LONGMONT, Colo. — If anyone was ready to take on 2020, it was farmers. The people who have learned to control what they can, and let go of what they can't.
“So here you can see some of the green beans they’re totally frozen," said Kena Guttridge, pulling some brown beans out of the ground.
Kena and her husband, Mark, own Ollin Farms in Longmont, where they were put to the test with the earliest summer snowstorm they said they've ever seen.
"A cold frozen day in the middle of summer, I mean that’s something that I need to talk more with the spirits about that because I don’t know," said Kena. "I don’t get it."
With a community of harvesters, they got to work on Monday picking as much as they could before the storm.
“We just went line by line whatever we can save," said Kena. "Tomatoes, watermelons, winter squashes summer squashes, cantaloupes...If we don’t have time we just make changitos and pray to all our angels and spirits and that’s how it is."
Some basil and green beans were lost, and there's hope their squash can be revived, but this wasn't the first test of 2020.
Ollin Farms used to rely on farmers' markets to sell 40% of their fruits and veggies. When public health orders canceled those, they pivoted and created a virtual farm stand.
“If you don’t adapt to situations, you’re lost," said Kena. "Life keeps going. You need to be strong.”
Since they picked so many summer crops before the storm, they have plenty to sell through the farm stand ahead of schedule.
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