Trinity and Justin
Hi! We are Trinity and Justin Smith from the rolling hills of North Carolina. This is the first time we have traveled for any long distance, and it is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. The snow makes me giggle. It's fluffy and sparkly and dry! It's the coolest thing. Our dream is to be self-sufficient, as much as possible at least, have a little land, a small homestead, and to work doing something that we love.We both love plants and food! Everything from picking seeds, to growing, to cooking something scrumptious and we can't wait to share this adventure with you. We are excited to be working with Buckhorn Gardens and are very thankful for the winter learning opportunity. It's not everyday one can enjoy the fresh, green shoots of spring in December!
Sam
My name is Sam and I'm from Charleston, SC. After college, I spent several years working with at-risk youth in Asheville, NC. I turned to farming at Buckhorn to recenter myself and refocus my career path towards learning and, eventually, teaching all there is to know about food systems and organic farms.
Melissa
Melissa is experiencing a growth and change in her life through farming and learning through working with every day. She is enjoying communing with nature and her fellow workers to enrich her life and spirit and thus, is thankful for this opportunity to serve the community by working at Buckhorn Gardens.
Charell
Hi there, my name is Charell. I am from the minuscule town of Phippsburg right here in Northwestern Colorado. My interest in plant care began in 2007 when I was offered a job at a small nursery as a middle school student. I continued working for that nursery while doing small landscaping and gardening projects for neighbors and friends throughout high school. I decided to take it one step further and took off for northern Europe on a five month WWOOFing expedition. I found the farming to be as interesting as the travel, so here I am, back in my home state, learning about high altitude farming here at Buckhorn Gardens.
My name is Alpay (pronounced All-pie), I'm a new farmer and glad to be part of Buckhorn Gardens. I was born in Oklahoma, but for the past handful of years I've been living in sunny California. I was volunteering with an environmental conservation group called ACE. As well as many volunteer trail crew projects in California's beautiful sierra setting. I love backpacking and just getting outside for some fresh air. Let's toss a frisbee around sometime! I like to watch the trees sway and the deer play. Farming has always been something I've wanted to do, but hadn't had the proper chance until coming here. There's great people and big skies here in wonderful Colorado!
Eli
My name is Elija Landwehr, or Eli. I'm from Northwest Illinois near the Mississippi. I grew up on a five acre homestead that raised a few chickens and veggies. I was a market child while growing up and always went to the market with my father on Saturdays. However, to be honest, I was always more interested in seeing the other children than the veggies.
After graduating high school I decided to go to college and received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Bradley University (Peoria, IL). However, Upon graduating in 2012 I realized I still had a passion for plants, farming, and traveling. So, I decided to move to Atlanta GA and worked on a farm with 8 high tunnels and peach trees. I interned there for a year and then headed to Savannah in 2014 and worked at a farm with a hydroponic greenhouse that pumped out 400 heads of uniform lettuce per week in addition to an assortment of field flowers and veggies.
At the beginning of 2015 I decided to move back to Illinois and try farming for myself using an acre and a half of my parents land. I grow a variety of beets radish turnips kale kohlrabi tomatoes peppers beans summer and winter squash and Native American corn. In addition to the veggies I added three varieties of red and one gold raspberry to the farm in 2015. For this upcoming season I'm adding another gold, a purple, and a black raspberry as well as two varieties of strawberries.
I came to Buckhorn Gardens for the winter months to learn how to grow in the off season - a buckhorn specialty. So far I've gotten to experiment with three types of row covering and learned which one I'll be using for my farm. The high tunnels and Wallapini are a great learning experience as well. I'm able to get first hand knowledge of how veggies are grown in the off season, and the effort it takes to grow them. I'll be here in the lovely western slopes for another couple of months, until its time for me to start germinating and adding a couple of structures to my farm. Come stop out at Buckhorn Gardens and say hi!
Catherine
My name is Catherine! I recently graduated from Virginia
Tech with degrees in Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise (HNFE) and
Psychology. For the next six months, I’ll be interning with Buckhorn Gardens,
learning more organic farming and its effect on health.
