Quick Schedule Notes for the Holidays. We will be closed with NO deliveries on Christmas, Friday 12/25.

We will, however, be delivering on 12/24, 12/31, and 1/1/21!

We want you to be as safe as possible this holiday season and that means bring you as much food as possible without you having to leave the casa to go to the store.

Holiday Meal Notes: We will be rolling out our holiday meal offerings this week. Thanksgiving is more traditional and so a one-size meal offering made sense. But in New Mexico, holiday meals can vary from hams to enchiladas. So look for an email this week launching all of the yummy offerings that we will bring you. These will ALL be ala carte format so that you can mix n match to your tummy’s content.

Adding to the family. No, I am not pregnant. But with so much demand for the Meal Kits and Prepared foods, we have been hiring like crazy. Most recently for our baked goods. We have hired two bakers who will bring some truly innovative and creative tastes to the profile. As we all know, baked goods must be enjoyed fresh. Stay tuned for some awesome additions.

And this is where I need your help, amigos. We are putting an immense amount of energy and resources into building out the best fresh and prepared food offerings that you will find anywhere. So I need your feedback.

We are/will be working on various recipes spanning across the board from soups to entrees to a chocolate torte that I just tried out (which is phenomenal by the way). Please please feel free to share your feedback. Be a part of the process with me/us. This is uncharted territory for us and so your feedback is key.

I have to tell you that I really do not like the business culture that we have created in this country. Huge companies with no easy way to communicate with those in the company. So what ends up happening is people run to social media and rant. It is an ineffective way to try and communicate with a company.

We do not do that. Our phone number is 505-681-4060 and answered by live people who live here in NM. Also known as your neighbors. If you want to send me an email, please feel free I have thick skin and enjoy constructive criticism. That is how we get better. Your feedback allows us a chance to make changes that you will love. Again, be a part of the process with us. It’s a tasty journey.

I also want to use this time/space to reiterate my commitment to New Mexico, our suppliers, our communities, and our employees. The food world is dominated by giants. Companies that can afford to take short term losses, drive competition out of business, then reap long term profits through an essential monopoly. On paper, there is absolutely no way that we should be able to play in the food world with the Amazons and Walmarts. The only way that we are able to keep going and growing is through your support. I am grateful for that/for you.

I do not take your support for granted. It motivates me to do better and do more. We are constantly looking for partners we can symbiotically work with. People and products who can enrich our business and your lives. This is not a Zero-Sum game where someone has to lose. Consumers and suppliers can engage in transactions and walk away with everyone feeling like they have Won. This is what happens when businesses and consumers realize their responsibilities to one another. Unfortunately, this is not the norm in our marketplace. But we can strive to be a fantastic exception to the norm.

With that, know that as we strive to take care of you better, we also take care of our crew better as well. I felt a little discouraged that there will be economic support for folks not working, but our crew who have been working on the front-lines since March will be left out of that support. But as any family does, we help one another out. So we will make sure that all of our team members are taken care of this holiday season. And celebrate all the hard work and challenges overcome in this most crazy year, 2020. Again, thank you for your continued support.

Stay safe folks. There is light at the end of this dark tunnel.

Farmer Monte

I have to begin this week by saying that I am so thrilled and proud of our team that we have. Let me lay this out for you…

Shelter in Place order. Grocery stores being shut down with too many COVID cases. On top of all that anxiety, Thanks-giving, the biggest food holiday of the year, intersects with that storm.

To further put this into perspective, the week before Thanks-giving, we had a 70% increase in one week. Follow that by Thanksgiving week being the largest sales week we have seen in 18 years. Oh and by the way, you only have 3 days to de-liver before the holiday. Last week was the most insane week of feeding New Mexico that I have ever seen. Lots of coffee, tons of breakfast burritos, a tiny bit of sleep, and we did it!

By 7 pm Wednesday evening, the last of the orders were hit-ting doorsteps. It was an incredible ballet of people and products throughout the week. And you just cannot pull something like that off without an amazing team. So I stuffed my pie hole on Thanksgiving with smoked turkey and Wild Turkey feeling truly grateful for all of the people who come together to make sure you get fed during easy weeks and difficult weeks. Cheers to our team, I could not be prouder of them.

