Meet Michael Moss of Kilt Farm

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Moss.

Hi Michael, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My first career was in the Hotel and Restaurant industry which spanned waiting tables to running restaurants and catering companies. In 2007, I was lucky to spend nine months working in California, with easy, direct access to some of the freshest produce in the country. Upon returning home to Steamboat, CO I saw the sad state of fresh produce in the mountain towns with fresh eyes. My aha moment occurred on a chairlift during the ski season; I was determined to improve access to fresh food access to our mountain communities. I built partnerships with Front Range and Western Slope farmers to ferry their fresh produce up to the mountains. After three years, I felt drawn to get closer to the magic happening in the fields. And thus, the huge learning curve of being a farmer began. I joined an internship program and began the five-year process of learning to farm whilst maintaining enough side hustles to make living in Boulder possible. Kilt Farm was born in 2013 on a little half-acre patch of land. Since then, through exponential growth (and learning curves) we now manage 38 acres of Boulder County Open Space land, eight of which are under vegetable cultivation.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Farming has so many variables, many of which are outside of our control. Some of the biggest, heart wrenching, uncontrollable challenges were the 2013 flood and the 2018 hail storm. The 2013 flood cut our very first growing season short in the most tragic of ways. This was the first of so many tests of resilience along my path of farming. The 2018 Hail Storm brought marble-sized hail in June created over $1 billion of damage in Boulder County. For us, it completely pulverized all of our crops on our main farm. To see four months of hard work be destroyed in twenty minutes was the ultimate humbling experience as a farmer. However, we farmers are resilient. After pausing our CSA we were able to reset the farm and finish the season strong.

Another big hurdle for us was finding land. There’s a bit of a Chicken and Egg conundrum when it comes to farming Boulder County Open Space. The County wants proof that you can farm before leasing your land. But you need land to prove you can farm effectively. Gratefully, in 2015, another farmer offered us a sub-lease which got our foot in the door.

The final, prevailing challenge is the seasonal nature of farming in Colorado. We put the farm to bed from November to February each year. Come February, we need to find and hire new talent, start our seeds and bring the farm back to life. We are essentially a brand new startup…every year. It’s intense.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
At Kilt Farm, our mission is to nourish our soil and our community. We are soil geeks. Michael has spent ten years studying soil biology, amending, compost tea and other inoculation methods. We spend a lot of time and resources building vibrant, healthy soil. Why is soil health so important? Healthy soil builds healthy, strong plants which, in turn, produce nutrient-dense food. When our food is more nutritious, we can better nourish ourselves and loved ones. Happily, when food is filled with nutrients, it also tastes better. I feel incredibly proud when our CSA (community supported agriculture) members share that they had no idea melons, peppers and carrots could taste so intensely sweet and delicious. We are also passionate about food accessibility. We were the first farm in Colorado to partner with Harvie; a CSA platform which enables our farm members to fully customize their weekly boxes of produce. Can’t eat tomatoes? You’ll never get them in your box. Still have plenty of peppers from last week? Sub in some chard instead. This level of customization has empowered many members of our community to take the leap to commit to local food for a season.

We also partner with Boulder County Health and Nourish Colorado to provide some of our CSA memberships to underserved families, including the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. While we operate a 300 member CSA working with our local groceries stores is a key aspect of our Farm. Over the years, we have built strong relationships with Lucky’s Market, Marczyk’s Fine Foods and smaller mom and pop stores from Fort Collins to Denver. We provide these stores access to our high-quality seasonal produce that helps them stand apart from the large chain grocery store. Kilt Farm became certified organic in 2015 and we believe passionately about growing food that is healthy for us, our customers and the land we work upon. We take our farming to an even higher level than the National Organic Program. We consider ourselves regenerative farmers. While this may be the newest term thrown around these days, we believe that our work should leave the land and our communities better than we found them. By farming in a way that honors our land and sequesters carbon, we can farm our land for generations. Last year we became certified by the Real Organic Project. This certification verifies that our practices are truly organic and are deeply connected to the soil. And most importantly, Michael and Cayla do indeed farm while wearing kilts.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Food podcasts: Tractor Time by Acres USA, Farmer to Farmer, Regenerative Agriculture Podcast by John Kempf. Books/Authors: Joel Salatin, The Lean Farm by Ben Hartman, The Four Agreements, Acres USA Magazine.

Contact Info:

• Email: Michael@kiltfarm.com
• Website: www.kiltfarm.com
• Instagram: @kiltfarm
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/kiltfarm
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/kiltfarm

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