For those food nerds out there (like me), you probably have seen one or a dozen articles concerning the rising cost of food that began in March and is not slowing down. And if you have not seen these articles yet, you will. Gas and food prices will be serious water-cooler chatter coming into the summer. I would like to give you some food for thought.

Our country’s love of cheap food rides on the back of cheap gas. When fuel is inexpensive, the world is your oyster. Find cheap labor, set up shop, and just ship to market. Nothing really fancy about it. But what hap-pens as fuel prices go up? Well, all of the gains that you earned by finding cheap labor get gobbled up in fuel costs and you are back to where you began.

Therefore, when you see rising fuel costs, you know that rising food costs are on the heels. This is where we are at right now amigos. Is this avoidable? Absolutely.

To get off this manic roller coaster, we must expand our scope for long-term solutions to our food system. We need to look beyond short-term gains and build a consistent sustainable food model.

We all remember this from a year ago when the cheap food industry failed us as shelves were empty and over-crowded processing warehouses became the breeding grounds for Covid outbreaks.

At that time, our local and regional food network of many small producers coming together to sell as One, kept food on our tables as we did not have to go to the store. Our strength came from our diversity. We did not put all of our eggs in one basket and because of that we flourished in a very challenging time.

But that was then. Where are we now? Well we are obviously in a different situation than we were a year ago, but our local/regional model is still bringing us stability. We are not held hostage by the price of fuel. By cutting down food miles and cutting out the middle men (and women), we can maintain serious value in our offerings. And so yes, the local food model wins again.

We have built a little safe harbor in the storm of uncertainty. But also know that this is not by accident. The security that our food model maintains comes from decades of relationship building and from you sup-porting our vendors through the good and the bad times.

Our partners know that you have supported their efforts when easier or cheaper options were available; now they support you by not raising prices. A true Win-Win situation for producers and consumers. And I have to tell you that I celebrate these Wins in a marketplace that seemingly acts like if you have a Winner you have to have a Loser. You do not. And we are showing that.

So I invite (ok Encourage) you to browse the website. Our offering of fresh healthy foods has never been more diverse and value-packed than it is right now. Our partner producers are scaling up with more demand and that is decreasing the cost to support lo-cal/regional. And this will only continue to grow as we continue to support one another. It is really exciting to see.

I also encourage you to try all of the prepared foods our kitchen team is putting together. These are quick, convenient, and healthy options for you and your familia to enjoy. Chef Jules is showing us that we do not need to sacrifice quality just because we are looking for quick options to get food on the table.

Enjoy! Farmer Monte

First to bat this week is a big welcome to Silver Leaf Farms to the party. I have known Aaron and Elan for many years and am/have been really impressed with how they have scaled their Corrales farm in a very thoughtful and professional way.

They have pretty much perfected growing butter lettuce and I am happy to have them on board and sup-porting their continued growth. We will see other offerings coming up later this season, but to kick things off, look for their butter lettuce in all Harvest Boxes this week.

Continuation from our last newsletter. As I mentioned, we bought the old Zacatecas restaurant in Nob Hill. And after receiving several emails telling me that I have fallen off the turnip truck, I want to flesh this vision out a bit.

As we have been building out our fresh market concept, The Stand, a crazy thing happened; the space became too small for what we were envisioning. Chef Jules and his team have really shown the demand for high quality, local, convenient, and healthy “fast-food.”

Our lives are very busy, hectic, and at times a bit chaotic. And what we have seen is that healthy food choices are usually sacrificed in the face of convenience. Furthermore, there are Zero fast-food options that support local producers. None.

Our goal/mission is to change this unnecessary paradigm. There is no reason why fast-food cannot be Healthy, Tasty, and Local. But as you can imagine, changing how people eat is not an easy task. But as my Viking dad always says, “If the challenge is easy, the Swedes would have already figured it out.” So let me share with you this 2.0 version of this goal.

