RBR News | May 23, 2014

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Around the Ranch
Another productive week is behind us.  A large focus over the last few days was getting the Rolling Thunder hoophouse in position to start growing vegetables.  If you missed it, please read Christian’s blog post on April 24th to learn more about this style of hoophouse.

We moved the hoophouse on Monday following soil prep with the tractor last weekend. It took about 30 minutes to prepare the house to be moved, and then with just two people we were able to roll the 26’x48’ structure to the new growing plot.  We secured the house to the ground and voilà, we’re ready to start planting. 

On Monday afternoon we assembled drip irrigation and transplanted around 432 kale plants.  On Tuesday afternoon we planted several varieties of lettuce, spinach and arugula seeds.  We hope to see the lettuce germinate in the next few days and in a few weeks we will move the hoophouse again to get summer plants going. 

In a perfect world, we would have planted several weeks earlier, but with spring construction of the structure and several weeks of rain preventing us from finishing soil preparation, we are happy just to have transplants and seeds in the ground!   The agriculture team has made a list of notes and suggested planting dates for next season, so that we can get the Rolling Thunder “moving” earlier next year. 

Available Products
RBR’s pastured hens are still laying lots of fresh eggs! Pasture-raised, Animal Welfare Approved, non-GMO, chicken and duck eggs are available for purchase at the Ranch Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM, and Saturday from 9AM-1PM.

~ Jason Smith, Rock Bottom Ranch Director

Join us for Farm Tours Monday – Saturday at 11AM.  For questions about Rock Bottom Ranch please email Jason at jsmith@aspennature.org.