Trust your instints!

Greetings from snowy, springy Colorado. We've gotten over twelve inches here in the past twenty four hours, and if you think that's crazy, you're gonna love the week I've had! Mid March (meaning Monday) was my goal for breaking ground here, or at least, trying to figure out if we could break ground! Being high in 4B/5A territory (USDA growing zones based on elevation and longitude), and on the side of a lovely if not rocky plateau, we had no idea if our fertile field would wind up being a boulder field once we began. 

I started this week trying to rent a small tractor with a box scraping implement to rip up our soil and was promptly turned down by a man who thought it would be better to try to sell me on dragging a horizon auger backward with a bobcat (oh, and only for twice as much money). Surprisingly, for once I trusted my instinct and told him I would give it some thought. I'm really fighting an urge to swing by his shop and let him know my awesome 72 year old dad and I tore up the whole field a day later with a 15 year old BCS rototiller with a broken gear lock. Not to worry, Walt, we had some channel locks to hold things in place. 

As of Wednesday we have tilled all our Wonderland plots, and as of Friday, half are marked for rows. Friday also revealed perfectly neutral soil pH at 7.0 for three of the four plots, with only our tiny cabbage garden needing a little soil amendment! That's gonna save us some scrill, or clams, or cash, or whatever you call it, for sure!! Inside, the tomatoes and eggplants are stretching their cotyledons, and we even have a few peppers popping up as of this morning! Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Brussels Sprouts are doing great, though I have to admit, it's taken me some patience, as their germination hasn't been great, or even really uniform. I have some late bloomers peeking their heads out even now, three weeks later, after some early risers have decided it wasn't their day, and withered away. I think it's probably my fault, with inexperience in growing cole crops indoors from seed, but still, I feel victorious! My lovely cabbages are growing like crazy, and even if every cell isn't filled, the ones that are, are really taking off. I'll take the wins I can get. On that note, here are some actual DAILY pics of the week!:

Mar 18

Mom and Rudy, wearin' my Carhart jacket while we get started with rototilling!

Mar 19

           First rows tilled! Dad, showing me how it's done on the OG BCS!  That's gangsta for 'tilla, yo. (that means it's an old and awesome rototiller, if you don't speak gangsta...or tilla...)

Yup, that's me.

 Mar 20

The Valstar's first official farm bizness. Taking the OG BCS with ramps (ie; boards) to Old Gun Club Road. Yes.

Mar 21

The late blooming Buscaro Cabbages looking well. Boo- Yah!

Mar 22

The late blooming Red Buscaro Cabbages looking well. BOO- Yah.

Mar 23

Heirloom tomatoes gittin' going! Go, babies! BOO- YAH!

Mar 24. Boo-lizzard.

Just kidding. (but not by much)

Bonus Foto:

Looking forward to next week! Our completed Granedde Square plot, with complimentary rainbow of course!

Also, as of today, our pricing is up on our Join Page at WonderlandColorado.com. If you are in Colorado, please check it out! Freshly harvested, local produce, delivered right to your door, with some fun perks thrown in! What could be better? Can't wait for next week, our last week of preparation before seeds go in the ground! Until, or rather, TILL next time!!

XO,
Val

March First is Back to Farmstyle!!

Oh, wow. So, I have just completed Wonderland Farm's first nine flats of seedlings to be started indoors under our awesome grow light set up!! Bent over all day with a pair of tweezers centering tiny seeds into tiny plug flats definitely reminded me of the hard manual labor and focus farming requires. My back and neck are definitely saying hello to me right now! I also took Ted on a run this morning. We figured we had better get back into it, sooner rather than later, before this season gets going and we are trying to go from zero to hero in .6 seconds! I planted cabbage, Brussel's sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower today, roughly 2,500 seeds altogether!! Yippee, it's really real, we are really doing it, we are gonna plant things and have a farm! I can't tell you or really even comprehend what this day means to me. Here below are some pics of the inaugural first planting of Wonderland Farm:

Mar 1

Ted looks mad, huh?! Getting ready to go, compost, soil and water buckets for mixing, plastic on the table and everything!