As part of that crazy week, I was able to log some miles under my belt from Santa Fe to Las Cruces and all over ABQ. And driving with a truck full of Organic/Local food is a pretty good time for some self-reflection. No emails, just some quiet time to think about what we are doing well and what we need to improve. Over all of those miles, one common thread kept coming up in my head and that was Opportunities.

We are obviously in some of the most challenging times as an economy and as a society that our nation has ever seen. It is an anxious place to be. But here is the silver lining, there will be some amazing inventions that come out of this struggle. The world will be a different place when we emerge on the other side of Hurricane COVID.

With that, now is the time that we all need to be looking for opportunities within the storm. How can we take these challenges and make the world a better place?

Home Delivery. We began home deliveries 18 years ago be-cause I could not afford a store, but I could afford a delivery van. Sure it looked like a kidnapper van that you might see on Dateline, but it began the journey for us.

What started out as a financial proposition, turned out to be the future of direct to consumer food distribution. It takes the average shopper 20 minutes to drive round-trip to the grocery store. So effectively 3 deliveries per hour. Our seasoned chariot driver, John, can do up to 23 deliveries an hour. Home delivery is 8 times more environmentally friendly than driving to the store yourself. How awesome that you can feel like royalty and save the world at the same time.

My hope now is that we can work with more NM businesses to add their products to our website for you to support. Continue building a website market that will support food and non-food local businesses all while bringing more convenience to you. We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg for opportunities to build home deliveries and offer you more local products.

Prepared Foods. Under Chef Jules’ leadership, our prepared food offering is showing signs that we may be a flagship model for prepared foods in the nation. Let me highlight a few things.

Uber Eats, DoorDash, and all of the other vultures are preying on small restaurants. They keep fees relatively low to the consumer, and then charge the restaurant 30% of the bill for delivery. So picture you are the restaurant and you have a $40 sale. You have to turn around and pay the delivery company $12. Leaving you with $28 income for a $40 order.

We are fortunately the delivery company for our restaurant. So that 30% stays with us and we can bring you more value.

Furthermore, all the national meal kit companies are not from NM. So you will never get green chile, fresh posole, or red chile pork carnitas tacos. Our food offerings are made For New Mexicans, By New Mexicans. This is really important as we look at improving our local food system.

Crapola, I ran out of space this week. Anyway, more to come.. Farmer Monte

There are only a few times in life when you have opportunities to realize your dreams. Take, for example, when I wanted to play in the NBA. My work ethic was strong, but then my coaches started to measure my vertical jump in corn tortillas and not inches. Unfortunately, I had to let that dream go. But as one door slams in your face, another one cracks open.

Recently we were presented with an opportunity that was so glorious, I could not let it go. Skarsgard Farms is the proud new steward of the Model Pharmacy in Nob Hill. The business, building, and owner (Jack Lerner) have been icons in our community for the past 36 years. So with humility, excitement, and gratitude, we take the keys and promise to continue its legacy.

“You bought a café/market in the middle of the pandemic?? Farmer M., have you been kicked in the head by a mule?” I know it might sound un poco loco. But let me lay it out for you.

For 17 years we have operated really behind the curtains. Home delivery vans. Farmland. Warehouses in sketchy areas. When you break it down, we have fostered community from the fringes of our communities. We have not had a brick n mortar location that New Mexicans can enjoy as our flagship. A place where you can come eat, learn, and meet.

So what I will lay out for you here is my grand finale for the local food movement. I am getting old and tired, so this is my last push for New Mexico’s food scene. After this, you will put me out to pasture like an old milking cow, where someone stops by every once in a while and scratches my nose.

Without further ado, I would like to introduce you to our newest (ad)venture, The Stand by Skarsgard Farms.

The Stand is…A Market that will highlight all of the amazing producers and flavors that call NM home. There will be a retail presence, but it will also be our Curbside pick-up location so that you can Order online and then swing by and pick-up your groceries (if you don’t want to get home delivery).

The Stand is…A Learning Center (once Covid has lifted) that will host cooking, gardening, and health classes. A place where you can not only fill your belly, but enrich your life and Grow.

