Sometimes, more like most of the time, life takes us in the most unforeseen but beautiful directions. Meet Jen Welch of The Crowded Acre farm in Buena Vista, Colorado. She grew up in Georgia, loving animals, and working in a vet clinic before finding her way to Colorado. There she worked in various roles in the foodservice industry. And then met her life partner, now husband, Brian. Around the time her first child was born Jen decided to make the leap from food service to the root of it all. She started her farm, The Crowded Acre.
A Growing Acre
Over the past 10 years, the family has grown to include three kids. The farm has expanded to about 120 acres of land….so they aren’t all crowded into one-acre anymore.
The farm is small and diversified. The Welch’s focus most on keeping things local. The spent grain they feed the pigs and the chickens come from The Deerhammer Distilling Company in town.
The cattle graze on over 100 acres of pasture. They also feed whey from the nearby Jumpin’ Good Goat Dairy and fill in the gaps with locally grown barley, alfalfa, and corn.
As our crew drove down the absolutely gorgeous mountain road, above a river and through a tunnel cut in the mountain we pulled into The Crowded Acre. We were greeted by Jen, her husband, the kids, a few dogs, and breakfast cooking on the stove.
15 Acres of Bliss
Their farm sits on 15 acres of Juniper woodland. It holds a diverse array of livestock from turkeys, ducks, and chickens, to goats and pigs. I followed Jen and her family as they set out for the morning chores.
First up was into the chicken house. Here the kids set about their job of collecting eggs. We won’t talk about my silly fear of birds (yes, chickens included) and the one that flew right at me!
From there Jen fed buckets of the spent grain to the pigs, checked on the piglets, fed the goats, and stopped to give a good scratch to the belly of a sow.
A Job for Everyone on The Crowded Acre
The kids worked right along with Jen and Brian. Each child has a favorite chore. Mya is in charge of the chickens. She will be working this summer to regularly care for the flock. Waldon loves the cats, especially the kittens. And Wyatt knows all of the hiding places where the chickens lay their eggs. Hearing them talk about their mom and farm was one of the most heartwarming experiences of the day. The Walsh’s are giving their kids a life that most kids could only dream of!
We then set off in the truck! For the second part of the visit, we learned how they use the commodities they raise on their farm.
Uniquely Their Own- The Bearded Lady
Jen has a philosophy. In order to succeed as a small farm, you either have to produce and market a truly unique product OR, produce and market a common product in a unique way.
So, in their own unique way, they bought and renovated a 1984 Bluebird school bus. Then turned it into a traveling turquoise restaurant called The Bearded Lady.
A Farm to Fork Experience
The bus just so happens to be parked in an empty space next door to The Deerhammer Distilling Company, making single malt whiskey and other spirits in downtown Buena Vista. We received a tour of the distillery and got to see how owners Lenny and Amy Eckstein end up with the spent grain that is fed to the animals at The Crowded Acre.
So, we were able to see from start to finish, how the grain is used to create whiskey, the by-product is used to feed the animals, and then finally, how the animals were used to create the food for The Bearded Lady – a true farm-to-fork experience!
As the day wrapped to a close, I was lucky enough to join Jen and a close group of her friends as they shared the first meal at The Bearded Lady.
The men and women around the table are her people. The ones who have supported and helped her on the path of farming, building a business, and creating a life she loves for her family.
As she shared her delicious (but secret) family recipe pork straight from her pigs, amazing bread made with the eggs her kids helped collect, and delicious potatoes grown by a friend, it was clear that this young FarmHer is living out her dream. She’s bringing her version of agriculture full circle – from The Crowded Acre to The Bearded Lady.
Watch video clips from my visit to Jen’s here.
I liked this article because the kids have their own thing that they like, I learned that In order too succeed as a small farm you either have to produce and market a truly unique product or produce and market a common product in a unique way. This is useful information because you learned a nice recipe
I like this article because I learned that if you are going to have a successful small farm you have to produce unique items or you have to produce items uniquely. I also thought it was very cool that the kids get to do their own jobs on the farm and have fun. Thank you for sharing this article
I like this article because it tells us that we can work on a farm or be a hard worker at a young age. In this article we learned that you can sell some of the stuff that you get form the animals. this is useful information because if you want to have a good working farm you might just have to do some of this stuff.
I liked this article because it shows you can be working hard at a young age and that’s important because most kids don’t think that way.
I like this article because it told me that you have to produce unique items or you have to produce items uniquely to have a successful business and this is important to me because I think that in the future I will start my business.
I like this article because it tells me how to make or have a good business. I learned that in this article you have to make unique items or you have to make items uniquely to have a good business. To me this is useful information because now I will know what to make if I do make a future business.
I like this article because Jen is such a hard-working mom of three, farmer, and business owner. I learned in this article that you must make unique items or make common items in a unique way to have a successful business. To me, this information is useful because it can help me in a future business, job or if I want to start a farm.
I like this article because it explains what to do to have a successful business. I learned that to have a good business you need to have a unique item or a common item made in a unique way. To me, this information is useful because it can help guide me in the future if I decide to start my own business.
I like this article because it shows how to make a successful business and this is useful because now we will know how to make a successful business with certain items.
I like this article because it tought me that you can be and do many thing to be scucesfull. Also i love how hard Jen works to keep the farm running. Also I love how the kids have there own role in the farm!
I liked this article because it shows how she made a good business based on what she has been doing her whole life. It’s useful because its technically trying to show you how somethings in life can help you in future businesses and have a successful job.
I liked this story of how she built a restruant and that she used her own farm/animal supplies. She made her own wiskey to which is amazing of how she used her resources to do things she wanted to and create something wonderful.