I hope everyone is staying warm over the past few weeks. Even though the trees are still dormant and there is snow on the ground, the new season has begun and we’ve been busy getting things ready for the upcoming summer.
We have posted our schedules and pricing for our CSA share program on our website for 2011. Visit the CSA page at http://elafamil.startlogic.com/site/news.html for all the details of each location. In general, we are offering a share pickup at each of the farmers markets we attend. We also collaborate with other vegetable growers and add a fruit share onto their vegetable share. I’ve pasted the basic details for each location at the bottom of this newsletter. If you are looking for a vegetable and fruit share, we encourage you to support one of the farms we collaborate with. If you are only looking for a fruit share, we hope you will consider us.
A CSA share entitles the member to a weekly pickup of the best fruit from our farm for that week. We do our best to vary the selection and varieties each week, but that can depend on the season and what tastes good to me that week. We also do our best to give our CSA members first dibs on fruits with limited production or as fruits are just starting to pick. While there are many variations on what a CSA share contains, we stick with our mantra that everything in the share comes from our farm. Sometimes that means there is less diversity of fruits, but we’ve always grown what we sell and we plan to continue that tradition. Contact Jeni at jeni@elafamilyfarms.com to sign up or with questions. One caveat – I’ve always been nervous about posting our CSA shares before frost season is over. If, keep your finger crossed this doesn’t happen, we have a rough spring, we will adjust our shares and pricing accordingly.
As for news from the farm, we are just finishing pruning our apples and pears. Cherries and peaches will come next. The cold weather has certainly given us some heartburn. Generally fruit buds are very hardy throughout the dormant season. Peach buds, however, can loose some of their hardiness when daytime temperatures are above freezing. It is always a bit of a guess how much cold the fruit buds can withstand, but we usually guess that at around -7 degrees F. there can start to be some losses. In many winters we get close to that cold, but usually not below that. This winter has been an exception and we have been in that range a number of times. We brought in the New Year with our wind machines running to try to moderate temperatures and we have run our wind machines three more nights since. This is the first year I’ve ever had to run our machines in the winter, but we are hoping that we haven’t sustained extensive damage. Some damage doesn’t hurt us too much, it just removes some margin for error this spring. The hardest thing will be to adjust our pruning to take into account any losses that we might have sustained. I will keep you posted on how the crop looks as spring unfolds.
Otherwise, meetings, bookwork, and planning are the name of the game for the winter months. We still have several winter markets that we will be at in Fort Collins. Those will be tomorrow, the 12th, February 26th and March 12th. We hope to see you at the Opera Galleria in Fort Collins. The Boulder Farmers Market opens in April as well.
Finally, save the dates of May 14 and 15 for our annual farm tour. I will send out a newsletter about the tour later, but wanted to at least give you a planning heads up now. I am also trying to continue to post tidbits about what is happening on the farm on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/pages/Hotchkiss-CO/Ela-Family-Farms/126422900712760?v=wall) . I’m still learning about posting, so humor me and join us as a friend. Also, let me know what types of information you might like to see posted on a weekly basis.
Take care, stay warm and thank you for your support. We are looking forward to a new season!
Steve Ela
Ela Family Farms
30753 L Rd
Hotchkiss, CO 81419
970 872 3488
info@elafamilyfarms.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Hotchkiss-CO/Ela-Family-Farms/126422900712760?v=wall
We do not like nor encourage spam. We do not share our email lists with anyone else. If you would like to be removed from this newsletter, please email us at info@elafamilyfarms.com and we will immediately remove your name from our list.
CSA Shares
Ela 2011 CSA Fruit Share Pricing and Locations
CSA shares available from Ela Family Farms at our Front Range Farmer’s Market locations. Prices vary based on market closing date and market limitations. We only include fruit we grow on our farm in our shares.
Golden Farmer’s Market
Pick-up times, Saturdays 8-1
Early season share- $45 July16, July 30 & Aug. 6 (Buffalo Bill Days July 23-no market)
Late season share- $200, Aug.13- Oct. 1
Full season share- $245, July16- Oct. 1
Ft. Collins’ Old Towne Market
Pick-up times, Saturdays8-noon
Early season share-$55 July16-Aug. 6?Late season share- $215 Aug.13-Oct. 15
Full season share $270
Boulder Farmer’s Market
Pick-up times, Saturdays 8-2
Early share $55 July 16-Aug.6?Late season share- $215 Aug.13-Oct. 29
Full season share $270
Old South Pearl St. Farmer’s Market
Pick-up times, Sundays 9-1
Early season share-$55 July17-Aug. 7
Late season share- $225 Aug.14-Oct. 30
Full season share $280
City Park-Esplanade Farmer’s Market
Pick-up times, Sundays 9-1
Early season share-$55 July17-Aug. 7
Late season share- $225 August14-Oct. 30
Full season Share $280
Stapleton Farmer’s Market
Pick up times, Sundays 8:30-12:30
Early Season Share- $55 July17-Aug. 7
Late season share- $215 August14-Oct. 16
Full season share- $270
Front Range Farm Partners
We also collaborate with excellent Front Range and WesternSlope organic vegetable growers who offer our CSA fruit shares alongside their CSA veggie shares. If you want both a vegetable and fruit share, we suggest you work through one of them. Contact them to determine if their pick-up times and locations work for you! Their Ela Family Farms’ fruit share information will be available closer to fruit season. They will not have our early season fruit shares available.
Isabelle Farm- www.isabellefarm.com Boulder/Denver
DeLaney Community Farm- www.dug.org/delaney Aurora
Happy Heart Community Farm- www.happyheartfarmcsa.com Ft. Collins
Cresset Farm- www.cressetcommunityfarm.com Loveland/Denver/ Boulder/Wheatridge
Abbondonza Organic Seeds & Produce- www.eatabbo.org Boulder/Niwot/Longmont
Heart Eye Community Farm- 303 665-6309 Lafayette
Stonebridge Farm- www.stonebridgefarmcsa.com Lyons/Longmont
Farmyard CSA- www.farmyardcsa.org Denver/Lakewood
RAS Agriculture- rasagriculture@yahoo.com Boulder/Longmont
Western Slope Farm Partners
Buckhorn Gardens www.buckhorngardens.blogspot.com
Circle A Gardens 970-249-9725 Montrose www.circleagarden.com
Sustainable Settings www.sustainablesettings.org Carbondale
