Down on the Farm

Saturday morning was a little slower, a little lazier than last weekend. I awoke from one of the sea-faring dreams that folk have from time to time, attempting to get back to land along a long dock of some kind while the surf broke on my head coming at me from the shore. (i have strange dreams) I sat up after being tumbled upside down one last time, needing my feet to feel the ground if i was to have any kind of breakfast to speak of.

Some tea and a bowl of cereal later, liz and i set off to brave Walmart, in search of a new organizing system for our car camping foodstuffs. $40 in rubbermaid products and spent patience for shrieking children later, we drove north the ten miles to the Grant Family Farm, outside of Wellington, CO.

Grant Family Farm is the farm that Liz and i, along with Mark & Kate, are going to be enjoying a share of vegetable goodness from this Summer into the Fall. We were arriving for a farm tour in the afternoon, and we weren't quite what to expect. The email RSVP had said that over 200 people had responded to coming, so they had to make a second tour for the day and still didn't know how it would work with so many folk. We arrived to the Grant family farm house, and found a large gathering of people in the backyard, surrounded by tables of deviled eggs, watermelon, and a cooler full of wonderful Fort Collins Brews. (sidenote: the FC Brewery is also where we are going to be picking up our share of veggies this year, and i was informed that they run a special on that day for the CSA members. Score!)


Old Man Grant then stood up and spun a yarn or two about the history of the 28 year old farm, and mostly about how the farm manages to keep their 1800 acres organic. The concept of sustainable agriculture is one that has captured Liz and I's attention over the last year, and it was fantastic to hear some of the details of how Grant pulls it off. For 2/3rd's of the crop, they seed in rotation with grasses that are only grown to be put back under and fertilize the soil. Because of this, and also due to their rotation of field use every few years, the soil is kept incredibly fertile and the bugs that like a particular crop aren't given time to set up shop in one particular part of the farm.

The other 1/3 of the farm is more of the mixed veggies that take longer to seed than spinach or lettuce. These plots control weeds by a system of turning over the soil with a machine that takes a long spinning bar about 2" below the ground, before any seeding occurs. This pulls out any weeds without disturbing the soil below. The next step is apparently a heater dragged across the fields that doesn't burn the weeds persay, but the heat almost melts them into oblivion. (Sounds biblical, no?) The last step is actual manual labor to get the final remnants of weeds that simply couldn't take a hint. Worms are controlled by a natural bacterial spray (i can't recall the name) that is only harmful to worms and nothing else, and bugs are controlled (this was my favorite part) by predator bugs that find crop-consuming bugs tasty, and have a dedicated corner of fields to live in and winter in all year long.


We then took off on the tour, took a look at some sprouted lettuce, some newly planted artichokes and cilantro, and listened a bit more about the what the CSA accomplishes for the farm. Last year was the first year for the CSA, and they finished out the year with 125 shares being sold to the community. This year they had already, uh, (what's the term for multiplying by 7?) increased the shares out to nearly 730 by the end of May, with more to be added as the summer rolled along. Josh, the director, told us that the CSA takes one semi truck off the road for the farm a week, and given that the farm moves about 300 trucks a year, we constituted a little more than 8% of the farms traffic with our 26 weeks of 26 trucks. This particular farm is also large to handle an unknown number of share members, which is a huge benefit and difference to most other CSA's that have to limit their numbers and memberships due to limited plot size. When asked if that trend could be expected to continue and turn the entire farm into a community CSA, Josh only shrugged and smiled - "that would be fantastic, wouldn't it?"


We then rolled over the chicken pens, where a few dozen chickens and turkeys were holding court within the chicken-wired-pen that was larger than any backyard that i've ever had. This was probably my favorite part, as i cannot wait for happy eggs from happy chickens that are truly pastured and enjoying their chicken lives. (see kate?! happy chickens!) I don't ever recall seeing a mixed pen of chickens and turkeys, though, as the giant gobblers strutted slowly and seemed to spend their entire day being louder and meaner than any of the tiny stupid chickens in their midst. They appeared to have a decent amount of anger issues. Maybe they know how ugly they are.


All told, it was a wonderful afternoon that made me miss the farms and fields of home a little bit, if only back home i could look out on the crop fields and see Longs Peak in the background like we do here. I suppose i'll take what we have here. It also got me more excited for fresh veggies every week, starting in a few weeks. We do know, though, that both of us will be out of town the first week of July, and we'll have to take suitors for who would like a crate of greens that week in the town of Fort Collins. Any takers?