By Jon Huang
Smith Farms runs a seasonal farm stand from July to October in Falcon. Entering their 19th season selling in Falcon, Smith took time to answer questions posed by The New Falcon Herald about the family run business and the challenging growing seasons.
Huang: With the record low snowpack, how’s growing been?
Smith: It’s been dry and there is a lack of water throughout the river so irrigation has been a lot less. However, we do have a well that we’re able to use.
(The farm relies on flood irrigation from the Catlin Canal and well water for drip irrigation).
A couple of times, they’ve gotten a big rain on that burn scar in Beulah where the fire was … and we were able to get a few unexpected runs from that, which has helped. There has been very murky water, and sometimes the water is black. There’s been a couple instances, not on produce, but on forage crops that things were looking a little bit yellow and needing some nitrogen … and then we ran that water on it, and it kind of greened it right up. However, I’ve heard from some other guys, “Well, it’s bad. That’ll change the pH of your soil” but I think in small doses, it’s OK.
Huang: Has the recent rainfall helped at all?
Smith: One thing to keep in mind: direct rain on a produce farm is not always a good thing. In most cases, it’s actually a bad thing. What’s so special about our growing area is we’re in a very dry climate, but we have the mountains right next to us. When it snows in the mountains, that snow melts, and then we get to use that water as we choose … Timing is so crucial on irrigation when you’re raising things like melons and tomatoes and chili, but I don’t want to complain too much because I know there’s a lot of pasture ground around us and ranchers who welcome any rainstorm they can get so it kind of goes both ways.
Huang: You have eliminated wholesale growing because of the drought. How has weather affected production?
Smith: Everything that we’re growing right now is going right to Falcon, and we cut crops way back, and unfortunately there’s days in the market that we don’t have as much as we’d like … then there’s other days that you wouldn’t know the difference. The quality has been exceptional, but it’s just the quantity.
Everybody is experiencing a lower yield on their hay crop this year. We (use it) to feed our own sheep with it, and then we sell the lamb in the market.
We also sell some stuff from Pueblo and from some guys down in Rocky Ford, especially in a year like this. You can’t grow it all so you focus on a few major crops and let your neighbors focus on a few other major crops and … then try and work together to make it through the season.
Huang: Talk about using drip vs flood irrigation on the farm.
Smith: Most all the melons are grown on drip … . Tomatoes, all of it could be grown on drip. Now, not everything on our farm is. We do a little bit of both … . It goes back to being able to use the water exactly when you want to use it. It takes a lot less water to raise a good crop on drip than it does flood irrigation.
With drip, you don’t get really good sub-moisture, so it doesn’t really build your ground as well for the future because it’s … feeding just what the plant needs … I believe there’s nutrients and stuff that we miss out on with the snowmelt using flood irrigation. Also, it’s not as easy as going and setting a tube or opening up a gated pipe.
Huang: How is it for Sasha (Adam’s wife) managing your Facebook page where people always ask about available produce?
Smith: The fact of the matter is we’re so busy just selling the stuff and keeping the market running; she doesn’t have a ton of time just to sit down and deal with all that. The toughest part is how things change throughout a season. We start with very little homegrown stuff, and then as the season progresses, we get more and more.
(We post) pictures of what we have in that moment in time and we try and do that on Saturdays and sometimes during the week. It’s just to highlight a few items … but we don’t list everything.
Huang: Is it just best to show up in person and ask questions?
Smith: Yeah. One of my most favorite deals is to talk about what’s homegrown, what we do and what we don’t do, and why don’t we. I have the opportunity to give the best answer possible … especially when we get the pesticide questions and I can discuss different crops with people. I can discuss how tomatoes rarely need sprayed ever, and other crops, it’s just inevitable. Something has to be done, whether you use a certified organic chemical or not … because there’s bugs for different crops.
One thing that’s tough—the certified organic sprays, you got to use them a lot to be effective. With a non-certified organic spray, you might be able to just use them once. I go back and forth in my own mind. What is actually better here?
Huang: In recent years, you’ve been transitioning fields over to exclusively organic/regenerative practices. How has that been?
Smith: I’m not seeing anything amazing for yields but we also got a lot of other elements working against us. I do believe that compost is going to be the way to go but it takes time … to build up that soil. We’re doing a lot of things with green manure, too (Smith has been growing rye as a cover crop and tilling it into the soil). (Using) green manure and compost, I think over time we could build up a really good platform. I’ll tell you right now, my tomatoes I have that are solely on compost — they’re beautiful.
Huang: What’s a typical day during growing season?
Every single day is different, and for me, I got to go to where the most pressure is and I literally go to bed a lot of nights and not know the right thing to do. Then I wake up in the morning, and I usually know what the right thing to do is, whether I got to do something in Rocky Ford … or I got to get to Falcon because we’re out of this or out of that … . It could be something like broken equipment and that you got to figure out is it important to fix now? … . Somebody would say it’s just like putting out fires.
(Adam drives up to Falcon every other day bringing produce from Rocky Ford to Falcon)
Huang: Anything else you’d like people to know about growing in Colorado?
Smith: We’re in Colorado raising a crop on a very short season in windows of unpredictable weather, and some days are easy, and some days are a huge challenge just to … get that crop up to Falcon and ready to sell. We don’t get perfect weather here in Colorado, and it is a challenge to raise a crop here. Also, every single season is different, and we hear stuff all the time like ‘Why don’t you have as much as last year?’ Another one that we hear is when they come in on our opening day and say that same thing. I’ll ask, ‘What time were you here last year?’ Oh, it was like middle of September … . In Falcon, there’s so many people moving from other states that don’t quite understand the Colorado growing season.