By adding a large commercial kitchen, we will not need The Stand to have a huge kitchen footprint. That market will be able to focus on being a true farm stand. It will have Daily Pickups of SKRS orders. It will have a fresh bakery. Healthy deli offerings from soups, salads, sandwiches, and of course our state breakfast, The Burrito. Organic fresh juice bar. Tons of produce. A Meat case to highlight all our awesome Local ranchers. And eventually a wine bar as we take advantage of the new liquor laws that just passed the state.

All in all, it will be a market that gives our community a place to meet, eat, and connect with our local food system. We should have this open in the next month.

That leaves us with an amazing restaurant and kitchen space. So I would like to introduce you to our newest concept, Carbón by Skarsgard Farms. Carbón in Spanish simply means Charcoal. And as I flip through my memories, the favorite flavors throughout my life have been cooked on coals. No fancy ovens, just heat paired with smoke. So Carbón is a space that will pay homage to foods cooked on coals. This will be an in-credible experience for omnivores and vegetarians alike.

Have a tasty weekend, Farmer Monte

Some of my taste buds favorite memories are harvesting strawberries, warmed by the sun, in our U-Pick patch in Santa Cruz. More berries then I could ever eat. It was the first time in my life that I could eat fresh berries until I was stuffed. I fell in love with the U-Pick.

And I have been thinking about that quite a bit recently. U-Pick signifies freshness, abundance, and maybe most importantly, Choice. I got to choose what and how much I wanted to eat of various items. Great experience.

As I have been chewing on (pun intended) our Meal Kit program, I have to tell you that I came to a point that hit me like a bat over the head; why do we have curry (for example) Meal Kits, but I can’t buy just curry sauce? This has become a torn in my bear paw. It doesn’t make sense. We have the ability to and must allow for customizations in our model. You deserve it.

Therefore, I want to introduce you to our newest iteration of New Mexico’s most amazing Meal Kit service.

1-Click Ordering. When you go to the 1-Click Meal Kit page, you will see several meal kits to choose from. Say you add a NM Pork Taco Kit. That whole recipe will default into your order. But here is the interesting part, you can customize it. Say you don’t like Cilantro, just remove it from you order and the price of the Kit will adjust. Say you want more tortillas with your Kit; add some and the price will adjust. Beautifully simple.

Basically, we are building these Kits to be more like how our Harvest Boxes act…We set the default that you will receive if you do not customize. Or open up the meal kit and customize all you like. Get what you like. I am not here to force you to eat cilantro.

Welcome U-Pick Meal Kits! The new addition to our family of Meal Kit inspiration. These kits you will design yourself. Example, click on our Build Your Own Pizza tab. Inside you will see various dough and toppings to choose from. If you want a Gluten Free pizza crust with Hatch green chile and Goat cheese, we have it! Design what you like, and we will bring it to you.

So what you can expect to see in the U-Pick Kits are items like Taco Tuesday, Burger Time, Pasta Night, Pizza Party, Links/Sausages, and Choose Your Own Pizza Adventure. We will be adding more categories to these meal kits as we move along, but this is our “Seed.”

With the addition of Customizations comes one change; we will No longer be packing kits into the cute brown paper bags. I like the bags, but the labor that we put into packing those individual kits is very expensive. So we pass those costs along to you. Unfortunately.

With this new system, all of the items for your meals will be in your order, but you will have to separate the items at your casa. This will help us to a) allow you to customize and b) $ave you Money! I think that you will be very impressed with the savings you will see with this new meal kit structure.

Last bit of fantastic news that I have been waiting to share with you…drum-roll please…we are the proud new parents of the old Zacatecas restaurant in Nob Hill. As we were building out The Stand’s kitchen, we realized that we were too limited on our scope. Our prepared food program is an absolute rocket ship. So we now have a large kitchen space that will expand offering through the home delivery platform, and yes, we will be opening a killer taco restaurant. More to come.

