Want to know where some of your local food share produce comes from at Nederland Farmers Market (NFM)? Look up Ollin Farms.

Based out of Longmont, Colorado, Kena and Mark Gutridge are the two land stewards who offer a refreshing perspective to the way they farm, by giving back to the land and their community. Their farming practice demonstrates how they evolve with a constantly changing ecosystem.

They work the landscape to grow produce for the Front Range while continuously recharging the terrain with biodiversity and carbon sequestering potential. The Gutridges continue to share their farming knowledge with all by modeling the Aztec methods of sustainable farming and providing educational tools for future farmers of the world. These two stewards are able to quickly navigate through the changing tides. Providing fresh produce efficiently to our local farmers markets and into the hands of Nedheads quickly is a method they have dialed in.

With a mission to “truly empower” people about their regenerative agriculture system, Mark and Kena Gutridge share a vision for the future in U.S. agriculture. Organically feeding over 375 CSA families on a weekly basis is no easy task. Needless to say, the ecosystem that they continue to maintain on their 165-acre plot is very impressive. Offering seasonal events on the farm and sharing their knowledge is just one step into a more sustainable future. Almost more importantly, relying on the community that they feed to always be there is a selfless act of love and definitely a symbiotic relationship, reciprocating with each other.

At Ollin Farms, their insistence in providing habitats for pollinators, restoring the creek, composting, and planting various perennials that are user friendly in the changing times, is par for the course. Although regenerative farming practices may be a new term to many U.S. farm lands, this form of agriculture has been used in most of the northern Mesoamerican civilizations (c. 1345 – 1521) and with most Indigenous communities throughout the world. The farm’s dedication to harmonizing their working realm with the natural ecology of the land, allows a dynamic living entity that can continue to flourish in the future.

This local-based farm (established in 2007) is just one of the staple vendors that strives to offer nutrient-dense organic produce to NFM – it starts with living soil and an ecosystem that can support its crops. Dedicated to their neighboring communities, Ollin Farms offer a breath of fresh air to the farmers of the future.

Supporting local farmers like this and the dozen-plus others that offer their hard work to the land while giving back to the community and their ecosystem is a relationship that keeps on giving.

Find out more about our local vendors at: http://www.nederlandfarmersmarket.org/.