Why CSAs Matter

There is a surprising amount of giddiness this early in the year. There is something satisfying about planning a season, acquiring the seeds and materials, and dreaming up another summer. In this cerebral stage the rows are perfect, the crops are crisp, and it all feels possible.

I never would have predicted to become a spreadsheet fan. Attention to detail has never been my thing. Yet, spreadsheets have become one of the most useful tools on the farm. I have been putting together the road map of our season over the past couple months. Strategizing and planning to accommodate more intensified production.

It starts with the self. What do I need/want to live? After personal/family costs and time are factored, the next step is how. Weekly sales predictions, markets, employees, and materials predict revenue. Then, the crop plan. Mapping out the fields and nursery complete to make sure the metrics are possible. This process has taken weeks of planning.

Now, in the phase of ordering. Seeds, soil, irrigation supplies, and market materials are compiled into an extensive annual shopping list. Constantly prioritizing what needs to be ordered now, and what can wait. Since most of these materials will ship freight, I try to consolidate the order onto one truck, minimizing shipping costs.

This is where the CSA becomes a cornerstone of our business model. The ability to purchase without taking a loan allows our farm freedom and security. Not only does the CSA model support early season expenses, but provides crop insurance during the growing season unavailable to most small farms. When you purchase a CSA, you are trusting a farmer to do their very best to provide during the growing season. The shared risk helps alleviate the farmers stress, a value that cannot be understated and over appreciated.

The upcoming season is planned with improvements from last year. We are keeping the gift card system to allow maximum flexibility. Customers can pick-up veggies at the Farm Stand or Downtown Farmer’s Market, making for at least 46 hours of availability, and giving them free choice in what they purchase. This ensures access to fresh veggies and plants throughout the season. For those utilizing the farm stand, customers will be able to take advantage of a pick your own Kitchen Herb Garden as well as a U-Pick flower field included in the CSA (these gardens will also be available to the public for a price).

All that said, I am very hopeful for a great upcoming season! We are spending the week organizing and repairing our greenhouse in anticipation for the first plantings of 2023. Welcome back to the growing days!

The Journey of Food

Years ago I decided to eat better. Vegetables, organically grown, seemed to be the healthiest option. As I shopped the produce aisles I was reminded that the products were often grown in the backyard garden of my childhood. I could learn how to “regrow” these foods.

My girlfriend at the time had been volunteering on McCauley Family Farm in Boulder and I would sometimes join her on those early mornings. Volunteering in exchange for an abundance of fresh produce and lunch. We would return home stocked with veg. Large cast iron pans full of whatever was growing at the time usually wrapped inside a corn tortilla became a staple.

Those early seasons working on farms led to an exploration of new foods. Do you remember the first time you had butterhead lettuce? I was in my twenties! Consuming local produce has the potential to diversify your diet and excite your palette on new culinary experiences. Many of the crops market farms grow lack the shipping ability of big box stores. I am reminded of heirloom melons too sweet to last more than a few days or thin-skinned sun ripened tomatoes. Even carrots, who can store for months, have been bred more for production rather than the heirloom favorites selected for flavor.

Once I got a handle on day-to-day food preparation I started thinking about storage. What do you eat when nothing is growing? Seasonal eating requires processing, preserving, storing, and extending the annual harvests (if not by you by the farmers). The goal has never been, nor ever will be, consuming only products I grow, rather to enjoy eating as seasonally local as possible.

Here is a sample meal from our home:

Fried Rice

Purchased at store: rice, sesame oil, cha zing wine, fish sauce, coconut aminos, olive oil, salt, mayonnaise, green onion, ginger

Purchased from local farms: carrots, eggs

Grown at Folks Farm: Purple daikon radish, Wasabi radish, turnip, fresno hot sauce, pork sausage, onion, cilantro

The home grown ingredients mandate cold storage, fermentation, and winter growing to supplement our grocery spending.

