Wolf Moon Farms blends town and country acreages

By Libby James
North Forty News

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No telling what might happen when a couple of women with a passion for digging in the dirt and a lot of experience team up.

Two years ago, Sue Johnson and Karen McManus met at a farmers' market where McManus sold her homegrown garlic and Johnson specialized in perennials. As the weeks went by, they discovered that their skills and experience seemed complementary, and they tossed around the idea of going into business together.

Johnson, a landscape architect with a master's degree in mining reclamation, owned her own landscaping business and began growing perennials more than a decade ago to supply her clients. Those efforts evolved into Northern Colorado Perennial Co. Tasks such as building a huge greenhouse or driving a tractor don't faze her.

McManus, originally a city girl from Washington, D.C., farmed in New Mexico and on Colorado's Western Slope. Twenty years ago she worked at Inch by Inch, one of the first organic farms in Fort Collins. She has also managed farmers' markets in Loveland and Fort Collins, where she honed her business and marketing savvy. Her special passion is giving children an understanding of the source of their good food.

"I'd always wanted to own a business called Wolf Moon," Johnson said. "I like wolves, and I liked the idea that the January full moon is known as the Wolf Moon.

"Some things were meant to be," according to McManus. "The day we received approval of a federal agricultural loan that made it possible to start our business coincided with the night of the Wolf Moon in January 2008."

McManus and Johnson moved fast. They purchased nine acres in Wellington and reconfigured a West Fort Collins growing space to pursue their dream.

Wolf Moon supplies restaurants, schools, farmers' markets and grocery stores in the area and for 20 weeks each summer delivers a bundle of produce to members of their community supported agriculture program.

"We'll never be able to grow enough to meet the demand," McManus said.

Diversity has been their watchword. Their evolving web site (www.wolfmoonfarms.com) requires 11 pages to describe their range of projects. They give talks and provide hands-on gardening opportunities in the public schools, donate produce and plants to Larimer County Food Bank to supply the kids' cafe and a garden project. McManus also teaches classes through the Oscher Institute.

Along with local chef Linda Hoffman, they offer cooking classes to their CSA members. In the fall, instructions for canning and freezing are included when members pick up their shares. Wolf Moon provides herbs and veggies for Spoons Restaurant Stone Soup fund-raiser, with all proceeds going to the Larimer County Food Bank. During the summer, children come to their Wellington site for Young Farmer Days to get acquainted with the alpacas and llamas and learn what farming is all about.

Wolf Moon Farm's CSA program offers members a variety of plans tailored to suit their needs. Full shares, small shares, half shares, working shares and flower shares are available. Members sign up before the growing season and pay their fees up front, giving the farmers start-up funds and engendering a sense of ownership. Members agree to share the risk of a bad season as well as the bounty of a great harvest.

Each week from May to October members receive produce selected by the farmers and varying according to availability. Spinach, lettuce, peas, chard, kale, herbs and radishes are ready early in the season to be followed by carrots, squash, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, garlic and cucumbers. Fall brings winter squash, pumpkins, leeks, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and kohlrabi. Raspberries, strawberries and various melons are also part of the mix.

McManus and Johnson take special pride in their certified organic designation, obtained during their first year in business. When asked about their greatest challenge to date, they didn't hesitate to describe a disastrous hailstorm that hit their Wellington site last August. They were saved only by the fact that their Fort Collins location was spared.

McManus said restaurant chefs, attuned to the wisdom of serving fresh, seasonal produce, appreciate the farm's policy of delivering within hours of harvesting. Wolf Moon limits its sales area to communities within a 90-minute drive, to assure freshness and lessen their carbon footprint.

As part of a farm-to-school initiative, McManus helped a class of fifth-graders from Dios Rios Elementary School in Greeley plant sugar snap peas in a community garden. She wasn't sure how the boy in a wheelchair could help until she hit upon the idea of having him toss seeds into a prepared plot. He threw with amazing accuracy and McManus made sure the pea plot would remain wheelchair accessible at harvest time.

"I love this job," she said. "I look forward to going to work every morning.