Community Volunteer and Education Opportunities

What a vibrant community we live in! Check out these opportunities coming up in the next week.

Southwest Conservation Corps Volunteer Days
Friday, April 20, 9am-12pm and 12pm-3pm

The Southwest Conservation Corps has several upcoming volunteer opportunities that we thought you might be interested in. We are launching a new gardening and agriculture program and need your help prepping new garden sites in Salida.

On Friday, April 20^th we will kick off Earth Day weekend with a ground-breaking service day at the SCC office. Please join us for a half or full day of project work to install fencing, build raise beds, plant seeds and help promote local food production and sustainability in our community! The morning session will run from 9am-noon and the afternoon session will run from 12pm-3pm. Participants should wear long-pants, sturdy shoes, and warm layers. Don’t forget to bring a water bottle and lunch if you plan to stay all day. The event is open to all ages: kids under 12 must be accompanied by an adult and all participants/parents of minors will need to sign a volunteer waiver.

Our office is located at 701 E. Highway 50, just west of the Hampton Inn. Please contact Tyler Lincoln with any questions at tyler@sccorps.org or 719-539-2438.

Can’t make it this week? We also have Friday service days scheduled for April 27^th and May 4^th – same time and place!

Thanks for your support and we hope to see you Friday!


Learn How to Plan and Install Drip Irrigation!
Hosted by Old Town Farm, Howard
Saturday, April 21 10am-12pm

Drip irrigation makes the most sense for watering garden and landscape plants in our dry climate. Come see and get hands on with the drip irrigation system at our farm in Howard. Comprehensive class covers planning a drip system as well as installation and
maintenance.

Class starts at 10 AM sharp across the street from Howard Hall. Cost is $15 per class, scholarships are available. Email oldtownfarmhoward@gmail.com or call Jonathan at 719-530-1249 for more information.

Additional upcoming Old Town Farm classes:
April 28th – Floating row cover and other plant protection strategies
May 5th – Keeping backyard chickens is easy and fun
May 12th – Know your enemy: All about weeds, wildlife and bugs
May 19th – Why won’t my tomatoes ripen? Success with warm season crops in a cool climate


Agriculture Tax Class
Hosted by Kurt M. Jones, Chaffee County Extension Director
Tuesday, April 24, 6pm-8pm

Colorado State University Extension in Chaffee County will be offering an Agriculture Tax Class for area producers and tax professionals on Tuesday, April 24 from 6:00 until 8:00 at the Chaffee County Fairgrounds. The cost for this class will be $15.

Topics for the class include overview of income taxes, farm income and expenses, common IRS tax forms and schedules used by farmers & ranchers, Farm income vs. other income and how to treat each source, what are deductible farm expenses, record keeping for farmers/ranchers, important dates and additional resources.

The course will be taught by CSU Agriculture and Business Management specialist Jeff Tranel. Pre-registration is required by calling 719-539-6447. Space is limited to the first 40 people. If someone requires accommodation, please let us know at least 5 business days in advance.

Weathervane Farm Garden and Fruit CSA Shares Available

By Caitlin Roberts

The CSA model of food production creates honest connections between the producer, the consumer, and the land. In joining the Weathervane Farm CSA share you will be an integral part of the effort to produce quality food for our community, while sustaining the health of our local farmland and our local economy. Weathervane Farm provides a weekly share of the harvest, including a newsletter to connect with the farm, and recipes to aid in the use of all the delicious farm produce.

Weathervane Farm will once again offer garden and fruit shares this season. The share season runs 16 weeks from June 19^th to October 9^th. The garden share will include a bounty and diversity of vegetables harvested in season, washed, boxed, cooled and ready to enjoy. Though the bulk of the produce in the garden share is grown on site, we also work with other organic and no-spray growers to provide hot weather crops difficult to grow outdoors at 8000ft. We work with Austin Family Farms of Paonia, CO to provide the fruit for the fruit share. Designed to provide you with a diversity of fruits throughout the season including cherries, apricots, plums, peaches, berries, melons, pears and apples, the fruit share is a great way to experience the bounty of Colorado’s fruit growing region. To learn more about the shares follow this link to the Weathervane Farm website. http://www.weathervanefarmbv.com/products/shares.html

Weathervane Farm also raises chickens for eggs and meat. Eggs will be available at the farmers market stand and meat will be available fresh on the day of harvest. To learn more about Weathervane poultry products and reserve fresh birds ready for your oven or freezer please follow this link to the Weathervane Farm website. http://www.weathervanefarmbv.com/products/poultry.html

New Milk Shares Avilable at Cottonwood Creek Dairy

Cottonwood Creek Dairy welcomes the newest (and cutest) member of the herd! Dot was born on a chilly, snowy morning last week, but she was quickly up and nursing on mom, Angie. Luckily, the three older calves (Chloe, Clara Belle, and Charlie) had just freed up the calf pen and moved into their new home where they have a new shelter and plenty of room to run. So now Dot has the cozy corner pen of the barn to stay warm and be near mom for her twice a day nursings. Please stop in and check out the new calf palace and say hi to Dot when you come to get your milk in the coming weeks.