The 2023 crop plan includes planting key ingredients for my kitchen. I can’t imagine a garden without Fresno peppers simply because that hot sauce is too damn good! I am adding other vegetables to the mix this year, like celery, to round out my own cooking habits.

The connection between us and our food orients our life in time and space and deepens the appreciation for great ingredients. When you consider the rice and radishes from this meal originated in Asia, met and combined with carrots from the Middle East, traveled west to intercept pigs in Europe, who were then carried by boat to encounter peppers and cilantro in indigenous America, humanity is displayed on the plate.

Plants and food crops have been shared, stolen, sold, and grown across the globe. Shopping at the store you are bombarded with beautiful fruits and vegetables grown thousands of miles apart, and yet we regularly consume only a few of these staples. The middle aisles are predominantly either wheat, corn, or soy derived further away from the culinary diversity gardening and local agriculture can offer.

Even in such a tough growing climate as Colorado we can enjoy an abundance of regional produce throughout the year. The practice of eating locally builds much needed relationships between us, our food, and the shared humanity throughout the world.

When Farming Blows

We recently suffered a tough loss on the farm. Last Thursday evening the wind picked up, eventually howling over the house. Wind and I have a troubled past. It was this time last year a storm damaged a growing tunnel and tore the roof off the Farm Stand. I lay in bed, less worried, knowing we had improved the structure substantially since last year.

Driving to the farm the next day I noticed a large cottonwood tree had blown down near the farm. My heart started to sink. Rounding into the driveway I saw our tunnel. It did not look good. Upon closer inspection half of the arches had been snapped in two places, rendering the structure beyond repair.

As they say, shit happens. We took pictures of the damage and set about harvesting the remaining greens from the tunnel. These growing structures, although unheated, allow us the opportunity to grow plants year round. The season extension is crucial when you are working with limited land access and time.

What upsets me the most is the crops we are no longer able to grow next season. I had high hopes for the successions this tunnel would yield. In the end, we have gotten 3 great seasons of tomatoes, kale, chard, arugula, and more from this structure. Honestly, I didn’t really like where we had placed it anyway.

Agriculture, mostly, places humans directly in nature, the exceptions being enclosed shipping containers producing food without soil or natural light. We are both in conflict and benefit from seasonal shifts. Sometimes we win, and sometimes we suffer losses. While tough in the moment, I know we will carry on. In a way, I am glad this happened.

Growing food professionally requires a deep commitment. The farmers I know, myself included, have dedicated most of their time and lives to the art. Especially here in Colorado where the seasons are so short. Only a certain kind of person will try something, possibly fail, and wait over a year to try again. Most farmers growing specialty crops like mine do not have crop insurance. When something devastating happens we simply have to gut the losses.

Ironically, we are constructing another high tunnel. It is a very different model with almost double the pipe thickness. We have poured concrete in the four corners and will be further reinforcing this structure to stand up to the wind tunnel we call a farm. Covered growing space is too valuable not to invest in. Offering crops in the shoulder seasons provides our customers with great convenience and they are often our most profitable products.

Stepping over crunchy snow to enter a sunny, spring-like, greenhouse is magical. Since covered growing space is in high demand we invest heavily into fertility and soil management. I generally do no till in our greenhouses and add plenty of compost to the beds.

Our growing practices change in these tunnels. We often plant denser and stack multiple crops in the beds. For example, last season we planted several beds of spinach that were then interplanted with tomatoes. As the spinach neared its final harvests the tomato plants were ready to take over the space for the next few months. Called “relay cropping” this technique allowed us to get up to 3 crops from a single bed, in a single growing season. Not yet possible on the entire farm, but something to work towards.

This time of year is slower. I am able to spend time germinating the plan for next season. Folks Farm is rounding out our 4th growing year and I am curious how it has left me, my family, and friends. In the darkness of this time, we find the inner light. Through hardship, we emerge stronger and better prepared for the unknown.