Welcome to Aspen Springs

The first "ranch"

This homesteading adventure really began two years ago when we relocated our family to the Rocky Mountain West. We fell in love with the countryside, the weather, and the values of the culture here. Our first home was a nice, newer ranch style house, but sat on only a quarter-acre lot. With three young children, we quickly realized we needed more room. We also began to have dreams of a larger garden and room to raise small livestock.

The housing market here is very tough, but we happened upon a property one day that seemed to be just what we’d been looking for. We listed our house for sale, and after a tedious three months of showings and prayers to St. Joseph, we sold it and made our move.

Aspens around the pond

We’ve named our little hobby ranch, Aspen Springs for simple reasons: the property has several groves of Aspens on it (our favorite Western tree) and abundant water: two wells, a natural spring that feeds two ponds, and two irrigation ditches to which we have access. We have five acres just on the outskirts of town. We have neighbors, but they are not too close. The previous owner is a sweet older man who built the house 30 years ago and raised his family here. He was quite handy and kept things immaculate.

The house itself is around 5,000 sf (more space than we need actually, but we’re managing to fill it!) We have a huge garden, chicken coop, small barn, and an enormous steel shed. Best of all, we have many trees in addition to the Aspens (ash, poplar, cottonwood, willow, etc), almost all of which were planted by the prior owner. Right now we are surrounded in Fall colors and the birds are plentiful.

A few of the young ladies

We are trying not to jump into too many new projects, because we have lots of redecorating to do and some “taming” of the yard. But we did invest in 15 hens to fill the coop and are looking forward to fresh eggs in a few more months. We have also reserved two dairy goats that will be born this coming Spring. In addition to the fresh milk, we want to make cheese and soap. Meat rabbits are also coming soon - we hope - thanks to friends who are breeding some now.

In our few short weeks at Aspen Springs, we have settled in nicely and are really enjoying our adventure. The girls love exploring new parts of the pastures, visiting the hens, and bouncing on their new jumpoline (trampoline). Mark loves playing farmer on his new tractor, and Colleen is busy choosing paint colors and laying out the garden for next spring. We probably don’t know all we’re in for, but we’re keeping faith in our family motto, “The Lord will provide.” Thanks for vising our new blog - come visit again soon!