Mountain Gardening • Simple Living • Everyday Creativity
Explore real homestead life in the Colorado mountains — gardening tips, thrifting finds, easy recipes, DIY projects, and garden-inspired art.
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Subscribe to Notes from the Garden, a weekly letter from the mountains filled with inspiration for simple, creative living.
Mountain Gardening • Simple Living • Everyday Creativity
Explore real homestead life in the Colorado mountains — gardening tips, thrifting finds, easy recipes, DIY projects, and garden-inspired art.
Seasonal Growing
High-altitude planting guides, cold-hardy flowers, soil improvement, and beginner gardening tips.
DIY Homestead Projects
Privacy hedges, recycled-window greenhouses, backyard builds, and budget-friendly landscaping.
Simple Recipes
Garden-to-table meals, pantry staples, and quick cooking tutorials for busy days.
Garden Art & Creative Projects
Nature-inspired prints, eco-friendly merch, and creative collections that bring the garden indoors.
Thrifting Adventures
Weekly thrift hauls, vintage finds, cleaning tips, and resale stories from Colorado shops.
Videos & Tutorials
Garden tours, recipe shorts, thrift hauls, and DIY demonstrations.
Art & Nature
How to Bring Art + Nature Into Your Daily Life
How to Bring Art + Nature Into Your Daily Life Here are a few practices that help me stay grounded and inspired: 🌞 Morning Light CheckGo outside and look at the quality of light for 30 seconds. 🍂 Texture WalkNotice textures: bark, leaves, soil, petals, stones. 📷 One...
Creative Living
How to Start a CO Farm Stand: Grow, Sell, & Thrive on Less Than an Acre
A Simple Guide for Turning Your Homestead Skills Into Extra Income If you’ve been dreaming about earning a little extra income from your kitchen, your garden, or your creativity, Colorado just happens to be one of the best states to do it. Two powerful opportunities...
Recipes
Minnesota Wild Rice Holiday Dressing
Minnesota Wild Rice Bake with Ground Beef A hearty, rustic casserole inspired by traditional wild rice dressing — made with ground beef, mushrooms, and cranberries for a cozy, comforting dish that’s perfect for cold-weather dinners or holiday tables. Large skillet...
Mountain Gardening Guides & Seasonal Planting Tips
Learn how to grow a productive garden in challenging mountain climates. From soil prep and companion planting to cold-hardy flowers and privacy hedges, this is where I share my best tips for gardening at high elevation.
Homestead Reflections
Welcome to mybackyard homestead
myBackyardHomestead is tucked away in the high-altitude pines of Colorado, our little slice of heaven that we lovingly call Cheesecake Bear Ranch is more than a home — it’s a living story. A place where creativity, resilience, and nature intertwine. Over the years,...
Flowers
Marigolds and Memories
This upcoming growing season, marigolds won’t just live in the borders or tuck themselves between vegetables. They’ll play a central role in our cut flower story. Marigolds are true cut-and-come-again flowers, which makes them ideal for a small, intentional bouquet...
Spring Bulbs & Fall Planting
Why Growing Strawberries Matters More Than Ever
How a simple garden patch builds memories, community, and a stronger local food system There’s a quiet kind of magic that happens when strawberries grow in your garden. It’s not loud or flashy. It doesn’t announce itself.It shows up barefoot, on a warm day, with...
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