Sofia year one - Peach tree in full fragrant bloom.
Day 2 of cleaning out rat nests. The unexpected life of a lavender farmer! This nest was 3 feet by 8 feet. The rat was safely relocated.
A lot of this first year has been learning how the place runs including trying to figure out where the 20 + different underground watering systems are. Lots of digging so that we can properly winterize the water system. 
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Joram and Tim working on putting in a new winterized shed off of the pump house.
Douglas showed up for a little "vacation" from New York City and asked what I was going to do with the place. I said I wanted to take some walls down to open it up and put in some nice glass french doors. He went outside and got an ax and said "should we start now?" And so it begins...
So if you look in the picture above you can see us just beginning to cut the hole for the doors. You can also see where the original kitchen was based on the two different floors. This was a small very dark kitchen that we wanted to open up and bring more light into. Below you can see the doors are in and we've brought in the bar that Douglas masterminded out of scraps from one of 4 chicken coops on the property.
Joram and Nick contemplating the cowboy cabin. Joram did a stellar job of rethinking the foundation and jacked the whole house up to rebuild it. Now with the house on stable footing he and Nick are looking at how to rebuild the floor.
Enjoying a perfect Easter brunch Sunday. Our first public meditation and over 20 people showed up ready to meditate. After meditation more and more people showed up to share in fresh food and laughter.
My poor math skills are surfacing at the weekly farmers market so Wilder, who is learning about finance in his home school curriculum joins me for the day to do all my accounting. Here we are enjoying the delicious muffins his mom Dani sent with him to keep us sustained. 
A surprise visit from dharma dakini and almond farmer Darcy Jones. She left us with almonds and as always some hefty dharma debates. Will, Bliss, Darcy, Douglas and Joram.
Neil and Joy ask if they can make a 5 course meal for us. We don't say no.
Matt and Joram and Will in lovingly heated discussion/ debates. Matt and Will have been debating the same issues on the subtle workings of karma since 1993. Hmm perhaps this will not be resolved.
A super joyous reunion weekend of some three year retreaters.
Heavy discussions and classes on completion stage practices and the two truth doctrines of Buddhism. This crew is on their second visit to the farm for classes and communing. Such big hearts and bright minds. I feel totally uplifted every time they make the effort to come visit.
Making lavender essential oil and hydrosols.
Our retro-fitted golf-cart.
Kent wagon-boarding down the front driveway.
Its workday at the farm with Bliss, Joram and Matt 
Ann and Audra putting in new transplants
Jay, Helen, Damon, and Audra putting in a new hops field.
Whow, almost stepped on this HUGE snake. A sonoran gopher. A farmers best friend as they eat rodents but they also kill rattlesnakes.I tried to pick him up to put him under the farm house for a day, but he did not like that idea so I left him alone to go hunt in the fields. 
Our great neighbors Margaret and Everet let us use their gorgeous farm house for a New Years eve weekend extravaganza!
Lots of music!
Will unexpectedly finds his long lost brother while hiking on the property of the ranch next door.
The night after a concert in Prescott we enjoy a brunch on the farm with some good old fashion picking'. Gabby on Banjo, Hadgi Banjovi on bucket bass and Will on harmonica. (Click below for video)
Pin Miao from Taiwan bravely comes out to visit Sofia. We meditate and do lots of farming and today we are on a picnic hike on Tonto Mountain right above the farm to enjoy the sweeping views and quiet. 
Neighbors Soraya and Amaya come over to help us put in pomegranate trees. 
Workday lunch break with the Provence field in the background.
Bradford and Gabrielle trying to get the kite up.
Were going on a picnic a mile up the road into the 1.5 million acre Prescott National Forest.
Sheet rock is up in the new temple room and now we are working on prepping the concrete floor for a long cleaning and staining process. 
Second to last step of the floor staining. 
Temple is done!!!
Making products for the farmers market.
The farmers market in Prescott. We also have one in Prescott Valley and one in Skull Valley.
Will giving a tour to an herbalist class. Here we are in the hops garden enjoying the intoxicating fragrance of fresh hops.
Ann and Will discover a wounded Coopers Hawk. She stays with us for the day until we can find a rehab facility for her. Ann sends a text to one of her bosses with this picture that says "First palliative consultation of the day"
Calendar meeting with Ann in the culinary field.
Fruit Trees are in bloom and the farm smells amazing!
Cherries
Peaches
Pears
Protecting the fruit from a late frost is a laborious process of hanging christmas lights and then draping trees with sheets from the thrift shop. Its a bizarrely pretty sight at 5am with 29 degrees outside and 35 degrees in the tree tents.
Walking around with Becky Routson my old friend, new neighbor and farming mentor we find four of these little guys in the cold frame. I saw the mom dig a whole for them a couple of weeks ago and today they take there first trip out into the big world.
Thank you everyone for all of your love and support!!!