Telluride Farmers’ market features James Ranch

17 Jul Telluride Farmers’ market features James Ranch

[click to hear Dan James on cheese and more]

Telluride’s annual Farmers’ Market, now in its seventh year, features almost 40 vendors, all of whom come from within a 100-mile radius to bring their sustainably raised fruits, veggies, flowers, meats, fish, crafts and cheeses to town every Friday, 10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., June – October. The market is the place every weekend for the greater Telluride community to gather and feed a growing appetite for quality food and town talk, the spicier the better.

One of the many smiling faces we look forward to seeing each week belongs to Dan James of the James Ranch, located ten miles north of Durango in the Animas River Valley.

As with other organic farms, the James Ranch does not use synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, added hormones, or feed animal by-products in raising the food it sells. And the 450 acres of high altitude pastures is home to beef cattle, milk cows, a spruce nursery, organic vegetables, a flower garden, and an artisan cheese operation run by Dan and Becca James.

Full disclosure: When it comes to good cheese, Clint and I may be the Wallace and Grommit of Telluride. We are big enthusiasts – although Wensleydale is not “it” for us. It is whatever Dan has on hand.

The process of making James Ranch farmstead aged cheeses begins with their Jersey herd, who feed exclusively on organic grass and clover.

To learn more about the process of cheese-making James Ranch style, press the “play” button and listen to Dan James’s podcast.

(family photo credit: Andrew Lipton, alipton@liptonlaw.net)