James Ranch - The Gardens
Three acres of lush, drip-irrigated flowers, fruits and vegetables cover the ground on the James Ranch in the Animas Valley, ten miles north of Durango. Jennifer Wheeling and her husband Joe came back to the family ranch several years ago to start a garden enterprise, and today it is a healthy contributor to the local farmers markets, restaurants, and farm to school program.
Among the garden beds grow a variety of fruits and vegetables, including asparagus, artichokes, cippollini onions, leeks, shallots, broccoli, cabbage, melons, head lettuce, spinach, greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, , onions, peas, beans, summer and winter squashes, pumpkins, and black and red currants, which are canned for jam and jelly. Jennifer hires extra help in the summer when the gardens are at their peak creating mixed bouquets with specialty sunflowers, dahlias, gladiolus and various annual flowers. Their garden methods are organic and the results are bountiful, with endless possibilities of how to grow this enterprise. A certified kitchen is one possibility, for creating value added products on-site and for hosting 'Dinner on the Farm', an event that Jennifer hopes to test pilot next year.
The James family recently placed 81 acres of the 450-acre family ranch under conservation easement, and plans to protect even more acreage in future years.