Postcards From Palisade

The 15th annual Colorado Lavender Festival is fast approaching! This year’s treat for the senses will be held from June 26th to June 28th. Friday, June 26th is the VIP farm tours, Saturday, June 27th is the main festival in Riverbend Park, and Sunday, June 28th is the day for self-guided farm tours. Today, Olivia Coe and Lee Ann Nielsen join me to preview what’s planned for the festival this year....

A group of Palisade locals is heading up a brand new festival that is set to take over downtown Palisade and Veterans Park on May 2nd, 2026: Palisade Farm Fest. Find out about all the fun opportunities to celebrate Palisade’s agricultural heritage at the upcoming Palisade Farm Fest at Veterans Memorial Park and Farm Fest Market ! And...we’ll also get a sneak peek on what Cygnus Crossing and the Mi...

In part two of the Palisade town grouch series, hear all about the history of Palisade’s town grouch contest and its tragic, funny, and silly stories, get the dirt from previous grouches, and find out who our sister city grouches are! Post-release note: this episode has been updated to remove the reference to 1991’s grouch. It turns out he was convicted of committing a terrible crime in 2002 . And...

Welcome to Palisade, Colorado: 2,692 friendly people and 1 grouch. What’s the story behind Palisade’s grouch contest, and who would want to be one? I talk with the current town grouch and a town grouch hopeful to find out.

A couple special guests join me for my favorite family Christmas tree stories. The music in this episode is O Christmas Tree by Julius H. from Pixabay .  

Priscilla Walker, current Vice Chairman and Founding Chairman of the Palisade Historical Society (historicpalisade.org), tells the fascinating story of how she and a dedicated team of volunteers pulled off an enormous effort to quite literally save history in 2014 when they kept 111 years of issues of the Palisade Tribune from destruction.

Dan Bean and Nina Louden from the Palisade Insectary join me to talk about insects, weeds, what makes their jobs in biological control so fun and interesting, and why everyone in Palisade should care that the Insectary makes its home here. Learn more about the Insectary at: https://ag.colorado.gov/conservation/palisade-insectary

Cody Butters Lewis and her husband Mike are the new operators and co-owners of Peach Street Distillers, along with new co-owners Jesse and Desa Loughman. Cody shares their plans for the distillery and how they will strike a balance between thoughtfully honoring its legacy as the first distillery in Colorado while moving into the future. As Cody says: “We all remember and love what the distillery w...

Today, we're taking a deep dive into the farewell dinner that La Plaza hosts each year to honor and celebrate the efforts of that year’s migrant farm workers. Join me as I find out what it takes to prepare and serve dinner and a party to more than 100 migrant farm workers and their families, to say thanks (and see you next year)!

Do you ever wish you had had a chance to try out a career before committing to something that you’ll be doing for the rest of your working life? Well in the Grand Valley, D51 high school students have an opportunity to do just that. Crystal Green, Career Pathways Coordinator for the Work-Based Learning Program at Palisade High School, explains how this awesome program works and why local businesse...

Ride along with Corinna Scott and me as we chat about our new business, Peachy Pedicab, the nerdy things we geek out about, the challenging and fun parts of starting our own business, local adventures, Palisade history, travel hacks, and lots more. Find us at peachypedicab.com

Scott High of Colterris joins me to talk about an exciting new space opening soon in Palisade! On June 23rd 2025, Colterris Collections will open their exhibit space, housing over 16,000 pieces of wine memorabilia accompanied by fascinating stories from the world of wine. Join us to hear a few of those stories, along with the story of how Colterris came to be in Palisade. Visit Colterris Collectio...

When you bite into a peach or a cherry or any other delicious piece of Palisade produce, can you taste the more than 200 federal regulations and five governmental agencies behind the workers who helped provide that bounty? Kim Noland, an independent H-2A agent based in Palisade, explains what agents do to help farmers manage the H-2A program and why the program is a critical economic necessity for...

Go behind the scenes at Colorado’s largest wine producer, Carboy Winery. Barbie Graham, tasting room manager at Carboy Winery at Mount Garfield Estates in Palisade and sales and hospitality manager for the company globally, joins me to chat about how Carboy is making wine delicious, fun, and sustainable. Barbie and I also chat about why she’d rather live in Colorado than California, how she was cu...

What is it about Palisade that makes people love living here so much? Dr. Carisa Authier joins me to discuss. Carisa and I talk about what makes Palisade so appealing, her path to Palisade, and her unique approach to mental health as a psychology consultant here in Palisade. And I get to ask her the random question I’ve always wanted to ask a psychologist! Find Carisa at drcarisa.com.

Iriana Medina, Executive Director of La Plaza , explains how the H-2A visa program helps provide the seasonal agricultural labor for the valley’s farmers, orchardists, and grape growers. Migrant agricultural workers using the H-2A visa program are here legally. Listen to learn more about the H-2A program, what La Plaza does, and how you can get involved.  

JoAnn Rasmussen, Chair of the Palisade Historical Society, takes a deep dive into how past generations of farmers and orchardists in Palisade and the Grand Valley met their ever-present need for seasonal agricultural workers. We might sometimes feel isolated from international and national events here in Palisade, but the seasonal labor sources for this town have always been driven by outside circ...

For Julia Coffey, Farm Director at Early Morning Orchard in Palisade, her dream job on a farm isn’t really about farming. Learn what it’s really about – and then go visit the farm! They’re located at 3694 G 4/10 Road in Palisade and at earlymorningorchard.com .    

March 13th is the podcast’s second birthday! Hear what we're giving ourselves as a birthday present and about all the fun things planned for this year. And THANK YOU for listening!

Michael Palma, manager of the El Rey Mexican Restaurant and Food Truck, shares the latest on what El Rey is cooking up at their new location at 528 Iowa Avenue. Listen and get inspired by this family operation’s warm approach to hospitality, food, and community. And...is that your stomach I hear growling?

I’m going to go ahead and bet that you didn’t know that there is a mushroom farm in Palisade, CO. And no, we’re not talking about magic mushrooms, though as you’ll find out, there’s something magical about every single mushroom, including the kind you serve on your dinner plate. Tune in to learn all about the fascinating world of mushrooms and what they can do for you and the agricultural communit...

Fred Judson and Andrea Judson have had very interesting careers in the Grand Valley: Andrea worked in biocontrol at the Palisade Insectary and Fred worked with disease resistant bean strains at Colorado State University's Western Colorado Research Center at Fruita. Geek out with us about sustainable agronomy and entomology in western Colorado!

Go deep into a few of the most notorious Grand Valley myths and legends with two of my Palisade pals, LisaMarie Pinder and Corinna Scott. Hear the stories behind the infamous jar of Grand Valley dirt (8:18), the thunderbird on the Mesa (18:51), the vengeful train conductor (26:47), where you can find bits and pieces of historic coal mines (29:58), why Palisade has twin houses (33:50), and where yo...

Wake up your wanderlust with this episode featuring Sarah Steele, travel advisor with Find Your Why Travel: Wine Edition. Take a trip around the world with us and get inspired to plan your own adventure! For more about Sarah and Find Your Why Travel: Wine Edition, email her at sarah@findyourwhytravel.com or visit wineadventureswithsarah.com .

Richard and Aly McDonald of Colorado Vintners and Cliff Dweller Wine have a new venture: Grand Valley Enology, an on-site wine lab that provides juice and wine chemistry analysis to grape growers and winemakers in the Grand Valley. Listen to learn more about this new unique service and the science behind winemaking! Find more at coloradovintners.com or via email at lab@vincollect.com