Left Hand Grange kicks off farm series with Ollin Farms

Left Hand Grange is going to be helping the community get to know local growers this season by hosting a series of farm-related mini-talks. The lead two events in the series will be a pair of interactive presentations by Ollin Farmson March 1, and March 11, each from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The talks are free of charge.

Ollin Farms' participation in the Grange talks is meaningful to the farm owners, who consider Niwot a core part of their origin story. "It's the 15th growing season for the farm, but our first farmer's market was at Niwot at the Whistle Stop Park," said Mark Guttridge, who co-owns the farms with his wife Kena.

The first talk will serve as an update for what customers can expect through the rest of the season. A core part of this future is the farm's plan to work with other growers, ranchers, and agriculture-based businesses to distribute food to the community.

"Farming is a hard way to make a living, but the more efficient we can be in our processes, the better chance we have for being viable. That's part of what we'll be talking about at our event. We'll also be sharing what we're growing and what we're excited about." said Guttridge.

This cooperative focus began as a response to shifting processes during the pandemic. As it became more difficult to buy and sell at farmer's markets, online ordering became key to connecting buyers and farms. In addition, farmers began working together to address challenges and Ollin Farms, in particular, hosted multi-producer sales at their property. It's a change that Guttridge and his wife plan to stick with.

For the first talk, Ollin Farms will be presenting with nine other farms: Lazy J Ranch, McCauley Family Farms, Arrowhead Dahlias, Colorado Aromatics, LaJoyia Farms, Jola Farms, Grama Grass and Livestock and Rocky Mountain Superfoods. The organizations will discuss the focus of each farm, the value they find in working together, upcoming Ollin Farms market days that feature their products, and for those who have it, their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs which can be picked up at designated days on the Ollin Farms site.

The second talk will focus on Project 95. Named after their farm's location on the 95th Street corridor, it's a restoration project set to take place on Boulder County open space which focuses on regenerative agriculture and sustainable farming.

"A lot of it comes down to too much CO2 in the atmosphere, but one of the ways to address that is through growing plants," said Guttridge. Through photosynthesis we can get CO2 to go back into the soil and be stored in the soil. It comes down to physically growing a new, healthy topsoil.

"Since 2018 we've partnered with NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) to get a conservation grant on a few open space leases to see how, while we're growing healthy food for the community, we can make sure the farm ecosystem is becoming more resilient, making a rich silt that can help buffer extreme weather events on the farm," he said.

Guttridge described one of the techniques that has already been put into place with this project, planting windbreaks around the field in the form of a variety of berry bushes to help protect vegetable plots from wind. Eventually he expects there will also be fruit harvests, but initially the focus in the trees and bushes isn't production, it's creating stronger growing areas. For more details on the project, visit ollinfarms.com/project_95.html.

Guttridge's enthusiasm for supporting the community through healthy food is apparent and he's relishing the chance to connect with Niwot residents at the Grange. "I'm really excited for these talks," he said. "I'm glad to talk about how these farmers are working together. I think it's going to be awesome to get the community back on the farm. Working together. Healing."