Spending the summer in the mountains is a good way to stay comfortable. The highs rarely exceed 90 and the humidity is quite low. On the other hand, the Rocky Mountain summer doesn't last long at roughly 6000 ft. elevation, it is basically July and August.
We are expecting our first fall frost early tomorrow morning, on September 1. We'll then get a week or two of Indian summer before the next one, but the growing season here is short.
Our farmers plant mostly fodder for animals, lots of hay and alfalfa. They cut and bale 2-3 irrigated crops a year. The area was once heavily into milk production, a few dairies remain. Most of the cattle hereabouts now are for beef.
West of here lots of potatoes are grown in Eastern Idaho. It is about 1500 ft. lower, with a correspondingly longer growing season. For instance, corn is grown there, but not here.
The standing joke in our region of WY is that almost everybody has tried once to grow tomatoes, and hardly anyone has succeeded. Having heard too many rueful stories of failure, we’ve skipped that experience. A few folks have greenhouses, but most of those appear derelict, suggesting futility.
