James Ranch Blog

The families of the James Ranch provide a well-rounded variety of  organically produced food products for the local community: 100% grass-fed beef, artisan raw milk cheeses, pastured pork and eggs, fresh produce and flowers from the garden, our restaurant, (Harvest Grill and Greens at the James Ranch Terraces). It's a family affair and we have a lot of moving parts that come together to offer our community the freshest, most nutrient dense food in the Four Corners.  We are also proud to carry products from other local farmers! We'd love to take a second to introduce to you the current lineup of farmers that we'll be supporting and carrying at James Ranch Market and Harvest Grill.

The Gardens at James Ranch / Jennifer and Joe Wheeling

The Wheelings are the green thumbs behind some of the most amazing flowers and crops here at the Ranch. In 1977 they designated 4 acres of the land to experiment with and cultivate the soil and the results have been beautiful. They provide custom bouquets, Sugar Snap peas, fall squashes, and pumpkins.

Adobe House Farms, Animas Valley / Peter and Linley Dixon

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the third summer we have been partnering with AHF. They provide us with most of the produce we sell; spinach, kale, chard, arugula, mixed greens, herbs, micro greens, tomatoes, and shishito peppers. They might even be surprising us with even more delicious produce throughout the summer! Make sure your table has the honor of being adorned with these delicious items in the next few months!

 

 

 

HWY 550 Farms, Animas Valley / Tom Markle

Later on in the summer season we start to carry produce from Tom Markle at HWY 550 Farms. We receive mostly root crops from Tom, who prides himself on his sustainable farming techniques and runs an honorable farm that seeks to do right by his customers with the food he provides! He will be supplying 100's of pounds of yellow onions for the caramelized onions at the Grill, as well as potatoes.

Wild Mesa Farms, Cortez, CO / Margaret and Andrew Riedel - In addition to selling other incredible meat products on their farm, Margaret and Andrew provide us with wonderful pasture-raised heritage chickens! Sold frozen and whole, you can be sure that these chickens, raised right, will be a staple in many a meal!

Sunnyside Meats, Durango, CO / Jerry and Holly Zink - Jerry and Holly have quite the crowd over at Sunnyside Meats where they offer processing services for pork, beef, lamb, goat, and yak! They run a tight ship to make sure that their meat products are high quality, and the pasture-raised lamb that they provide the James Ranch Market is no exception!

Gabe French of  All Seasons Farms in Bayfield, CO has been growing organic tomoatoes for both the James Ranch Market and Grill. He has a gorgeous hot house he heats with wood only!

Kirk at High Pines Farms  provids the Grill with kale, broccoli, kholrabi and some basil. 

Dave Banga from Banga Farms, Mancos, CO supplies all salad mix, beets and some carrots for the Grill.

Summit Root Farms is run by Jordan and Emily in Hesperus - they grow beautiful purple carrots with orange centers as well as some salad mix for the Grill.

 

 

 

Michael and Diane from Schwebach Cedar Farms provide our early supply of calabasita squash for the Grill's veggie burgers as well as cucumbers and sweet bell peppers. We are grateful for the early season warmth they get that produces these crops so early.

Candice Wood from Wood Family Farms in Mancos grow delicious dry land corn. They say that the corn is doing really well this year. They are also growing some green beans that The Grill will be using in salads and selling in the market

.Fields to Plate Produce is run by Max Fields and James Plate They farm across the river on county road 250 and provided our delicious golden beets used in side salads at the Grill. 

Earlier in the season we were getting our greens from Wendy at Peak Season Farms. They have a fun wasabi arugula that we are thinking of making into a pesto for a steak sandwich.

We are incredibly grateful for all of the good and hardworking farmers in our region who bring all of us such a bounty.

  

The families at James Ranch are proud of the well-rounded and diverse collection of products we provide, but we're also so happy to carry products from other hard working farmers who strive to make the same positive impact on this community! After all, we aim to enable people to eat quality food, with plenty of colorful, seasonal options!  We look forward to meeting you at the ranch!

