Day 10: The Colorado Farm Brewery by Charlotte

 Nearing the end of the trip, it is finally day ten, and we are starting off our morning visiting The Colorado Farm Brewery. This is the only farm and/or brewery that starts their product and finishes it all the way through for consumers, meaning they grow and ferment their own beer then sell it at their venue or distribute it to smaller brewery’s around the area almost as far as Denver, Colorado. 

Josh and Jason inherited their parents family farm making them the fourth generation farmer and their kids the fifth. Their parents bought the farm in the 1930’s when the dust bowl hit and caused a huge issue where they were currently living. In the San Luis Valley they persuaded people to move there by selling eighty acre settlement plots. 

The San Luis Valley used to be a lake plain and completely underwater now it’s a victim of the continental divide and a very dry desert that receives maybe at most six inches of rain a year. The farm uses a well that can only pump 2000 gallons of water a minute or waters from the Rio Grande after a snow melt. To be able to run ditches to the Rio Grande and use the water you have to have water rights. Ditch writers decide who uses the water for beneficial use and how much they are allowed to have since water is scarce. 

Before they began the brewing company they bought the property as a dairy farm, they milked all the way until 1995. Jason and Josh’s father started farming through 4-H. He saw his dad work hard everyday in the field , he knew as a young kid that’s what he was meant to do and it was his calling. Despite dropping out of high-school in 1972 his father was able to secure a grant that all allowed him to purchase his father’s farm and in addition 20 more jersey dairy cows to kickstart his new farm. 

Eventually some of the stainless steel milk vats were converted into a machine that they had no idea they were inventing. This machine does three steps all in one malting grains such as barley, wheat, and rye. Anything they process and do not use or products smaller such as rye , they sell to micro-breweries and distilleries around the area for things such as rye whisky. 

In 2017 they created the Colorado Farm Brewery Company with an idea that Americans view drinking as something they should abstain from or over indulge in. They wanted to create an environment around the farm that allowed agriculture to be a main staple of tourism and a safe space for families to come and enjoy. They keep their lives super busy to this day as all of the family involved work normal jobs during the week and are only open during the weekends. They have very strong slogan that says “Drink like a farmer” or to drink when the work is done. 

This farm has found a way to add value to their beginning ag product fresh off the farm by completely cutting out the middle man between the producer and the consumer, they do it all. This is how the farm has also made it now almost 5 generations and still going strong, they have adapted to what consumers and agricultural need and want. They brew about 14 different beers and can some of the brews for the public to take home. Their venue includes a tasting room, playground, and glass windows to see the brewing process done itself. I definitely recommend a trip here and to chat with Jason or Josh who are very passionate about what they do and love educating the public. 

Day 10 1/2: Home

 

After 1,852 miles, we were ready to be going home to family and to sleep in our own beds!

We learned many new things on this trip and got a lot of ideas to take back and share with others. Our stops included:

* Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame

* Garden of the Gods

* Flying W Ranch & Chuckwagon Supper

* NCBA

* Five Rivers Feed yard

* National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation

* Colorado State University 

    ARDEC

    Temple Grandin Equine Center

    College of Agriculture Animal and Meat Sciences

    Plant Growth

    Warner College of Natural Resources

    Nancy Richardson Design Experience

*Colorado Serum Company

* Rio Grande Community Farm Dahlia Campus

* Jefferson Alpacas

* San Luis Valley Research Center

* Parelli Natural Horsemanship Ranch

* Durango Botanic Gardens

* Adobe House Farm

* James Ranch

* Mesa Verde National Park

* Four Corners National Monument

* Monument Valley High School

* New Mexico State University Ag Science Center at Farmington

* Santa Fe Community College

* Purple Adobe Lavender Farm

* Mountain Mama Milling

* The Colorado Farm Brewery

* Larga Vista Ranch and Dairy

* Western Museum of Mining and Industry

A special thanks go out to the parents of the students who were able to go on this adventure. We appreciate them entrusting us with their kids for the 11 days we traveled.

We would also like to extend our thanks to our sponsors who helped in making this trip a little more affordable for the kids. Hillsborough County Farm Bureau, Publix Charities, and Florida Strawberry Growers Association. 

