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In a nutshell, what is the technical description of Ela Family Farms?
A profitable, 98.6 acre USDA Certified Organic and Real Organic Project certified farm that includes approximately 60 acres of graduated-maturity fruit trees located in western Colorado with owners looking to retire.
Situated in the North Fork Valley on the West Elk Wine Trail and Viticultural Area, Ela Family Farms is near award winning wineries, a growing arts and music scene, gold medal fishing streams with a diversity of outdoor adventure, and is part of the highest concentration of organic farms in Colorado. The view is mountains to the East and North, canyons to the South, and the Uncompahgre Plateau to the west.
This Centennial Family Farm has been 100% certified organic since 2004. Growing acreage is in two adjacent agricultural conservation Land Trust easements with excluded envelopes for buildings and necessary agricultural development. Primary fruits grown are peaches and apples, with smaller acreages of pears, sweet cherries, plums, heirloom tomatoes, and rhubarb. Other acreage is either in grass-hay or fallow. Peach plantings include 14 varieties (7 acres are 4 year old trees that are just starting to come into production) and a harvest window from mid-July through early September. Apple plantings include 30 varieties that harvest from late-August through the end of October including conserved heritage varieties. Two varieties of pears harvest from early September to early October, 4 varieties of plums harvest from late July to late September and heirloom tomatoes harvest from late July into October. The Farm includes over 14,000sq’ enclosable high tunnel space, 3 commercial refrigerated coolers, large packing shed and equipment, storage, office building, commercial kitchen and equipment used to process off-grade fruit into artisanal value-added products, two commercial sized freezers, 11 wind machines that provide frost protection over the entire farm, irrigation water filtering and distribution across the farm with most acreage in microsprinkler or drip, communal worker housing, foreman single-family housing, and two larger residences. 50 kW of solar power provide 60-80% of electricity.
Potable water is available in locations across the farm and is from the Roger’s Mesa Domestic Water Company. Irrigation water is from decreed and reservoir rights and is available from April-October, depending on annual mountain snowpack. Marketing & sale of fruit is primarily through 7 farmers markets and select small grocer and restaurant wholesale accounts.
What is Ela Family Farms to us?
Ela Family Farms is the beating heart of what we do and who we are, as individuals and as part of the community. Each year we feel the rush of spring quickening, the mercurial shifting from winter’s quiescence into summer’s booming scurry. We watch migratory birds arrive, blooms carpet the trees, trees get grafted and planted, CSA members reconnect, and we move our attention from pruning the trees for bounty to thinning their fruit for prime growth. This life is immersive, an endeavor of full mind, body, heart, and soul. Sustainability has been a guidepost in our choices over the years – ecological, energy, water, air, biotic communities, local communities, orchards, and state and national communities all contribute to the choices we make. Over the last few years we’ve been having a conversation about yet another kind of sustainability – that of our personal selves. Like an older orchard block of peaches, we are past our prime production years. Acknowledging all we value in what we do, and simultaneously acknowledging that the whole thing is taking a greater and greater percentage of our daily vitality, we ask: How can we nurture the whole of what matters to us? What does that look like?
We’d like to spend some of our productive years with energy to reinvest in ourselves, in all the little travels and hobbies which have been on the back burner of orcharding. Our conclusion is that it is time to turn this heartbeat of life over to more vigorous hands, and to put the farm up for sale so we can “retire” to broaden our range of experiences.
Finding a suitable buyer for the farm may take weeks or it may take years. As fruit growers, we take the long view – after all a fruit tree needs 4-6 years after planting to really come into its own. As long as we are in it, we are fully in it! So, this is not goodbye right now. This message is a way of including our community in another part of our farm life’s ride as well, just as so many of you have come along with us through many seasons’ growth and changes. And, if you think you know someone who might be interested in this amazing place, please pass the word along or let us know!
Video peeks at the farm:
If you or someone you know is interested in being the next stewards of the Ela Family Farms land, please email enquiries here.
