Ranch Newsletter | February 2026

Originally sent to subscribers on February 28th, 2026

Farm Update

“Spring is the time of plans and projects.”― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

My last newsletter wasn't very uplifting. Thankfully that doesn't happen around here too often. I was admittedly overwhelmed the day I sent my last newsletter, but I am happy to report that things are feeling much better.

Before I get too far into updating you on the last month, I want to share something exciting! I was invited to do a podcast with Utah's Own, where I talked about the past, present, and future of JulBud Ranch. If you'd like to listen to it you can do so here.

Another quick note: I am planning on putting all my past newsletters into a blog archive so new friends and those who've been here forever, can go back and see the whole history of JulBud Ranch month by month. I will have the link to that in next month's newsletter, but I plan to have that up and running in the next couple of weeks if you want to keep an eye on the blog.

To recap the previous newsletter, our irrigation company voted to dissolve and merge with another irrigation company at the end of January. It felt like a gut punch at the time and had me feeling like we were going to have to start from scratch.

Craig and I have had several conversations about that whole situation over the past month, and I'm happy to report that things are not as dire as I first thought they were. Craig, the genius that he is, has already come up with at least three options for how we can re-do our irrigation system that will allow us to continue to use our current setup. This was my biggest worry.

And because he's so certain we can make it work, this means that the plans we have for our field aren't quite as messed up either. We still have to make some changes because we won't have water after August 31st, but the plan now is to leave the section we tilled last fall and let the cover crop keep growing there. We will let the goats graze on that area to keep it from going to seed and getting too crazy.

We are still planning on building a barn this year, when the city moratorium ends and part of our field will probably need some TLC when that is done, which is where the cover crop is currently planted, so that is another reason we want to keep the cover crop there and not worry about that section for now.

We will also be assessing the trees along the ditch this year. They will have water this year, but next year they won't. Since they're all cottonwood trees, (aka trash trees) we need to do some serious thinning out. We're going to start with all the small trees and just remove them. After that we may decided to put some sprinklers over there to keep them watered, but the plan will be to slowly remove them all and replace them with some better, drought resistant trees that will be easier to manage in the long run. We are talking to our neighbor, who also has cottonwoods on his side of the ditch to see how we can work together.

As far as projects go, this year is going to have a lot of them. And since it's starting to warm up already, I'm getting antsy to start. We still have some time before we can really do much outside though, so this week I'm going to be painting our upstairs hallway. It's the only portion of the upstairs that needs updating except our guest bathroom, which isn't very high on the priority.

I've signed up for a couple of markets at the beginning of May. These are markets I haven't done before, so it will be fun to be part of them if I'm accepted. I should find out by the second week of March.

Honey is 73 days post breeding. We're just about to the halfway mark. She is due the week after Mother's Day.

We still have Daisy's girl. She is still available for sale if you know of anyone looking.

And if this isn't a sign that I'm truly feeling better about the whole water thing, I have been brainstorming some farm tour ideas the past couple of weeks. It's something I've wanted to incorporate for a couple of years now, but I didn't feel like we were quite at a place where we could do it. But now feels right.

What I have so far is a time frame of May - September, some pricing options, and group size limits. I'm also considering the possibility of combining farm tours with soap making classes during those months and possibly offering the option to do only the tour, only the soap class, or both together. So there are still some things to figure out, and with a big construction project looming in the middle of that time frame adding some additional complexity. However, you are the first to hear of these fledging plans, so if you have any thoughts about it, I'd love to hear them.

Gosh, this newsletter feels longer than usual. Another sign of spring, I guess.

Want to receive our newsletters real time? Sign up here!