‘Tis the season of both growth and destruction. We spend most of our time weeding and watering and looking for new growth on our crops and in our pasture; in response, all of our crafty farm pests have come out with hunger in their tummies and destruction on their minds. Time spent not watering or weeding is instead spent defending our territory. It’s a hard-fought war of attrition out here, and both sides are digging their heels in.

A raspberry cane with reassuring new growth.

We’re so pleased to see new growth on most of our raspberry canes. You might remember that we planted forty canes last year and every single one failed; this year we regrouped with drip irrigation and we believe that made all the difference. Bramble fruits like raspberries and blackberries typically do well in our climate; we’d love to grow our own fruit as well as our own vegetables. We’re always, always learning out here, and we’re trying hard not to make the same mistakes twice. We like to make lots of different mistakes instead.

A recent harvest of fava beans and sugar snap peas.

We have been pleasantly surprised by both our fava bean and snap pea yields this season. Our original fava bean seeds were a gift a decade or so ago from beloved gardener friends back on the Front Range (thanks, Nancy and Bob!) and I’ve grown them out almost every single year and saved a few each time for future plantings. We planted favas in one of our new raised beds as a way to fix nitrogen and improve the soil, and the beans did incredibly well.

Peas are often tricky in Colorado, because they like cool, damp weather (there’s a reason they’re an English culinary staple) and our breakneck seasonal shifts means it gets too hot too quickly, before they really mature. But this year the sugar snaps have been spectacular, and they’re not even overly bitter in our extreme heat. I never expect peas to make it into the kitchen – I plant them as a garden snack – but this year there have been enough for salads and stir-fries, and they just keep producing. No matter how much I think I know, growing food never fails to surprise and delight me.

A badly damaged broccoli plant.

These greens have been chewed nearly to the ground.

One of the toughest things about growing organically is that you often don’t know your enemy, so it can be hard to know how to respond – and you can’t just douse everything in a potent chemical cocktail and hope it works. We’re seeing a disheartening amount of damage in our raised beds, particularly on the tender leafy greens. Baby squirrels have been spotted in here – they can make it through the fencing, whereas the adults can’t – but grasshoppers are a big problem for us, too. We’ve taken to spreading the day’s coffee grounds on the beds (apparently squirrels dislike the smell) and I’ve also made some catmint and lemon balm tinctures and poured those over, too. We’re doing our best to grow strong, healthy plants that can fight off attacks, but there is some territory we may just have to cede. Thankfully we’re not taking these crops to market, or we’d be in real trouble.

Gorgeous ‘Forellenschluss’ lettuce.

The ‘Forellenschluss’ lettuce above is one of the most beautiful lettuces we’ve ever grown. It’s an Austrian variety whose name translates as “speckled trout,” and it’s lovely in the field and on the plate. I’m letting the few heads I have go to seed (if our enemies don’t get them first) because this a variety I want to plant again and share with other growers.

Most of our lettuces are nearly done for the season; those that remain are left deliberately to go to seed for a fall replanting. When lettuces and other greens get too hot they turn sharp and bitter and tough and are best for chicken treats instead of cool, fresh salads. The kale will keep going through the summer, and I’ll seed lettuces again once the tomatoes have put on some substantial growth so their foliage can shade the delicate greens.

The eastward view along our ridgeline in late summer two years ago.

The westward view along the same ridgeline, taken a few days ago.

One of our biggest goals for this year has been to improve our pasture management, with the ultimate intention of grazing livestock on our land. N has done an incredible job of both mowing the pasture as well as learning our complicated and infuriating gated pipe system to use our limited irrigation water efficiently. We think the results of his hard work speak for themselves: it’s pretty clear from the photos above that our pasture is in far better shape now than it was when we purchased this farm nearly two years ago. Well-managed intensive mob grazing is our next step.

With that, we’re off to continue our ongoing battle against whistle pigs, squirrels, deer, grasshoppers and all the rest. Stay calm and stay safe out there.