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~ily,
We are very excited for this new year and all the delicious food to come. Thank you for being a part of our farm and we look forward to being your farmers for the season. Each new year gets us excited. This year is no different. Can you believe the wind! It’s been so awful for everyone to work in it. Plantings have been delayed a bit by the weather and supply issues. But those crops planted are looking good. The greenhouse is looking wonderful. We have a few things we want to communicate to you, so here we go.
Distribution: Kyle has found a second driver and we will be going back to a 2 truck delivery schedule. Here is what the new routes will look like. Tuesday delivery route: Aurora, Highlands Ranch, W Ridge Rd & Broadway, Wheat Ridge, 26th & Simms and Lakewood. Wednesday delivery route: 29th & Monroe, Colorado & Colfax, Monaco & Florida, Logan & Louisiana, 6th & York, Greeley, the farm and Ft Collins. Thursday delivery route: Broomfield, Louisville, S. Boulder, N. Boulder, Longmont, Parker, southeast Centennial somewhere and Littleton.
We are still looking for a volunteer in SE Centennial to replace the Arapahoe location. Anything from I-25 west and 470 north. We will be calling each of you. This isn’t a hard job, it just needs someone to manage it and be around for a couple of hours on Thursday.
We anticipate starting distribution the third week of June depending on the weather. You will hear directly from your DC within a week before we start. At that time, you will get their name, phone number, e-mail, physical address, distribution hours, day of week and any other information you need to know about picking up from their home. They will include information on what to do if you forget to pick up or you go out of town for vacation. Please remember these members volunteer their home and time to make this as convenient as possible for you. They will work with you if you have strange work hours or travel for work. But I ask that you please respect their hours. If you cannot arrive during normal distribution hours, please call to make arrangements. Do not just show up before or after hours and expect them to be happy about it!
Fruit: I spoke to Ela Family Farms and First Fruit. Both are having a much better year. Between the two we should get several varieties of fruit. However, the freeze and snow we received in 2021 took a toll on their trees. It is my understanding that any tree a year old or very old trees were all lost or app 1/3 to 1/2 of their orchards. The Colorado fruit industry will be facing some lean years ahead as trees recuperate and new plantings take hold and grow into maturity for fruit production. Both orchards thank you for supporting them as they regroup and regrow for the future.
Honey: Lazy Bee Ranch was gliding into the farm to check on the beehives; making sure they are healthy and have plenty of food. They tell me everything looks really good with some very healthy hives out here. Interesting stuff they were telling me. Did you know that there is a queen in every stack of beehives? Of course we all know that bees talk to each other through the vibrations of their wings. But the queens will actually scream at each other if they get too close. It’s their way of saying, “Hey, this is my hive … buzz off!”
Asparagus: Asparagus is on! We will be picking this patch over the next four or five weeks. We will attempt get everyone out here (schedule dependent on your end), but flexibility is a must! Please return any phone calls from the office, that way we can call others to come pick if you cannot make it! We will not be sending email notifications. There is still room for you to get on the Wait List; if you haven’t already! There is no cost to you other than your time. Being on time is a must! If you are going to be late for any reason, we are asking you not to come at all. No one will be in the parking area to help you get to the field.
Beef: We have sold 14 out of 20 steers. We buy 15 month old calves that have been weaned from their mothers on pastured land from the eastern plains. We expect these animals to be ready for processing by December. They have been raised on pasture, will have alfalfa constantly available and an optional grain mixture will be available to them in the morning and at night. Please contact the farm if you would like an e-mail with the sign-up form or you can go online and order one there. Our signup form has more information on it than our website.
Pork: We will be getting our piglets from a farmer in Eastern Kansas this weekend. Currently, we still have a few hogs to sell. Again, if you are interested, send an email or go online. Our hogs have their own pastures planted with things they love to root up plus plenty of grain. We anticipate they will be ready for processing by November. For more information, please contact the office and we will send you a signup form.
Lamb: Please let me know if you are interested in a lamb because we have several available being that we have sold around 29. These animals too have a beautiful pasture to keep them busy while optional grain is available evening and morning. We anticipate processing will begin in late September or October. Contact the office for more information.
Newsletter/Blog: In order for you to access the Newsletter, (and get notifications of postings) you have to sign up for the Blog. This will not only give you access to our newsletters, but more importantly, if there is a sudden change with the farm, we post here first (and eventually to Facebook). Please keep in mind that members run these social outlets for us. It is not a perfect system and things sometime slips through our fingers! You will always have the option to pick up a hard copy of the newsletter at your DC. But if there are sudden changes, we will post to the blog first. If you are not getting notifications from our blog, then you did not sign up. You can sign yourself up by going to monroeorganicfarms.wordpress.com.
Office: The office has a new member and we would like to introduce Linda Snyder to you. Our small bank in the town of Kersey closed and we snagged her up. She has years of banking experience and was looking for a challenge when she decided to join our staff. Jacquie will not be in the office very much. Office hours will be 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday.
Please Remember: If you need to make any changes to your share, you must notify us no later than two days in advance of your distribution day. Phone calls are easier for us to handle during the busy summer months than email. But with Linda in the office full time, she would be happy to work with you.
Conclusion: May is a huge month for planting. Kyle, Jerry and The Crew have been and will be planting non-stop through the month of May and June. Kyle tells me that he planted broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, green beans, sweet corn and popcorn this week. Last week they planted tomatoes, red and yellow watermelon, muskmelon, summer squash, cucumbers and lettuce. Next week sweet and hot peppers, honeydew, eggplant and more tomatoes will be planted. Looks like spring is here and summer is on the way!
It’s a very busy time of year and this kind of work will continue not stop until the first week of August. Crops such as beans, corn, squash and cucumbers have to be repeatedly planted in order to get them throughout the summer. If our schedule gets interrupted for any reason, we will miss a week (or several) of that particular crop. It’s sad, but it happens; and usually it’s Mother Nature who you can be blame for this!!
Thank you and have a healthy May!
Jacquie, Jerry, Kyle and Sam
Monroe Organic Farms 