The Stand is…A Café. Currently, we do not have an efficient space to prepare food. We can give you tons of groceries, but we cannot bring you prepared food right now. And that makes me very frustrated I have to tell you. I love bringing you fresh raw foods. BUT, I also want to bring you incredible eats that are already prepared. Local healthy foods done in a fun, casual, and yummy way. This is Not fine dining. Again, this is highlighting the food from NM in an affordable and approachable way. You shouldn’t support NM producers just for special occasions; You should support them every day!

The café will be the hub for all of the prepared and Meal Kits that go into our home delivery orders.

The café will be the hub for a very efficient Grab n Go model that has the quality of a great restaurant, but the speed of fast food. In order to get our state’s food in front of New Mexican mouths, we need a concept that is Yummy, Affordable, and Convenient. If we can crack that code, there will be a huge increase in demand for our state’s food. So this food concept will be designed to tackle that challenge. This is not “Come see us for your birthday, and then we’ll see you 364 days later.”

Lastly, the Stand will be closing early, like 7. This will give us opportunities to have Pop-up Family style meals where we can highlight a style of food and have our chef prepare an educational food journey and not just dinner. Again, feed your soul and your belly. Connect to your food in a truly unique way.

“You keep referring to a chef…who the heck is it?”

My second introduction for you this week is Julian Griego. Or Chef Jules. I have known Jules for about 14 years. If you ever came to our Harvest Festivals in the Los Poblanos years, that was Jules. If you ever ate our food truck, The Harvest Truck, that was Jules, too. When it came time to find someone to lead The Stand, my speed-dial went immediately to Chef Jules.

He has been at Season’s, Savoy, Lead Instructor at CNM, and most recently, Electric Playhouse. He is as great a guy as he is a chef, so I am thrilled to have him on board with us. You will love his work and look forward to bringing you a lot more of his incredible cuisine. Buckle up, cuz this is gonna be fun!

Farmer Monte

A thoughtful Buddhist monk stared into the (dried up) banks of the Rio Puerco and reflected that “We cannot control what happens to us in this life; we can only control how we react to what happens to us.”

I have been thinking about this notion a lot as the turmoil of Covid rumbles along throughout 2020. I love passports, air-plane rides, having the occasional meal made for me, and ordering bourbon drinks with gigantic ice cubes. These have all been creature comforts that have kept me sane in the fast-paced world we call home. I felt very grateful for my family and the life I lived prior to March, 2020.

Things have obviously changed over the past months. And if we were to look at this epidemic in terms of sports, we are not even to the half-time show. Jennifer Lopez is still in the locker room stretching out her hamstrings. Not even on stage yet. So we have some mountains still to cross before we get anywhere close to normalcy. Whatever that may look like.

Realizing this, I had an existential question flood over me, In these uncertain times, how can we as individuals not just survive, but thrive?

In all honesty, I have been stressed out and anxious for months. And I know that I am not unique. Our communities right now seem more like tinder boxes than a playful sand boxes. Nerves are frayed, sense of humor distant.

I have to tell you what I have found to stay sane in the new world that we are living in and encourage you to try it out…Go Outside! Plug into New Mexico.

I’m not talking about a stroll around the neighborhood, although those are great too. We are so lucky in NM to have such (inexpensive) easy access to natural playgrounds. The Organs, Sandias, Sacramento, Sangres, Jemez, Pecos, etc. We have so many playgrounds within a short jaunt. Leave your masks in your car and go explore. Breathe. Connect to this enchanted state. You will be so happy that you did. The world will not change while you are gone, but you will be better prepared for it when you return. And it will help us all appreciate this incredible land.

Now on to some cool things that we have in store for you around here this August. And spoiler alert, this will probably go down as one of the best months in the history of the farm.

Let’s start with Juices! They are flowing again. I am so pumped about this. We have been working with the City of ABQ to get this right for our business and for your safety. The issue is I do not want to Pasteurize our juice. Let me re-phrase that, if we have to pasteurize our juices then I do not want to make juice.

Why? Easy, it simply changes the flavors. I don’t care if it is heated or using HPP; subjecting fragile juices to treatment changes the flavor. And so for me it is simple, do it right or I will find other ways to spend my time.

Being unpasteurized, we Cannot sell our juices to anyone other than our customers. We cannot sell them to a store in order for them to sell them. No wholesaling. Which is great. I never wanted to make incredible juices in order for another store to sell them. I want to make them for you. So you will Never see our juices anywhere other than through us.

