Chilefest!!!!!!

Ready to get fired up?

Scenes from the first Chilefest. A lot has changed and this year will be much safer.

Some of you may remember, many will not, the first Folks Farm Chilefest. Let me take you back to the year 2020. It was our second season as a farm and a tumultuous year at that. Lockdowns, Covid, and food insecurity grew our humble CSA more than 3x. Along with the rise in customers we had started leasing an additional 2 acres, tripling our growing space. 

I decided to go big on summer crops that season, planting an acre of tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and peppers. So many peppers. All shapes and sizes ranging from sweets to super hots. 

The season was going well. People were stuck at home and dying to get out leading to consistent volunteer crews. Luckily so, because harvesting endless rows of field tomatoes is a laborious task! 

Something about that season, maybe it was the smoke in the air, a large population, or just luck but our pepper crop took off. The plants were loaded! 

Then, around Labor Day, a freak temperature drop appeared on the forecast. Snow and lows in the 30s were coming in about 2 weeks before our first average frost date. I made the call to pick the entire farm.

That day smoke from the Cameron Peak Fire was pushed in a steady plume directly in front of the sun turning the world around us red and smokey. It felt like a scene from Mordor, haunting. 

Two shifts of volunteers showed up, nearly 40 people, to help us load every pepper, tomato, and eggplant into boxes (I don’t even know where we got all those boxes). These fruits were then brought to the barn at our home farm. No plan to sell them, and there were thousands of pounds. It ended up snowing that night.

I decided to borrow a chile roaster and Chilefest was born. Inviting our friends at Hoka Hey Kitchens to cook, some other vendors, and every customer we could a week later the farm threw down. We roasted, and sold, most of the crop. It was a huge success! 

Now some years have been better for peppers than others. In 2021 we did another big roast but have not had the gumption since. This year that is changing!

Chilefest 2024 is happening! 

On September 20th from 4-7pm at Folks Farm we will be roasting peppers from this year’s banger crop. Santa Elena food truck will be serving up food to accompany the flames. If you are interested in preordering half or full bushels of mild, medium, or hot chiles please email your order to Folks Farm. Half bushels are $35 and full are $65. These are organically grown chiles planted, tended, and harvested by hand. If you’d like the opportunity to vend at the event please reach out as well. We hope to see you there.

Farm News

Expanded Winter CSA! The CSA will run from November-March offering pre-packed veggie boxes complete with a range of delicious winter produce. This is made possible by a new EQIP funded high tunnel that will help us offer fresh, unheated, greens throughout the cold season. Don’t miss out on the unique and delicious flavors of cold sweetened produce.

Farm Stand Hours: 10-6pm Wed-Friday, 10-4pm Saturday and Sunday

Hopefully stocked this week:

Greens: Hearts and Souls Salad Mix, gem lettuce heads, summer head lettuce, chard, kale, arugula, bok choi

Roots: Onions, shallots, beets, carrots, turnips, radishes and garlic

Veggies: Cherry Tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, field tomatoes, summer squash, shishito peppers, Salvatierra peppers (spicy poblano flavor), fresno peppers, Jimmy Nardellos, eggplant, dragon tongue and pole beans, fennel

Flowers: Large mixed bouquets

Herbs: Parsley, dill, basil

Perennials: Gallons are $10 each. We currently have columbine, foxglove, sedum, elderberry, elecampane, daisy, goldenrod, gaillardia, lavender, mint, thyme, sage, mountain mint, lemon balm, and echinacea. We also have 4.5” perennials for $5 each! Now is the perfect time to plant for stunning blooms next year.

Lehi Ranch, High Point Bison, KREAM Kimchi, Jodar Farms Eggs, Rey Atelier Home Goods, Bread Chic Sourdough, Fox Den Coffee, Owl Tree Farm Worm Compost, Bee Squared Apiaries Honey, Abuelita’s Hot Sauce, Christie Leighton Jewelry, Life’s A Buch Kombucha