  

Summer Ag Tour 2025

Ready for next summer? We will be travelling to Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota June 3 - 12, 2025. We are always looking for new sponsors. If you know someone who would like to help support the kids, please let us know. We also need chaperones for our trip, let us know if you are interested. 

Day 10 1/2: Western Museum of Mining

 Our last stop before heading to the airport was at the Western Museum of Mining and Industry. Here we learned more about the mining industry in the Colorado area. We were able to see a variety of different types of engines that were used in the industry and learned how they worked. Panning for gold and other gems was fun. Many of us found small flakes of gold and multi-colored stones. 

 

There is a model mining drift that you walk through to learn what it was like for the miners. One interesting thing was that when the miners would set off blasts it would fill the mine with gasses. To determine if it was safe for the miners to return, they would take a caged canary into the mine. If the canary lived it was safe to return, otherwise they needed to leave immediately. Today they have a much more sophisticated instrument that measures the air quality. 

Day 10 1/2: Larga Vista Ranch and Dairy by Andrew

 Larga Vista Ranch & Dairy: Raw Milk in Colorado Springs and Pueblo

Welcome to Larga Vista Ranch & Dairy, one of Colorado’s oldest all-grass dairies. Located between Colorado Springs and Pueblo, this ranch is dedicated to sustainable farming and the benefits of raw milk.

All-Grass Dairy Farming

Larga Vista Ranch ensures its cattle are never fed grain, relying on rich soil and irrigation to maintain nutrient-dense pastures for nine months of lush grazing each year. This commitment to quality pasture is key to the quality of their milk.

How to Sign Up for Raw Milk

To obtain raw milk from Larga Vista Ranch, follow these steps:

1. Attend a Dairy Tour: Visit the facilities, meet the cows, and sign the necessary cow-share paperwork for the State of Colorado.

2. Join the Waiting List: Currently, there is a waiting list for milk shares, with more shares expected to open in spring.

3. Purchase a Share: Each share costs a one-time fee of $50, entitling shareholders to one gallon of milk per week. The monthly boarding fee is $57 (at the farm) or $65 (picked up in Colorado Springs). Shares can range from half to multiple shares.

4. Sign the Contract: Shareholders receive a legal contract outlining the agreement with Larga Vista Ranch.

Benefits of Raw Milk

Raw milk from Larga Vista Ranch contains glycosphingolipids, which protect against gastrointestinal infections. Unlike store-bought "whole milk," their milk retains all its natural cream, offering full health benefits and versatility for making butter or adding to foods and beverages.

Commitment to Health and Quality

The ranch ensures all dairy cows are tuberculosis-free and conducts monthly cleanliness tests on the milk. Shareholders can pick up their milk weekly at convenient locations in Colorado Springs and Black Forest.

Join the Community

Joining Larga Vista Ranch & Dairy means accessing quality raw milk and being part of a community dedicated to sustainable farming and health. Visit their website or contact them to schedule a tour and secure a share. Experience the benefits of raw milk and the thriving community at Larga Vista Ranch

Day 9: Purple Adobe Lavender Farm by: Sean

 The Purple Adobe Lavender Farm is a 2-acre agritourism farm in Abiquiu, New Mexico. They have a small tearoom and gift shop. They make, in house, all of their cosmetics and culinary products. They have 2 varieties of lavender that they grow: French and English. The owner talked to us a little about the agritourism industry as a whole and the risks that come with it. He also explained how lavender came from the Spanish as a medicinal plant. He explained the growing conditions of lavender and how it does not like humidity. We were able to walk through the lavender fields and see them harvested and growing. 

 

Day 9: Sante Fe Community College by: Andrew

 

Learning Sustainable Agriculture at Santa Fe Community College

Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) is teaching students how to grow plants and algae in smart and sustainable ways. The Trades and Advanced Technology Center offers hands-on classes in greenhouse design, hydroponics (growing plants in water), and aquaponics (raising fish and plants together).

