Farmer Monte's Journal

The Scoop from the Farm

Archives for April 2017

A Changing Sea

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Brussels Sprouts are back. Along with berries, mangoes, and some gorgeous New Mexican tomatoes. Happy Earth Day to you and your lucky little taste buds.

The Dinner Bag for the Week

  1. One of my favorites: BLT with Fried Eggs
  2. Huge Fresh Fruit Salad
  3. Chicken and Veggie Satay

Take Me To Your Web Site

There is an old Norwegian proverb that “You must be careful what you wish for because you might just get it.” Actually, I am not sure that is a Norwegian proverb, but I am sure some salty ole Viking has muttered those words at one time or another. But I was thinking about that warning this week as I read about Whole Foods’ struggle to keep sales up.

For those of you keeping score at home, you know that the monopoly of healthy food is over. The mission to get more Organic food to more people, well….it worked. Now Organic foods are found throughout retailers ranging from Wally-World to Costco. What was once a label of distinction has now become more common-place to see among the racks.

I mean just recently I was walking through Costco to pick up 100 toothbrushes and a 5 gallon bucket of bourbon when I ran into Organic pop-tarts. Although they probably couldn’t call them Pop-Tarts so they called them Pup-Tarts with cute little dogs on them or something. Anyway, back to my story. Seeing Organic pop-tarts I was like, “What the manure? You gotta be kidding me. When did the clowns take over the circus?”

It was then when I realized that the Organic movement has done such a good job of promoting itself, that the Organic movement has gone from the fringes of obscurity to now having a seat at the mainstream table. Wow. From Joni Mitchell’s 1970’s “Big Yellow Taxi” to Organic Pop-Tarts today. This is probably not what the founders of the Organic movement really envisioned, but maybe they should have?? Ideally it would be better to not eat Pop-Tarts, but if you have to eat frosted pastries, might as well make them Organic. I guess.

The point of my newsletter, however, is not to beat up on the Organic movement, but rather realize that the Organic label has never been the destination of this good food movement. This movement has no “destination,” it is all about the journey. I know saying that is a cliché, but it is true. The Organic movement has been based on changing the food paradigm within our communities. Just because the labels start showing up on the shelves of international grocery chains, doesn’t mean that we’ve sold out or that we’ve made it.

What it means is that the movement has been successful. Businesses have listened and had to adapt to the demands of the people/consumers, and now comes the fun part as we see what’s next? In an ever-changing food world, what comes after the mundane label debate?

For me, this is the exciting part. Because what comes after labels are partnerships. The faces, flavors, and the stories behind the labels. I think that we can all agree that the labels are the least interesting thing to talk about in the world of food. So let’s transcend labels, move past silly “Buy Local” buttons, and get down to the real workings of our regional food system. How can we see opportunities hidden among the challenges and leverage our greatest assets, the people who make all of this incredible food possible?

So this Earth Day (4/22), raise a glass to all of the farmers, ranchers, dairy (wo)men, bakers, and makers who keep us all fed so well today and every day. We are so fortunate to have such an awesome team bringing all of us the goods week after week.

Salud and thanks for the amazing support, Farmer Monte

Strawberries and Citrus Party

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Due to the greenhouse project mentioned below in last week’s newsletter, I have been up to my eyeballs with potting soil, baby plants, and seeds. So instead of telling you that my goat ate my homework, I will just tell you it has been an insane week around here and I didn’t manage my time well enough to write a newsletter.

But with that said, I would like to highlight our upcoming Dinner Bag menu. 1) Seared Ahi Tuna Buddha Bowl with tons of fresh veggies, 2) A Garden Pizza perfect for the grill or oven, and a fun dessert that you could eat with either of those dinners. Should be another tasty week.

Take Me To Your Web Site

 

Food Hours vs Food Miles

Our greenhouse project is finally done and I could not be happier or more excited about this project. You see, in the midst of launching a new web site, adding more delivery routes to help feed more New Mexicans, and restructuring our regional business model, we thought it might be a good time to change the paradigm for how urban agriculture functions. I’ll explain a little bit so that you don’t think I’ve gone mad.

OK, so to lay this discussion out we have to first look at the inherent conundrum that all urban farmers face; you want to be geographically close to your customers, but it is almost impossible to financially grow carrots on residential land prices. Cities have the consumers; rural areas have the land prices. What is the answer?

And first off, let me say that I only know the answer to this question because I failed the test the first go-round. I thought that we could grow crops viably while paying too much for our land. Seeing as how I am a stubborn optimist, it only took me 8 years to realize that I was fighting a losing battle. Our model had to change or the house would have fallen in on itself. We had to reinvent ourselves and the model.

What I quickly realized (after almost a decade) was that we needed to look at every single crop on a case by case basis for its needs and for its financial productivity. What began to come clear is that land extensive crops are not meant for urban growing. Extensive crops I look at are crops that just take a ton of land or space to grow. Corn, potatoes, onions, and fruit trees come to mind off the top of my noggin.

So for this new model, we have to almost concede the fact that those kinds of crops are not meant to be grown in/around the urban areas. We can bring those in from rural parts where land is less expensive and that kind of farming makes sense. So what that leaves us with are land intensive crops. These are crops like greens, lettuces, herbs, roots, etc. that do not need a lot of land to be productive. For example, a head of lettuce needs less than a square foot of space to become full grown. So knowing that space in our urban setting is a premium, we needed to fine-tune our crop plan.
But then working on this new crop plan, a dim flicker of a light went off in my head; these Intensive crops are not only the food that does not need a lot of space, but they are the most perishable of all the food we eat. You would have a hard time telling me if an onion was harvested this week or 3 weeks ago, but you could sure as heck tell me if a head of lettuce was harvested 3 weeks ago. So then, all of the sudden, the local produce game shifted for us. We have already tackled how do you cut food miles from the farm to you, but how can we cut Food Hours from the farm to you?

