Summer is here. The work days are longer and the sleep is shorter, or at least it seems like it is. The snow has melted from the mountain tops. The sun is staying up longer. The summer is finally here.

I realize it has been a long time since I have written. I apologize. Things have been crazy here. We are in full swing. We are planting and weeding and pruning like crazy. We planted 500 grape plants in just about 2 weeks. Three different grapes and they are all doing well – growing so well in their new home.

The apple thinning is done. We got help, thank god! The peach thinning is done as well. The same people who did the apple thinning breezed through the peaches. All the fruit trees are looking good, even the cherry trees. However the cherry trees are only in their second year of growth, so there will be no fruit this year. But they are growing beautifully. A local grower told us that most people would kill for their cherry trees to look as good as ours! Now that is exciting.

Now that our huge project of planting to 500 grape plants is over, we now are concentrating on pruning the 6 acres of grape plants. Now that is a true task. We tried to get help, but that hasn’t gone so well. We hired a family of 4, plus one kid who did not do anything. They did not come back the next day. A man and his brother are working in the grapes and they are wonderful! Their work is great and they go fast – weeding, cutting the tall grass between the plants and pruning. We have about 3 acres done.

During all this planting, I managed to escape for a couple of days with some really great friends from home – the McEwen’s. I was able to go meet them in Granby, because an intern showed up before she was actually due. So Max and Wink let me leave for a day or two. I worked the morning and left in the afternoon to go to Granby – about 4.5 hours away. It was a dude ranch I had helped them find and it was set in a park. It was so pretty. The whole family was making an appearance, except for their eldest, Will (one of my best friends from high school). He had to work (he is in the real world) and he had to work on his kitchen (he is redoing his house).

I arrived at King Mountain Ranch in time for dinner. It was great to see friendly faces from home – Mr. McEwen, Mrs. McCall, Sally (the graduate) and her friend Alexis. The middle child, Cory, was due to get in late. She was working and could not get away from work in Denver until after her day was done. We all hung out for awhile after dinner and then went to bed. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

The next day we woke up for breakfast at 8. We woke up to snow, all around us. A white blanket gently covered us. After breakfast Sally, Alexis, Mrs. McCall and I went to an orientation about horses and then on a short ride. It had stopped snowing by the time we got on the horses, but it started up again for a short while when we were riding. It was a lot of fun to ride in the snow – something I have not done for a very long time, since Creste Butte.

It was soon lunch – Mr. McEwen had come back from golfing and Cory took a break from work. We had a lovely lunch. Our next activity was riding for Sally and Alexis and then the rest of us went to shoot skeet! We were up on a mountain, with the entire world to see. We each got a round of skeet. We made a rule, if we got three clay pigeons we would be able to have all the cookies we wanted. Everyone passed.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing whatever, I napped and just took it easy. It has been forever since I have had time to just sleep and do nothing! It is a luxury that should not be taken for granted. Then it was dinner time.

The next morning we woke for breakfast. Mr. McEwen went to try golfing again – hopefully no snow. Mrs. McCall and I went for a ride. After lunch I hung around to watch a group try to herd cattle. It was pretty entertaining. I sadly left in the afternoon to begin my drive back to the farm; it was going to be a work day tomorrow. My trip with the McEwen family was so much fun! Thank you for my break from farming.

Last week I went on another outing, to another farm, Zephyros. This is a farm that is about 3 or 4 acres. They grow a lot of flowers and vegetables. They also have goats and sheep – to make cheese and to eat. We (Annon, Emily, Gail and I) went to work for a Saturday, next week their interns would come and work at our farm. We arrived at the farm at 6:30 and got a tour of the farm. It was impressive. Then we were put to work – weeding! All day long. It wasn’t too bad. We got to meet some new people and we were feed a good meal – lamb curry with rice. We were done by about 6.

This week, three interns from Zephyros came to our place and helped us. We got them to help us prune our grape plants. I think they enjoyed it. There was some weeding in the pruning, but no pulling; only cutting. We feed them a great meal, then sent them back out to prune. We began our work day at 8:30 until about 6. Not a bad day.

Today was interesting. Today we went to a slaughter house. Emily, Gail and I went to process chickens, 77 of them. It was a really cool experience. I think it is important to see how your food is killed and how it is treated. Thomas Keller of The French Laundry, raised his own rabbits and them slaughtered them. He thought it was important to see where his food came from and what was done to it. I agree.

We got to see the whole process – from the actual killing to the packaging. I won’t go into great detail, but there are 6 steps. First the killing (in a human and kosher way) by bleeding them, then the taking off the feathers by hot water and a spinner, then the singeing, then the removal of the insides, then the cleaning and finally the packaging. It was a cool experience. We were done cleaning the chickens, all 77 of them by 12:30. I think they started around 8, but we did not show up until 9. After lunch we cleaned up and packaged them. We were out of there b 3:15. I had a great time. Hopefully they will call me when they process beef and deer and other game. I think it is important for a chef to see how things are done – well really anyone.

