9/21/09 Newsletter

Dear Friends of the Farm,

We really couldn’t have picked a better day to have a party, especially when a rainy Monday follows such a terrific day! There was a total of 440 people (126 membership households) enjoyed the warm day at the farm. There was wonderful food shared at the picnic this year. Approximately five years ago we had a ton of potato dishes shared. This year, coleslaw was the dish of choice. To tell you the truth, I’m surprised we don’t have more years where the same dish is duplicated! I also didn’t realize there were so many ways to prepare coleslaw!!

The hayride to the pumpkin patch was a big hit for everyone. I didn’t realize there were so many huge pumpkins out there this year. It was amazing to watch wagon after wagon being unloaded with such big pumpkins!

Most of the members took advantage of picking extra produce such as basil, dill, carrots, beets, hot peppers and Banana peppers. The two most exciting things were the strawberries and watching the old fashioned potato digger dig up Banana Fingerling potatoes. I think most people haven’t seen this before. Picking up potatoes is really fun. As Adults, how many times do you get to play in the dirt! Sifting through the soft, warm, sandy dirt to find treasure is sure to please anyone! And the strawberry picking was a nice surprise. The new strawberry plants planted this spring are producing a few berries. This is unusual. Normally we will not see strawberries until next spring!

The kids were adorable in the Stick Horse Race. We saw many creative animals. Even though there were some special awards given for their creativity, everyone went home with a ribbon. The popcorn sheller and the apples press was kept busy most of the day. Fresh apple cider just can’t be beat! Thank you Schwarzeweller family for sharing your old fashioned apple press with everyone! We would like to also send out a special thank you to everyone who helped out and kept the Festival running smoothly.

Don’t forget! This Sunday at 1 p.m. we are getting together to harvest the sweet potatoes. We would like to see a large group of members participate in this function. “Many hands make light work,” my grandmother would say!

Winter Share sign-ups are due Oct 1st. Your Distribution Centers will have forms if you need them! Single Shareholders will need to split the share because they are based on a Half Share. Full Share members may need to purchase two shares to fill their needs. A discount of $150 will be applied if two shares are purchased.

This week you are getting French Fingerling potatoes, yellow cooking onions, carrots, golden beets, lemon cucumbers, Globe eggplant, orange, yellow & green or red peppers, Anaheim peppers, sweet corn, the regular tomatoes & an heirloom tomato, spaghetti squash and orange honeydew.

Thank you for the gifts Sunday. We appreciate your thoughtfulness. And thank you for participating in the Harvest Festival. It was nice seeing you all!

Jacquie, Jerry, Alaina and Kyle

9/14/09 Newsletter

Dear Friends of the Farm,

The countdown has begun for the Harvest Festival! It is a really fun day for you to get to know other members, eat great food, tour the farm, take a hayride to the pumpkin patch, watch the stick horse races, check out the apple press & taste fresh cider, shell your own popcorn, pick extra produce or just sit back and watch it all happen. No matter what you like to do, you can see it happen at the Farm this Sunday. We will start at 11 a.m. and start tearing down between 3 & 4 p.m. Guests will pay $10 per person ages 3 and up. Don't forget to bring apples for the apple press! The picnic is a potluck. Please bring a dish at least twice the amount you would serve your family. We provide the hot dogs and hamburgers; we need side dishes and desserts! When you arrive at the farm, please check in at the Check-in Station. They will give you a name tag. This helps us to know exactly how many folks came to experience the fun at the Harvest Festival!

This next week will be a busy one! Besides our daily activities, we will be sprucing up the farm for the festival. If you haven't RSVP your reservation for the Harvest Festival, this is the last week you can do so. Please call by the end of day on the 17th. Shopping will need to be done this weekend. The person, who first volunteered to do the shopping for me, unexpectedly had to cancel. Is there someone else out there that would be willing to do the shopping? You will need a Costco or Sam's Club membership because of the large amount of paper products we purchase for the event.

We will be having a workday for members on Sat. the 19th at 9 am. We still have a small field of winter squash to get into the barn and there will be other odd jobs to do around the farm for the festival. If you have even a couple of hours, we could sure use the help! Contact Lorna at 303-593-1754. You will get a confirmation email by Friday evening either saying the workday is still scheduled or it is cancelled. Thank you very much for helping us out like this!

Unfortunately, there will not be any extra tomatoes to pick. Everything we have is going to the membership! We do have peppers and we will have the chili roaster going! Be aware! There can be a long line for this service. The cost will be $5 per tray roasted (we will provide the trays, but you cannot take them home!). You do not have to have your chilis roasted here. You can take them home and roast them on your grill.

