The 2009 High Mountain Hay Fever Bluegrass Festival was a huge success.  The festival earned a record-setting amount for the Wet Mountain Valley Health Clinic and Montana’s unparalleled salesmanship at our sponsor booth generated a lot of serious interest in our first crop of USDA certified organic cattle.  At the MMR booth we sold raffle tickets for a quarter of our grass-finished beef at $1 a chance; this year we collected over $230 to donate to the clinic.  Our winner was actually clinic director John Wallestad, pictured with cattle manager Montana Canterbury,  who will receive his

beef this August.  We did get some rain during the festival, but the weather could not take away from the spectacular scenery of the Sangres or the beautiful sunsets each evening. Even the performers, who have been traveling all over the U.S. this summer playing at various events, couldn’t help but comment on how the site for this event is truly a piece of heaven on Earth. 

Back on the ranch summer has reached full swing.  The daily temperature has been in the 80s-90s with those perfect cool evenings just perfect for sleeping.  Our first cutting of alfalfa is baled and stacked and the grass hay is already mowed and raked.  The cookhouse has been re-stained and looks beautiful; if the rain continues to just move through we will be able to complete the manager’s homes as well.

The garden is having its most productive year to date.  The annual bed is bursting with lettuce, radishes, spinach, potatoes, zucchini and more while the herb bed has crossed over its borders and filled itself and most of the paths with an incredible variety of cooking and medicinal herbs.  The hollyhocks are just now blooming, and their huge blossoms add a goregeous splash of color to the garden.  The strawberries have finished producing but have been replaced by the cherry trees.  We have three tart cherry trees that are producing gallons upon gallons of cherries ripe for the picking, and the numerous currant and goosberries bushes are doing their best to out-produce each other.   The grape arbor has turned into a dark green tunnel, a perfect entrance into the garden, and the neighboring raspberry bushes are already putting out their first few sun-ripened fruits.  It is a beautiful and tasty time to visit the MMR permaculture garden and take home some produce to share with friends and neighbors.

For the second year Maytag Mountain Ranch Grass-Fed beef is sponsoring the High Mountain Hayfever Bluegrass Festival held in nearby Westcliffe.  Proceeds from the festival go towards supporting the Custer County Medical Clinic. This year the festival runs from July 9-12 and will host a number of national and local acts including:

Host band Dry Branch Fire Squad with very special guest, the legendary George Shuffler (Fri-Sat-Sun)
Host band Sons and Brothers (Fri-Sat-Sun)
Randy Waller & The Country Gentlemen (Fri-Sat-Sun)
Leroy Troy (Fri-Sat-Sun)
Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers (Fri-Sat)
The Sullivan Family (Fri-Sat-Sun)
The Larry Gillis Hard Driving Bluegrass Band (Fri-Sat-Sun)
The Moron Brothers (Fri-Sat-Sun)
Jett’s Creek (Fri-Sat-Sun)
Heidi Clare & Lonesome Cowboy Hobo Wyoming Slim (Sat-Sun)
Blue Canyon Boys (Thu + a set over the weekend)
Loose Cannon Bluegrass Band (Thu)
Steel Pennies (Thu)
Finders & Youngberg (Thu)

From the festival website at http://www.highmountainhayfever.org: “The festival site is at the west end of Main Street in Westcliffe, on a bluff directly overlooking the spectacular Wet Mountain Valley and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. We think you won’t find a more inspiring site for a festival.” Visit their site for a complete festival schedule, ticket information, and performer times and dates. We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information on the ranch’s local area and events visit http://www.cliffhangersguide.com

The fourth was a fun-filled holiday on the ranch, with BBQs, fantastic lunches, and roping practice.  Montana and Sarah hosted a huge holiday BBQ for friends and family of the ranch with incredible food (even homemade ice cream), and Deanne fixed a beautiful celebratory lunch earlier in the week for ranch staff to enjoy.  Our roping cattle arrived last week, so the Maytag and Martin families were able to spend a sunny holiday afternoon enjoying some team roping practice with Jimmy and Quincy the Quarter Horses.

We currently have 88 calves on the ground, with only a few more due later this week.  The cows and calves are looking very well; watching them graze and play out in the lush grass we have been blessed with this year is a picture-perfect scene.   Our 2009 organic inspection of the ranch, cattle, and garden will be in the next couple of weeks.  The managers put a lot of time and effort into obtaining and maintaining the ranch’s USDA Certified Organic status, so a good inspection and being awarded certification for another year will be a fulfilling reward after so much hard work.

Our first crop of USDA organic-certified grass-fat cattle are finishing quickly on the lush pasture and will begin shipping this week.  Beef sales are in full swing so call the office at 719-942-4860 or email Montana at canterbury@maytagmountainranch.com to get your order in as soon as possible.  The garden is doing very well; items available right now include cherries, currants, gooseberries, a variety of lettuce and salad green mixes, radishes, and many herbs including dill, fennel, rosemary, coriander, cilantro, and much more.

The weather has been perfect lately and the arrival of afternoon clouds had made for for breath-taking sunsets lately.  The moon has been particularly gorgeous as it reaches full – watching it rise over the wet mountains is a show in itself every evening.  The yucca have reached full bloom and trail rides across the ranch reveal the changes in the wildflower species throughout the season.  Mowing began in the alfalfa field Monday and will continue for the next two weeks until all of the alfalfa and grass hay is cut, dried, and baled.