On today's KVNF Farm Friday, Sammie Alteri from Valley Food Partnership talks about a recent farm tour in the Olathe area in conjunction with the Montrose County Fair.
LISA YOUNG: Sammie Altieri from Valley Food Partnership today we've been on some Olathe farm tours. Tell us about what's been going on. We're actually out here at Rocking W at the Webb Dairy. But tell me a little bit about what we've already seen today and how cool it's actually been. We've had a lot of folks out here.
SAMMIE ALTERI: Oh yeah, we've had a jam packed journey. So we started out at Mattics Orchard. Lots of people know Mattics Orchard from their farm stands in Montrose. There's one on San Juan and Main and one near City Market. We actually went and visited the farm and got to meet Kerry Mattics. He led us around and answered all our questions.
Our next stop was Tuxedo Corn on David Road. That's a facility where after they've picked all the corn, they bring it back and they distribute into boxes, and it goes all over the Western Slope and out of state, too. So that was really fun to see that kind of behind the scenes process.
Our third stop was Triple M Orchards here in Olathe and that was fun. We got to walk through the orchards and see all the plum and peach and cherry trees and learn a little bit about their history there. And we got some samples of their apple and pear juice. And now we're finally ending the day with a ice cream break at Rocking W cheese and cream. We're going to go back to the fairgrounds for the Cattlemen's dinner.
YOUNG: This is somewhat in conjunction with the Montrose County Fair. Tell me why you wanted to do farm tours, kind of around the the county fair time.
ALTERI: Yeah. It just seemed like a natural partnership because this county fair is very ag focused. You know, lots sometimes other county fairs are very like carnival, which is fun and cool too, but ours is very focused on the agricultural heritage. So it just seemed natural to highlight our agricultural heritage.
We try to do a farm tour every year through the local food promotion program that we're running. So it was already on our radar. So yeah, it seemed natural to line it up with Community Night. When I was reaching out to farms, I was worried I wasn't going to get a lot of responses because it's the middle of the growing season. But all of them said yes. And I'm like, all right, we're going to visit them all.
One excited participant shared her thoughts on the tour and made note of her favorite farm.
YOUNG: Tell me your name. Tell me what you like about the farm tour.
NELMA: Oh, well, there are just so many good things to look at. Every place, they explain things very nicely and it was a good things to see about the area and we know more about where our food comes from. It's very good.
YOUNG: Was there any particular place or thing that you saw today so far that you have never seen before?
NELMA: Well, of course, I didn't see that processing of the corn and how they had the ice machine and put all that in is interesting. Three M Orchards was very nice, very well done, very well taken care of and it's a nice place to come and get your produce.
YOUNG: Did you buy any produce?
NELMA: I sure did.
YOUNG: What did you get?
NELMA: I got some of their fresh tomatoes and yellow squash.
YOUNG: Join us every Friday through August as we take you to Mattics Orchards, Tuxedo Corn, Triple M Orchard and Rocking W all a part of Valley Food Partnership and their continued service to our ag community in Montrose County.