I became
interested in farming after I spent a summer volunteering at a small organic
farm in Blacksburg, VA. There, I saw the value in growing your own food and
providing for a community of people. Since then, I have wanted to learn more
about small-scale agriculture and how the health of the earth affects the
health of the human. Buckhorn provides many of the opportunities that I am
looking for – learning about agriculture, living more in tune with the earth,
and a chance for self-growth.
I am excited
for my stay at Buckhorn for the next six months. If you don’t see me on the
farm or at market, you can probably find me in a local coffee shop or on a
hiking trail. Come say hi, I’d love to meet you!
Patrick
My name is Patrick Eggleston and I'm the most recent addition to the gardens. I've been at Buckhorn about six weeks, gradually becoming familiar with the farm systems. I plan to be here through the winter, helping to produce quality food for the community year round.
I am originally from Pennsylvania where I've spent many years involving myself with horticultural and gardening endeavors of varying complexity and have recently been pursuing an Agricultural Educational degree at Penn State. I plan to use my time at Buckhorn gardens as an important piece of my own education. I came to this particular farm to learn because I want to give myself a wide agricultural knowledge base from which to teach from one fine day. It is important for me to not only know how to grow in Pennsylvania but also higher, drier climates. Buckhorn gardens fit that bill. There is room to experiment here, which is also important to me. Since arriving here, I have been analyzing the farm's potential, and it's quite impressive.
It feels very satisfying to know that by putting my energy into this farm, or any garden/farm, I am able to help feed the world. Ultimately, my goals include helping to sustainably feed as many people and lives as I can. I'm here in Colorado to fine tune my skills as a grower and a leader. I am putting myself in a position to contribute innovative ideas and food into the surrounding communities. I'm proud to have to have the opportunity here to do great things.
Narmeen
I’m Narmeen (the 3rd one from the left)! I’m from Massachusetts and have been exploring
agriculture as my passion for a few years now. I’m a student in Sustainable
Food and Farming and Animal Science back east with experience in mostly dairy
farming. I came to Colorado looking to learn more about organic vegetable
farming but also because I love traveling! Farming is such a great way to see
new places, meet new people, and gain a unique insight into myself that is hard
to reach in a large city. Buckhorn has offered me an environment in which I can
grow food AND an identity. I feel pretty confident about heading back to
Massachusetts with all the information I’ve learned. I’ve been here for a
couple months and my favorite part is definitely getting to pluck a fresh
tomato for a snack in the middle of a hot workday!
Hey guys. Jonah here (stuck in the middle). My journey to
Buckhorn Gardens started when I was 15, bussing tables in a small southern
diner in Raleigh, North Carolina. The veggies were farm fresh, the chicken livers
were smothered in gravy, and the sweet tea was sweeter than your mama’s peach
pie. It was there where I first learned the value of local ingredients. Fast
forward 11 years to me in a 3-piece suit, mixing drinks for movie stars and
senators at a private club atop a skyscraper. While my clientele had changed,
the concept was still the same: local ingredients and people thirsty for new
and interesting flavors. As bar captain, I decided to use the lessons I’d
learned at that country hole in the wall to make every drink an unforgettable
experience. I planted an herb garden on the roof, fresh squeezed all of our
juices, and made all the simple syrups in house. Our drinks had never tasted
better (or looked better, for that matter—picture pineapple mint leaves creeping
down the side of your jalapeno mojito). When summer hit and my potted garden
begged for more space to grow, I knew it was time to kick it up a notch. So I
traded in the metal mountains of the city for the Rockies, and the rest is
history. I came to
Buckhorn to grow, in more ways than one, and I’m thrilled to be hooking y’all
up with some supper. I’m thrilled about the breweries too, of course. God bless
Colorado.
