Community-supported agriculture (or CSA) boxes filled with locally grown fruits and vegetables aren't hard to come by, and during the pandemic, more farms have started offering this service. But meat and dairy producers are also getting a leg up in the home-delivery market; you can get more chicken, milk, eggs, beef, pork and other protein-packed goods from local farms and ranches than ever before. Here are eight farms, dairies and other services you can subscribe to for regular deliveries or place one-time orders with.
Corner Post Meats
10165 Hodgen Road, Colorado Springs303-898-0642
Corner Post Farm owners Dan Lorenz and Adrienne Larrew started their own farm in 2011 before moving it to a Black Forest ranch in 2013. If you're looking to get a taste of the what Corner Post has to offer, order the $100 box of the month, which can include steaks, ground beef and/or pork, pork chops, salmon, breakfast sausage and chicken. There's also the Ranch to Kitchen meat box, a selection of cuts picked by the owners (though right now there's a waiting list for this service). Or simply order à la carte on the Corner Post website to get exactly what you want.
Jodar Farms
10428 North County Road 7, Wellington970-391-2825
Aaron Rice's small farm in Sherrelwood has a summer (June through October) and winter (January through May) CSA for $390 that includes multi-colored eggs, pork, chicken and seasonal lamb and turkey. If you'd prefer to get chicken, eggs and pork à la carte, you can also order items individually on the Jodar Farms website, which you can then pick up at select locations monthly. Or if you're feeling committed, go for a whole or half a hog; just make sure you have the freezer space.
McCauley Family Farm
9421 North 63rd Street, Longmont303-485-7688
McCauley Family Farm delivers to Denver, Boulder and Longmont for a $10 fee, or you can pick up your order each month from the Longmont farm or a select location in Boulder. Either way, owner Marcus McCauley packs his CSA boxes with quality, seasonal meats and other cooking supplies such as pork breakfast sausage, whole chicken, lamb shoulder, lamb ribs and even a sampling of pasta from a local purveyor. Right now there's a waiting list for the CSA; add your name by emailing [email protected]. Shares run $40 a month for a quarter box, $70 for half a box and $135 for the whole shebang.
Morning Fresh Dairy
5821 West County Road 54E, Bellvue970-482-5789
The folks at this Bellvue dairy bring to mind the good old days of early-morning milk delivery, for good reason. Morning Fresh Dairy has been owned and operated by the Graves family since 1894, and today there are 400 cows providing the milk the company sends out in reusable glass bottles. Each delivery is tailored to your needs, whether you want chocolate milk, whole milk, local apple juice, Noosa yogurt, butter, eggs, honey, coffee or other items to make your mornings special. And the dairy only charges $1.90 for each delivery — which is cheaper than fuel and a face mask for a grocery store run!
Locavore Delivery
Started by Craig Taber in 2014, this online delivery service selects the best meats from several farms in Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming, along with fish from the Pacific Northwest. All of the meat is pasture-raised, free-range and/or wild-caught, whether it's chicken, beef, lamb, bison, pork or even sockeye salmon, line-caught by a former Colorado fireman. There's also good stuff coming from Buckner Family Farm in Longmont and Tender Belly in Denver. Build your own box and choose delivery every four or eight weeks; a medium box, for example, starts at about $120, depending on your selections.Longmont Dairy Farm
Longmont Dairy Farm drops off shiny glass bottles of milk, chocolate milk and other specialty milks, as well as eggs, cheese, butter and locally made yogurt. You can even get seasonal fruit, ready-to-bake cookie dough and pizza kits. The vast delivery area covers Centennial, Fredrick, Golden and Parker, as well as central Denver and Boulder county (check the dairy's website to make sure you're within the delivery zone).
Pasture Provisions Company
Denver-based Pasture Provisions Company works with local farms to deliver meat, eggs and sometimes vegetables. The service starts at around $40 for a small bi-weekly or monthly basket of goods and goes up from there in price and size. A box could include meat from Colorado Pastured Pork in Hotchkiss, grass-fed beef and lamb from Parker Pastures in Gunnison, eggs from Amish Acres in Westcliffe, or chicken from Rocky Mountain Organics in Black Forest.
Royal Crest Dairy
The age of the milkman has not passed. In fact, this dairy has been going strong since 1910, when Paul Silas Miller milked his own cows and delivered bottles to customers with a horse and cart. The name Royal Crest Dairy launched in 1927, and since then the Longmont operation has spread, bringing fresh milk, eggs, bread, River Bear bacon and other products to customers all over the metro area. Sign up, and Royal Crest will place a classic wooden dairy box by your front door. After that, choose what you want each week or set up a weekly delivery of the same items. It's easy to change the quantity, add products and skip weeks, since these options are all available online.
