Farmer Monte's Journal

The Scoop from the Farm

Archives for February 2017

Misfortune? Good Fortune?

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Amigos, a truly incredible week of food coming your way as we dive head first into March. Seems like the Lion and the Lamb have both been around.

I have to say though that this will be about as tasty of a Spring offering as you could hope to see. Enjoy!

www.SKRS.Farm

In the past, I have been (rightfully) accused of making rash emotional decisions. Shoot from the hip and then try to find the logic behind the gut feeling. I do this. I admit it. But this time was different. This time it was a planned out methodical march to our web site launch date. I even had stuff marked down on a desk calendar. I have never even owned a desk calendar until planning this web site launch. So go figure that my first attempt to actually roll out a strategic plan backfires.

We missed the launch date and it is at times like this when you are happy to have cold hard cider in the fridge. A little fermented apple juice can go a long way in stress reduction, by the way. So after drinking a chill pill, I was back and ready to tackle the world with positivity. The web site, in case you are wondering, will now launch in early March. And since I learned my lesson from trying to be an OCD planner, I am just going to leave it at early March. No date right now.

It was at that point when I realized we were going to miss our launch date that I remembered the calming words of Lao Tzu when he wrote that, “Misfortune is the root of good fortune.” So instead of feeling sorry for myself or frustrated, I began to look around for what good fortune was ready for us. And oh man did we find it. Let me catch you up to speed.

Matt Stong is an Organic greenhouse grower in the Deming and Las Cruces areas. He is cultivating close to 20 acres under protected greenhouses. Talk about a sight that will make your jaw hit the ground. I was fortunate enough to catch up with Matt at his Las Cruces location last Saturday for a tour/chat. My mom told me that it’s not nice to talk with your mouth full, but when you find yourself in a huge salad bar, it is hard not to sample some food while you talk.

His operation quadrupled in size last September and so he has been on the hunt for some strategic partners to help find homes for all of his fresh food. We have been on the hunt for producers to keep bringing our food closer and closer to home.

Currently he is growing several different types of tomatoes, lettuces, cucumbers, greens (chard/kale), peppers, and melons to name a handful. And yes I said melons. Incredible tasting melons harvested in NM in the middle of February. Wow.

So after sampling food, seeing the growing operation, talking about logistics (that’s the boring part when growers get together), we moved on to hopes and goals. Folks, I am not exaggerating to say that this could be a real game changer for the way we eat. This greenhouse is large enough to fill the needs and feed thousands of mouths on a year-round, every single week basis. It has unparalleled potential for NM.

But I would not commit to a grower like this just based on the potential harvests that he/she could offer; the quality has to be the best. And I am sure that you would agree with me after trying the tomatoes, cukes, and melons this week. Matt knows how to grow some tasty produce. So enjoy the produce and I am excited to see what direction this partnership goes.

On an equally exciting front for our Arizona customers, we have teamed up with one of the largest Organic CSA farms in Phoenix, Blue Sky Organic Farms. I have known about and seen Blue Sky’s impeccable produce at markets for over a decade now. So when we began home delivery service to Phoenix last summer, I knew that we needed to team up with these dudes. We have been looking to diversify our offering in Arizona and they do not run a home delivery service. So I think this too is going to be a great partnership moving ahead.

Lastly, need to give a shout out to all of those who tried our new addition to the party, The Enchantment Box. I think that we launched a really cool extension to our offering in this little box. Right now it looks like 2 meals for 4 people, all sourced from NM, all Organic and Natural, for about the price of taking the clan out for fast food. Oh and with recipes that do not take that long to prepare, so you can get food on the table quickly. This box will change every week as well so there will be a fun newness injected into your kitchen weekly!

Have a great week, Farmer Monte

New Web Launch Postponed :(

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After all of my attempts to stay ahead of the curve and keep all of our folks informed as to what was happening…well, it didn’t happen. Errr.

Some flaws in the matrix kept us from launching today and we are still standing by to see when this baby can take flight safely.

Stay tuned and I will let you know when the new site will really launch. Sorry for the fake out, but we cannot take a chance with a crash after the launch. This will give us a little longer to make sure everything is perfect.

Thanks for your patience, Farmer Monte

www.SKRS.Farm

New Web Site and The Enchantment Box

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PLEASE NOTE:
New Web Site Look
Will Launch 2/20!

www.SKRS.Farm

New Web Site! Here is what you need to know:

1. Our web site address will NOT change. Go to the same one, www.SKRS.Farm.

2. Your user name and password have not changed.

3. After you log in the first time, Please, Please go to the top right corner and click on My Account and go through every tab to make sure addresses and info looks correct. It should be the same as your current info, but best to double check.

