Archives for August 2015

A few housing-keeping notes that I would like to touch on this week. And seeing how the hint of fall is upon us, let’s start with green chile. Within a week or so here we are going to be flooded with green chile. The plants that were slow to take off with the early summer rains have caught their stride and looking very strong right now.

With all that said, we need to find homes for all the chile without going into our freezers. We cannot afford the freezer space and honestly, I do not want to make space for it…I want you to in your kitchen.

You see when we have to start freezing chile it gets expensive. In order for us to distribute 1 bag of chile for a week, we need space for 1,500 bags in our freezer. But then the rest of the year that space is empty. So it does not make sense for us to store chile for the winter.

The solution (always have to love solutions) will be Fall Days with the Farm. Now I am not sure if that name is cute enough for this string of events, but I am still on my first cup of coffee this morning so please forgive me.

But here is the idea…the week after Labor Day, we will begin roasting chile on Saturdays at the warehouse (3435 Stanford Dr NE) from 9-1pm. We invite you to come by on one of these Saturdays and buy your chile for the winter. We will be roasting thousands of pounds a week, so you can take home 5 lbs or 100 lbs if you want.

Furthermore, we will have rancher packs of meat available to pick up at that time as well. We will get you the details on the individual packs coming up, but the idea is like I was writing about a few weeks back, fill your freezer (not our freezer) and save money. So we will put together various sizes of beef and pork bundles that you can take home for your fall and winter cooking.

And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, it does (am I ready for a sales job with Home Shopping Network?). I would like to clear out some space from our cider and wine cellar, so we will be offering all of our wines and cider for sale at 25% off retail prices.

The goal of these Fall Days with the Farm is to see if we can add a little twist to your shopping that saves you money on amazing local foods, but also adds some adventure to your kitchen. Try some new cuts of meats that you do not usually use or some new recipe with your go-to meats. But let’s face it, if you have a freezer full of meats, roasted green chile and a cellar with wine/cider, well you will be sitting pretty this winter.

Lastly this week, it’s the Return of the Workshare. This is not a cheesy sequel to an ’80s classic, but rather a way for you to come help the farm and help yourself. If you find yourself with even a few hours a week of free time and you are debating whether you should help the farm or dance in your living room with Ellen DeGeneres, choose the farm. It is much safer. None of our volunteers has ever thrown a hip. Ellen probably can’t boast the same track record.

Our volunteers help us out immensely and it is a good way to get your Harvest Box at half price. Also please remember that these volunteers are not all about weeding, we need help on so many fronts. If you are willing, we can find places to fit you in. If you are interested in more info about this, please email Emma@Skarsgardfarms.com.

Have a great weekend,
Farmer Monte

I received a friendly email from one of our members this weekend and it politely asked why in the height of the summer we did not have more items coming from the farm? Fair enough observation so I would like to address it.

The issue is not that the product is not there, it is just late. By this time we usually have plenty of bell peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, and on the verge of green chile. With all of the early monsoon water that we got hammered with this year, it just slowed the plants down quite a bit. And in all honesty, I am glad that we will be getting a harvest at all. We have not had that amount of rain and hail on this farm in 13 seasons. So I am not happy that we are running late on these harvest, but am thrilled that we will be taking out the harvest knives at all.

As for the tomatoes, we hit a “gap” in between some plantings. A gap in the produce world means that what should have been succession plantings leading to a continuous harvest gets thrown off and you end up a space with no product in between two periods of heavy harvests. They will be back amigos. Soon. Hopefully next week.

This question of availability is a good discussion to have I think. Many times folks figuratively speak about there being a “ton” of food. Well, we do not speak of harvests in those figurative ways, we talk about them in a very literal way. Last week for example we brought over 12 tons of local and regional food to your tables. This is no small feat.

You see it sounds romantic and sexy to say that we source and aggregate food from small farms. But the reality of that is the product is not always there when they think it will be there. A grower might say, “Oh yes, I have 1,000 lbs of cucumbers.” Then 250 lbs show up. So we are left scrambling. This scenario happens quite often when you are dealing with smaller producers. It makes the dance of getting food to your table very fun, but at times very frustrating as well. We are not in a hot bed of local agriculture so finding replacement products for our members can be impossible.

Still, I would have to say that I would not want it any other way. Selling canned beans with infinite shelf life would be boring. I love working with these growers and ranchers through the thick and thin of things. Challenging times can make relationships stronger and learn to communicate and work with one another better than before. This is the true strength of our CSA I feel—partnerships.

Traditional CSAs ask members to share the burden of these weather related responsibilities with the farmer. Again, that sounds cute, but if you are not getting good value for your money, you are going to split. I understand that. I would do the same. Very few of us are probably in a place where we can throw money away.

So I understand our members’ desire for more local food this summer. I have the same desire. But when we realistically cannot have it (farmers are not magicians), then we rely on our partners. And I am transparent and non-apologetic about this. I want to and will delivery you the best food for your pesos. Every week. All year.

OK, now on to some fun stuff that we are working on to make your experience in the kitchen better.

Yikkity Yak. Steve, the rancher who brings us the amazing grass-fed beef, has been raising a few yak on pasture. Now, personally, I can say that I have never had yak. But I am excited to try it. So look for this new meat option to hit the web site soon. If there is good demand for it, he promises to raise more for the CSA.

Flowers. My girlfriend loves having small flower bouquets in the kitchen. Seeing this, a light bulb went off in my noggin. We could very easily add mixed flower bouquets to the offering for those of you who like having a splash of color in your kitchen. So we are finalizing a deal to make this happen. Keep your eyes peeled for this as well.

Happy back to school.

Eat well,
Farmer Monte