Algae Growing Skills

Students learn how to grow algae, which can be turned into fuel like ethanol, biodiesel, and jet fuel. SFCC teaches everything from setting up algae systems to keeping them running smoothly. This training helps students get jobs in the algae biofuels industry.

Biofuels Center of Excellence

SFCC works with top labs and universities, like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Los Alamos National Lab, to provide the best training. They are also part of the Algae Technology Education Consortium, which helps create programs to turn algae into useful products.

Greenhouse Management

Students can earn a certificate or degree in Controlled Environment Agriculture, learning to manage greenhouses effectively. They study how to control water, light, temperature, and nutrients to grow healthy plants and fish. Courses cover everything from planting to harvesting, including pest control and aquaponics.

Preparing for Greenhouse Jobs

SFCC graduates have the skills to work in greenhouses, whether for small farms or large commercial operations. SFCC is committed to training future experts in sustainable agriculture, helping to create a greener world.

 

 

We learned a lot from Pedro about the different types of aquaponic systems.

Day 10: An added bonus - San Luis Valley Research Center by Madison

As an added bonus we had time and were close to the stop we missed on Friday. Ms. Carolyn Gray was kind enough to give us short tour of the San Luis Valley Research Center where we got to learn more about how new potato varieties are developed.  

 

At the research center they have a clone bank and a culture lab. During the summer they allow high schoolers to help with collecting the pollen from the plants. They have several types of potatoes, some of them being red, chipping and variety potatoes like fingerlings and purple. 

Ms. Carolyn talked about the process in which they cross pollinate the potatoes. They buzz the anthers twice, collecting the pollen, then plant 400 seeds of each type through the greenhouse in little pots. When it is time to harvest, they gather the largest potatoes to keep, and the smaller ones are donated to other universities for research. They also try not to bruise them; it causes black spots in the potato. 

 

 

In the field they plant about 5,400,000 pounds of potatoes in each field. In Colorado they get about 6 - 7 inches of rain each year on average. Making it hard to manage water supply for the plants.

Have you ever seen potato seed? Once the plant flowers and it is pollinated it will produce a berry and inside the berry are hundreds of seeds. These are planted in 3" pots. The seed potatoes are collected from these pots. 

These are the potato berries.

 

 

Day 10: Mountain Mama Milling by Anais

 On day ten of our trip, we went to Mountain Mama Milling as our first stop. This was in Monte Vista, Colorado owned by the Gosar family. It is a total of 670 acres purchased in 1970 by Mr. and Mrs. Gosar as an alfalfa, wheat and sheep farm. It was the second organically certified farm in the state of Colorado. Eventually they just became a wheat farm growing their own wheat and sending it off to a mill in Denver. They did this for about ten years when Mrs. Gosar wanted to start to expand their business when she got involved in a local art festival. They thought of many things that would help them make more money and settled on making sausages as the grandfather had many old recipes for it. They built a USDA certified facility to package and sell various types of sausages for the festivals and have continued to do it since. They make a variety of sausages and cater them to events or restaurants. The casing of their sausages is made out of pig intestines. This makes it all natural and healthier. Gosars has a contract with local growers to by their pig butts in order to make the sausage. With their facility they can produce 2,500 lbs. a week which equals out to 10,000 links. 

 

Their next business change was building a larger mill on their property so they could mill their own wheat, cutting out that middleman and increasing their profits. They now have farmers growing wheat for them and then they bring it onto their facility to clean, store and mill. Chris Gosar took us through and showed us each step of the cleaning and milling process.

 

The first machine the wheat goes through is called a clipper cleaner. This separates the good wheat from super fine things and super large things that should not be there. It uses a shaker and screen system to sift it out. The large things like wheat stalk and peas got reused and turned into chicken feed and sold to local farmers. This helps them waste less and add to their income.

The second machine is called a Carter disc separator. This got wheat sized things out that are still unusable in the flower making process. These extra pieces were also turned into chicken feed.

The last cleaner was called the stoner. When combines harvest wheat in the fields they may occasionally go over bumps and make the combine hit the ground and collect rocks. This machine got the rocks out that are the same size and weight as the wheat.

