Folks Farm Update, 4/9/2025
Grinding through writer's block
Spring has come quickly after a whole lot of winter. Hot days, and less cold nights are finally gracing the farm. On the Colorado’s Front Range, it is common to see 40-degree daily temperature swings. This means our first rounds of crops have been covered, uncovered, and recovered with fabric to keep them at reasonable temperatures. We look forward to the first fresh greens of the season hopefully gracing our Farm Stand and first Lafayette Farmer’s Market shelves.
The Farm Stand is set to reopen on Wednesday April 30th at 10am with the first market following that Sunday. Brushing the dust off both our stand and the market tents is exciting and nerve racking. I personally love the part of the year when we are just focused on growing and not selling. However, I also love all the familiar and new faces we are yet to encounter.
Plant starts are growing steadily and we fully expect to have incredible flowers, herbs, and veggies available for your spring and summer gardens. The perennial crops look especially great and we are happy to offer a selection of ornamental, edible, and medicinal plants for you to enjoy season after season (including a giant crop of rhubarb!).
This is our biggest nursery plant year thanks in part to a new flat filler. This machine uses a system of conveyor belts and augurs to dump dirt into pots, allowing the crew to fill trays rapidly. Combined with wider aisles, plant racks, and improvements in irrigation the nursery crops are taking the spotlight. Consider perusing the online plant sale below and reserving your garden plants ahead of time.
The first round of produce has been sown in the field just ahead of last week’s moisture. Peas, greens, and root crops all got a big drink and are just starting to sprout (a testament to how cold our soil remains). Another round is soon to follow along with transplanting onions, shallots, leeks, kale, and chard next week.
After the past couple weeks of planting, I am very excited to clean up some areas of our farm in preparation for the growing season. The wash station is the first on the list to be readied in anticipation of greens and produce soon to be harvested.
We have a couple new crew members (welcome Bailey and Ben!) who will be getting trained up for the growing season. Chris and Shirley are in steadfast pursuit of their second seasons and their knowledge shows. It takes many hands to move a small farm along and I look forward to continued growth alongside these remarkable individuals.
The farm is hosting two weekend biological gardening classes coming up this month. If a deeper dive into harnessing the power of nature in your own garden sounds intriguing, I highly recommend these classes. I will show you exactly how we implement practices like mulching, cover cropping, interplanting, inoculating, and succession planting to keep your garden full without over-extending your labor. Sign up below.
Our annual Mother’s Day plant sale will be happening on May 10th-11th from 10am-4pm rain or shine! This is an opportune time to grab plants at their peak health and start preparing for a summer full of blooms and fruits. More information to come.
CSA shares are available to purchase (plant starts included). With so much uncertainty in the macro world a CSA is a great way to lock down your access to healthy food and help community supported agriculture flourish. With over 40 hours per week to pick up your fully customizable share, our CSA offers incredible flexibility and quality in produce. We have learned a lot about human nature over the past 6 years and our CSA is a top contender for best around. Shop the shares below.
If you have purchased a share, expect an email in the next couple weeks for instructions in receiving your card. Thank you everyone who has purchased and those who donated to the Vegetable Connection. We appreciate you deeply.
Thanks for reading Folks. We have gotten a lot of new subscribers recently who might not live near enough to access Folks Farm’s bounty. However, know we are out here doing the work and stewarding land in our best way possible. Not all my posts will be spammy blogs, but right now is the time to live the farm, not feel about it. There is work to do, food to grow, people to feed. Stick with us as we get our growing legs and trust better writing will be coming down the pipe.