Market Gardening and Life at 7000 ft. in the Rockies of Colorado

Monday, July 5, 2010

To Market

After much toil and anxiety we've completed the circle and taken a harvest to market. On Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market with a load of spinach, lettuce, radishes, mustard greens, swiss chard, mint, and rhubarb. Harvesting spinach.
Really wasn't sure how it would go. We didn't have a lot of stuff and the competitors from the front range and Junction are way ahead on the harvest schedule. Here's our booth. Sponsored by Deep Roots, a local non-profit food awareness group.
At the end of the day... we were a success! We sold out of everything! Well almost, we had a couple of bags of mustards left and maybe a dozen radishes. In total we sold 26 gallon bags of greens, 10 lbs. of rhubarb, two bushels of radishes, and two pounds of mint. A big thank you to Lisa from Deep Roots, and Tracy at Mainstreet Steamboat Farmer's Market. In the garden things are really growing. Looks like a bumper crop year for stawberries.Which the deer and birds would just love to get at, so Barney the scarecrow is keeping a watchful eye on them.Our other big project this week was the the chicken coop. After pricing out the lumber it looked like it was gonna cost about $1000 for materials plus the time to put it all together. We were all set to make it happen. Then we spotted a classified ad that read: Large chicken coop for sale. 12'X12'X6'. $500. Funny how things work out. We called up the number and went out and had a look. It was a little dirty but solidly built. The owner said they had it built last fall for a cost of $1700 but decide to keep their birds in their barn as it would be more convenient and and they had the space. We were gonna put it on a trailer to bring it home but their tractor couldn't lift it. So we called up a towing company and they came out, loaded it up, moved it across the valley, and unloaded it in about an hour. I must have bumped the easy button.
It arrived with only minor damage. After a solid day and a half of scraping, shoveling, spraying, scrubbing, and bleaching, it was move in ready.
Now those are some happy chickens!
Whew! What a week. Happy Fourth.

3 comments:

  1. Happy chickens indeed! I'm jealous!

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  2. It really must be satisfying to sell your produce at the market. I have so much kale and lettuce it's coming out my ears. I wish my kids liked it more.
    Your chickens are looking very healthy and content.

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  3. Hey Thanks for the Link to the danish recipe. It looks like a good one so I printed it out. I hope I get time to make it!
    Calories be damned.

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