This is not a drill. It’s a stone fruit!
Sometimes it’s good to have friends in high places. Many years ago, Mac connected with Steve Ela. They had both agreed to serve on the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) board as farmer-members.
While Mac was building his organic revolution, Steve was growing hundreds of acres of organic peaches, pears, and apples in the high plains of Colorado on his family farm. The two stayed in touch.
As Elmwood Stock Farm grew, we had a desire to provide more organic fruit offerings to our customers. The only trouble is: we don’t grow tree fruit. Our climate is hot and humid which encourages destructive insects and plant diseases. Without crop protection chemicals, organically growing peaches, pears, and apples on a large scale in our region is essentially impossible.
There is a cluster of organic tree fruit farms located in the high desert region of Southwest Colorado where they enjoy dry conditions, low humidity, and seasonal temperatures due to the elevation of the slopes in the Rogers Mesa area—the perfect microclimate for organic fruit.
When Mac struck out to find organic orchards to partner with, he reached out to Steve in order to secure some of his delicious organic peaches for the Elmwood community to enjoy. We have loved the fruit we have been able to bring in for the past several years!
But this year, an unusual unfortunate late weather event occurred—a killing freeze that took out the fruit flowers, and Steve lost much of his crop. Fortunately he connected us with his local fruit cooperative where several of his neighbors in the high country bring their organic peaches to be packed and sold.
If farming could be summed up in three simple words it would be: community over competition. Why? Unpredictability is the name of the farming game. Try as you may, you just won’t see everything coming. That’s why we love partnering with other organic producers who can fill in the gaps when certain things aren’t available because of time and place.
Plucked fresh from the trees, we are thrilled to once again offer fresh and delicious 100% organic peaches. Make them into a pie, blend into a smoothie, chop up into a salsa or enjoy them like Mac does—eaten over a sink with the juice dripping down your chin!
Remember, CSA members get first pick! But we do have plenty this week for you, so find our fruit inventory available online, at our farm store, or at the farmers markets!
Yay! Yay! Hooray! Organic peaches are here!