Filling plug trays with 512 mix. These trays are 1.5" 288 plugs each. I seeded at a one to one ratio about 1/4" deep for the cole crops (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts)

Spokes Puppy Teddy Edde, still looking good! Maybe a little confused, but good!

Brussels sprouts! The very first seeds to be seeded, gettin' ret to GO!

Brussels sprouts! Best technique for me ended up to be individual application by tweezer.

Grow Babies!! In their warm and bright new home, complete with grow lights, heating mats, and humidity covers! 

Eight of nine completed trays! We're exhausted,, time to chillax on our parent's hippy futon! Yes!!

Who ever knew it's possible to be so excited to put a tiny seed into some smelly potting mix and jack your hands up and get dirt under your nails that won't come out for a week (if ever!)...I can't wait to see them peek their tiny sproutling heads out of the soil in a week's time. I can't believe it's March! I can't believe we are really starting our farm. It's so unbeleiveable and exciting and I just can't wait for it all to happen and to keep happening!! Until next time, stay warm, and let the sunshine a little, right into your eyes.

XO,

Val

Presenting Wonderland Farm!!

First things first: I am proud to present to you... 

​​​WONDERLAND FARM

Quality. Organic. Heirloom. Rare. 

Vegetables with Character.

Our website has launched! Please check us out at www.WonderlandColorado.com, 

and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WonderlandColorado! 

What better day to catch up on bloggin' then a blizzard-y Sunday like today! I don't want you to think I've been slacking around, I've been super busy, on the contrary! I'm even bloggin' without publishing, that's where my head's at. See the snippit I wrote two weeks ago below: 

<Hello from the land of wondering how I will ever get everything done in time!! Seeds are coming in from the two major companies I've ordered from, and I am creating list after list of supplies, equipment, things to think about, things to order, things to get organized!! How I will ever do it all, I have no idea, I only know that I will do it! For the fourth time an online supplier has deleted a list of equipment I was preparing to order, wasting hours of math I had done before I was smart enough to print out the page to save my work. I can't seem to wrap my head around doing it again.>

Well... I'm happy to report that I did get the gumption up to do the math again. Equipment has been ordered and received! I have stacked in my living room bags of compost, boxes containing tools and my cold frame, twine, stakes and row covering! I ordered the most kick ass grow light cart and assembled it myself (not without a few curses). My thoughts flew to the cliched Sunday funnies where couples curse vehemently while assembling the baby's crib from cryptic instructions. Well, this cart is my version of a crib, and next Friday(! it will be full of infant cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants!!! A shout out to my creative and talented friend Monica (check out her funny and poignant blog at omasaysrelax.blogspot.com) who gifted me this amazing found object seed organizer, pictured below. She thinks it's an old cassette tape holder. It's gonna come in so handy, as planting days are just around the corner! Here are this week's pics:

Feb 23

Teddy, organizing our seeds in our new, rockin' packet organizer! See my massive compost bags chillin' in the background!!

Now I can see exactly what I have, and how much! It's even organized into the order it will go into the ground!

Feb 22

In the home stretch, but still befuddled by confusing instructions...

Success!! Only four and a half hours of assembly required!

Ain't she pretty and bright? It's like the Sun is renting a room in our basement!

Feb 24

Our blizzard this morning before things really got cray! I think there is a drift that has engulfed the Valstar in our driveway at this point!

Vintage Foto(s):

A pepper planted in a footstep.

With this last foto, I'd like to encourage you to join our 2013 Wonderland Farm membership! To find out more, sign up or email us simply click the link below! Thank you for following me on this journey, we are only just beginning!

FEEL WONDERFUL!

XO,

Val

Seeds ordered... Check!