4. We have condensed our Product Categories so that you do not need to navigate around a whole bunch of web pages to place your order. So cruise and peruse through the new category listing to get to know where your favorites are.

5. Streamlined products. To make the shopping experience as clean as possible (ie more mobile friendly) we have taken really specific words out of the product names. So for example “Dry, Beans, Pinto, 20 oz, Organic” has been shortened down to “Beans, Pinto”

We then moved all of the descriptive words into the Product Description tab so that you can become more educated or find out more information on the product if you would like to do so. The idea is that we need to keep the ordering as clean as possible, while still providing as much education on the products as we can. This way will achieve both I feel.

6. Inventory management. We have spent so much time on making a better inventory system with this new web launch. I know that it is so frustrating to order something and then not get it because our system oversold the product. That is fixed now and should be a very rare occurrence.

With that said, there are many times when we bring in only so many avocados (for example) for the week. And when those are gone for the week, we have no chance of getting more until the following week. So what I am getting at is that the early bird gets the worm, or avocado in this case.

So my recommendation for best service/availability is that you check out the web site Thursday evenings or Friday at some point to see what is available; if you like something, you can put it in your order early with no commitment. You can always adjust your order before your cut-off time, but at least you will have your favorites set aside for you. This will also help our ordering to see what is popular and what is not so popular…uh, no offense Kohlrabi.

7. The Enchantment Box. I am so excited about this new addition. Let me explain what this is and how this will work. You see, over the years we have added so many incredible local producers and suppliers to our team. But (until now) we have never had a way to really highlight all of their work. Sure we highlight them by offering them to you on the web site. But that is not good enough for the vision.

So what’s the vision? It looks like this. We have this new box offering that we will design, build, and change weekly. Every single item in the box will be grown, raised, or produced within the Land of Entrapment, aka New Mexico. The box is NOT a strictly produce box. This is a weekly celebration of all the amazing flavors that call NM home. I want to see how the demand for this box takes shape before we offer a similar Vegetarian version, but to begin with, this will be aimed at the widest part of the Bell Curve (for now), the Omnivores.

Secondly, this offering is designed for menu planning. You can obviously eat the ingredients however you like, but we will be planning and providing recipes for this box to help you plan your menus for the week. With that, the box will NOT have substitutions. This box is not for the discerning eater, this is for the adventurous muncher.

The price on this box will float from week to week, but I promise you that the value will be insane. This upcoming week we have 10 servings for $54.85. Organic/local foods for less than $5.50 a serving. You gotta love it! It is like if Blue Apron and a Farmers’ Market had a healthy little love child, they would call it The Enchantment Box. Or mijo for short.

Farmer Monte

Countdown to Launch

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PLEASE NOTE:
New Web Site Look
Will Launch 2/20!

www.SKRS.Farm

Are those letters big enough?? I feel like I have to make a huge deal about this based on experiences that we have had making changes in the past. People are resistant to change and even more averse to reading (I am included in this group too). So in order to help communicate some pretty big changes effectively, I need to use 28 point font. Looks like one of my high school papers trying to make my essay a full 2 pages.

Anyway, I have mentioned it, teased about it, and promised it would come. Well, we finally have a date for the launch and I am getting pretty excited/nervous for this new web site.

I was placing an order last night on our current web site and I have to tell you that I wanted to drop-kick my iPad out the back door. Our current site right now is so clunky and awkward that all I can do is apologize that it has taken so long for this new functionality to come our way.

A few years ago, I read about this marketing campaign that Domino’s Pizza had that said “We are sorry that our pizza has been so bad for so many years.” They did not want to sugarcoat or spin the fact that their pizza was terrible. Their marketing idea was to be real and be direct with the customers. Not sure if that worked for them and I still don’t eat their pizza, but I really respect that kind of marketing idea.

So here is my version of throwing the pizza in my face. Our web site has not reflected where I wanted our farm and business model to be. The first step is admitting that. Then comes the next monumental step, how the heck do you fix it?

Folks, I can converse with plants fairly easily. Figure out what  they need in their cute little non-verbal nuances. But computers and writing code to me might as well be from another planet. I got a big fat C on my college Calculus course (sorry about that mom and dad). And so by the Fall of 1995, all my hopes and dreams of working on computers or finding a cure for cancer were gone. My brain had met its match.

So when I realized that our web site needed to change, I was acutely aware that there was nothing that I could do to help the situation. Furthermore, you cannot just find eCommerce home delivery software specializing in customizable CSA boxes on the shelf at the convenience store next to the pink Ding-Dongs. This is some serious software that we need to sign members up, operate an online marketplace, accept orders, route our drivers efficiently, then bill you for all of your culinary needs. This is some heavy lifting amigos.