The chili roaster will be going all day. It is suggested that some of you attend the pot luck right away and some of you head out to the u-pick fields or go on a self tour of the farm. Either way, you will be standing in lines waiting for something! The popcorn sheller will also be going most of the day. We ask that each household only take one bag of popcorn. The apple press belongs to Paul Schwarzeweller and Linda Hellow. They have been members of the farm since 1996. It is such a privilege to have them set up and show us how an old fashioned apples press works. You can find them on the east side of the house from 12 to 2 or until we run out of apples!

Here are some dos and don’ts to follow with the u-pick crops. It is very important to bring your own boxes, bags or any other rigid containers. You cannot use ours, we need them for distribution! If you do not bring containers, you will not be allowed to pick produce and throw it into your trunk. Please be respectful of other members and of your farmers. There is a limit to what you can pick! Do not go into fields that are not designated as u-pick crops. You will find a list of crops at the Check-in Station along with directions to get there. Please do not drive off without directions. Everyone drives the same direction so we do not have cars nose to nose. (We don’t have two lane roads out here!)

Directions to the Farm
From Denver, the Western Slope or Pueblo:
I-25 North to I-76 East. As you continue east, don't panic, you will be driving for a while! Last town you will go through is Hudson. Very next exit is #34 or the Kersey Rd. Take this exit, turn left. Continue north for approximately 16 miles. Turn right at Co Rd 48. You are now on a dirt road. Travel 1 ½ miles. We are on the left or north side of road. Find house number on front of mailbox: 25525, our name is on the side of the box.
From Boulder, Longmont or Lyons:
I-25 North to highway 66. Take highway 66 east to highway 85. Highway 85 north through the towns of Platteville, then Gilcrest. At next grain elevator, Co Rd 44, turn right heading east. At Co Rd 49, turn left heading north. Travel 2 miles to Co Rd 48, turn right heading east. Another 1 ½ miles to the farm on left or north side of road. House number on the front of the mailbox: 25525, our name is on the side of the box.
From Loveland or Ft. Collins:
Take highway 34 east through the city of Greeley. Must take Fort Morgan exit to continue east on highway 34. Approximately 4 miles from this exit to Co Rd 49, turn right heading south. Travel 4 miles to Co Rd 48, turn left. 1 ½ miles to farm on the left or north side of road. House number is on the front of the mailbox: 25525, our name is on the side of the box.

There was a typo error on the Winter Sign-up form. It indicated that Distribution would start November 5th when in actuality we always deliver on Wednesdays, making the date November 4th. We need volunteers for the Central Denver Distribution points. We actually need two because this area is in high demand! I know the payment schedule for the Winter Share is Oct. 1st, Dec. 1st and Feb. 1st. Paying that Feb. payment may be difficult since renewals for current members are due for 2010 by Feb. 19th. You are welcome to make monthly payments in Oct. & Nov. of $135 making the Dec. payment $130 and paying your Winter Share in full. This way you have paid for everything you purchased in 2009; clearing the way to renew your Membership Fees in 2010!

Crops you will be getting this week are Yukon Gold potatoes, red onions, carrots, Chioggia beets, summer squash, green cabbage, lemon cucumbers, Daikon radish, bell peppers, Banana peppers, Pablano peppers, Jalapeño peppers, green beans and tomatoes.

We look forward to the Harvest Festival and welcoming all of you to your farm. Please take time to look around and get to know the place where your food is grown!

Thank you and we will see you there!

Jacquie, Jerry, Alaina and Kyle Monroe

September 1st Newsletter

Dear Members,

New crops this week are Banana Fingerling potatoes, Patty Pan summer squash, Moon & Stars watermelon, white sweet corn, honeydew melon (green or orange flesh) and with the possibility of either Zebra, Roma or our regular tomatoes. In addition to this you will also receive red onions, lemon cucumbers, carrots, green & purple bell peppers, Banana peppers, cinnamon basil, green beans and muskmelon.

Banana Fingerling potatoes are elongated and small. They are very easy to cook; boiled or roasted is the most commonly way it is served. Patty Pan summer squash looks like a flying saucer! It can be white, yellow or pale green in color. Cut them lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and bake for half an hour. Fry up some thinly sliced carrots, garlic, onion, bell peppers & basil. Stuff the squash and bake another 15 to 30 minutes. This squash can also be used the same way you use the others. Moon & Stars watermelon is a very old heirloom watermelon. It has a dark green skin with yellow flecks throughout. If you are lucky, you will see one or two large yellow spots; these are the moon & stars. We would love it if you could save the seed of this watermelon. Rinse the seeds, dry them on a paper towel and seal them in an envelope. Do not put them in a plastic bag, they will mold and be unusable!

