We are still fine-tuning the website to make sure we can accept recurring payments - something we have always done and want to continue doing.

When the website is running smoothly, we will email you and let you know via Small Farm Central's regular email. Please do not email me or try to buy a share at this time. Wait until we reach out to you with the link to purchase. I promise it's not too far off!

Thank you for your patience, you will get a chance to sign up very soon. 

Stay warm! 

Josie

Dear Shareholders,

As promised, we are just about up and running with our new e-commerce site where you will be able to purchase your 2021 CSA share.

We have a target date of February 11th for the launch and we'll be updating you all with the website link when we are ready. 

In the meantime head over to  https://www.botanicgardens.org/our-impact/food-programs/csa-share-options 

You will see our updated prices and share options. We added a new "regenerative supporting share" that is an increased donation to regenerative/sustainable projects for the farm and for the community. The projects we are working on range from hoop house growing to a high tunnel for season extension to an expanded dedication to our soil health efforts. 

Once we launch the website and you sign up, we will start sending out emails through Mailchimp. You won't get any more emails from us if you do not sign up as a 2021 csa member.

Just a quick update - look for our email next week and please consider a donation to our farm if you are interested! Thanks all!

Dear Waitlisted CSA members,

Thank you for your interest in the Chatfield CSA! Some of you may already be CSA members, not interested anymore, or waiting to hear how you can sign up.

Thanks for your patience - we are in the process of building a new website and so we haven't been in touch as much.  We should be ready to sell our CSA shares to you starting at the end of February/beginning of March. This allows time for our current CSA shareholders to renew their shares first.

We will email you a purchase link to our new e-commerce site toward the end of Feb. when we are ready. You can also read about our shares and prices on the Denver Botanic Gardens website at: at https://www.botanicgardens.org/our-impact/food-programs/chatfield-farms-csa-program 

Please be sure to watch for our emails coming up if you'd like to become a shareholder for 2021! If you have any questions, please email me at josie.hart@botanicgardens.org  

Thanks, everyone! We hope to see you in the summer with a fresh basket of vegetables in your hand and a smile on your face!

Greetings, shareholders and friends!

Happy New Year, everyone; no need to reflect on 2020, we all know how it went. However, we do want to thank you all for your amazing support, kind words, enthusiasm and community last season. The weekly distributions in the open air were the highlight of our summer. Seeing your faces light up when you came to pick up your produce really made the smoky skies, the drought and the heat all worth it! 

Usually, CSA share renewals happen in January. This year, we are moving from our old website to a new one and ask for your patience as we create something simple and streamlined. We plan to open share sales the second week of February. Stay tuned.

For now, you can find information about the CSA here on Denver Botanic Garden's main website, although we are still adding prices, etc.: 

https://www.botanicgardens.org/our-impact/food-programs/chatfield-farms-csa-program 

Soon, we will start emailing you through MailChimp instead of this platform. Please add the new email to your contacts as soon as you get it so we don't get lost in your spam-land.

All returning shareholders will have priority to renew for the rest of February before we release shares to our waitlist. 

An updated list of share options and prices will be emailed to you ahead of time to ensure the process of buying a share goes quickly. In the mean-time, if you have specific questions about the coming season, feel free to reach out! 

Let's make 2021 full of connection, beautiful food, nurturance, and hopefully more moisture!

Thanks,

Josie and the CSA Team

Josie Hart  - Manager of Farm Programs

 Josie is inspired to connect people with the farm, especially at CSA distributions and markets--which are like a weekly mini-celebration of fresh food and all the education programs Chatfield offers. From recipes to new tomato varieties to edible flowers, all things grown at Chatfield contribute to a delicious season each time. Josie produces the flowers for the CSA share, markets and events held onsite. Beauty from nature is just as vital as food!

Royce Hale - Farm Education Coordinator
Royce owns and operates Guffarmery, an urban farm in Denver. He graduated from the Veterans to Farmers Program at Chatfield in 2017 and is now a full-time educator for our veterans and other students of farming. Royce also teaches workshops on homesteading topics such as fermentation, baking, and brewing. After teaching in public schools for many years, Royce’s diverse experience in the military, agriculture, and education is a perfect fit for our program.

