Shenandoah Prairie

Welcome!

Our lifestyle here on the Colorado prairie is somewhat unique. We utilize, visit and appreciate our nearby city of Denver, but we perch at 6500 ft on the Palmer Divide, a geologic plateau about 40 miles southwest of the city itself. This distance allows us to enjoy a peaceful, yet somewhat rugged, lifestyle while still appreciating all of the wonders that our beautiful Mile High City has to offer. Our vista is the Front Range of The Rockies, from Pikes Peak to Long's Peak, a 70 mile span. Thus is the windswept and sundrenched backdrop for our small, beginning hobby farm on the Colorado Prairie.

View of The Rockies from Shenandoah Prairie 

As a hobby horticulturalist, I have encountered many challenges to my gardening skills on the Colorado Plains. And as we become more and more sensitive to the needs of our planet overall, my husband and I have attempted to respond in the ways that we can with the land that we have. We have worked to restore and reclaim the prairie and we are learning the beginnings of beekeeping. We are building an earth-sheltered greenhouse in an attempt to lengthen our growing season in order to grow heirloom vegetables 10 months out of the year, and harvest for 12. We are growing restorative, beneficial and medicinal herbs to preserve the strains of these important plants that will do well in our arid Colorado climate. Mostly, we are attempting to live with the land and to learn from and respect what the hobby of working the land has to offer.

Heirloom Harvest

I am often surprised at the lessons my small patch of land has yeilded. Not just obvious lessons, like patience (a hard one for me) and endurance, and appreciation of beauty, but also lessons about planning and business, decision making and relationships. Surprising, but appreciated. As a teacher by profession, it is apparently somehow embedded within me to share these lessons. I simply don't feel complete unless I know that I can teach the things that I have learned and am learning from living on the Colorado Prairie. It has so much to offer.  

This is our journey. Our trials and failures, our attempts and acquisitions, our musings and ponderings. Our learning.  As we become more aware, I understand that we are all learning together how to take more prudent care of our many precious resources and to make a more positive impact. Recorded here are our personal attempts, our own personal voyage.

Because it takes each of us. Individually. And it takes each of us, individually together.

I hope you'll join us!

Warmest Regards,

Annie