple days to rest.

Have a beautiful day!  

Stormy Week!

Brassicas doing their thing in the prop house

Wiiiiiind. It's cold and howling outside. Maybe it's blowing out the unsettled weather that has been testing us the last few days? We have had sunshine, wind, hail, snow, gentle overnight rain, cold temps, lightning, thunder, fog, you name it. Colorado Spring, thanks for keeping us on our toes, per usual! 

The brassicas are happy and protected from this weather in the prop house... little do they know they'll be moving outside soon! 

The cover crop is loving this weather! The field was in need of some moisture and thankfully it came in the form of rain on Wednesday evening. Is there anything more soothing than the sound of a gentle rain falling in the middle of the night? I think we received over 1/2 inch of moisture that night and woke up to low foggy clouds and a muddy world on Thursday. Rain delay! We spent the morning drinking too much coffee, checking the weather every 30 minutes, making a planting schedule for the next couple weeks and waiting for the rain to let up. It was too wet to do anything in the field so Mike and Sadie (our rockstar employee!) finished building H-Braces and we are now ready for t-posts and then we can start stretching fence. This fence feels like the Never Ending Project. I spent the afternoon bending pipe and assembling hoops for the second moveable tunnel.

Mike and I watching it hail earlier in the week. 

Sadie and I weeded the fava beans, peas and garlic on Monday. The weeds were getting a little crazy and it felt wonderful to knock them back and give the plants room to grow without competition. We'll see how quickly the weeds come back... I love these hardy crops, mostly because they handle our Spring weather and cause little worry even with the temps dropping into the low 20s.

Fava Beans! 

CSA Members! We created a facebook group this week, Mountain Roots Produce CSA, that we would love you all to join and participate in. This is a private group, so only CSA Members and the farmers will see the content posted. We're creating this space for our CSA Community to share recipe ideas, ask questions, talk about food preservation techniques, etc. Check this week's email for a link to join the Mountain Roots Produce CSA facebook group! 

Telluride CSA Shares are still available, join today! You can read all about the Summer CSA and Fall CSA details and feel free to contact us if you have any questions. We are seeding and planting for a diverse and bountiful harvest and would love to have you join us and become a part of our CSA Community! 

Onion starts are ready to move outside... 

The  high tunnel is looking good and about to transform! This weather gave us a chance to catch up on the weeds and set up the pea trellis. We mowed and incorporated the cover crop beds to prepare for transplanting the first tomatoes later this week. And the onion starts are ready for their move outside, we plan to dig them up on Wednesday and they'll be transplanted in the field shortly thereafter.  Excitement is building! 

The high tunnel freshly weeded and two beds of cover cropped turned in preparation for tomatoes! 

I hope you're all cozy inside enjoying this day! Have a great week

Season Prep

Tomato starts looking beautiful in the propagation house

Hello!

A warm breeze is pushing through the valley this morning and the sun is glistening off the fields, which are becoming greener by the day. Birds are singing outside. It's still a little cool at this hour, so the honeybees are not flying about just yet, but soon. 

The calm and peacefulness during the early morning hours is my favorite time of the day. Watching the sky light up and the sun slowly rise, the light creeping across the fields in the distance until it reaches our place. It is SO beautiful. I feel the most present in the morning... before the list of tasks for the day consumes my thoughts. 

Mike running the post pounder at sunset

This week was wonderful, and exhausting. The wooden fence posts for our game fence are all pounded. We rented the machine pictured above, which I find rather terrifying but it got the job done. A hydraulic line blew on day one but Mike was great, he made a few phone calls and after a quick trip to cortez for a new hose and fluids it was back up and running. Now it's time to build H-braces, followed by stretching and stapling fence. Luckily, our new (to us!) Ford 5900 arrived safe and sound last Monday. This tractor, which is a lovely blue and has custom shoulders/fenders that my Dad built years back, has a bucket and a new set of forks for moving heavy things around! Woohoo! We'll be using this girl to help stretch the fence tight. I'll report back with photos and hopefully success soon!

The crops we seeded last week have germinated and are ready for a weeding, the carrots are bit slower and just starting to pop through the soil surface. These crops (early greens, beets, carrots and herbs) are mostly still hiding under row cover, to help conserve moisture and to keep them warmer in the evenings. Saturday morning I think we were sitting around 24 degrees. Brr! 