Wow. This question honestly changes everything. What does a system need to look like in order to cut Food Hours to your plate? The simplest answer is that you need to get your point of distribution as close to your point of production as possible. In an idealistic Farmer M. utopia, the distribution warehouse would be holding hands with your farm. Same place. OK, so let’s try it! That was the feeling in November last year. Fast forward to April and we have finished the greenhouse and now have over 7,000 germinated seeds and baby plants beginning their journey to your plate.

The logistics for this are actually simple (we like simple around here). It plays out like this. Each day as the order cut-off time passes, we head out to the 3,400 square foot greenhouse that is in the parking lot of our warehouse and harvest the needs for that day’s pack. No guess work, no over-harvesting. If we need 300 heads of lettuce, we grab what we need for that pack. Those heads are then brought into the warehouse, prepped, and put into your order that evening for delivery the following day. So you will have fresh food that is no more than 24 hours from harvest when you are eating it.

In total, this greenhouse will be able to comfortably house 15,000 plants at a time (100,000 a year) and be as productive as a 5 acre farm with outdoor production with 10% of the water usage. To say that this will be a real game-changer would be the understatement of the day.

I cannot wait to share more of this project and food with you as we move forward with its potential.

Have a great weekend, Farmer Monte

Food Hours vs Food Miles

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Quick Note: We have morphed our first recipe kit (The Enchantment Box) into a little thing that we like to call “The Dinner Bag” Pretty catchy little name right? The idea is that we will have 2 dinner plans every week with all ingredients and a cute recipe card included. And you do not have to worry about anything because “It’s in the Bag!” Ah, now you’re following the marketing thread.

We will be expanding on these ideas once we get our feet wet and feel comfortable swimming in the deep end. For this upcoming week, we are running two tasty menu items 1) Mahi Mango Lettuce Wraps, and 2) SKRS Farms Green Chile Sausage Links with Brussels Sprouts, Winter Squash, and Caramelized Onions. Very scrumptious. Y healthy. Check those out online. Less than $7 a serving.

Take Me To Your Web Site

Food Hours vs Food Miles

Our greenhouse project is finally done and I could not be happier or more excited about this project. You see, in the midst of launching a new web site, adding more delivery routes to help feed more New Mexicans, and restructuring our regional business model, we thought it might be a good time to change the paradigm for how urban agriculture functions. I’ll explain a little bit so that you don’t think I’ve gone mad.

OK, so to lay this discussion out we have to first look at the inherent conundrum that all urban farmers face; you want to be geographically close to your customers, but it is almost impossible to financially grow carrots on residential land prices. Cities have the consumers; rural areas have the land prices. What is the answer?

And first off, let me say that I only know the answer to this question because I failed the test the first go-round. I thought that we could grow crops viably while paying too much for our land. Seeing as how I am a stubborn optimist, it only took me 8 years to realize that I was fighting a losing battle. Our model had to change or the house would have fallen in on itself. We had to reinvent ourselves and the model.

What I quickly realized (after almost a decade) was that we needed to look at every single crop on a case by case basis for its needs and for its financial productivity. What began to come clear is that land extensive crops are not meant for urban growing. Extensive crops I look at are crops that just take a ton of land or space to grow. Corn, potatoes, onions, and fruit trees come to mind off the top of my noggin.

So for this new model, we have to almost concede the fact that those kinds of crops are not meant to be grown in/around the urban areas. We can bring those in from rural parts where land is less expensive and that kind of farming makes sense. So what that leaves us with are land intensive crops. These are crops like greens, lettuces, herbs, roots, etc. that do not need a lot of land to be productive. For example, a head of lettuce needs less than a square foot of space to become full grown. So knowing that space in our urban setting is a premium, we needed to fine-tune our crop plan.
But then working on this new crop plan, a dim flicker of a light went off in my head; these Intensive crops are not only the food that does not need a lot of space, but they are the most perishable of all the food we eat. You would have a hard time telling me if an onion was harvested this week or 3 weeks ago, but you could sure as heck tell me if a head of lettuce was harvested 3 weeks ago. So then, all of the sudden, the local produce game shifted for us. We have already tackled how do you cut food miles from the farm to you, but how can we cut Food Hours from the farm to you?

Wow. This question honestly changes everything. What does a system need to look like in order to cut Food Hours to your plate? The simplest answer is that you need to get your point of distribution as close to your point of production as possible. In an idealistic Farmer M. utopia, the distribution warehouse would be holding hands with your farm. Same place. OK, so let’s try it! That was the feeling in November last year. Fast forward to April and we have finished the greenhouse and now have over 7,000 germinated seeds and baby plants beginning their journey to your plate.

The logistics for this are actually simple (we like simple around here). It plays out like this. Each day as the order cut-off time passes, we head out to the 3,400 square foot greenhouse that is in the parking lot of our warehouse and harvest the needs for that day’s pack. No guess work, no over-harvesting. If we need 300 heads of lettuce, we grab what we need for that pack. Those heads are then brought into the warehouse, prepped, and put into your order that evening for delivery the following day. So you will have fresh food that is no more than 24 hours from harvest when you are eating it.

In total, this greenhouse will be able to comfortably house 15,000 plants at a time (100,000 a year) and be as productive as a 5 acre farm with outdoor production with 10% of the water usage. To say that this will be a real game-changer would be the understatement of the day.

I cannot wait to share more of this project and food with you as we move forward with its potential.

Have a great weekend, Farmer Monte