So, with all of this said, the point that I am getting at is that we have been in a tough spot in the past and have not seen a major technological change to our web platform in 5 years. And a lot of changes have happened in the last 5 years technologically speaking. I mean people spend way more time on mobile devices now than they do on big ole desktop ones.

There are so many cool bells and whistles that this site will have, but before we launch it on the 20th of February, I just want to give you a heads up on a few things.

1. All of your account information is going to be the same. It will look and feel like a completely different web site, but it is actually a remodel and not a new house, so to speak. Your user name and password will still work.
2. Your recurring orders will all still be in place. There will be nothing you need to do about that.
3. There is a new “Deliver My Stuff” checkout tab that we have not had previously. So you will have to hit that to confirm and place your order.

It will feel very familiar to you and I promise that you will love the new additions and mobile friendly layout.

Thank you and stay tuned for more, Farmer Monte

Down the Stretch

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Folks, our master orchardist, Paul, from Excelsior Orchards, just dropped off some beautiful gallons of freshly pressed cider. First 100 orders will be in for a treat.

We are cranking on all cylinders over here trying to bring the new web site to life. Hopefully should be very soon. These are not easy beasts to get out of their cages.

Have a great weekend. Enjoy the Super Bowl or ditch it and go Super Bowling at the lanes.

www.SKRS.Farm

I have noticed something recently; social media seems to have been flooded with shots of crowds and not selfies with puckered up lips looking like a guppy fish. Our country seems like a fired up place right now. People marching in protest. People walking in support. And people jogging just to hang onto those final threads of their New Year’s resolution. Whatever the reason, there is a very strong sense of We right now in our country wherever your political flag is planted.

With all of this energy, I am sure that many probably feel uneasy, chaotic, or that the apocalypse is nigh. But I have to tell you that I love the energy of the people. I will take energy any day over the slumber of complacency.

And energy never comes from a person or individual; it stems from a group. As a fired up person people start to think you have a screw loose, like the guy who started yelling at me out of nowhere on BART when I was riding the train in San Francisco. But the energy of fired-up people is special. It is why we pack ourselves in like sardines to sporting events just to feel great when some stranger is screaming in your ear. Actually, I am usually the dude screaming in someone’s ear.

This type of herd energy makes us feel alive and like we belong to a cause greater than ourselves. Like we are A Part of the group and not Apart from the group. And yes, unfortunately, sometimes this energy gets misconstrued and some jerk throws a brick through a window. But overall, we need this energy to keep us going in life.

So that is my preface to tell you about an incredible trip that I took to Austin to visit and tour with Andy, one of the owners at Farmhouse Delivery. Farmhouse serves the Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio areas and has a very similar business ethos and model that we have here at SKRS.

You may not know this about me, but I am an online stalker. I like to find businesses throughout our region who are doing what we are doing (or close to it) and then see what they are up to. What are their hopes, dreams, worries, and concerns? It is amazing how much you can learn once you realize (and admit) that there is so much more out there to learn. Our pride is our greatest shackle.

So back to my visit. I was expecting to see so many differences between our models, but the more and more I looked at things, all I could see were similarities and opportunities. The staff there felt like I was looking into the eyes of our crew: young faces driven by a passion for food, positivity, and change.

These are not the polished offices where deals are made. Spaces like Farmhouse and SKRS are the gritty places where things get done. The front line of a changing food industry where success is judged by meals served and kitchens touched. These are the places that feel like home for me. And it was amazing to see what they are working on and how we can learn from each other. Collaboration and sharing ideas offer so many paths to making things better, so why is it the exception and not the rule in business?

Too often business gets painted with the brush of a zero sum game; someone can only win if someone else loses. And that secrecy is the only way to protect ourselves from “the competition” (insert horror scream). The truth of the matter is that we are our only competition. The best way that I can spend time is thinking about how we can bring you a better customer experience. The worst way is walking through boring grocery stores to see what the “competition” is doing.

Every year I like to pick a word that becomes my mantra for the year. 2016 was Focus. And it was in leaving Austin with a piece of BBQ brisket stuck in my back molar, when I realized what my word for 2017 would be: Authenticity. I know that the big box stores can bring folks everything in the world except for genuine Authenticity. And so that is the nail that I am going to hammer the heck out of this year; bring you so close to the source of your food in the most genuine and authentic way possible. So grab a bib and get ready for some truth soup. This is going to be a good year!

Farmer Monte