As the weather warms up and the days grow longer, there’s no better time to take advantage of Denver’s sunny days and blue skies for dining al fresco in your backyard. Sterling and I love to cook at home. We’re often inspired by people on cooking shows and YouTube videos making fantastic meals outside. People are finding creative meals to cook on outdoor grills, over open fire, in outdoor pizza ovens and smokers—and all while they enjoy being outside doing it! So why not mix it up on a weekend and get cooking outside? We’ve tried our hand at a few different meals in the backyard and will conti ..read more

Are you ready to dig deep and cultivate your own vegetable garden right here in the Mile High City? Well, you’ve come to the right place! I’m here to share my personal Denver vegetable garden tips for successfully growing vegetables in our unique and challenging dry Denver climate. Get ready to roll up your sleeves, embrace the adventure, and savor the bountiful rewards that come with growing your own veggies! Understand Denver’s Dry Climate Denver’s high altitude and dry climate present their own set of challenges for vegetable gardening. Our short growing season, intense sunlight, and sudde ..read more

Have you ever considered creating a cut flower garden in your Colorado backyard? It’s wonderful to have fresh cut flowers for vases inside your home all summer long. And these flowers are a beautiful addition to your landscape providing habitats for pollinators and butterflies. As a gardener in Zone 5, I understand the importance of choosing resilient plants that thrive in our dry climate. Here, I’ll share with you some of the best flowers to plant in Colorado and how to get started. Planning Your Cut Flower Garden The first step in creating a beautiful drought tolerant flower garden is to pla ..read more

Hey there, fellow garden enthusiasts! Do you have a sloped area of your yard that you’ve struggled with landscaping? For the past seven years, Sterling and I have been slowly renovating our backyard and transforming it into various gardens both for growing vegetables and flowers. We’ve had such success getting our backyard to slowly flourish into something beautiful and satisfying. Yet there has been one area right behind our garage that has been such a huge eye sore throughout all of the summers landscaping our outdoor space. This area is on a very small hill that slopes down away from the ga ..read more

If you’re like me, decorating for the 4th of July when hosting a backyard barbeque tends to be minimal. Typically, I stash a handful of small, decorative American flags and a red, white and blue banner or two in my holiday decorations and pull those out year after year. I place the flags in flower pots and call it good. And, let’s be clear — there is nothing wrong with that approach. But this year, I decided to see if I could push the boundaries for decorating for Independence Day and came up with a few 4th of July decorating ideas to share with you. Disclosure: Some of the links on this page ..read more

If you’ve never considered the benefits of attracting birds to your yard, you may be missing out! Having birds visit your garden and backyard space is more entertaining and enjoyable than you may think. Not only that, but there are many benefits of creating a backyard oasis for birds — both for your garden and the environment. I never really paid much attention to birds until a few years ago when I decided to buy my first bird feeder. When visiting my parents’ house, I noticed how pleasant it was to watch all of the birds come to their feeders and hear them chirping outside. I went home and pu ..read more

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. All opinions remain my own. When Sterling and I first moved into our home, we had been renovating the inside of the entire house for three months. After the final construction details were complete, we moved in and got settled. We had to get settled quickly because our wedding day was coming up in less than a month. We kept our wedding small with just im ..read more

If you’re just starting out growing food this summer, designing your vegetable garden is one of the first things you’ll want to consider. Choosing the right garden location and plant placement is critical to ensure a successful garden. You’ll want to be sure your garden gets enough sun, isn’t too tightly crowded yet also uses all the space available. Here is a guide to designing your vegetable garden: 1. Choose the Right Location when Designing Your Vegetable Garden The first step to designing a successful vegetable garden is to choose the right location. Look for a spot with full sun exposure ..read more

Our hearts are full. Mine is overflowing because I just left my dream wine pairing farm-to-table outdoor dinner on a Colorado vineyard. And Sterling said the same words yesterday as we arrived into the calm of the country roads near Paonia while watching the remaining glimpses of the congestion and traffic of the Colorado Front Range fade away in our rear view mirror. What First Brought Us to Paonia, Colorado This is our third trip here to Paonia, Colorado. We’ve made the four-hour road trip from Denver every year since we found it in summer of 2020. Today we pondered what even brought us out ..read more

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. All opinions remain my own. By the time late February comes around in Denver, Colorado, I’m usually more than ready to get started planning my vegetable garden for the summer. While there are still a few months of cold weather to go before I can begin growing things outside, March is usually when I start planting seeds indoors for my vegetable garden. Th ..read more