Beef & Pork

Did you forget to order your beef or pork share for the winter? Good news! Jacquie has a 1/4 share of beef (or possibly two) available, as well as a few small pigs (which would be discounted due to their size). Please contact her at the farm to secure yours! (970) 284-7941

Newsletter – October 14, 2020

NOTE: This blog is posted by a volunteer. No one from the farm checks or responds to messages here. You must contact the farm directly with any questions, comments, etc.

Dear Friends of the Farm,

This is our last week of distribution for the 2020 season. You are getting Yukon Gold potatoes, yellow onions, red beets, turnips, daikon radish, broccoli, green or red bells & jalapeno peppers and tomatoes. Some of you may even find some cauliflower in your bags!

Surveys: Please send in your surveys! They were on the back of the October 5th newsletter and everyone should have gotten one in their bag that week. I am sending a few extra forms to each DC if you would like to fill it out there or take it home and mail it to me. Your voice is important to us. We really do want to hear what you have to say about your CSA!!!

Winter Share: Space is filling up fast and soon several DC’s will be closed. We have around 25 more spaces to fill. Please send in those forms before the 24th so I have time to process them.

Animals: We are starting to take the hogs into the processor this month. Lambs will start to go to processing next month and then the steers will follow. It is time to pay off those animals! I will not send them to the processor without full payment. All animal payments were due October 1st. We still have a few lambs available for processing in March if anyone is still interested. Expect an phone call or email from me before we take those animals in.

Summer’s Conclusion: What a year it has been! I hope you have enjoyed the produce you have gotten from the farm. It came with much love, sweat and a few tears too!

Spring…. Oh boy! We started out hot and it never cooled down this summer. We did not receive a late freeze in May and crops grew like crazy with plenty of sunshine and water. Crops came on early. This year beat out 2012 on how many days over 90, but it could not get close the 15 or more days over 100 we had that year. All things set aside; this was a very hot year.

Then something incredible happened. It froze and snowed the first week of September. Because we have amazing members; for two days dozens of people picked and picked and picked. We got hundreds of trays of delicious food set aside in coolers and dugouts that spread out produce over the next three to six weeks. Luckily we also found some produce under plants that survived the early freeze giving you plenty of wonderful things to eat through mid-October.

The heat took a toll and everyone was dragging by the end of September. We were hoping for cooler days in October that just hasn’t’ happened yet. Maybe the second half of October will cool down to within normal temperatures giving us much needed relief.

All of you have been so kind to send me thoughts of a quick recovery from my broken ankle. Thank you for a great summer. It has been our pleasure to grow your food for you.

Jacquie, Jerry, Kyle and Sam

Newsletter – October 6, 2020

NOTE: This blog is posted by a volunteer. No one from the farm checks or responds to messages here. You must contact the farm directly with any questions, comments, etc.

Dear Farm Friends,

This is week 17 out of 18: You are getting purple potatoes, white onions, red beets, broccoli, bell peppers, anaheim & jalapeno peppers, tomatoes and a few ears of corn. Please return your mesh bags over the next two weeks. We are giving out plastic bags for the remainder of the season and do not want these bags back.

Fruit: You are getting Honeycrisp and Red Delicious apples from First Fruit. This is the last delivery. I know it feels late to still be getting fruit, but to tell you the truth, everything was right on time. I know you would have loved to get more peaches. Mother Nature did not provide that. So, apples it is this year! Eat the Red Delicious first. They are a softer apple and do not have as long of a storage life as your Honeycrisp apples. So eat up!

Kacey and the First Fruit family want to thank you for your support this year. It was a rough season due to the late spring freeze that wiped out most of the Western Slope fruit. They said their partnership with Monroe Organic Farms and their CSA members are a vital part of their fruit business. Thank you for purchasing a Fruit Share!

Winter Shares: Everything is going well and it feels like we are getting a lot of crops in for storage. I still have openings, so please let friends & co-workers know we have room for new members! Over the next four weeks, potatoes, carrots, beets, celery root & cabbage will be harvested. Dried beans, popcorn and leeks are the last to be brought in.

Fruit for Winter Shares: We are working with First Fruit to see if we can get those of you who ordered a Winter Share a big box of apples. Haven’t got all the details yet, but hope to have more info by next week. Keep your fingers crossed!

Survey: This is very important to us. I know filling out some details seem monotonous, but, it makes a difference knowing how many people are using what types of shares. We want to know how you feel about supporting a farm during the good times and the bad. As with this entire year, the summer season was an interesting one! Please return to your DC next week or fill it out and leave with them this week. Alternatively, you can email them to me. Your thoughts are important to us! Download the survey here – Monroe Survey 2020.

Garlic Party: Thank you everyone who showed up to help separate garlic for fall planting. We need 100 trays of garlic and 1/3rd was completed this past weekend. 20 of your fellow members were able to complete 27 of those trays on Saturday. Another 10 members showed up on Sunday and completed 8 more trays. It was so good to visit with all of you. Yes, Jacquie made an appearance!

Delilah: As you all probably know, Delilah Nadine, our granddaughter, was born the 16th of May, at home, with her parents, Kyle and Sam, in attendance😉 Sam did really well and had a great midwife (who happens to be a member of the farm) to help her along and instruct Kyle on how he could help. Precisely at 5:16am, a delightful little girl came into this world. She has blue eyes and light brown hair.

She is now 5 ½ months old and trying very hard to roll over and crawl. We have complete conversations with her babbling her answers and tells me all her parents secrets! Delilah is at the top of the charts for her growth and is very tall for her age. I wonder if she got that from Kyle?

Kyle juggled a lot this summer. A new baby, taking over more responsibilities of the farm, corona virus… Wow, he did remarkable well for all the pressure he has been under!

Reminder: Garlic Harvest Party This Weekend – Need Help!

NOTE: This blog is posted by a volunteer. No one from the farm checks or responds to messages here. You must contact the farm directly with any questions, comments, etc.

Come one, come all.  It’s time to separate garlic for planting!  We will begin at 8 and would prefer everyone to come at one time….even if you need to leave early.  But we need as many people as we can get.

So come at 10am if that is better for you and stay for a couple of hours.  Dress in layers and don’t forget your water.  It will be chilly in the morning and warm by 12.  You may also want a snack for the ride home.

Thank you all for your time!

PLEASE call or email the farm to tell them you are coming. Thank you for your help!!