Today we're seeding radishes, turnips, and the next round of greens and carrots. Mmm hmmm. We excited and ready for our kitchen to be overflowing with fresh produce again... cabbage I love you and appreciate how well you store (we're still eating cabbages, carrots, beets, and potatoes from storage) but I'm ready for sweet lettuces, spicy mustards, tender arugula and fragrant herbs. It must be Spring, our bodies are craving greens, and so many calories! The first CSA Harvest is only 6 weeks away, which will be here before we know it. 

We still have 2017 Telluride CSA Shares available! If you haven't signed up yet, do so today! You can ready all about our Summer CSA and Fall CSA programs and contact us if you have any questions. We're prepping, building, seeding and planning for a diverse and bountiful harvest and would love to have you join us! 

A big THANK YOU to our many returning and new CSA Members who have already signed up this season! You're support and excitement helps us stay motivated during the busy Spring months. We're looking forward to the first CSA Harvest and seeing all of your sweet faces in June! 

Cover crop mix growing in the high tunnel

The propagation house is bursting at the seams and our tomato starts are looking better than ever! I'm so excited, and ready to start transplanting these beauties in a week or so. We have reserved 4 of the 7 beds in the high tunnel for summer crops, and we seeded 3 beds with carrots, beets, peas and turnips for early CSA Harvests. So, two of the future tomato beds in the high tunnel are currently cover cropped (pictured above) and we will be mowing and incorporating the cover crop this week so we can plant tomatoes the first week of May! The other two beds are filled with our onion starts which need to be dug up and prepped for their move outside soon.

We have a second round of tomatoes that we're potting up now. These will find their way into one of the moveable tunnels before mid-May, fingers crossed! The moveable tunnels are coming together, we have one half way built as of yesterday! We still need to attach the u-channel, build the end walls, set up the anchors and attach the plastic. I wanted to complete one and figure out any hiccups before starting the second... but now I'm thinking we should just finish them both so we can ask our friends come over once and cover them with plastic at the same time. Hmm... 

Moveable Tunnel #1 is halfway built! 

It's time to head outside to open the propagation house and high tunnel and water starts. Then a walk in a few circles making a mental list of the many random things that need added to our to-do list. Followed by french toast and more coffee before we start seeding!

Have a beautiful day!

Mindy & Mike

One day at a time

Mike shaping beds with the Farmall

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.  

Transplanted spinach trial

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!

Rutabagas waking up

April, you're so frosty!

We woke up to a couple inches of snow last week.

Good morning,

It's a frosty one here! I think we're currently hovering around 15 or 16 degrees? I was closing things up around dark last night and saw the full moon rise and thought to myself... I bet it's going to be colder than they're predicting. And sure enough! I need to check my notes but I do not remember temps getting this low in April last year. 

The pace at the farm is picking up day by day and I am suddenly exhausted by 9 pm and sleeping like a rock. Are bodies are slowly re-acclimating to farm work, all the lifting, squatting, and walking many miles a day (in circles) on this 12 acre parcel we call home. I love it!   

Kale in the evening light right before they get covered with row cover for warmth at night. 

The brassicas are all up and looking happy in the prop house and we're preparing to seed the second succession of broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco (trial!), kale, collards and more head lettuce today. We built a couple more tables last week to make space for the basil and tomatoes. The prop house is filling up fast, hopefully there's enough room for everybody! It's going to get tight for a little while but the first round of greens should be heading outside in 7-10 days.

Loving the bold colors of the early head lettuce seedlings. 

As I mentioned last week, we are installing a game fence around the property this Spring, woohoo! So to prepare for the new fence, we have started taking down the  old fence and pulling out all the posts. We removed the oldest fence line over the past couple days and used the tractor to lift each post out of the ground. One line down, 3 to go.

Pulling fence posts with the tractor.

I collected more material and supplies at Home Depot over the weekend for the moveable tunnels and started cutting and bending pipe yesterday. I'm anxious and excited to see these tunnels come together. We're still contemplating how exactly to build them so they move across the field with ease and more importantly how to anchor them to the ground so the wind doesn't toss them around. Little details.

