Summertime: At Home in Colorado

July 5, 2011. 1 Comments. Categories Ramblings. Tags colorado, gardening, home in colorado, raising chickens.

It’s been a great summer for us. After years of wanting to raise my own organic food, we were able to make some strides towards that goal. We built and installed some raised beds. Finding a space for the beds was never an issue as we are fortunate enough to live in a rural area in the mountains west of Boulder. But Colorado is a very dry state and we’ve had water issues in our area. Our neighborhood recently built a reservoir to enhance our water storage and as long as water isn’t wasted… we can now plant our gardens.

This may not have been the best news for my husband who is the “builder” in the family. He put a lot of work into not just raised beds but spent several weekends converting an old somewhat useless shed into a chicken coop.

One of the many things I love about him is he always does things the correct way (vs. the fastest way.) Plus he looks great in a toolbelt! Everything is built to last and is made from good quality materials. And, he was a very good sport about the whole experience. Working on my little projects took time away from his outdoor passions like mountain biking. But he’ll be happy when we’re enjoying fresh heirloom tomatoes and our own backyard organic eggs. Thanks Honey.

One little surprise was discovering that one of our cute little chicks wasn’t a little hen but a rooster. Oops! Meet “Rooster Cogburn.” A name suggested by several people on my Facebook fan page. He’s definitely full of True Grit wouldn’t you say?

We already loved spending out free time at home. With our little rural farmstead it’s even tougher to get us to leave home! As you can see we have some unique “neighbors” like the local elk who like to spend summer and fall in our neighborhood. Our son Wyatt calls them our “elk buddies.” Not everyone in our family is thrilled about the elk visiting. One of our dogs made this about-face when she got just a little too close. Although we laughed, she could get hurt so we’re glad she had a quick change of heart! Fortunately, the elk buddies have stayed out of the garden beds… so far. A fence is probably in our near future.

Even July 4th was spent at home. It’s hard to be motivated to fight all the crowds who are up here visiting Rocky Mountain National Park. So we opted to barbecue and watched Wyatt conduct his own fireworks show. I love the look on his face!

As I look at these photos I feel a deep sense of gratitude for our wonderful life and home. We’re lucky. We’re happy, healthy and live in a wonderful place. Sometimes it’s good to remember to be grateful as the world can be challenging to navigate. This beautiful cloud that appeared over our house yesterday reminded me that even in a storm the proverbial silver lining always appears. I know. It’s a corny cliche’.. but so true.