Well that is about all I got. Things have been busy and I think after we have the pruning done, things will calm down, a bit. Or maybe that is only wishful thinking. We are still planting food. We are now able to pick strawberries and eat them. We have been eating the lettuces I planted (I didn’t kill them) and other various things. I have been experimenting with foods and spices and just loving it. I might stay out here longer, until November. I am just really enjoying life here. I miss life at home in the south, but Colorado living is just different. I could use to this. I can understand why my sister and my brother wanted to come to college out here. I might be the one who doesn’t leave…

Until next time…


ps - pictures are coming, soon, promise

I am sitting outside on my little stoop. I have the mountains, with still some snow at the top, as my view. The sun is still beating down on my back and I am probably the happiest I have been in years. It is beginning to get a little warmer here, but nothing like home (Birmingham, Alabama). Home is where humidity lives and dwells. Here in Colorado, it is PERFECT! It is hot, but not too bad, like sweat just pouring out of every pore. I have a little perspiration on my nose, but what’s new. It is a sweat that I will become accustomed with. The weather is really ideal with now.

The last time I wrote, I had been here for only a week or so. Now I have lived here for over a month and I am still learning and loving it! I have planted lots of vegetables and they are actually now growing. We have a bed of strawberries and we can now see little green strawberries beginning to sprout. We have one semi-red one – almost time to pick and eat. We have been eating spinach almost every night now. One of the reasons I chose to come to work at a farm was to reap the benefits of eating food pick steps from the kitchen. The taste is just incredible.

There are three beds right outside of the living quarters, a big bed, a circular bed and the infinity garden. The big bed is half filled with spinach and cilantro, while the other half is partly filled with weeds/flowers and some herbs and arugula. Hopefully soon we will plant some more. The circular bed is mostly filled with herbs (rosemary, parsley, oregano, thyme, tarragon), a couple strawberry plants, savory (like celery), and a few other things. The last bed, the infinity garden, is filled with radishes, lettuces and a few leftover things (spinach seeds).

Right now, we are working on the irrigation system for the grapes, peaches and apples. We are also working on pruning the wine grapes and thinning the apple trees. There are lots of both. But I am learning. The other farm work, such as planting and weeding, has been put on hold. Hopefully we will get help with the thinning of the apple trees. It takes about 30 minutes or so to just do one! We have finished pruning the old wine and table grapes. We will soon move on to pruning the younger wine grapes which should not take us as long (hopefully, fingers crossed).

A couple weeks ago, Max and Wink left to go to St. Louis for Max’s daughter law school graduation and her first grandchild (her son). Wink came home a week later, while Max stayed behind to help her children with the adjustment of life and a new baby. For the week, Anno (Wink’s youngest daughter) and I held down the farm. We were in charge and you know what, it was so much fun! We got a lot accomplished and had fun.

We had a few house guests during this time. A friend from C.C. (Colorado College) came by and stayed with her climbing partner for about 5 days. Althea, the friend from CC, helped us on the farm a day or two, but her and her friend, Emily, mostly went climbing.

They left to go on a wild adventure to Alaska to climb. Wink came home a day later and then another friend from CC came, Julia. I had met her before. About a month ago I went into Paonia to celebrate her birthday. She had even come to the farm to work a couple of days. She came to actually stay for a few days and help out, until leaving for her summer job/adventure, a leader on Outward Bounds.

Then it was suddenly Memorial Day. We had a bar b-que, well….we grilled hamburgers. Some more friends from CC came by to help us celebrate. Gregg and his girlfriend, Avery, another graduate from CC, and her mother and almost stepfather came by. Also Grady, a helper on the farm, and his girlfriend, Laura came. We drank beer and ate lots of food. It was nice to be able to unwind and just chill out with some friends. There was lots of talk about CC, so I now feel like an honorary graduate. They should make diplomas for that, I would have graduated from so many schools!

A few days ago, an intern arrived, earlier than expected, Emily. She is a senior at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. She will be here working on the farm until August. A day or two after she arrived another intern came to work, Gale. She is working here part time and working at other farms around the North Fork. She is living just a mile down the street at the CSU research station. It is great to finally have all this help on the farm! It makes things go so much faster!

Life on the farm is still fantastic. I am still loving everything and enjoying being here. I think the coolest thing I have seen since I have been here are the bee hives. A few weeks ago, Mark, another organic farmer, came over and showed us how to put a new queen bee into the hive. You are supposed to put in a new queen every couple of years. Who knew?!? They ship the queen bee with a sugar pellet and enclosed with drones (basically boy bees that impregnate the queen. It was so cool to se the inside of the hive and the honey supers (where they store the honey and where the baby bees incubate). It was an awesome site. A bee hive is so interesting. They work as one and should be considered as one. I don’t think any one bee can live by itself. It needs all the bees to survive. By far the coolest thing I have seen yet!

The days on the farm are getting longer, so that means that summer is a coming. My daily schedule hasn’t really changed. I have more responsibility, which is a little scary. I now have a better understanding of what they talk about, well sort of. And I am getting faster at the tasks, like hoeing water ditches to irrigate the grapes, or pruning grape vines or thinning apple trees.

Well…until next time…