Jean
I'm Jean Glaub (on the left), a 23-year-old writer from Raleigh, NC. I had never worked on a real farm before coming to Buckhorn, but I've always been interested in spending time outdoors, growing things, and living simply. Before coming here, I hadn't grown much beyond sugar snap peas in the backyard. Now I've grown squash plants from seeds and seen my tomato starts go from wimpy to fruiting. It's very encouraging; now I'm hooked on growing things. I'd like to learn more about permaculture and related practices that strive to mimic nature and eliminate unnecessary tilling, weeding, mulching, etc. When not working in the gardens here, I like to write, study languages, hang out with my fellow interns (who are awesome), and play videogames. I especially like role-playing shooter games, though some of the magic of Mass Effect is lost when I can just as easily go outside and hike around on some equally majestic landscapes. Someday I want to run a bed and breakfast--drawing upon my years of hotel experience--with a small farm or garden nearby where guests can help out as much as they like. I also want my own airfield where I could fly small planes, hang glide, teach others to fly, and let hotel guests fly as passengers for fun. In the meantime, I'm enjoying my time at Buckhorn Gardens. My favorite things to do are getting eggs from our chickens, running around barefoot, and anything that lets me dig my hands into the soil.
Asa
Ben
My name is Ben Smith and I hale from Butler, PA, a moderately sized town 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. Here, we replace "you all" with "yinz", eat coleslaw on our sandwiches, and celebrate the birthday of our claim to fame, the Bantam Jeep. I found Buckhorn Gardens through Attra(https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/internships/), a great resource for those interested in farming. I came seeking reprieve from that which is the mainstream American lifestyle. As an engineer-to-be, past internships have included rush-hour commutes, cramped cubicles, and caffeine-fueled productivity. For me, organic farming provided a gateway to a different lifestyle, a re-connection with the earth, and a crash course in some of life's most basic skills. At the farm, I spent most of my free time baking and biking. Bread-making in Colorado's high and dry regions produces some incredible creations. Check out the Recipes tab for a few of the elevation-adjusted recipes that I (and my coworkers, I'd like to think) fell in love with. Colorado's roads are also great for biking. I highly recommend cycling from Colona to Ridgway by way of the State Park bike trail in between. Though I won't likely return to the Western Slope for some time, a small part of my heart remains with the great people, places, and adventures that live along Route 50. As I write this 6 months in retrospect, I cannot shake the thought of how simple yet pleasurable a life I lived at the farm.
McKenna
Hello! My name is McKenna Sweet, and I am a recent graduate of Missouri State University. I have been gardening for a few years now, and have really picked up a love for sustainable and green practices. I believe small garden projects are important for EVERYONE! Some day I would like to start my own garden project... Somewhere, somehow! Having no solid plans after graduating with a bachelors in Anthropology, I decided to pack up, leave the Ozarks, and head for the Western Slope.... I couldn't be happier with that decision. The mountains and the gardens are just so lovely!
Sheridan
I'm Sheridan from Atlanta, Georgia. Currently I'm enrolled at the University of Georgia as a Horticulture student. Sitting in class all the time really got me itching to DO SOMETHING. I'm interested in sustainable practices and love plants so farming is exactly where I need to be right now. In the next 5 years I'd like to be working with farmers internationally or opening up my own business in the green industry but either way I plan to do a lot more traveling. However as far as the present goes I could not be more happy spending my summer in the beautiful Colorado mountains.
Victoria
Born and raised a Texan, I've been spanning the globe for the last 10 years looking for "home". I suppose you could say, I've got a bit of the wanderlust. The mountains have always been a special place for me, where my mind opens and my soul softens. Austin was home on and off for the last 13 yrs or so, and there I was a barista, a cook, a cellist, and a community radio dj. I was also a volunteer gardener with Nanny Goat Farms and Smiley Dog Farms, both wonderful experiences that got me started thinking that gardening was for me. I love diggin in the dirt! and being outdoors where the sun and air seem to make everything else fade into the background. In my travels I've seen a great many things. The powerful oceans of Australia, the tree covered mountains of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the hustle bustle of London, the rolling hills of Belgium to the graffiti covered Wall in Berlin and lots and lots of nowhere from central Texas up to the beautiful western range here in Colorado. I am so excited to be here and expect that it will teach me a thing or two about life; from seed to harvest. I LOVE FOOD! And perhaps that too, sent me in this direction, with the hopes of someday owning my own cafe with a garden fresh menu and seasonal delights. Nothing makes me happier than preparing a delicious feast and then sharing it. Trying new recipes and learning new things keeps me in a constant state of experimentation, which for me, is entertainment. Other things I enjoy are hiking, singing, star gazing, picture taking and simply observing this crazy world for all its wonder and glory. I couldn't live without music but I think that's a given, and as a classically trained musician, I feel really fortunate to have played and seen some really great shows, and I hope to continue the learning and sharing. If there's a saying I try to live by, it's "Dream BIG, baby girl" and I say it to myself as often as I can to remind my self that anything is possible if you want it bad enough.
