It’s mid-May here on the Western Slope and we’ve had virtually no appreciable moisture for months. Grand Mesa snowpack is critically low. Accordingly, even though water allocations haven’t yet been set, we are planning for an exceptionally limited irrigation season, as are other farmers in our region.

What else is happening on the farm these days?

This photo of gated pipe in our pasture is from back in 2018 – our pasture looks nothing like this now.

Our gated pipe is always broken down and stored for winter, and we’ve returned that pipe to its position along the ridgeline. We made some needed repairs, but it will likely be at least four to six weeks before we get water so we won’t know our pass/fail result until that first irrigation run.

Our first expansion in 2021. Now we have many more rows than this!

We dropped in new bean rows west of the corral and will water those with our gravity-fed siphon system, an incredibly efficient (no fossil fuels required!) way to irrigate low-water crops.

I started asparagus from seed years ago, and while the plants are now established, they don’t exactly produce an abundance. Nevertheless, we enjoy our brief spring asparagus season, most of it eaten raw in the field. (Always buy asparagus that’s been stored in water, like flowers. And if you’re not going to cook it right away – though you should – keep the stalks in water in your fridge, too.)

The blossoms in the surrounding orchards are mostly finished now as the trees start to set fruit; we had a chilly, dry spring and heard the big fans on a number of nights. The new peach orchard to the west of the farm was particularly spectacular this year.

A Western bluebird above the peach blossoms.

N built a series of birdhouses to mount along our game fence posts. We try to attract as many nesting birds as possible in an attempt to keep our grasshopper population under control.

A peregrine falcon perched in one of our big cottonwoods shortly after dawn the other morning.

N also spotted this Gambel’s quail a few weeks ago. These birds are desert dwellers but are rarely seen here.

(I would really like to post this brilliant bird image, but it is obviously copyrighted. You should look at it, though. The original cover caption read “Only 1,361 days to go.”)

A stray cat unexpectedly joined the Quiet Farm family recently, and Shadowcat seems to be here to stay. The cat spends most of its time in the chicken house, either sleeping or hunting mice. The hens have developed a wary tolerance. (Our county has a massive problem with strays – please always spay or neuter your animals, for everyone’s benefit.)

If you’re on the Front Range and want to support small Colorado farms, please consider a fruit share CSA from our friends at Ela Family Farms! They’re one of Colorado’s oldest family-owned organic orchards, and Steve and his team do an incredible job in increasingly difficult conditions. Their fruit is amazing, and an especially good value if you plan on doing any canning or preserving this year!

You can make this at home! I will teach you how!

On that note – it’s been a long time coming, but I am finally teaching small-group cooking and baking classes in our dedicated studio. June and July will feature classes on homemade salad dressings, muffins and quick breads, flatbreads and “kitchen wisdom”! August, September and October will see a full slate of canning and preserving classes – we’ll cover peaches, tomatoes, apples, salsas and hot sauces, fermentation, dehydration and more! Please contact me if you’d like to be added to the class calendar mailing list!

Take good care of yourselves, friends. See you on No Kings Day?