Fruit Ninja. We ran a little experiment. What if we sold some cut fruit? Result, great demand, but I wanted the quality to be better so we have brought all fruit chopping in-house. This way, we do not have to guess at how much fruit to cut. So you order it, then we cut it, then we delivery it. No guess work, no loss. Try these babies out if you get nervous slashing through a pineapple like Jason Voorhees.

Salad Dressings. Some easy and yummy salad dressings in store for you. Nice on greens and as a marinade for meats.

Pasture-Raised Tofu and Local Meats. Our proteins have never been stronger than they are right now. Jump on to see all the items we have available for you.

Lastly, a little riddle for you…
We have some new business Models that I want to share with you, but I will have to wait and tell you about them Mañana.

Lots of love. Stay safe amigos. And Viva New Mexico! Farmer Monte

First off, an apology. If you have had any issues with strawberries recently, I am Sorry. Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits, but they are not easy to get to the middle of New Mexico looking good. We have a new grower coming online and I think the quality will be much stronger. Thanks for your patience. And as they say in the produce world, “When life gives you over-ripe strawberries, make strawberry lemonade.”

So that brings me to my next point this week, our Juice Bar. If you have been around our business for longer than the lifespan of a moth, you know that we try a lot of stuff in our business model. I have been accused of “shooting first, aiming second.” It might not be the best business approach, but when I get ex-cited about something, I like to launch a test balloon and then see how our customers dig it. If you like it, then we expand. If it flops, then we crumble it up and throw in the (ever-growing) compost heap of Manure Ideas.

So we started a juice test market in late 2019. The idea was keep it simple. No added water, flavors, or sugar. Just have fun with some juice and allow folks to not only eat their fruits & veggies but drink them too. We bought a small commercial juicer to give it a go. I loved the juice. Crazy thing is a lot of people loved the juice. Fresh, unpasteurized, Organic. And since we are getting the fruits/veggies directly from the farm, you will not find a better value anywhere in the country.

As the demand for these juices went nuts, we started to realize the limitations in our starter kit juice bar. So for the past few weeks we have limited our juices as we “tooled up” our juice barn. Our citrus juicer is still at the spa getting a makeover, but our new cold press juicer is online and squeezing to pleasing. Look for more juices and nectar online now.

Here is the full circle part of the strawberry story. Instead of cutting ties with the strawberry grower who kept sending over-ripe berries, we decided to cut tops instead. So we are still working with them but you will just see/taste their strawberries in our pies and juices and not as fresh strawberries in your order. And I am willing to bet that we are the only place in the state who offers freshly pressed straw-berry juice. Try them out this week. So good. And they will be gone when the strawberry harvest wraps up in a month.

Moving on from juices…Meal Kits. You know when you watch You Tube and see someone on a soar off the high dive only to do an insane belly-flop. It looks so painful, but you can’t help but laugh. I consider our Meal Kit expansion of 2020 kinda like that belly-flop; so painful, but you just can’t help but laugh.

Here is the quick backstory. We launched a small meal kit test at the same time we began the juice bar. Again testing the waters, sticking a toe in the deep end. It did well. Way better than expected. So we hired a chef, tripled the offerings, created an in-house kitchen space in our warehouse and were ready for the best.

Then the Corona craziness hit and our sales of Meal Kits exploded 1000% as folks were not going to restaurants. Sourcing product was hard, our chef left, and we could not fill all of the meal kits we had sold. Insert visual of a belly flop off Olympic plat-form. Ouch.

But we rubbed some Organic aloe vera on our burns and are back on the board. This time from the low dive. The 1-meter board… where hairy Norwegians are meant to jump from. So my goal for the meal kits (now) is the same as our juice bar; keep it simple, keep it fresh and tasty. Limited offering to begin with and the menu will expand as we streamline the process.

Other than that, everything else is looking great. All of our local suppliers have caught up to the new “norm” in the pandemic and are doing great. Thank you for supporting us and all of our New Mexican partner companies. We are staffed up and ready for whatever comes our way. Let’s open the state back up in a safe and thoughtful way. And as always, stay safe amigos.

Farmer Monte