Local Organic Farmers Look Forward to 2001

As I write this (in mid-December), the price of lettuce has soared to record highs because of unusual cold in California, and my thoughts are naturally turning to… local organic farmers.

So, I thought I'd check in with a trio of favorite Co-op farmers and see how they fared over the last year and what plans they have for the coming season.

The Mazzottis Keep It Small, Keep It Interesting

For Arnold and Christina Mazzotti in Socorro, 2000 was
a good year. Their main outlet is the Downtown Farmer's Market in Albuquerque, and this year they had something new to offer: artichokes.

Though the market didn't open until most of the artichoke season was behind them, Arnold and Christina's artichoke flowers were a big hit at the market and they are planning to do more this year — enough more so the Co-op may be able to offer New Mexico artichokes to our customers— the first time we'd have local 'chokes. Keep your fingers crossed on that one.

This past year was also a great year for sweet Spanish onions, tomatoes and sweet peppers, potatoes, and of course, chiles.

For the past couple of years, Arnold and Christina teamed up with another grower in Socorro, Albert Bustamante, who farms some fields nearby, and together they have brought organic green chile: Sandias, Big Jims, and Barkers to the Co-op for roasting by the bag.

Christina hopes that this year they will have more than enough to fill the growing demand at the two Co-ops for this traditional fall treat.

"Keep it small," is the motto Arnold and Christina are following in developing their farm.

"It's getting more and more interesting," Christina commented about farming, "the more we learn about organic and biodynamic methods.

We're working more to improve the soil. This year we may get some little South American chickens.

We would get the eggs to sell at the market — I'd really like to be able to provide people with good, fresh eggs; and the chicken manure would play an important role in our soil-building program.

"Also this year, we are looking toward doing more varieties of onions, lots of garlic and chiles and sweet peppers.

We're just starting to look through the seed catalogs…" When I asked Christina about concerns facing the one-acre farm, water was on her mind. "We get our water from the Rio Grande.

Hopefully, there will be lots of snow this winter and the water problem will be better.

We tried using some city water this year (with drip irrigation) but it is very expensive and we don't like the fact that it's chlorinated."

In the long term, Arnold and Christina are looking toward producing more fruit.

They've got some cherry trees going and are looking at putting in more fruit trees. They are also looking at expanding their greenhouse.

No Cattle Company: Full Time Farming

Greenhouse expansion is something that Sharlene Grunerud and Michael Alexander, at No Cattle Company in the Mimbres Valley, east of Silver City took on last spring, more than doubling their greenhouse space.

This expansion was a result of Sharlene and Michael reaching a major goal — Sharlene was able to quit her off-farm job to farm fulltime with Michael.

With the greenhouse expansion, they more than doubled their bedding plant production; selling to nurseries in Silver City, at the farm, at "Shout and Sprout" at the Valley Co-op and "Earth Day" at Nob Hill, and growing all their own flower and veggie starts.

Anticipating the wilt that devastated the previous year's tomato crop, Sharlene and Michael planted 600 tomato plants last year, but, as Sharlene notes, "the wilt never reached the Mimbres Valley so tomatoes were a big part of our twice-weekly load of mixed veggies and cut flowers taken to the Silver City Farmers' Market.

"Another increase in production was in our dry and fresh-cut flowers.

We planted an additional quarter acre in a large variety of flowers for the market as well as supplying me with more than enough dried flowers to greatly increase my value-added market of dried floral wreaths."

Shoppers at the Co-op were able to enjoy a great variety of apples, pears, onions and hard squash from No Cattle this year, something that should be repeated this coming season.

What's in the future for Sharlene and Michael? This winter Michael will be getting their "new" 1954 Allis-Chalmers combine ready to harvest a planned increase in our pinto bean crop.

Don Bustos:
Family Farmer, Co-op Organizer and CSA Organizer

Don Bustos of Santa Cruz farm, recently called to say that snow in the Espanola area where he farms had collapsed his hoop houses so there would be a break in our supply of local salad mix (by the time you read this the supply should be back on line).

For Don, 2000 was a good year, "a good learning year — I learned a lot of different techniques. Chile, squash and salad were good and we are forming a family farmers' cooperative in Northern New Mexico — that's Albuquerque too — for marketing, distributing and supply buying."

Don's farm covers more than nine acres, four and a half that he owns and five acres he leases on the San Juan Reservation.

Don has seven hoop houses (10,000 square feet) which allow him to farm out of the normal season in New Mexico, and 3,000 square feet of greenhouse space.

He is working on moving his hoop houses around on the farm so he can plant green manures on the land the hoop houses have been on and build the soil for the houses.

He expects his greenhouse to start production of European cucumbers in mid-January.

Don's major crops are traditional ones: chile, corn and beans, but he has also been the major supplier of salad mix (barring the occasional snowstorm) to both Co-ops and the Marketplace in Santa Fe.

Santa Cruz Farm also sells its produce at three farmers' markets (Santa Fe, Espanola and Los Alamos) and has an active CSA (Community Supported Agriculture where people buy shares in the yield of a farm and get deliveries on a weekly basis at growers' markets).

The CSA has about 50 members in the winter and nearly 100 in the summer. In addition to his farming duties, Don puts out a weekly newsletter for members of his CSA.

If you are interested in becoming a member you can reach Don at .

So there you have it. A trio of local organic farmers, learning, educating, building their soil.

Dreaming over seed catalogs. Exploring the meaning of sustainability.

Dedicated to bringing us the very best organic produce — local, fresh, delicious and packed with nutrition.

Looks like 2001 is going to be a great year!