Jerry and I really do not know what to expect from our fields anymore. This has been such an unusual summer! It feels like we went from spring to fall…no summer at all! We were taking our normal spin around the farm this morning. Stopping at the watermelon patch, we were eating different kinds of melon. We have discovered that the melons, (watermelon, honeydew and muskmelon) just don’t seem as sweet this year. Much to Jerry’s chagrin; the rain seems to have washed out the sweetness! Needless to say, this has made Jerry very unhappy. He only wants the best for his members!

It is less than a month from the Harvest Festival! We are already getting started mowing around the farm getting it ready for the big day. I still need RSVP’s from everyone planning on attending the festival. I need to know how many adults and how many kids will be attending. I need this more for the ordering of beef patties and hot dogs. So if you are vegetarian or your children will not be eating from the grill, please let me know! You may place your RSVP up to the date of September 15th.

I still need Master Grillers from 11 to 1 and 1 to 3; someone to clear off the buffet table, rinse the dishes and put them back under the buffet table from 11 to 1 and 2 to 3; there is also a need for a bathroom checker to make sure we have tata paper & paper towels available and take out the trash. I expect everyone to help keep the bathrooms neat and tidy!

This is such a fun day! There will be extra produce to pick and a self tour of the premises. You are welcome to bring popped popcorn to feed to the chickens (it’s their favorite snack!) or pick the weeds and grasses around the pens for them. Everyone needs to see how popcorn is taken off the cob and the popcorn sheller is the place to see it. We will have the popcorn sheller working in the barn and the apple press on the East side of the house. Please bring half a dozen apples to add to the mix; that way everyone could get a small sample of fresh apple cider! Hay rides will start just as soon as Jerry has eaten his lunch and has regained some energy!

Attention all horse breeders and trainers! There will be stick horse races at 1pm the day of the festival. Bring your best bred stick horse. Ribbons will be awarded for most original breed as well as for 1st, 2nd and 3rd race places. There will be several races with multiple age groups mixed together. This was so much fun to watch last year and we have decided it is a keeper! There were many wonderful homemade creatures! I think this year we will have a parade too so that everyone sitting down can see them!

It is time to start up the weekend workdays again. If you have not put in your four hours volunteering at the farm, now is a great time to do it! We will be gathering at the barn at 1 pm on Monday the 7th; Saturday the 12th at 9 am; Saturday the 19th at 9 am and Sunday the 27th at 1 pm. As we were taking our spin around the farm, we discovered the winter squash vines have collapsed and are now ready to pick and get into storage. We will be doing this until all of it has been harvested; which may take a few weeks! More than likely, we will continue to have workdays into October. Please contact Lorna Carnahan and let her know when you are coming. This way, if there is a cancellation for some reason, we can email you and let you know. Lorna's phone number is 303-593-1754 and her email address is lornacarnahan@gmail.com.

Thank you for helping us during this busy time of year!

Jacquie, Jerry, Alaina and Kyle

Do It Yourself Produce Rinse (similar to Fit)

1 quart water
2 Tbsp baking soda
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cream of tartar

Mix and keep refrigerated for up to 3 weeks!

8/11/09 Newsletter

Dear Friends of the Farm,

Well here it is, the second week of August and it is supposed to be very hot. What have we been getting? Rain…again! Last night we even received a little hail with it. That was lovely. Something every farmer looks forward too. It doesn’t appear to have caused any damage really. But you will see the marks on everything. Is it monsoon season yet? It looks to us as if it started a long time ago and never really went away! Enough with this crazy weather!

There is a really nice blog put together by a member who is a food writer in Denver. Gretchen has a passion for food, but more importantly, food from sustainable sources. Check out her blog at www.seedtospoon.com. If you are looking for more recipes for all the goodies you receive each week, you may want to try out www.cooks.com. I like this site quite a bit. A few years ago, a couple of members took the initiative to create and monitor a Yahoo Group Page. This group discussion page will have a calendar to mark off special events, when extra pickings are available and freeze warnings. It is designed for members to keep in touch via email. It is a great place to get to know each other as well as exchange recipes, cooking and preservation tips. You send email to a common address and yahoo distributes it to whoever has chosen to receive emails about Monroe Organic Farms. Your email address is kept safely within the group and traffic is low. You can be removed at any time. To join, either go to: www.yahoogroups.com/group/MonroeOrganicFarms/join, or send an email to MonroeOrganicFarms-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and we’ll get you signed up.