All this excitement on the Dairy means that we now have an abundance of raw milk shares available for new members. We are also able to offer more extras to our members in the form of yogurt, cottage cheese, fresh mozzarella, and cream. We also have our own delicious milk-fed pork available by the piece. You can try our bacon, sausage, pork chops with out having to buy an entire share of pork this time! Please contact Amy at amyemcmillin[at]gmail[dot]com or call 719-221-9630 about signing up for milk shares or buying pork.

Online Farmers Market Makes Buying Locally a Cinch for Central Colorado

The Arkansas River Valley is rich in agricultural abundance and now a new company is making it possible for residents to access local products by providing a convenient way to buy locally from dozens of producers over the web.

Lindsay Diamond is the founder of Colorado Local Market, a new year-round online local foods market dedicated to bringing the people of Central Colorado freshly picked, locally produced food and related products. “There are dozens of local food resources in the Arkansas River Valley alone,” says Diamond. “My goal is to make it very convenient to purchase from all of them so eating locally can become an easier and richer experience.”

The new website, www.colocalmarket.com, enables local producers to list what foods they have available each week. Customers can shop from those items, add them to a shopping cart and pickup their order on Tuesday afternoons in Buena Vista.

Diamond is targeting farms and producers and consumers of all sizes. “The beauty of this site is that it provides the abundance of a farmers market (CSA), the convenience of community supported agriculture and the selection of a grocery store all in an easy-to-use website.”

While there are active farmers markets and CSAs in the area, Colorado Local Market fills the need for individuals who don’t want to commit to a CSA or who can’t always attend a weekend farmers market. “With Colorado Local Market you get more choice. You can choose what you want and how much you want,” says Diamond.

Colorado Local Market will begin selling items spring 2010. It is currently accepting producer and customer registration. Items ordered from Colorado Local Market (www.colocalmarket.com) will be available for pick up on Tuesdays from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Jala Blu Yoga, behind the Evergeen Café in Buena Vista. Visit www.colocalmarket.com to learn more.

Cultivating Relationships with Land and People

By: Caitlin Roberts

As we fold brochures and finish website updates, the green grass begins to push through the brown carpet of winter and the perennial plants display emerald crowns of new growth. A new garden season is upon us. With seeds started in the greenhouse, baby chicks on order, and a season of field plantings on the schedule, we set the course on a new farming adventure.

This season marks our tenth year working on farms and our third as business owners of Weathervane Farm. In our first year here we grew a small garden for farmers market sales and worked with a West Slope fruit grower to provide fruit CSA shares. We also started egg production. Last year we expanded our operation to include vegetable CSA shares from our garden, wholesale accounts, pasture raised poultry, and lacto-fermented vegetables.

Our direct and local marketing provides us with great opportunities to cultivate relationships within our community. It is a pleasure for us to feel connected to the folks eating the food we grow.

When food dollars go to support local agriculture, there are many positive outcomes. Where shopping at the grocery store can be a detached and anonymous process, eating locally is about cultivating relationships with food, people, and land.

When we know the biological roots of our food and can connect with the source, there is more opportunity to learn about and be involved with the farming practices that directly impact us. Visits to the farm to pick-up shares, volunteer, or attend farm events, are activities that aid in connecting members to the land and food producers.

The Asian Palate, Mother’s Bistro, Simple Foods, Nature’s Pantry and Colorado Grown also help keep you close to the source by incorporating our products into their offerings.

Fruit and garden shares are still available. For more information about our farm and products visit our website at www.weathervanefarmbv.com.

Caitlin Roberts and her husband, Seth own and operate Weathervane Farm in Buena Vista, CO.

Jumpin' Good Goat Dairy Opens in Buena Vista

Posted by: Allison A.

The past two weekends here in Buena Vista have marked the long anticipated grand opening of Jumpin' Good Goat Dairy. As they say on their website, the cheese is, "Made by hand, with love." And you can clearly tell that this is true by how amazing each variety tastes. The dairy creates a number of aged and flavored cheeses and has them available for sale at their on-site country store. To learn more about the dairy, visit their very fun website at this link.

Welcome to the valley... we're glad you're here!