Once the wheat was cleaned it gets sorted by protein percentage. The ideal percentage in bread wheat is 11-13%. In order to increase protein, the wheat must get stressed while out in the field like climate and weather changes. This corresponds with gluten in bread, the higher amount of protein means a higher amount of gluten. The high protein flour they produce is only good for bread making, not pastries like pies and cookies. 

Inside the mill the flour goes down a chute and runs between two stones that grind the wheat. One stone stays still while the other moves in a circle, the width between the stones can be changed to how fine or coarse they want the flour. While this happens, the bean falls off, but sifting boxes catch it, and they reincorporate it into the flour to keep it whole wheat. Their flour products include whole wheat, cracked wheat, flour, bran, sifted flour, spelt (whole and ground) and rye. 

Mountain Mama Milling has partnerships with companies all the way from Santa Fe to Cortez and Colorado Springs. They sell to niche markets like bakeries, small restaurants, and grocers. Each time they sell it is a 50 lbs. bag of whatever flour variety they want. 

It was amazing to learn so many new things from this family company and we want to thank Chris Gosar for giving us the tour today! 

Day 9: An Added Stop - Desert Verde Farm by Sean

 After the Santa Fe Community College, we were told to visit the Desert Verde Farm, an Indoor aquaponics farm. This is a full indoor commercial aquaponics farm that produces leafy greens and tilapia to surrounding high schools and a few restaurants. Dr. Neighbour started his farm 3 years after taking classes at the community college to learn about aquaponics. His entire system is connected to four 1000-gallon tilapia tanks. There is a separate system just for starting his seeds that is controlled by a timer making it an ebb and flow system. From the seed to harvest is about 7 weeks. Each week new seeds are started and rotated into the system. The plant plugs are placed into foam trays in the big troughs of nutrient rich water and are there until harvest. Producers are only able to cut the produce once before shipping, so Dr. Neighbour is looking to expand his production by installing a small food processing kitchen to make ready to eat meals for the community. 

 

Day 8: New Mexico State University Ag Science Center @ Farmington by: Sean

 Today we stopped at the New Mexico State University Ag Research Station in Farmington, New Mexico, which is about 450 miles from the main campus. This research station is the only one on Sovereign Navajo Land. They specialize in helping the natives and farmers in the surrounding area on how to continue farming in the dry area. They sit on 250 acres and are surrounded by the biggest native operating farm of 80,000 acres. 

The researchers there have multiple projects going, with their own research and partners. Some of the projects include bringing back native plants that got burned when the natives were forced onto reservations and finding ways to grow plants under solar panels, so it is not wasted land. The research is also extended to large scale farms to help the surrounding farms that grow chip potatoes and alfalfa which are grown under multiple center pivot systems. Another project they have is researching cover crops for when the land is not in use. Live cameras sit in small plot areas to monitor growth.

 

They are still looking to expand their research by getting funding for hydroponics, new equipment for soil science and potato farming. 

Day 8: Monument Valley High School by: Madi

 On day 8 of our summer ag tour, our first stop was at Monument Valley High School.  At this stop we got to learn how to give vaccines, deworm, and hot iron brand. Some of the equipment they had was hydraulic squeeze chute and surgical equipment. They do things like sutures, vaccines, branding for cattle and horses, and deworming. For cattle they use hot iron branding and for horses they use freeze branding. 

The school offers a limited number of agricultural classes. They have animal science, veterinary science, and welding. In their building they have 3 surgical rooms, 2 being for small animals and 1 for large animals, with all having an upstairs viewing for those who can’t go in.  They also hosted a vet camp for kids K-5 allowing them to watch and do hands on learning activities.

 

One of the highlights of this stop was meeting the kids who are part of this amazing program. We had a couple of competitions working some calves. Not only was speed a part of the competition but being accurate, safe, and completing paperwork correctly made the winning team stand out. We also enjoyed some time together at lunch.

Day 7: 4 Corners National Monument

 After exploring Mesa Verde National Park, we visited the 4 Corners National Monument Navajo Tribal Park . This is the only place where 4 states meet. 

 

 

There are also vendors at the 4 Corners that display and sell their handiwork. Many native Americans make jewelry and other items to share their heritage.