We've started repotting the peppers. SO. MANY. PEPPERS! We're excited to expand our pepper production this year and are growing many Shishitos and Padrons, along with sweet bells, pimentos, italian roasters and poblanos. Mmmm hmm. Get those cast irons ready for blistering peppers folks!

Spinach almost ready for transplant. We're experimenting with transplanting spinach this season to deal with spotty germination and to get a jump on the weeds.

And the most exciting thing happening... our first full-time employee starts this week! Mike and I came to the conclusion last season that we were trying to do too much on our own and that we needed help at the farm. We are not interested in the internship model that so many other farms use, because farming is hard work and we feel that the people doing this work should get paid a fair wage. Lets lead by example, as my Mom would say, and make sure that the people producing the food that nourishes our bodies are able to making a living doing so. We crunched some numbers last Fall and decided we could hire an employee in 2017. I think having another person at the farm is going to be a game changer. More of those little things we don't have time to get to each day will be completed and the planting, seeding, harvesting, etc will all happen at a faster rate with another set of hands here to help. We hope having an employee will allow us to take one day off a week this season, and maybe we'll finish our work days before dark? We'll see! And more than anything, it's going to feel so good to share the knowledge we've collected over the years with somebody who is considering farming as a career. 

Cold Snap and Tomato Dreams

The field of rye and vetch radiating in the late afternoon is a reminder to stop and appreciate the beauty of everyday.

Good morning! 

Brr! It's damp and freezing out there. The latest storm has brought with it some cold air, we dropped down to 23 degrees on Saturday morning and it looks like the next couple days stay pretty unsettled. The forecast shows a low of 17 on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. That is COLD... so we will be adding a second layer of row cover to everything for extra warmth.  We have been able to keep the starts in the prop house above freezing but not without a little worry and concern. The many brassicas we seeded last week should be up at any moment... I keep checking them with excitement, trying to coax them to wake up and pop through the soil. Any day now.

I'm happy to report that we have finalized the CSA pickup location for the 2017 Season! The Town of Telluride approved our Spruce Park Vending Application last week and starting in June we will host the CSA pickup and have a small market stand set up in Spruce Park (next to The Butcher and The Baker) every Wednesdays from 11-2pm. Yay! It feels good to have the go-ahead on this so we can focus on seeding and planting! 

Oregon Giant Snow Peas are growing quickly in the high tunnel.

The snow peas are starting to show off in the high tunnel and may need a trellis before long! I weeded these a couple days ago and started thinking, if all goes well they should be producing peas for the first CSA Harvest, which is only 9 weeks away! I'm anxious to start seeding greens and roots in the field, but its currently a little too wet for that. Hopefully later in the week we'll have a dry enough window?

Who's dreaming of warm summer days and the taste of tomatoes? I am! I gathered the pots, trays and soil yesterday morning and have started repotting the tomatoes. They are getting a little large for the small cells they're currently in and are ready for more growing room. Perfect activity to do inside while the weather has temporarily halted many of our outdoor projects, and motivation!

Tomato dreams... 

Oooo, earlier this week I started reorganizing the barn! Oh my goodness, I love being organized but it takes a lot of work and time. I'm trying to find a place for everything and get us in the habit of putting things away (always always) so next time we need a particular tool, it's located right where it's supposed to be and doesn't take 30 minutes to track down. If there's one thing my Dad taught me, it's to have your tools clean and organized. 

One of our many projects at the moment is installing the Game Fence. The first round of fence materials were delivered this weekend and the rest are coming on Friday. We are fencing the whole 12 acres, which sounds a little daunting to me, but luckily Mike has some fence building experience and is heading up this project. We have started taking down the old fence in preparation... there will be fence updates and photos coming your way soon! 

Beets are up! 

Moveable Tunnel construction is my department. I have decided on a final design (I think) and have most of the parts ordered. We need to make a quick trip to Home Depot to stock up on more pipe, lumber and drill bits. Then it's go time... I think the first one may take a little work to figure out but then the second and hopefully third should come together smoothly. Fingers crossed. 

OK, I'm off to build a fire and repot tomatoes!