After living on the James Ranch for the past 11 years, Xena, the guard donkey for the pastured poultry business starts a new adventurous chapter of her long life by joining a family in Buena Vista that races burros and packs them into the Colorado high country.
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The James Ranch Market is thrilled to be offering wild-caught Alaskan salmon to our customers in a partnership with Colorado locals Eric and MJ at Silver Wave Salmon.
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Enjoy yoga and Pilates on the Terraces at the James Ranch this summer. Extending your yoga and Pilates practice to the outdoors logs some major benefits.
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Joel F. Salatin is an American farmer, lecturer, and author who is now the editor of The Stockman Grass Farmer magazine. The Stockman Grass Farmer brings its readers the latest information on high profit grassland ideas from all over the world; each month profiling leading farmers and ranchers with details as to how and why they are successful. Salatin and his extended family raise livestock using holistic methods of animal husbandry, free of potentially harmful chemicals, on his Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley. He is a leader in the regenerative movement and a true mentor for hundreds of farmers and ranchers worldwide. This editorial from the May Stockman Grass Farmer speaks to our hearts as modern day grass farmers.
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Fresh cut flowers have been a long-standing tradition at the Gardens at James Ranch. For over two decades Jenn and Joe Wheeling and their family have tended this wonderfully productive plot of land, supplying the Durango area not only with wonderful vegetables, but with gorgeous flowers as well. As the Wheelings move on to other pursuits, Mountain Belle Flower Farm is proud and delighted to be continuing this flower-growing legacy at the Gardens at James Ranch.
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With a new clue received from a local magazine picked up in Jackson Hole, the Stewarts are headed to Driggs, Idaho to meet a like-minded chef then head to Boise, which has been touted as a new foodie city, then up to Coeur d' Alene which is headquarters for Tractor Sodas, the Grill's new organic soft drinks.
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The Stewart's are on their epic research trip and stopping off first in Denver and Boulder. There are a lot of great restaurants in the area, but there are three that actually have their own farms/ranches that supply a majority of their ingredients just like the Harvest Grill. Their goal is to see the kitchens and meet with the chefs.
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Due to weather conditions in Jackson, the Stewarts headed a bit south to Utah and had a chance to do a meet and eat with at a restaurant that had one of their favorite kitchen layouts. They also surprised Sasha with a new addition to the family (four legged and furry).
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Cynthia and Robert decided to research their next adventuring into the restaurant world by taking a research trip in a motorhome to different restaurants around the western United States. Their goals are to see other kitchens, talk to chefs, understand the restaurant culture and learn how to recruit an employee team that will join in their dream of the ultimate farm-to-table dining experience.
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Are there any other parents out there like me who groan internally with the thought of crafting a daily, nutritious, filling school lunch that your children will actually eat? I’m sure there are. I am deeply committed to feeding my family nutrient-dense foods from our farm as much as I can.  So for this reason, I roll up my sleeves and do a little planning. At this time of year, there is such amazing, local food available that it is a natural fit to work some of it into your kids’ school lunch.
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There’s a bumper crop of winter squash and pumpkins in the Gardens at James Ranch this year! Instead of hauling it all in, we’d like to invite you to participate and get a great deal.
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 Four years ago I (Cynthia) was walking through the Durango Farmer’s Market to see what I could buy for the Grill to serve. I stopped at a booth that had a corn stock that was only 4 feet high but had these large, beautiful ears of corn jetting off the sides of it. This was my first introduction to dry land corn.
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Since I have been actively working on the ranch the last few years, I have been paying attention to the wasp populations and actively encouraging their numbers by building housing and planting more and more bushes and plants with flowers to feed them.  Beneficial wasps, both predatory and parasitoid, are another way we accomplish chemical-free, organic farming. 
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Cool dew on your feet, gentle mooing in the background, and an experience yoga teacher leading you through morning movement guranteed to leave you feeling refreshed and energized for your day. This is yoga on the Terraces at James Ranch.
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