Our Farmers’ Feast is coming soon! We’re celebrating the wonderful people who grow our food by featuring some of our local farmers here on this blog! This week, we talked to Rob Juen from Silver Leaf Farms in Corrales.
How did Silver Leaf Farms get started?
Aaron Silverblatt – it’s kind of his brainchild. He’s been farming for about 7 years, and it’s grown from him doing his thing on a half-acre plot, and it’s just grown and grown from his passion for farming. I met Aaron and Elan [Aaron’s brother] at the Organic Growers’ Conference – I was just finishing up an internship at Skarsgard and I met them as they were looking to expand. It was the right place, right time.
What are you growing at Silver Leaf right now?
Right now we have squash, beets, chard, kale, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, okra… we’re starting lettuce and watercress, we’ve got various herbs and fruit trees. We’re also starting a greenhouse now – we’re growing hydroponic tomatoes, and we’re going to do some greens in there too. We should have tomatoes starting in November for the next nine months.
What’s the biggest challenge of farming?
As farmers, we have tons of stuff to do, and it’s only the four of us. So, sometimes we have to put in some pretty long days. Unlike other jobs, your work’s not going to wait for you. I’d say that’s the hardest part, but nothing’s to hard to keep us out of it.
What’s your favorite part of farming?
My favorite thing is meeting the people we sell our produce to. I think it’s awesome that everyone we meet is really into it and really appreciates what we’re doing.