I hit a great milestone on Saturday. The seeds are ordered for my little organic farm's 2013 season!! We are growing twenty five types of vegetables with sixty eight varieties within those types, twelve varieties of herbs and a handful of flower crops, all on what will barely amount to one acre of land. If this sounds somewhat extreme, look at it this way. We will be growing tomatoes, for example, which is a type of vegetable, but we will be growing eight different varieties of tomatoes within that specific type. Many of our crops will be like that, with several different colorful varieties of vegetable within the same row. It's going to be a super lush and super beautiful field. 

Winter seems to be downtime here in Colorado, where nothing is growing outside, but I have been so busy planning, charting, staring at the wall thinking, reading, making lists, and trying to stay ahead of the game so when the season starts, all I will have to think about is the planting, cultivating and harvesting. And although I have already done so much, a laundry list of things to get in order still looms ahead of me- overwhelming to say the least! See below a few pictures of my mountains of notecards, paperwork, books and maps (with my helper, Teddy, always nearby, of course!). Also, a few vintage pics of my great friends from last year's season at Grant:

Jan 1-28

Ted, doing some reasearch

Overview plot maps, eight year crop rotation chart, and self saved and cataloged seeds for our pepper and tomato crop.

Not the most exciting pic to look at, but super exciting for me; seed ordering complete!!

Vintage farm foto(s):

Calvin, so excited to embarrass Nate further with this picture on the food saftey guide.

Tor, harvesting pumpkins!

Harvesting green beans for pickling.

Elena, eating/harvesting corn (while standing in the cucumbers...?)

Check back soon! More enthralling fotos of season planning await... plus some more fun vintage pics. Stay warm, and dream of those summer tomatoes!

XO,

Val

Super Slacker.

Hey everyone... I have to apologize, the month of December and this first two weeks of January have sucked me into the vortex of silence regarding blog correspondence. Happy New Year! Here we are and it's already January 13th. I think most everyone has heard the unfortunate new of Grant Family Farms declaring Chapter 7 bankruptcy by now. I have to say it was not the way I would have liked to end the season, and I know everyone else involved with the farm feels the same way. I'm looking forward to positive news regarding their future plans, but for myself, looking forward to our own future endeavors starting our own small farm... 

Starting January, I have been busy planning away for the upcoming season. I am starting from the beginning, outlining on notecards all my crops and the necessary info required to grow them, then organizing these into a chart based on planting dates to plan the 2013 season. Essentially, I am teaching myself succession and stagger planting, based on an eight year crop rotation. I spend a lot of time staring at the wall, let's say! I will get maybe one chart complete all day and it won't seem like a lot, but it was such hard work to get there!! My goal is to be organized enough to order seeds by January 21st. That's an arbitrary date, but I'm gonna try to make that happen. I've also saved quite a number of heirloom seeds from our pepper and tomato crop this year that I've spent a bit of time counting and putting into paper packets (with the help of Rachel!). I wish I had grabbed a picture of that! Well, here's to new year's plans, and last year's memories. A few vintage pics from the 2012 season:

lining up heirloom tomatoes for transplanting.

Megan, Justin, and Alyssa laying plastic in Pie Four.

Alpaca friends.

Check back next week for a few new pics, winter though it is, as well as for some more vintage pics. And I haven't forgotten about the surprise thing I promised to have up by Christmas, just think of me as the crappy relative who sends things late... 


XO,
Val

Post Farm...

Hey! So... Not quite Sunday, but I promise I will get right back on track starting this week. It will be my pre- New Year's Resolution. It has been an adjustment to say the least being away from the farm, but I have to admit that it has been so cold out that I am happy to spend my days inside lately!! This will be a quick post. One vintage foto (okay, two) to remind us of some warmer times this past 2012 season:

May 24th at Grant Family Farms. Look how green and bright!!

Nate's first day working with the interns in Greeley, planting peppers.
No one told him to put sunscreen there... It was our first day working in 100º heat!
We called it his tramp stamp, and somehow I have it documented. Sorry, Nate!

  I hope we all feel a little warmer now... Next week: one more vintage foto (okay, two), and maybe one of me trying to get a little season planning done for next year! 

