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Archives for July 2016

Same-Day Deliveries and Hydro Growing

July 22, 2016 by monte Leave a Comment

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What’s In the Harvest Box Next Week?

You Got Any Sales Happening?

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OK amigos, the launch of the Same-Day Delivery is upon us. Sunday, 7/24, marks a pivotal point for the future of the farm and for food distribution for our region. No other grocery store or delivery service that I know of (besides cardboard Pizzas) will be bringing you food so efficiently. Order by Noon, Delivery by 6pm. Shoot, not even Amazon is trying something so ambitious.13775563_1155489951177975_759417844342008147_n

Fortunately, our size is playing into our favor. We are in the perfect Goldilocks zone of scale right now. Big enough to have the vans and people power to make this work, but small enough that we will not have millions of people trying it out. We are in a great position to pull something so crazy off. Should be a fun ride. And as this idea has gotten closer to becoming a reality, I have thought about so many collateral benefits that we could possibly see with this.

Food waste. Did you know the biggest culprit for food waste in our country comes from our personal kitchens? Most people think big restaurants or convention centers are at the root of food waste in our country, but the reality is that the problem stems from us. We end up buying huge volumes of food from box stores in order to save a few pennies, but then we realize that we do not actually need a gallon of peanut butter.

I would argue that in our quest to pay as little as possible for our food, we end up buying more food than we can eat and throwing too much away. That waste obviously increases the cost of the food that we did eat, and so probably saved nothing by buying those 144 hot dogs that were on sale. So to follow this argument through, the best way to cut food waste is to buy our food as close to when we intend to eat it as possible. Buy today what you plan to make for your dinner tonight.

So besides an insane convenience, I really think that this addition to our delivery model will help cut food waste and give you a better idea for your food budgeting.
There is a second side to this coin that we are putting into place right now as well and that is delivering produce that is harvested the same day you receive it. Let me explain because your mind is probably blown right now 🙂

13782271_1156897061037264_2337557386429085979_nAs you may recall from previous newsletters, we have been putting lots of energy into developing our hydroponic growing systems. And I have to tell you, I am a firm believer that the future of urban farming is going to be in the hydroponic world. I used to be such a purist that food had to be grown in the dirt (soil please). But I have to tell you that it just doesn’t. Hydroponic veggies are producing better tasting and higher quality goodies than many of the items I have tasted fresh out of the field in the last 16 years.

And hydroponics allow us to offer you something that you will never get from the field– living food! You may have seen the living lettuces that we have brought you over the last couple of weeks. Roots still on the plant. Which means that the plants are still alive. Still growing. This is the direction that I want to see the farm really explore.

We are moving over 5,500 square feet of greenhouses from our farm to our warehouse right now. This will give us room for over 50,000 plant sites under the protection from the weather and pests. Additionally, these hydro systems use 10% of the water that we need to grow in the fields. Not bad for a desert farm.10995918_855674071159566_3247314233179173001_n

But let me walk you through the idea of moving these systems to the warehouse. You place your order by noon for the day. Our packers see that we have 130 heads of lettuce on order for the day. They walk out to the greenhouses, harvest lettuce, pack your order, and it is dropped off at your casa by 6pm. So when you are eating dinner at 7, your food literally is only hours from harvest.

This is the vision of the farm that I want to see take shape over the next few months and for the future of fresh food.

Farmer Monte

Filed Under: Newsletter

New Same-Day Delivery Options

July 15, 2016 by monte Leave a Comment

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What’s In the Harvest Box Next Week?

You Got Any Sales Happening?

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We make sure to hold one thing very consistent around the farm, and that is change. If folks are adverse to change, I can tell you that working here would be like listening to nails on a chalkboard for 8 hours a day. But I am a firm believer that if we are not progressing, then we are dying. There is no room for complacency in the marketplace. Grow. Innovate. Or get used as a speedbump.

So that is my preface to this amazing cup of coffee that I made myself on Monday. The sun was shining, I want to say that I heard birds chirping, and then there was this cup of coffee. Perfectly steamed beans, lightly frothed milk. I was so happy with my cup of coffee that I missed the cut-off time to order my box for the next day. And to make matters worse, my kitchen was empty after the 4th of July holiday week. I was a very angry bear. Think I even swore.405904_296826307044348_1417430447_n

I thought, “How the heck are we supposed to shift the paradigm of shopping for food with such poor service? What kind of company is trying to change the way people shop by only offering 1 delivery day a week?” I was getting so mad at myself. That does not feel good when you realize that your business model is not living up to its potential. Kind of a rude awakening.

