Libby James
photos by Libby James
Friday afternoons are special at Raisin’ Roots Farm in Fort Collins. Customers who are part of their farm share program arrive to pick up their boxes of fresh produce and people walking or driving by on Vine Street stop in just because they are curious.
The self-service farm stand is open all the time but between 4 and 7 p.m. on Friday afternoons, May through October, the area is buzzing with activity.
Ben Pfeffer and his partner Carolyn Fitzgerald have all they can do to welcome customers, talk a little about their organization, and make sure everyone is having a good time. It’s a social gathering and Ben and Carolyn especially like it when their close-by neighbors stop in.
How does an anthropologist from Maryland end up with 13 acres of farmland in Fort Collins, Colorado? “I was just travelling,” Pfeffer says when he paused in Fort Collins and found an apprenticeship with a local farmer in 2017. Perhaps his interest in farming grew from a masters thesis he wrote on urban farms in historically black neighborhoods.
Visitors are welcome to look around. They can wander behind the stand to see fields of veggies growing and chickens scratching away in their yard.
In addition to farm produce, you’ll find stands offering Wild and Free Kombucha, nuts from The Right Nut and candles from Hello Tallow.
It’s a good way to spend a Friday afternoon.