Hugs, Farmer Monte

Cardboard. We have received more than a plethora of emails about reusing the cardboard. Folks, I know that we have the sexiest cardboard boxes that you have ever seen. Unfortunately, we cannot reuse them. It is just not sanitary to build a fort for your cats with them and then turn around and put Local bagels back into them.

The good news is that cardboard is in high demand and recycling it happens very quickly. Most of the re-cycled cardboard is back on the streets within 45 days. Or a month and a half in dog years. So please reuse our boxes if you can. But if you cannot, place those babies in your curbside recycling bins (guilt-free) and know that they will be back on your doorstep shortly. Reincarnation is real. Believe.

Speaking of reincarnation and building good Karma. We have come to a beautiful solution with our cooler pile that we have lingering from our pre-Covid business model. We want to donate coolers to any family or team who is in need of coolers. I grew up on the fields and courts of youth sports. I think I still have bits of orange pulp stuck in my teeth from half-time.

So if you need or know anyone who could use coolers for their youth sports teams, we want to donate these coolers to help out. So many groups have been hit hard by Covid, but youth sports has been awful. Let’s help these kiddos get back on the pitch.

Eliminating the waste stream. My brother, Jason, has an infamous (more than famous) saying that “None of this animal goes to waste.” He usual says that as he is filling up my wine glass. But the root of his point is obviously that we cannot waste resources. And finding a use for all resources is one of the hardest things for sustainable businesses to tackle. 2021 will be our biggest push ever to get our mission/business to Zero Waste. Here are a few things that we are working on….

Bakery Treats. As you have been stuffing your pie hole with all of the wonderful baked goods that our bakers have been pulling from the oven, you probably never knew that the fruit fillings were made from blemished fruits from Excelsior Orchards. Fruit that was not perfect to look at, but still insanely delicious.

Our Housemade Bacon is raised in the South Valley, but then smoked with apple wood trimmings from Excelsior Orchards. My wife, Adrie, and I stood in the orchard with Paul last summer and we saw huge piles of trimmings. “What do you do with those piles?” We burn them. “Shoot, let’s try smoking some meats with them.” OK. Next thing you know, our house bacon is probably one of our most incredible products we make.

Dog Treats (on the website now). After we juice veggies for our Juice Bar, we are left with a gorgeous (but unusable) pulp of Organic goodness. So our juice guru, Sarah, decided to mix that pulp with some flax and tahini and baked some pretty amazing dog treats. Check them out if you have some pups around the casa.

Lastly, 18 Cheers for 18 years! The first week of March marks our birthday. I know a lot of folks do not like birthdays, but I love them. To last 365 days on this rock is no easy feat whether you are a person or business. I am so grateful, proud, and Lucky to have been able to chase my dream for all these years. Thank you for the continued support. And I am thankful for all of our crew members who work as hard as I do to build a better food system for New Mexico. Adelante!

Farmer Monte

What a crazy week last week was for deliveries. Sure, we did not get it as badly as other folks around the country, but that really challenged our delivery limits. Good thing our drivers carry snowshoes. Really proud of all our chariot drivers who got all of the deliveries out and brought themselves (and our rigs) back in one piece. Nice to have professionals on your team!

Couple of quick housekeeping pointers as I do a brain-dump here. Prices. If we need to adjust prices up or down, we do that on Friday mornings. Our offerings change weekly, and with that, we need the flexibility to change prices accordingly once a week.

So if you are ordering broccoli today for delivery 3 weeks from now (that our system allows you to do), I cannot promise it will be at the same price. Produce is a volatile market and we do our best to bring you all of the value that we can.

Also along the lines of pricing…I know two things to be true at this point; 1. Families are struggling financially to make ends meet, and 2. New Mexico has supported our business throughout the pandemic in ways that I never imagined possible. I am grateful for that. So as you might have noticed, we are passing huge savings to all of our customers in this challenging time.