So after the bad language, the challenge was set. How can we make our service better? We have food, drivers, farmers, packers, office admin folks working every day of the week. So why can’t we increase the number of delivery days that we offer our members? And after finishing that incredible cup of coffee, I still had no good reason that would hold us back from feeding you better.

Actually, the reason that we have gotten ourselves into this situation is really because of our obsession to bring you free home delivery. For us to make deliveries free, we have to have high density of deliveries. Makes sense right? But the thought of having to go to the store after I missed my cut-off gave me anxiety. I hate the store. So is a small convenience charge worth keeping me from having a panic attack? Oh, you betcha! (as they say on the family farm in North Dakota). And I know that so many of our members miss their cut-off times weekly and feel the same.

So my brainstorm concluded with the realization that Free Delivery and a small Delivery Fee are not mutually exclusive. You can have both. We can offer free delivery routes AND we can offer days and times with small fees associated with them to cover our costs. So we are making a big step in trying to serve you better while letting you select the kind of service you would like to receive.

319868_337636556296656_2003402064_nOK, what will this look like? As a trial, we will begin with all folks East of the Rio Grande in ABQ to make sure that we can do this before offering it to all our members.

We will be adding Same-Day Delivery Service for 6 days a week, Sunday through Friday. You can place your order by Noon on any of those days, and we will deliver your order between 2-6pm that same day. Too good to be true? I thought so too until I realized that we already have everything in place to make this happen. We are perfectly positioned for this. The only difference will be that these Same-Day Routes will have a $5 Delivery Fee added to them to make up for the lack of density that we will have with these new routes.

We will STILL offer a Free Delivery option on Tuesdays and your corresponding Night Route (so no freaking out please) with the same cut-off time (10am Monday). So the only effect will be that Friday deliveries will now only be available for Same-Day Deliveries for the $5 charge.

We are leaving the choice to you. Plan ahead and get free delivery, or wait to the last minute (like me) and pay a small charge for Same-Day Delivery. I love having choices in life and I think you will enjoy these new options too. Please email me if you have any questions.

Farmer Monte

Filed Under: Featured, Newsletter

More Cherries and a New Wine Offering

July 8, 2016 by monte Leave a Comment

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What’s In the Harvest Box Next Week?

You Got Any Sales Happening?

So hopefully last week’s first round of cherries has got your palate primed for more. We have over 1 ton of fresh cherries coming to you this next week. Well, not a ton per person, although that would be a nice visual of filling a tub with cherries and then eating your way out.

cherriesTo make room for all these cherries we need to increase the quantity per share. So what we are going to do is make 2 lbs the standard for all box sizes right now. If you want more than that, feel free. Make your entire Harvest Box cherries if you like. If you do not feel like 2 lbs, please remember that you can substitute them for another yummy veggie. We are trying to help Paul and Excelsior Orchards find nice homes for all their fruit. So we will be heavy on cherries for the next few weeks. Time to stock up.

OK, now from cherries to grape juice. Well, fermented grape juice that is. In Latin I think it is called wine?

Our hard apple cider is technically considered a wine by the State and by the Feds. With that, the state of New Mexico had a great economic development idea and allow for NM wineries to sell other NM wineries wine. Maybe that is too many wines in one sentence but hopefully you get the point. We are able to sell any wine grown and produced in New Mexico. Now we are no Sonoma, California, but that still allows us (and you) access to a huge diversity of wines.

So sipping on one of these glasses of grape juice the light bulb flickered in my noggin…why not sell some wines through the CSA to help local wineries out and help expose our members to the joys of New Mexican wines. I know that we have a bad reputation for quality wines and I think that we can change your mind.

How will this work? Well it will look something like this. Our team (and you if you would like to help out with this adventure) will be looking for NM wineries that love making good wine and want/need some help distributing it. When we find these wines, we will have them bottle the wine in our Skarsgard Farms label and we will sell it to our members at insane value.