Gerber
I grew up outside of Detroit, MI, graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2010, and have had a soft spot in my heart for the mighty San Juan Mountains since spending a season as a conservation corpsmember out of Durango after college. When I'm not in the gardens I can be found fueling up on coffee, biking 550 to Montrose and Ridgeway. Hopefully one day I can plan a ride down (or up?) to Telluride. My favorite veggie is asparagus and I am vigorously excited to be learning about local farming here at Buckhorn Gardens.
Aaron
I’m excited to be out on the western slope! This is my first time getting to see this beautiful country even though Colorado has always been my home. I love it! I’m from Denver and graduated from UCLA a few years ago in microbiology. Buckhorn is an amazing learning experience. When not helping with the harvesting and garden projects I’m usually reading, cooking, and fermenting stuff; enjoying the winter life of a farmer and getting my mad scientist on!
Jeremy "Jak"
My first eighteen years were spent in the Washington D.C. suburb of Fairfax, VA. After high school, I traveled south to Pensacola, FL where I began attending Pensacola Christian College, later transferring to the University of West Florida to study marine biology. Following my shifting interests from marine science to conservation ecology, I unearthed a new direction (manifest destiny?) for my life that synchronistically interlaces three of my deepest passions: birds, bikes, and buds (basically anything that grows). Once finals were over, I packed up my effects on my bicycle and rode 300 miles north to Starkville, MS to take a short songbird survey stint in the Delta and Tombigbee national forests. My surveying commitments and all the exciting environmental exploration along with it concluded two weeks earlier than I anticipated. Rather than kick myself for lacking foresight to make a “plan B” for the conclusion of the job, I decided to challenge my new direction and, accordingly, my faith: that if I committed to following this path it would, in time, manifest my destiny. I sent one single email to the only listed sustainability organization I could find within three hundred miles. And barely a week later, I was living and working on my first CSA farm in Tupelo, MS called Isis Gardens, as well as writing as the intern blogger for Gaining Ground Sustainability Institute of Mississippi (GGSIM.org). Farm life—or at least many aspects of it—is the life for me! It’d be futile for me to try to describe all that I learned while living and working with Horton & Genevieve at Isis Gardens CSA. But I couldn’t stick around on their farm all summer long, like the grit on the back of a farmer’s neck. My path and wanderlust colluded to call me back to the road; this time, the long road out west. I pedaled across the Big Muddy into eastern Arkansas; peaked over the Ozarks through southern Missouri; parlayed with the Four Winds in Kansas; and nearly passed out upon reaching my uncle’s house in Colorado Springs some 1,300 miles from Tupelo, MS. Ask me why I didn’t just fly out to Colorado, and I’ll tell you that I did! Cycling is as close as you can get to flying under your own power, like the birds. Why rush life? Instead, yield to it. Once we learn to see and deconstruct our fears like weirs, life has a way of brilliantly coursing through time, mimicking the majestic mutability of water. Case in point: Not long after arriving in Colorado and finding a seasonal retail job in Denver, I received a message from Horton & Genevieve inviting me to come intern again with them. But this time, they had scored the managerial positions over the gardens at Buckhorn Mountain Ranch and they needed an intern(s) who could help for the winter season and beyond and was committed to the cause. Neither they nor I could have predicted in Mississippi that five months later we would be reunited to work, learn, and glean together on a farm in the beautiful San Juan Mountains of western Colorado…Yet, here we are!