There is no magic in business. The more customers that we feed, the more efficiently our business runs. With that, we can offer better pricing to you. And I am 100% committed to making our food as price competitive as we can. I know that fresh healthy foods can get kicked out of the shopping cart when we have to tighten our belts. I don’t want that to happen to our customers.

As one of the new things that you will see on the site is our Farmers’ Abundance Box. What I have done was repurpose the Scratch n Dent Box. Our incredible kitchen crew is finding homes for all of our Scratched produce. So instead, we have created a Harvest Box filled with the best value produce of the week in one box. This week for example is 10 items for only $20! That is a ridiculous value to still be eating healthy, regionally, and Organically.

Spring Cleaning. This week we are going to begin a process to redesign the way we pack your orders. Here are some of the highlights we are aiming to accomplish.

Seafood. We have a new connection who works at the Boston Fish Market. They take fish directly from the boats, cut that seafood into 1 lb packages, and then freeze them. We will then fly that seafood into the ABQ Sunport and have it ready for your orders. But to make this happen, we need to pack frozen items into your orders literally as the drivers are heading out. This will ensure you get access to the best seafood in the state.

More items on the website. With seafood, more prepared food options, more meal kits, and expanding items overall, our Pack Line just needs more space. So we will be extending this line to serpentine throughout the warehouse and give us the needed space to bring you more. It will be bringing together Refrigerated items, Dry good items, and Frozen items in a way that we have never done before. But it needs to happen.

Patience. Change is difficult. There maybe some minor bumps in this transition. I ask for patience and also remind you that if something is ever Not Right in your order, just let us know and we’ll make it right.

Green pastures to come amigos, Farmer Monte

Here is a little love letter I wrote to the first month of the year.

Dear January,

You fill me with so much optimism every year. I get to finally hit the reset button on all the bad decisions I have made and all the tasty biscochitos I have eaten. It is time for resolutions and planning on how to live the best life I can.     Love, Farmer M.  

I usually hate the weather in January, but love all of the potential that it brings to the calendar. The year is so fresh and pliable in January. I am also a realist though and know that resolutions without reflections are a wasted effort. So I like to use this time for some serious and honest self-assessment. I do this exercise personally as I criticize my hairy love handles. But I also think about where we are as a business; what we are doing well, what needs work. So here is my morning brain dump.

The Good. We scaled up (quickly) to help feed more New Mexicans. I am a Yes guy, not really a fan of the telling people No. So when thousands of new faces showed up at our table, we pulled up more seats and welcomed them.

On the back side, we were freaking out. Buying new trucks/vans, hired triple the crew we had before, and asked our vendor partners to kick their butts in gear and help feed more people than any of us had ever done before. Late nights blurred into early mornings. Sore bodies and tired eyes stayed focused on keeping food on your tables. And throughout it all, we have been surrounded by the most positive team that I have ever seen. Truly incredible and so proud of our crew.

More Good…our Partners. Just as we pushed ourselves to the limits, our partners were as well. Expanding food offerings, working overtime, keeping a healthy local economy moving. We have more partners right now than we have ever had in the past. Working together we have created a local food network that is as sustainable and vibrant as anywhere that I have seen in the country. All of these partners flourishing in the sunshine of your support. I cannot thank you enough and I think you will be happy and impressed with more great things to come.

Prepared Foods/Meal Kits…we finally have a prepared food program that we have been fine-tuning for years. We have thrown so much spaghetti against the wall over the years trying to find a system that makes sense. And when we finally brought my ole amigo, Chef Jules, on board, our mission started to stick. I could not be more thrilled with the direction/energy that we are seeing with these offerings.

It is difficult to have a vision for where you want to go, but some hurdle stands in your way. I knew/know that locally prepared farm-to-table prepared foods do Not have to be expensive. We work directly with the producers, there should be no hindrances on supply. Our issue was not having a conductor, an orchestrator to bring all the vendors together to supply our prepared meal program. We have that now. So look out because things are about to get very interesting.

