Plant starts on sale!
The Otterstrom Experiment
Where a physicist (Nils) and a physics-trained plant enthusiast (Jessica) explore the art of cultivated living, blending scientific curiosity with rustic charm and an entrepreneurial spirit. Jack-of-all-trades, master of (hopefully) some, and otterly obsessed with the process.
Our playful attempt at exploring the gentleman farmer/renaissance ideal while living on a budget and raising 5 wonderful children.
Our journey
The Otterstrom family settled in the beautiful East Mountain area just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in November of 2020. At 6700', we immediately found the sparsely forested piñon-juniper landscape scenic, open, and undeniably beautiful. More importantly, it felt like home.
Jessica Otterstrom grew up on the agricultural plains of southern Idaho. Working with her parents, she helped cultivate an expansive vegetable garden, berry patch, and orchard. To our surprise, the New Mexican high desert had a remarkably similar (and in some ways better) climate. Despite a common misconception that it's hard to grow anything in New Mexico, we found that a little water (and drip irrigation) turned the muted desert landscape into our own colorful oasis. Jessica loves growing all kinds of flowers, from Dahlias to Snap Dragons. While she formally is trained as high school physics teacher, her greatest accomplishment is bearing and raising 5 beautiful children.
The estate-like lifestyle we are trying to build on our New Mexico property has long been a dream for us. After the birth of our second child and a particularly stressful time in Nils' PhD, we took a trip to Scotland. Exploring the countryside, we fell in love with the Scottish Castle-Estates, soaking up the combination of cultivated, wild, and refined beauty. Just as alluring was the idea of owning and running a self-sustaining estate. While gorgeous properties like Castle-Fraser and Haddo House (see below) are, of course, woefully out of our league, it certainly has not prevented us from dreaming and subconsciously trying to build a semblance of that idea on our 2.5 acres in New Mexico.
Otterly Eclectic
We plan to center on our blog posts on experiences and lessons learned in the areas of:
Flower farming
Gardening and cooking
Finances and budgeting
Homesteading and monetizing land
Science, Outdoors, and other topics
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Explore our little slice of heaven
It's nothing fancy, but we are so grateful for what we have
