Hello there, and a very happy new year to you and yours. If you’re here for the first time, welcome! If you’re returning after our hiatus, thanks for coming back! We look forward to sharing a new year of food and farm adventures with you.

Our updated Snow Management Plan in action!

Last winter – our first winter at Quiet Farm – our area received an unprecedented amount of snow. Our inaugural Snow Management Plan was…ineffective, shall we say; we had no tractor and no plow and no way of getting out of our quarter-mile driveway with a foot of snow on the ground. At one point, we resorted to begging a friend with a truck to flatten the snow by driving up and down our lane so we could at least leave the farm (thanks, Joe!). Needless to say, that was not a sustainable long-term solution.

This winter we haven’t had nearly as much snow, but we do have a plan – a detachable plow for our ATV. And so far, the ATV plow has worked like a champion. We’re even thinking of purchasing other implements for the ATV, so that we can use it like a mini-tractor, since we’ve been unsuccessful in finding a reasonably-priced midsize tractor to manage our pasture. Stay tuned.

Roasted vegetables, quinoa, greens and a bright, flavorful dressing. Dinner sorted.

What are you cooking these days? Just as we don’t celebrate the holidays in the traditional manner, we also don’t punish ourselves in January like most of America. When it comes to eating well, consistency and moderation – neither particularly revolutionary or interesting or profitable – are the keys to success. We eat mostly plant-based, so a plate of raw or sauteed greens topped with grains, a mess of deeply caramelized vegetables and some sort of vibrant sauce, plus nuts and seeds and sharp, salty cheese for texture and contrast, is a perfect meal any time of year. Roast all your vegetables, cook your grains and make your dressings on the weekend, then eat variations for lunch and dinner throughout the week. Remember, cooking and eating well isn’t punishment, and food isn’t supposed to make you miserable.

An apple a day and all that.

Speaking of what we’re eating, fresh, local fruit is in obviously short supply in deepest winter. We have dried and frozen cherries and canned peaches from last summer, but the fresh produce options in our grocery store aren’t spectacular, to say the least. Thankfully, though, we live in Colorado’s apple basket! Stored correctly, fresh apples can actually last up to a year – and we’re still able to buy a half-bushel (about 25 pounds) from our neighbor for just a few dollars. Last season’s apple crop was badly damaged by hail and other weather catastrophes, so we’re happy to keep supporting local growers however we can. (If you buy an American-grown apple in summer, you’re buying one from the previous fall. Thankfully apples don’t carry expiration dates or everyone would completely freak out about eating ten-month-old “fresh” fruit.)

Never mind the quilt…just look at that gorgeous deer fence!

Beyond reading and baking bread, winter is also for sewing. Some years back a friend gave me stacks of apple-themed fabrics she didn’t want, and I carefully packed them away. Then, of course, we moved to apple country and so an apple-themed quilt seemed just the ticket. I’ve sewn a couple of quilts previously for family but definitely consider myself merely a beginner; this was the first quilt I made just for me and I’m quite pleased with how it came out. My favorite aspect of quilting is that you take something that would otherwise be thrown out and make it into something warm and comforting and lovely. And yes, I probably should have been born in the 1850s. (Feel free to send me your fabric scraps if you want to see them here in future quilt projects!)

This bird is rather easy to identify (Haliaeetus leucocephalus).

We are excited to announce that we have a pair of nesting bald eagles about a mile from the farm. Last spring we tracked a mated pair up on a nearby mesa, but we’ve never seen any so close to us and we’re thrilled to look for them on chilly walks almost every day. Did you know that the female bald eagle is larger than the male, and that she can have a wingspan of over seven feet? These are truly majestic birds, and seeing them regularly is just one of the many great things about living where we do.

Thanks for reading, friends. We’re looking forward to a terrific year at Quiet Farm, and we’re so pleased to have you here.

P.S. Two years ago we were at the National Western Stock Show! And three years ago we started our round-the-world trip in Japan!