Morales Farms

Morales Farms
A Tradition in Excellence
Story & Photo By Gretchen Bergen

Carol Morales drives her pickup beside the lettuce field and grins. Just ahead, a red-tailed hawk flies along a dirt road that encircles the farm. It's the same road Carol hopes to turn into a public walking trail someday so everyone can enjoy the beauty of this place.

“Did you see that?” she says.

Native Americans call the red-tailed hawk “the one who sees,” and after 22 years of working this land, Carol and her husband Joe rely on daily signs from nature to keep them in tune with a higher purpose.

Carol points across the alpaca-nibbled meadow lined with golden willows, across rows of spinach and kale crisscrossed by gurgling irrigation ditches, past the raspberry bushes and yellow sunflowers, to the jagged Indian Peaks in the distance.

“This is a gift. And that's the reason the farm is open to the public, because a gift is only worth having when we are willing to share it.”

Joe's father started Morales Farms in 1943, growing lettuce, spinach and other crops around Kremmling, Hot Sulphur Springs and Granby. “I've always enjoyed seeing things grow,” Joe says. “And then watch it all disappear, but not really.”

Joe remembers walking with his father in the fields two miles east of Granby where Morales Farms now stands, and talking about how they would own this land one day. In 1970, just 90 days before he died, Joe's father cosigned the note for the farm. “The farm is my childhood dream come true,” Joe says. “I'm living the dream I've had all my life.”

From May to September, the Moraleses raise vegetables and berries on 200 acres. They grow red and green lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, carrots, three kinds of peas, rhubarb, gooseberries, asparagus -- the list seems endless. Every summer the farm's sleepy produce stand vends fresh veggies on the honor system. Everything from humble radishes to bags of exotic arugula, labeled in Carol's neat cursive, “Arugula: For those who know.”

Morales Farms remains the last of many lettuce farms that once flourished on the mesas surrounding Granby. During the 1930's and 40s, Granby was called the lettuce capital of the United States, shipping trainloads of produce across the country. Granby continued to be the largest lettuce producer in Colorado until the late 70s. According to Joe and Carol, Grand County's small farms began declining with the rise of the California farming industry.
Survival means adapting to changing times. In the old days, lettuce made up 50% of everything Morales Farms grew, Joe says. Now it's only 10%. Ten years ago Joe was trucking 70,000 crates of produce a year to Denver wholesalers. Today much of what they grow goes to 42 restaurants in Grand County, four regional farmers' markets and local grocery stores.

Carol says, “Selling directly to the consumer means we have control of how fresh the produce is when it reaches the end user.”

Carol and Joe are constantly experimenting with new crops like the yellow squash and zucchini they introduced in 2005. Walking around the farm, Carol checks on her new self-wrapping cauliflower and picks a round patty pan zucchini. In the greenhouse, she samples tiny red and yellow pear tomatoes bursting with flavor, and then rattles off a recipe for sautéed squash flowers with
linguini.

“It's diversity that will be the future of this farm,” says Carol. “Our focus is turning to the restaurants and growing more specialty items.”

When Al Sapien, executive chef of the Untamed Steakhouse in Winter Park, requested broccoli rapini, Carol promptly planted some. Al sautés the greens for the restaurant's vegetable du jour along with baby carrots and snap peas -- all homegrown at Morales Farms. Having access to locally-grown produce is a huge plus for the restaurant, Al says. “Besides, Carol is so friendly you can't help but support her.”

You have heard it said before — farming is hard work. Days often begin at 5 a.m. and don't end until 8:30 p.m. With the help of 10 workers, Joe estimates it takes two people per 10 acres to raise a crop. Every field is hoed and harvested by hand. Crops are planted in stages, every 10 days, so everything isn't ready at once. To keep the ground healthy, Joe rotates crops every year, plants soil-friendly legumes, fertilizes with goat and alpaca manure, and practices sister gardening — grouping beans, potatoes and squash like the ancient Mayans.

The farm is pesticide-free and incorporates organic practices though it isn't certified organic. Walking around the farm, Carol stops to sample a green onion and says, “Isn't it nice to be able to eat whatever you want because you know it's not sprayed?”

The mountain climate has its challenges and rewards, Joe says. “You can wake up one morning and see it all gone due to heavy frost.” He recalls an August cold snap that decimated their pea plants. But cool weather crops and root vegetables thrive in the mountain air. It also raises the smallest, most tender asparagus available. Nicknamed linguini asparagus by a Denver wholesaler, the spears never reach full maturity thanks to the cool soil. So they stay small and succulent. At 8,290 feet, Morales Farms is the highest altitude asparagus farm in the country.

“The asparagus is a story of patience,” says Carol. They planted their first asparagus crop by seed. The next spring, a Front Range farmer offered Joe 80,000 of his roots free-of-charge with the understanding the Moraleses would sell him asparagus when his season ended. (Denver-area seasons typically finish two weeks before Granby's.) So Joe and Carol planted the asparagus roots and waited five years before the spears grew large enough to harvest. “But the asparagus is what we needed to get in the door with the restaurants seven years ago.”

Joe says today's fast-paced life demands fast food. People don't have time to think about nutrition. At farmers' markets in Dillon, Minturn, Evergreen and Granby, Carol educates customers about the benefits of eating fresh, locally-grown produce full of vitamins and minerals. She says the farm's stand is popular because they sell only produce they raise. “It's important to know your farmer.”

Joe and Carol hope a renewed interest in fresh produce and supporting community agriculture will keep Morales Farms going for years to come. And Carol is always thinking of ways to make the farm more welcoming to visitors. Next year customers will be able to pick their own produce, and grow their own veggies in the community garden. Carol also has plans for a fragrant field of lavender next to the produce stand, and dreams of creating a walking path around the farm where hikers can pause to nibble ripe raspberries surrounded by mountains and rows of cheerful green lettuce.

Carol says heaven is an extension of what God helps us create on earth. Looking around the farm you can't help but believe.