You are probably thinking, “Wait a tic, why not just sell their wine with their label?” And the honest answer is brand protection. I hate to be the one to spill the beans, but the fact of the matter in the wine world is that grapes are not all that expensive. Even the really expensive bottles you see there is not a lot that goes into the grapes. pressing wine

Wine is like art in many ways, it is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. So if a winery has established themselves as a nicer bottle of wine and folks are will to pay $30 for a bottle, then they will sell it for $30 even though they could make it work financially at $15. And I don’t know about you, but I will buy my mom a $30 bottle for her birthday (cuz I’m a great son), but I do not drink $30 wine on a normal Tuesday dinner.

So what I want to do is bring you great wines at a great value without any fancy label. This will be the best scenario for you, and the wineries can move volume to us while not hurting their brand that is being sold for a lot less than they sell it for in the stores or at the winery. It’s a pretty darn good setup if you think about it.

So first wine out of the gates is a red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. A very drinkable blend I think for any of your summer BBQs or for lounging back with a handful of dark sweet cherries. The price on this one will be $11.95 per bottle or if you would like a case we will knock 20% off.

If you know of any wineries that might be good fits for this new line, please let me know or have them contact us.

Have a great week, Farmer Monte

Filed Under: Newsletter

Cherries and the Three Amigos

July 1, 2016 by monte Leave a Comment

A photo I took of the cherry trees at Excelsior

cherries

What’s in the Harvest Boxes for Next Week?

Yo, What is On Sale?

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I have to say that a couple of my favorite words in the English language are “Cherry Season.” In that order of course because if you say Season Cherry you just sound like you fell off the turnip truck. So when our head orchard dude, Paul from Excelsior Orchards, called me and said Cherry Season is on, I got a little misty eyed.11892161_961092363951069_7466812289928480821_n

I have to tell you too that being able to bring amazing things to our members is definitely one of the highlights of my job. I like bringing you onions, but Love bringing you the items that will make your day. Or week.

I have had people get choked up and tell me that they haven’t enjoyed a flavor like that since they were a little kid sitting in their grandpa’s lap. And those stories are a reminder to me that what we do truly is unique and special. So many stores carry Organics right now, but none of them will bring you that taste of nostalgia. But we will.

These cherries are like nothing you will taste. I challenge you to try any other cherries around and compare them to Paul’s. These are what cherries should taste like. It looks like we will have a 4 week season for his cherries as we enjoy 5 different varieties. The first week will be the Bings.

Let me refresh our relationship that we have with Excelsior before going any further too. I met Paul and Elane almost 10 years ago. Their Norman Rockwell mountain town of Paonia, CO could not eat all of the incredible fruit that Excelsior was producing, so Paul was looking for a home for it further south. So we met and I knew that I had never tasted anything like their fruit in my life.

Over the years, we have been the beneficiary of so many wonderful fruits, that I finally asked Paul if we could buy all of his fruit. No more sharing with the Farmers’ Markets or Coops. We wanted all of the goodness for our CSA. Call me selfish, but this fruit ain’t easy to share. Since then, Paul grows it and we find homes for it. A pretty great partnership for both the orchard and for our CSA.1049285_543769372350039_324239277_o

Fast forward to last Monday. Paul said that they would begin picking cherries at the end of the week and hit our warehouse less than 24 hours since the cherry got pulled from the tree. Shortly after that they, will hit your order. This is the type of arrangement that no store or grocer can bring you. It has to truly be from the farm to you.

Looks like Paul will have 8-10,000 lbs of cherries over the next 4 weeks. And we are committed to find happy homes for each one of those cherries as soon as we can after they leave the orchard. So look for a lot of movement with cherries coming your way over the next month.

What else is happening around here? Ah yes, our new spice rub. Last summer I was on a mission to find the most versatile and yummy rub that I could find. I know you are probably thinking “Oh Farmer M, that sounds like a pretty tough job, why don’t you get back to real work??” Well, maybe it wasn’t the hardest job of my life, but at least I found something to bring back to the group.

Let me introduce you to the Three Amigos Spice Rub. You might think that we named it that because the Three Amigos is one of the best comedies of all time. But actually, this special rub has 3 different types of chiles in it. And since chiles are such good friends to one another, we had to name it the Three Amigos. It has such an incredible flavor that even the infamous (more than famous) El Guapo will love it. itsasweater

We have added it as an option to the Harvest Boxes as well as to the prepared food section of the web site. It will liven up steaks, pork chops, chicken and your veggie kabobs. Try it out and let me know what you think. I know you’ll dig it.

Farmer Monte

Filed Under: Newsletter

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