Erin’s Organics: Food from the Heart of the Earth

Here’s one from the vault for you. This article originally appeared on the South Main website in the winter of 2008. Photos courtesy of Foresight Multimedia.

I opened the green house door, and old school hip hop filtered through the warm, humid air. A crib sat adjacent to a children’s play area with various toys nestled amongst potted banana and fig trees. Erin was tending her starters which sprout from beds heated by copper pipes carrying geothermally heated water which emerges from the earth beneath the greenhouse. She came over to John and me to let us know that baby Johnny was napping so be careful not to wake him. Our tour through the greenhouse would give Johnny a wide berth; nap time is a precious thing for this mother.

Before the formation of the Upper Arkansas Valley, the region sat high on the slopes of the Sawatch Range. About 25 million years ago, regional uplift caused the formation of what is now the Upper Arkansas Valley and the fault lines which run mostly parallel to the Sawatch Range on its eastern flank. The Arkansas Valley lies at the northern end of the Rio Grande Rift System, which extends south through New Mexico and Texas.* Groundwater warmed by heat from the earth’s core has probably emerged from the Sawatch Fault for millions of years now. But it wasn’t until eight years ago that Erin and her husband Sid found a property for sale atop this fault line and had the idea to grow vegetables here.

“We saw some old photos at a hot spring up in Alaska about 30 miles from the arctic circle,” Erin told me. “They had this beautiful glass greenhouse just full of vegetables. All heated with the hot water. And I was like ‘that!’ I can be back in the mountains, but farm, or at least garden on a larger scale.” After eight years getting her business established and fine-tuning her geothermally heated, organic greenhouse, Erin’s Organics now gives Chaffee County residents the opportunity to benefit not just from the sun’s energy, but also from the earth’s.

I personally find this concept quite satisfying. Mt. Princeton and the collegiate peaks have a commanding presence for residents of the Upper Arkansas Valley. Many of us love to soak in the earth’s heat at the Mount Princeton and Cottonwood Hot Springs. But Erin provides us with the unique opportunity to absorb this geothermal energy in the form of her delicious salad mix, lettuce, herbs, peas, and abundant tomatoes.

About half of Erin’s greenhouse space is dedicated to her tomato plants which tower ten feet or more in height in the summer. The other half is filled with raised beds for her various lettuce varieties and, this time of year, for her vegetable starters. The soil in these beds is warmed with geothermal heat to the optimum temperature while the seeds germinate. Erin’s starts range from lavender and perennials, to mint, peppers and other vegetables. They are available for sale at Nature’s Pantry here in BV, at Simple Foods in Salida, and at Colorado Grown on County Road 350 in Buena Vista. Several local restaurants purchase Erin’s vegetables, including Mother’s Bistro which buys her greens in bulk. Simple Foods is her biggest and most consistent account.

Erin’s salad mix is perhaps her most popular product. It is a delicious blend of seven lettuce varieties, all harvested while they are young shoots. The Waldman’s variety makes up the bulk of the mix and has a slightly bitter flavor, although Erin makes a point to harvest all her greens early in the morning, when they are sweetest. I have always considered Arugula to be a bitter green, but Erin’s young Arugula shoots were mild and delicious. Dark green Tatsoi shoots bring a kind of “nutty” taste to the mix, and Romaine, Red Russian Kale, Red Oak Leaf and Giant Red Mustard finish out the mix.

Our grazing of the lettuce beds was interrupted by Johnny announcing the conclusion of his nap. Erin lifted him from the crib and comforted him in a soft, nurturing tone. “I used to do [all the greenhouse work] by myself before I had Charlie and now, Johnny,” Erin told us. “[Now] I have to have even more help. You definitely don’t need that many people if you don’t want to hang out with your kids, but I want to do that, especially when they’re babies.” So Erin hires three other women to help her out.

I have always loved eating Erin’s Organics, but after visiting with her and seeing the amount of love she puts into her greenhouse, I feel even better about supporting her business. They say you are what you eat. Erin’s vegetables are made from solar energy, organic nutrients, the warmth of the earth and a mother’s loving touch. I don’t know what that makes me if I eat her vegetables, but they are surely good for both the body and soul.

*For more information about the region’s geology, see Tom Karnuta’s Road and Riverside Geology of the Upper Arkansas Valley

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1. Our Family Bike Ride to the Buena Vista Farmer’s Market
2. Local Eats, Beer and Cheer at Brewmaster’s Feast (+ a Bonus Eddyline Beer Guide)
3. How is South Main Sustainable? Intro to a Series

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