Once melons, corn and tomatoes are on, you will need extra cloth bags or a box to take all your loose produce home. It will also keep it from rolling around in your car! We do not provide the bags you will need for this, so plan ahead! You are welcome to bring your extra plastic bags to share with other members for this task.

Distribution Centers are asking me to remind you that they have set hours for you to pick up produce. Please do not come early unless you have called them ahead of time and made arrangements to do so. Never take produce from a Distribution Center without checking in with them first. They keep track of who have come and who have not, who have turned in their bags and picked up honey &Western Slope fruit. So you can see if you arrive and take produce without checking in, Distribution Centers are at a loss as to where that produce has gone and who has taken it!

Produce Fees are due and payable in full by September 1st. Statements will be sent out by the end of this week showing what has been paid and what has not. A $25 late payment fee will be assessed by the 15th of each month the accounts are not paid in full.

For those of you interested in the Winter Share, I will be sending out information about that in September. Watch for it! If you are one of those members who has already signed up for the Winter Share, do not worry about sending another form. We will take care of you!


The Harvest Festival will be Sunday, September 20th from 11am to 3pm. This is our ‘thank you’ for being members. We are asking you not to invite non-members. But if you do, they will be charged $10 per person, adults and children. We will be taking reservations starting this week. We need to know how many people are coming from your household. If non-members are coming, we need to know that too and how many.

I need volunteers to help set up tables and tents and chop produce. We get started at 8am. I will also need 3 volunteers to clear the table during the day, keep up with filling the drink containers and chopping extra produce if necessary. There is a need for 8 people (two every hour) to run the Check In Station from 11 to 2 pm. A couple of people will need to empty the trash in the bathrooms, make sure there are extra T.P. and paper towels available. The canning booth was a big hit last year and I would love to have volunteers sit and talk to people about canning. The most important job yet, the Master Grillers! We need two people every hour over a four hour period. Grilling will need to start at 10am. and continue until 2 pm. Tear down and clean up will start around 3:30pm. and we need as many hands as possible to make it easy and light work.

We hope to have the apple cider press back this year. We need everyone to bring a big bag of apples to the Festival to share. This way everyone will get a small sample of fresh apple cider. The more variety of apples, the better the cider! I haven’t checked with Jerry to find out if there was any popcorn left over from last fall. If there is, we will set up the popcorn sheller and everyone can try their hand at removing popcorn from the cob and take a small bag home for popping. We will of course have the hayrides to the pumpkin patch throughout the day. Each child should be able to take home a pumpkin!

We will also have our list of u-pick crops & directions available at the check in table for those who want to pick. We ask that you bring your own containers. If you do not, you will not be able to pick this year. We need all of our containers for distribution. We also ask members to only pick crops on the list. For the last couple of years, we are noticing more and more people taking crops out that were not listed. If this continues, we will stop the u-pick part of the party. We do not grow extras of every crop. And every year that list changes according to what Mother Nature has decided to give as bumper crops.

Would anyone like to do the shopping for me? Once we have a tally as to how many people are coming to the Festival, we will need the supplies for it. A shopping list will be compiled and passed on to you. You will need to bring those supplies to me on the day of the Festival. And I will reimburse you for those costs.

The Harvest Festival is something we all look forward to every year. But it does take several volunteers to make it happen. We noticed the same volunteers show up every year. It would be nice to see some new faces. The chores are not difficult and you get to know other members at the same time. To be successful, this festival needs you!

The Festival is a potluck. We ask you to bring the side dishes & desserts and we will supply the fresh veggies, fruit, hot dogs, burgers, utensils and drinks. The Festival is a great way to get to know other members and see the farm where all your veggies come from. Mark your calendars and plan on joining us for a fun filled day!

This week you are getting red potatoes, red onions, red beets, yellow carrots, celery, eggplant, ivory & green peppers, slicing cucumbers, summer squash, beans, muskmelon and corn! Normally you would not see celery this time of year. We assume it is due to the cold wet spring. Muskmelon is in the same plant family as cantaloupe, however, it is stronger tasting and sweeter than cantaloupe. Try not to fall head over heels in love with this. Oh yes! I do believe summer has arrived!

The Monroes