Our story
Our thirty acre farm is located in Avondale, which is located on the east side of the Rocky Mountains near Pueblo, Colorado. We chose to farm here on the high plains because of the natural resources conducive to organic farming. Our farm is classified as “Prime, Irrigated Farm Land of National Importance”. The soil type is a mineral-rich Rocky Ford silty clay loam that is very productive and can grow just about anything. We have senior water rights from the Bessemer Ditch, which is the third oldest irrigation ditch in Colorado. Bessemer Ditch water comes directly from the Pueblo Reservoir and thus does not have excessive chemical tail water.
Clean water and healthy soil=clean and healthy food.

Calendar
• Mid March: Begin Irrigating
• Mid May: Last frost
• Late May: Scapes in season
• Early July: Garlic harvest
• Early October: First frost
• Mid October: Plant garlic

We grow certified organic vegetables, open pollinated seeds, grains, cover crops and hay. High quality table garlic and seed garlic is our specialty and can be ordered from this website. See “garlic store” for details.

The other essential ingredient for successful farming is community: family, friends, teachers, neighbors, professional affiliations, and our co-producers (customers). Lots of people have contributed to our operation over the years and we are grateful for their help, friendship, and patronage.

Farm location

1) Alfalfa/Grass
2) Leguminous cover crop for plow-down
3) Garlic, onions, leeks
4) Squash, melons, cucumbers
5) Cover Crops for seed such as Austrian winter peas
6) Carrots, Tomatoes and other vegetables

We are certified organic by the Colorado Department of Agriculture. (Certification #113)

Why Seeds
Agricultural seed is the foundation of our food systems. It is a vital natural resource that must be preserved and improved upon. We take our seed production very seriously in an effort to provide varieties to other farmers that are especially suited for organic agriculture, are true to type, and free of transgenic contamination. Roughly half of our production is devoted to growing commercial scale seed. We are especially interested in adapting vegetable seed to semi-arid and arid regions. Squash, tomato, pepper, onion, leek, and carrot seed are our specialties.

Seed links
www.seedalliance.org
www.osgata.org www.organicseedcoop.com

History and Bioregion
The Arkansas River originates at the continental divide near Leadville, CO. The Spanish and Native Americans referred to it as Rio Napesta or Red Water. The Arkansas Valley and high plains country that slopes eastward from the Rocky Mountains was referred to as the “Great American Desert” by Zebulon Pike and other early explorers. Pike declared it unfit for agriculture, but little did he know what irrigation could do for mineralized soil in arid country.

By the 1820’s the Santa Fe Trail was established along the Arkansas and farming settlements began to take hold by the early 1850’s. One of the first was that of Charles Autobees, near the confluence of the Arkansas and Huerfano rivers, within the Vigil and St Vrain Mexican Land Grant.

A small Catholic church and Morada (penitente brotherhood chapel) are all that remain of the original Autobees settlement, which is located about 5 miles east of our farm. The facilities are used but once a year on May 15 to celebrate the feast day of San Isidro—the patron saint of Agriculture. Our family was honored to attend the ceremony and feast the year we moved to Avondale. We like to plant our squash and melon crops around May 15 in honor of this day and all the people that work on the land.
Historical information from: Ralph Taylor, Colorado South of the Border, 1963