Country Life in the Colorado Rockies

 

In front of the Mancos harvest mural with Paul, Monroe, Mary, Donna, Don

Organic farming in the Rockies

My siblings and I shared the same parents, but we grew up different from one another and each followed our own path. My baby sister, Mary, became an organic farmer in a breathtaking valley between Mesa Verde and the southern Rockies that she named Confluence Farm.

Confluence Farm - where the mighty Mancos River meets Mud Creek

Mary and her partner Paul grow organic crops and trade goods and services with other locals. They are lucky to have land on the river and rights to water their crops. Water is even more precious during droughts, like the one happening now, which is exacerbated by climate change that has severely impacted the winter snow and spring melt cycles. 

Mary is an excellent cook and she dished up fabulous meals from her country kitchen. We feasted on omelets made with local eggs and homegrown spinach, grass fed beef, wild caught salmon, and free range organic chicken.  She visits our mom in Vermont twice a year, each time stocking her freezer with delicious homemade meals to last between visits.

On Sunday morning we went into town for breakfast at the Absolute Bakery & Coffee (ABC restaurant).  Mary's son and my nephew, Monroe, met us there.

Mary's son, Monroe, works as a firefighter and EMS technician. Definitely the strong, silent type.

   

Mary lives intentionally, and she has very few material desires. 

Mary farms in Mancos

But she is passionate about the environment.

Mary and Paul recycle everything they cannot reuse - even their toilet paper is made from recycled material and comes wrapped in paper, not plastic. I guess it's time for me to make that change--so long Kirkland toilet paper double wrapped in plastic.

 

Visit to the Hovenweep ruins

Mesa Verde is visible from Mary's farm and we had hoped to visit, but the international attraction was booked a week in advance and there were no tickets to be found. So we explored an equally intriguing Anasazi ruin called Hovenweep, where stone buildings from 750 years ago still tower over the valley. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Very little is known about Hovenweep Castle

Who lived in this sophisticated stone dwelling?

We hiked all around the ancestral Pueblo ruins

Paul, Mary, and Donna in front of a Hovenweep ruin

Super Flower Blood Moon Eclipse

We also had a spectacular view of the lunar eclipse called the Super Flower Blood Moon Eclipse. It was a cloudless night and we watched the moon turn red as the eclipse swept across the sky. It was the perfect finale to our visit.

The lunar eclipse above the Rocky Mountains