XO,
Val

The Grande Finale!

It was a surreal and bittersweet week for me. Also, fairly boring and laborious in terms of what was going on with us on the farm... We ripped up plastic every day. I've had a hard time writing this last post. I just really don't want to do it, I think because it'll mean that my last week really did happen and I won't be working at Grant Farms anymore. It has been such a tremendous season for me. I have gotten the first real tan I've probably every had in my life, worked my booty off (literally) in the blazing sun and freezing cold, celebrated way too hard (and often!) at the end of a long week, had more than a few late night farm adventures, and fell in total love with farming and vegetable production. Not to mention the amazing people that I've had the chance to work with and call my friends. I know we'll see each other again, but I wish it could still be every day. I don't know what I'll do without you this winter!! This post can't touch how much you all mean to me, and what this experience has done to change my life for the better. So here, after a great season, are the final week's pics of the week:

Nov 26

Dark and dreary Monday. It was so cold I was shaking! Here are all the guys: Austin, Joshua, Nate, Mitty, and Chris. Katie and I were the last girls standing this week. This is the top of Pie Four, the field where I laid the most plastic. I had the honor of tearing up the first beds, and the last this week. Wow.

Nov 27

Katie, driving the tractor on Tuesday.

Nov 28

Mitty and Chris ripping up the drip tape irrigation in Pie Four.

Nov 29

View from the tractor. Getting down to the last zone on Thursday. The harvest road is to the left, and only zone seven with the determinate tomatoes remains. Austin, Katie, Chris and Joshua to the right.

Nov 30

It's my last day. I couldn't decide on just one, so here's five.

Joshua driving Nate in the front end loader to pick up all the plastic and drip tape in Pie Four.

The last load! Chris, Abby, Katie, Mitty, Nate, Joshua, and Austin.

Up in the bucket with a beer and the dogs at the end of a long day. Austin, Abby, Mitty, Val, Maddy, Nate, Katie, and Chris.

Nate and Maddy.

About to rip up the last plastic bed. Mitty gave up the tractor for me and took my pic. I'm gonna miss driving beasts like this. 

Bonus Foto(s):

Katie and I took this picture of the full moon having one last field beer of the season in Pie Four on Wednesday.

Asleep after a long, hard season!

Thanks for a terrific year! Sunset on the season.

So, don't shed a tear quite yet if you've enjoyed the blog this year. I'm not done yet. A few things will happen with it here in the future... Although it's the end of the season here in Colorado, I am planning to continue with a little something every week, just to keep it rolling. Check back with me for a unique, never posted, *vintage* farm foto every week featuring our 2012 interns... maybe even some party pics? Maybe even some video!? Who knows! You will have to just keep checking in to see! Also, there is a extra big surprise I have for you that will be posted on the blog soon, again having to do with the media I've collected this year. I will have it up by Christmas for a little end of the season gift for everyone. Interns, those of you whom I don't have email addresses for, can you please send them to me at granere@gmail.com or message me on facebook.

Finally, what's next for Val, you must be asking yourself! I bet the answer won't shock you... I am starting an organic farm! A small farm to start, to be sure, but within a few years I hope to be up on forty acres in Steamboat with ten acres in veggie production per year. Throw in a few alpacas and there's the goal. To start though, I'll be cultivating a little under an acre on the front range near Golden and plan to focus on a small farm membership with perks and farm dinners, and farmer's markets of course- a few if we have the produce! So as the winter wraps up and spring and things get cracking again, check in to see some new pics as I give my farm dream a shot. I am pretty sure it's gonna be interesting, if not pretty entertaining! And who knows, but I have a feeling a few of us will be working together again soon!

Thanks for following me this season, and please continue to do so. I've loved doing the blog and will keep it up. I've almost reached 10,000 hits, a number that's unreal to me! Maybe I'll get it by the new year... 

I hate to wrap this post up! So hard!!! Thanks. And see you next week.

XOXOXOXO,

Val