CNN comes to Ute City - CSA School

Reporters from CNN came out Thursday morning to do a story on organic farming and eating locally to coincide with the Aspen Food and Wine Classic. A small feature will also be done on the CSA school and the young people role in the future of organic farming. The piece will air Friday June 13th and should repeat all weekend as part of the festival coverage.

Normal CSA school activities resumed after the departure of the reporters. Several new beds were planted and others weeded. Plans have been made to begin offering shares in as little as one week. A limited amount of shares will be offered this year to give the students time to organize and divide the work accordingly. 

Ken and Gail Kuhns of Peach Valley CSA arrived in the afternoon to tour the farm and consult with the students and Jennifer Craig about a strategy for the fledgeling CSA. The future looks very promising for the new CSA and the students are excited to work and build a strong community based farm. To view the full photo set click here.

Interns Kelly, Danny and Brian with guidance from Jerome, installed a solar panel array and pump system to pump spring water into the large cistern at CRMPI. A small hole was discovered in the hose connecting the pump which caused the pump to work slowly. The hole was patched and the pump is now working at full capacity. To view more photos of the installation process click here.

Peach Valley CSA Day 3

Despite the cold and rainy weather, the class assisted Ken Kuhns in moving several brush piles from one of the fruit orchards he tends. The class toured the orchard and learned to identify the different varieties of fruit trees and the warning signs for disease.  Ken then instructed the class on proper pruning technique and the appropriate time to prune. After lunch, Ken showed the class the strawberry harvest and how to pick and transplant strawberry plant runners for the next season. For the complete photo set, please click here.

Materials for New Greenhouse Finally On-Site

Jerome and several interns moved the steel trusses and beams donated by Planted Earth from Carbondale up to CRMPI. The polycarbonate purchased from Polygal for the new greenhouse named "Phoenix" has been moved up as well. Jerome and Michael Thompson modified a 21' boat trailer to accommodate the 22' polycarbonate panels and steel structure. Maneuvering the trailer upon which these materials were precariously piled up the hairpin, rutted, and pot-hole pocked road was a tricky affair, and one we are glad to be through with. We shall soon begin pouring footers and the foundation, and then we can commence with construction. Thanks to everyone involved in this labor intensive process for your hard work.

Visitors from Prescott College

Twelve students and an instructor from Prescott College arrived at CRMPI on Monday to help maintain the garden and move stones to make way for construction of the new greenhouse. Jerome gave the students a tour of the forest garden and explained the permaculture techniques used in each guild. The student then broke up into teams to mulch, transplant and move stones. The students worked hard and learned simultaneously, after which they lunched on red quinoa, mixed greens from the garden and curried tofu. Thank you to all who attended and worked so hard.

To view the full photo story click here.

Grafting Class

Jerome Osentowski gave a grafting workshop on Wednesday, May 28th here at CRMPI. Several grafting techniques were demonstrated by Jerome and the class was given knives and practice material before grafting scion wood that had been collected by Jerome for the class. Each student was given a donor piece of scion wood to graft to one of several selected trees in the CRMPI forest garden that are used for training. The Macintosh apple tree that was used contains over 10 different types of apples grafted throughout the years of training at CRMPI (it's a Frankenstein tree). Jerome gave the class a detailed tour of the property and explained the many guilds contained in the forest garden. These guilds employ several permaculture techniques to support fruit and nut-bearing plants that generally cannot grow at the high altitude and cool climate of the Rocky Mountains. The class distributed mulch over selected guilds and learned the importance of mulch as pest and weed control and insulation and compost for the beds.

Ute City Farms - First Day

Jennifer Craig, owner of Ute City Farms in Woody Creek, has graciously offered her land for the development of a CSA farm and training facility. The farm is a beautiful 40 acre section of a sprawling 1,000 acre ranch. Ute City Farms is a 30 year old established farm with very rich soil and a nearly unlimited water supply provided by a rain reclamation ditch and a large pond. The farm is located in a sheltered valley that provides a  wind break, and the the beds are on an incline to maximize solar potential.

The class will have the unprecedented opportunity to take over the operation and management of a well-established organic farm and apply the CSA model that they are learning. Jennifer Craig will help oversee and assist the class, but the responsibility for future success of the farm will be theirs. This will be an excellent hands-on learning experience for the class and will provide valuable practical training not contained in books. The class is currently scheduled to work at Ute City two days a weeks and may increase visits as needed.

On the morning of Tuesday, May 27th, the class received a tour and lessons about planting and farm equipment safety before beginning work in the field. Pulling up perennial plants and weeds was the first task of the day, followed by weed-eating and tilling to prepare the beds. The class shoveled and raked the carefully measured bed structure, and then brought compost up from one of many large piles on the property and spread it over the tops of the beds. A short primer on seeding given by Jennifer Craig followed, and the class went back to the field to sow the chosen seeds in the prepared beds.

A delicious organic lunch was provided by CRMPI and Ute City which provided a break for the volunteers and a time to recap the morning's events. Wild hummingbirds whizzed around the property and a nest of red-tailed hawks could be observed in a tall tree behind the barn.

The afternoon work consisted of more weeding, bed prep and seeding. The class ended with a participatory round up of a small herd of Wagyu Kobe Beef cattle in the adjacent field. The day was a great success and hopefully heralds a promising future for the CSA school.

For the full photo set for this event please click here.