 Head CSA Grower - Maddy Torraca Jones

Maddy is the new Head CSA Grower at Chatfield. Like her spirit vegetable, a carrot, Maddy prefers to spend most of her time in the dirt.  She has spent the last three seasons farming in Colorado at Cure Farm, Chatfield, and for her own small urban farm in Denver. Maddy loves sharing her excitement for growing and eating vegetables (especially the purple ones!) with volunteers, crew members, and CSA members. She is excited to work alongside the rest of the Chatfield team to continue utilizing sustainable practices and providing food to our amazing members and donation partners.  

Dear shareholders,

We apologize for having to make a spur-of-the-moment decision yesterday to cancel Tuesday distribution. We appreciate your patience and understanding. As a thank you, we have something special for you. 

We invite you and your family to come to the Chatfield Farms to pick up your shares tomorrow (Thursday, October 22) For the extra travel, we offer you a free carving pumpkin and hot cider! Come see the fall colors, where your food is grown, and end the season on a high note! 

Each of you will receive a carving pumpkin, your share, fruit share if you have one purchased, and hot cider. Come any time between 3:30 - 7 p.m. Please park in the upper gravel lot and head to the Hildebrand Ranch area. Follow the signs to the CSA Washstand.

Hope to see you tomorrow! 

Hey all,
 Reminders - last week was the final week for eggs and mushrooms. FRUIT shares will be there today. Although flower shares have ended, we made a special dried "forever" bouquet for your homes. Enjoy - just a special little gift from us to thank you for buying a flower share! 

PLEASE bring cash (bee keepers don't do venmo) to pay for your honey, grain, flowers or any other item you might owe money on.

If you bought a bouquet on THURSDAY we need our vases back please! Bring them this week.

Thank you all for a great season - we truly appreciate you and will miss seeing your faces every week. We will be in touch with details about next year's sign up, our new website, and survey results.

Eat well, Be well.

Dear Shareholders,

October is right around the corner but we are still filling our days with bountiful harvests and sunny warm afternoons in the fields. We are so grateful for all the food we have curing in the greenhouse and for the resilience of the crops we are still harvesting in our fields. 

We hope some of you made it out to our gleaning day this past Saturday to collect up some of the last sweet summer produce. If you haven't been to the farm lately we encourage you all to come check out the pumpkin patch, corn maze, and stroll through our market garden. Chatfield in the fall is a wonderful place to spend some time enjoying the cooler weather in a beautiful setting, with fun activities with family and friends. 

Thank you to all who brought reusable bags last week, please bring a bag again this week if you are able. 

Harvest list -  Sep 29 & Oct 1

arugula

lettuce mix

french breakfast radishes 

carrots

delicata squash

garlic

dill

Featured Recipe -  Arugula Salad with Delicata Squash, Wheat berries, and Pomegranates 

Items to buy in the coming weeks:

Flower shares are wrapping up for the season, but we are going to have a couple weeks where you can purchase a bouquet for $10. As a special treat to folks who have been asking all season for flowers! 

Wheat berries grown at Chatfield will be back in stock. 

Please make sure to wash all your produce very well.

Hey there,
Welcome to the special salsa edition for the CSA this week! We have one final round of tomatoes, cilantro, hot peppers, and onions ready for you today so you can all salsa your way to the weekend!

** PLEASE BRING A REUSABLE BAG FOR TODAY (we are low on bags).

* NO flower shares/sales this week, they need time to catch up so next week we will have them again.

Don't forget gleaning this Saturday fro 9-12:30!

See ya there!

Dear shareholders,

Today - PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN BAGS! We are running low on paper.
The much anticipated first gleaning day is here! Bouquets are for sale - Bring $10 cash!

This Saturday,  
9:00 -12:30, Chatfield Farms' CSA fields.

Please park in the first main gravel parking area you see when you arrive at the farm. Bring large reusable grocery bags, snippers or pruners, gloves and water/snacks. This event is free - but please let the security know you are at the farm for Gleaning with the CSA.

You will walk out to our far fields back by our greenhouses (about 10-15 minutes) so you need good shoes and the ability to walk that far. If you end up picking a ton of produce, you can go fetch your car and pick up your produce with it at the end. Please do not drive out to the far fields. We will send out a separate map of the farm for those who are new.

We will have the corn maze event going on and that will create chaos if we have folks driving through the farm.

Each crop you will be able to harvest from will have a flag in front of it - and will be labeled. Please do not pick crops that aren't flagged as we are still harvesting those. We will have tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and other selections we have not determined yet. 

After Gleaning, you all are invited to go through our Corn Maze for FREE!!! If this sounds fun to you, head to the entrance and tell security again you are a gleaner and they will let you and your group inside! Good Luck!  

See you all Saturday!