Snapshots of 2024

It’s been a wild, busy year.

I have a lot to share, but I’ll get to the wordy parts a little later on. For now, here is a collection of photographs I took in 2024.

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A stunning sunset in early January. Heavy winter clouds illuminated by the reliably beautiful setting sun. I decided to use this photo as part of the background for my new logo, designed by the very talented Chris Manfield.

Back in February, we had the biggest snow storm I’ve ever seen in Crestone. It just so happened that my friends Jenny and Kestrel were scheduled to visit, and they braved the storm to drive down here from Boulder. We had so much fun playing in the snow. I snapped this photo of Challenger Peak as we walked through the woods to a Buddhist shrine.

Another shot of the Sangres following that same epic snow storm. Playing with shapes and composition as the day’s last light disappeared, creeping slowly up the peaks.

One of my favorite things about living here is being able to watch multiple weather systems move across the San Luis Valley simultaneously. Some storms reach us, some don’t. This shot was taken from our deck looking West to the San Juans at sunset. One of those “WTF is this place” moments.

Another moment of awe captured from our deck this past spring, looking northwest toward the Sawatch range. This was a rain cloud, but it looked a hell of a lot like smoke rising upward from the ground.

Rob Jones of Jones Farms Organics standing in a field of budding rye. You may recall my interview with Sarah Jones on MGSW. Rob is Sarah’s father-in-law — a lifelong potato farmer who transitioned his family’s farm to organic in the early 2000s. The Jones’ are leading an effort to make planting rye as a cover crop financially viable for local potato farmers.

The San Luis Valley is the country’s second largest potato growing region. Potato farming is hard on soil, and poor soil quality leads to excess water use, and the depletion of our local aquifer. Planting rye as a cover crop helps to rebuild soil, but many farmers feel resistant to planting cover crops due to their lack of financial feasibility. In other words, without customers, farmers end up spending a lot of time and money planting and growing crops that just sit in a warehouse unsold. The Jones’ have taken this concern seriously, and are working to connect local farmers with consumers. This way, the farmers and the soil both win.

Click here to learn more about the Rye Resurgence project.

Another local hero, George Whitten, standing beside Michael Jones on that same spring morning. George brings his cattle over to the Jones’ as another tactic for rebuilding soil. George was also featured on an episode of MGSW. He runs Blue Range Ranch — a 100+ year-old regenerative ranch 20 minutes down the road from our house. We buy all of our beef from Blue Range Ranch, and it’s the best beef I’ve ever eaten, hands down. George was also a headliner at this year’s Crestone Energy Fair, and you can check out his talk here.

The morning after a late spring dusting of snow, looking north from our bed. When real life looks a helluva lot like a painting.

Twice a year, the Crestone Energy Fair lets local residents and visitors tour some of Crestone’s many eclectic, alternatively-built homes. There are a ton of wild dwellings in Crestone, but this still-under-construction Earthship is high up on the list of most unique.

Another house on the tour, and one of Crestone’s most well-known homes, the Hobbitat, inspired by the architecture of Antoni Guadí.

Psychadelic clouds in early summer at sunset. Love me some extreme contrast.

Summer monsoons, looking west. That light-colored stripe on the lefthand rain funnel was mesmerizing to watch circle around and around.

I brought my camera with me on our one-month van trip up to Montana this past summer, and regrettably only shot this one photograph on our very first stop headed north. A morning hike along the Green River at the Gates of Lodore in Northwest Colorado.

My friend Goldie, head of ongoing programming for the Crestone Energy Fair taught a Bottle Wall workshop on my birthday this past August. It was a blast, and I could not have asked for a better way to celebrate.

On assignment for The Crestone Eagle. My friend Dana helps me investigate a setback controversy at the site of a new independent living facility in town. Dana lives across the street from this project, and is also on the board of trustees for the town of Crestone.

I took hundreds of photos at this year’s Crestone Energy Fair, so it’s hard to choose only a few. Here is one from the Opening Ceremony on our main stage.

Another from the Alternative Building Demonstration area. Nadia pounds dirt to make a rammed earth bench.

Okay, this one I clearly didn’t take, but I couldn’t resist sharing it. One of my all time favorite humans, Kizzen Laki and I after our Rooting Forward panel at the Crestone Energy Fair. Kizzen is a badass gardener and homesteader who started The Crestone Eagle in 1989. Kizzen is essentially who I want to be when I grow up. She’s a force.

Another highlight of the Crestone Energy Fair was convincing our friend Lloyd Kahn to come out and speak at the event. The man in the foreground just got done telling Lloyd he drove all the way across the country to see him speak, because Lloyd’s books had saved his life 55 years earlier. There were a lot of similar comments made that day, and it was such a joy to witness Lloyd be celebrated for his impressive body of work.

Trippy skies at sunset. Early fall looking west.

Autumn lands in the mountains. A friend of ours who no longer lives here called fall in Crestone “The Glory Days.” There is truly no better way to describe it. If you know, you know.

A moody late fall morning after one of the first snows of the season. I watched these clouds dance along the mountain ridges for hours.

One afternoon this past fall, I stumbled upon a magical pool along Willow Creek. I wasn’t planning to get in the water, but it was so beautiful and inviting that I couldn’t resist taking a cold plunge. Snapped this shot of fall leaves reflected in the water after drying myself off.

Morning fog rolling west across the valley. This happened a few days in a row, and it was super trippy to watch. The fog engulfed us early in the morning, and then rolled west and burned off as the sun came up.

Clearly not Crestone, but one of my favorite shots from this past year. I visited my grandmother in Tucson for her 90th birthday, and also got to spend the day shooting photos with my friend Autumn for her birthday in downtown Tucson a couple days later.

The very first issue of The Crestone Eagle from December 1989. This newspaper almost collapsed a few months ago, and a group of us jumped in to save it. Much more on that soon. In the meantime, picking up this first issue helped me realize how honored I am to be a part of something with such an impressive history. This paper and I are practically the same age!

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Happy New Year, ya’ll.

Glad to be back on the ‘stack.