Farmer's Select

Solstice Sale on Facebook!!

We are officially on Facebook now. Check out our page here- https://www.facebook.com/regionalagriculturesupply

It's been fun connecting with everyone from the online community. Good farm marketing during the off-season as well. We have had a lot of great response on our works, coffee, soaps, and the new t-shirts as well. The word spreads quickly through the medium of Facebook, and we're giving thanks.

In honor of the Winter Solstice, and the warm reception from the Facebook community, RAS Farms is going to let go of a few items that have been stashed away in the vault. Over the next few hours, several items will be posted for sale on Facebook. All sales will be first come first served (PAID on Paypal!), and final. The first 3 people to order will also get a small selection of gifts from the vault, such as the original RAS Farms stickers, magnets, and old school flyers with original artwork.

Stay tuned to our Facebook page for details, and please spread the word about our projects. 

RAS Farms Holiday Gift Pack 2013

Our Holiday Gift Packs always seem to change with the season (as in seasonal produce). It's a nice way for us to do some home grown marketing, stay connected with our people over the winter, and keep our small farm's cash flow going in the off-season. This year's version includes 1 can of Farmer's Select Batch #4 coffee (the Tafari Espresso), along with the accompanying t-shirt, and 3 soaps for $45 plus shipping if applicable.

 

 

You can add a reusable, hemp shopping bag as well to make a complete package..... no wrapping paper resources necessary. Add the bag for $20. www.rasfarms.com is Paypal ready, and we usually ship priority mail.

 

 





 

 

Please email rasagriculture@yahoo.com for more details. 



Special Batch

RAS Farms and Conscious Coffees have brewed up a collaborative run of T-shirts to compliment the release of Farmer's Select Batch #4 coffee- the Tafari Espresso. Like the coffee beans, the sourcing of the t-shirts in this project has been meticulous and thorough. Each shirt is certified organic cotton and certified Fair Trade. The shirts are comfortable and durable as well.

The detail in the shirt includes a slight design difference from the can label, and is pulled off with a very high quality print job. Ras Scott Mosher of Seattle, the designer of all four of the Farmer's Select series thus far, has scaled the heights once again. The printing was done by some new associates, A Small Print Shop in Denver, CO. http://www.asmallprintshop.net/ They took their time, and produced some great work.

Slate with black print

Print detail- Sage green with earth brown print

Print detail- Slate with black print

Print detail- tonal brown on brown print = straight fiya!

Get 'em while their hot. Shirts are available for $25.00 (plus shipping if applicable) directly from RAS Farms online at www.rasfarms.com , or by email-  rasagriculture@yahoo.com . Conscious Coffees can be hit up via the web, www.consciouscoffees.com or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/consciouscoffees

Thievery, Fraud, Fistfights: The Other Side of Community Gardens

http://modernfarmer.com/2013/12/robbery-drugs-fistfights-dark-side-community-gardening/

We haven't seen to many articles that portray the actual human side of the labor in farming. You till up a little piece of land and you start to build that connection...... country, city..... doesn't matter. Long hours in the hot sun (or pouring rain) can make one tired, grumpy, and a lot more apt to cut romantic notions of food production done to size.

I have to admit that I chuckled (not the thievery part) while reading the article above. I kept thinking that while I haven't seen any full blown brawls at any Farmer's Markets, this article could easily be talking about the gritty side of those events as well.

I also came across this blog posting as well by a farmer in Maine. It's title is "A Bold, Accurate, and Reasonable List".  http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/2013/12/09/a-bold-accurate-and-reasonable-list/#more-22043 It starts out with a discussion that has been held many different times in our farm fields of Durango and Boulder County. It grabbed me right away.......

"Wendell Berry wrote in Conserving Communities of the need for farmers to stop looking for help where we continually fail to find it. Sadly, in my decade of food work in Maine I have found little direct financial support for farmers, and about zero discussion of improving wages and conditions for farm workers. We won’t get where we wish continuing the centuries old practice of devaluing farm work, pretending a generation of farmers and entrepreneurs can fix everything with low-interest loans. Or treating farm labor as an afterthought and separate from the “good food” movement."

The most poignant paragraph is not the popular opinion, but it's the truth (Holler Jah Tiller!!). No offense to anyone, but..... "A farmer once told me the idea of a “food system” was created by academics and non-profits for funding and job security. She said if farmers had what they needed to produce we would feed the State because that’s what we do."

The Wendell Berry poem that concludes the post is a must read as well.

Forward Ever~

Last field work of the season.

We finished getting the garlic planted before the REALLY cold weather set in. Big up to bro Chris for helping get some cloves in the ground..... La Plata..... Siberian...... Music........Spanish Roja!!! Foundation planted for next season.

Cold weather........ drinking coffee

Conscious Coffees is CRUSHING it on this season's Ethiopian coffees. Been drinking the Tafari Espresso, and picked up some Unwashed Yirgacheffe at The Cup in Boulder. Both coffees are some of the best I've ever had. Berrylicious.......