This past Tuesday, September 24, a merry band of Garden Club of Denver members were lucky enough to visit GCD member Sarah Young’s farm in Hygiene, Colorado.
After exiting I-25 onto Highway 66, we were suddenly in farm country. Sarah’s 37-acre farm greeted us with a red mailbox complete with a sunflower painted on it. We then headed down a long dirt drive surrounded on either side by hay fields. The Young’s farm was built in 1867 and was originally an apple farm; some of the apple trees still stand in the orchard.
The farm has many varieties of apples, as well as plum, cherry, pear, peach and apricot trees. We were invited to pick the apples, plums and produce, and tasted delicious dried plums in Sarah’s kitchen. The Youngs are proud that they use no pesticides on any of their trees and flowers. They encourage wildlife to share in the bounty and are striving to maintain a healthy farm ecosystem. Sarah has planted trees that blossom and bushes with berries- she loves the plants that feed the wildlife.
Tree varieties are plentiful, as are herbs. Sarah grows calendula and has discovered its medicinal use in treating burns. She also has a seed workshop and makes soap.
Sarah became interested in farming through the Broadmoor Garden Club, and is a biologist who has a passion for good environmental practices. An early involvement with GCA’s Conservation NAL Committee as Vice Chairman for Agriculture had her hooked.
The Young’s flower garden is bursting with dahlias, zinnias, hollyhocks and we were all encouraged to cut flowers to bring home. Janet Manning even showed us how to make hollyhock petal earrings (see above photo).
If you stand in the Young’s flower garden and look west, you see a magnificent view of the front range and Longs Peak. One feels a million miles away from the bustle of Denver.
Abundant open space and a natural farm that is bursting with fall produce and flowers…Wow!
Thank you, Sarah and Jim, for an exceptional morning at the Young farm!