From family garden to .5acre farm

We moved to the farm January of 2016 in a snow storm. The entire property was covered in a 2 foot blanket of snow and there was no telling what we were actually buying into. We knew it was 5 acres and had an old thrown together chicken coop. Once the snow melted that spring, we discovered the remnants of some (sort of) raised beds and transformed the area into our first family garden on the farm.

For the size of the garden, 25x25 ft or so, it was very productive. We planted peas, kale, summer squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, heirloom slicing tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, cantaloupe, mini watermelons, spaghetti squash, green beans, basil, and corn. This little garden was our first attempt at Central Oregon high desert growing and it came with it’s lessons. We quickly learned our microclimate was 5 degrees colder than the predicted nighttime low. We experienced our first late June frost that turned the garden black and appeared to wipe it out, but in the end only resulted in the loss of one zucchini plant. Phew!

I loved tending to this garden that was providing us fresh food. Ben would joke about how much time I spent out there…and he was right. He spent time out there too, but in a different way. He gets credit for all the heavy lifting, moving soil and railroad ties, etc. It was a true no name hobby farm and we were so proud.

Tiffany

Our first family garden at the farm was very productive for it’s size.