Working with Ecology to Grow Nutrient-Dense Produce for the Western Slope
Contact: figure8farming@gmail.com
Working with Ecology to Grow Nutrient-Dense Produce for the Western Slope
Contact: figure8farming@gmail.com
About Us
What We Do
Figure 8 Farming grows specialty vegetables (greens, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, mushrooms, and more) in Paonia for communities around the Western Slope of Colorado. We aim to consistently grow tasty, nutrient-dense produce by stewarding and working within the abundant farm ecosystem at The Living Farm, a multi-generation family farm which has created the space for our garden adventures. We grow year-round under a variety of conditions and sell our harvests to local restaurants and grocery stores.
How We Grow
We grow using organic practices - this means no synthetic chemicals are present in our soil, water, and most importantly, the plants. This means that soil food web and plant growth cycles are able to take place in a manner that makes our produce pop with flavor, indicating high nutrient density and an overall healthy garden ecosystem.
We grow in a variety of different systems, primarily relying on the passively and actively heated greenhouses built by the Gillespie family to ensure that we are feeding as many people as the land can support. Other measures that we take to ensure a successful season include succession planting, intercropping with different cultivars, and using lots and lots of compost to keep our soil microbes happy.
What Does Figure 8 Farming Mean?
With the agriculture industry becoming increasingly consolidated into extractive, input-intensive production models, Figure 8 Farming refers to a vastly different growing system - one based on the cyclical flows of water, nutrients, energy, and capital that combine to drive our farm's success. Many of the key inputs in our growing processes come from The Living Farm and the North Fork Valley, and we contribute back to this abundant farm ecosystem by feeding all weeds and plant residues to the chickens and sheep that roam around our greenhouses and gardens. We also rely on the cyclical flow of capital to sustain our livelihoods and continued growth, and pride ourselves on balancing these ecological and financial cycles in a way that creates an intertwined "figure eight."
Meet Farmer Trev!
Trevor Donovan is a beginning farmer who has been learning the ins and outs of market farming in the high desert for the last four years, and is finally ready to apply his knowledge to his own business! Growing up in a non-agricultural background, he developed his affinity for high quality, nutrient-dense produce and responsible land stewardship through some random twists of fate in his early twenties. Trevor is from Massachusetts, and has been honored to be able to build upon the hard work and learnings of Lynn and Tom Gillespie at The Living Farm and of so many other people involved in the North Fork Valley agricultural community.
Meet Our Crew!
There is so much institutional knowledge and hard work that goes into making our farm run. Laura Graff is our Greenhouse Manager with a passion for nutritionally rich food and nearly a decade of experience growing plants and raising animals at The Living Farm. Lynn and Tom Gillespie are the farm owners who rent us the spaces they've built and tended for forty-plus years, and they are incredibly supportive of this new chapter for the farm.
We also get lots of help from community members who work as seasonal/part-time employees as well as friends and family from near and far. If you're interested in learning more about employment and volunteer opportunities, please shoot us an email at figure8farming@gmail.com!
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Where to Find Our Produce
In Paonia and Hotchkiss, you can purchase our greens year-round and other produce on a seasonal basis at Indigo Autumn and Farm Runners Station. For those who live in the Roaring Fork Valley, you can purchase our produce through our friends at Paonia Food Movement.
We also love working with chefs who appreciate fresh, consistent quality and choose to feature our produce in their menus. We have direct relationships with some chefs and also partner with Farm Runners to deliver to mountain communities throughout Western CO. Our greens, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, squash, broccolini, and mushrooms can be found at the following North Fork Valley restaurants on a seasonal basis:
- Three 20 Bar and Grill (Hotchkiss)
- Good Love (Paonia)
- Nido (Paonia)
- The Flying Fork (Paonia)
- Mesa Winds Farm and Winery (Hotchkiss)
- Kiss Flower Cafe (Paonia)