But in the sea of so many good things, there is a one thing that keeps me up at night. It is my Bogeyman. My El Guapo. And that is items that do not make it into your order. Or as we call them around here, “Outs.”

I will let you in on a little industry secret and that is Outs will make or break the home delivery industry. Your grandparents shopped at a store. Your parents shopped at a store. For most of your life (until you found us of course), you have shopped at a store. Home delivery of food is the polar opposite of how humans have shopped ever since we stopped eating Woolly Mammoths. It does not feel natural to have someone shop for you.

But I don’t want our service to feel “natural,” I want it to feel like Royalty. Stop spending your life pushing a cart around and standing in line. Shop from your couch, with a huge glass of wine, in your underwear, for the most incredible food you can find anywhere. That is my goal. And that goal cannot be realized if we have chronic missing items. So my vow to you this January is to try to eradicate Outs as much as we can. Attack them. This is a huge challenge for our whole team, but we are committed to bringing you the best lifestyle we can. And that starts by not wasting time at the store. Happy New Year!

Farmer Monte

www.SkarsgardFarms.com

Thanksgiving Schedule. We will NOT have any deliveries Thursday (Thanksgiving) or Friday. Our crew has been working so hard this year. I want all of them to relax and enjoy their holiday as much as possible. Plus you will be stuffing your pie hole with leftovers and will not need any more food those days. So Please adjust any standing orders away from those days.

Turkeys. We will have 200 birds available for you this year. Each bird weighs between 14-16 lbs. They are on the website now and you can have them delivered any delivery day up until Thanksgiving. Important note: If you order one now to be delivered closer to Thanksgiving, we will put it aside for you. You do not need to take them this week if you don’t have space.

The turkeys are a free-range, Non-GMO, antibiotic free bird.

Chef Jules Full Thanksgiving Meals. So one of the great things about having a chef on our team is that we can bring you incredible flavors to make your holiday memorable. Not that you will forget that Thanksgiving photo with everyone wearing a mask, but you know what I mean. This has been a very stressful and anxious year, so I want to make this holiday easy.

So we have planned a fantastic meal that will be fully cooked and ready for you to heat and eat. All you have to provide will be fermented grape juice. What does this menu look like?

Thanksgiving Meal Kit to serve 4

Entrees
Herb & Roasted Garlic Smoked Half Turkey (~9lbs)

Sides
Green Chile, Garlic & Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes
Pecan & Blue Cheese Smashed Sweet Potatoes
Chimayo Chile Cornbread & Croissant Stuffing
Winter Herb Pesto Roasted Vegetables
Char Roasted Shallot Turkey Gravy
Dinner Rolls

Dessert
Excelsior Orchards’ Cherry and Apple Cobbler with NM Pecan & Gingerbread Crust

Price: $124.95

I can promise that you will not find a better value for amazing local food anywhere. This has been a challenging year for all New Mexicans. We want you to be able to support local producers, have a yummy/easy feast, while being very affordable for all families. You have supported us so much this year and we want to support your family with an incredible meal.

If you do not need/want an entire meal, we will also have some great dishes that you can find a la carte as well. These will come on the website as we get closer to Thanksgiving.

But for now, Please please help us help you by reserving a Meal early. Knowing how many mouths we need to feed will help us immensely. The Thanksgiving meal is on the website now, feel free to add it your order for the week of Nov. 23rd.

Other than that, I know that folks are exhausted with all of the political drama that has been unfolding. My hope is that we can all remember that we love this country. No party or person gets to claim a monopoly on patriotism. We show our love in various ways, but in the end we all want the best for the United States. So let’s try and remember what connects us.

And that is what I love about food. Food is not a political statement. Red and Blue can come together over a bowl of Green (chile). Also, if you feel like a loser right about now, you will win again. Conversely, the sweet taste of victory will be salty tears of defeat someday. Nothing is permanent in life nor is it in politics. But at least for now, we can move on and get back to our lives and trying to dig out of a pandemic.

Have a thankful November, Farmer Monte