The Interactive Watershed:
Kris Holstrom

Kris Holstrom has a passion for spreadng ideas of sustainability. She has degrees in Forest Management and Horticulture and has spent the last 18 years developing Tomten Farm, a high-altitude, solar-powered organic farm at 9000 feet near Telluride. She is Director of Sustainability for the Institute. Kris also works on the Institute's Ideas Festivals and the Mushroom Festival.

Originally from Fort Collins, Colorado, Kris arrived in Telluride in January of 1986 for a Jerry Jeff Walker concert at the Fly Me to the Moon Saloon. Beyond good music, it was the possibility of establishing a high altitude organic farm up on Hastings Mesa that persuaded her to move up from McElmo Canyon.

Her first harvest at Tomten Farms was in 1987. She made her first commercial sale in 1992. While a garden at 9000 feet may seem to push the envelope, Kris argues that "if you can do it here, you can do it anywhere." There are numerous challenges: short growing season, cold weather, heavy snows blocking access roads, limited water, the necessity to protect plants with cold frames or greenhouses. She advocates permaculture technology where you catch and keep every bit of water and let it soak back into the ground. Her crops are the heartier plants that have done well since ranchers settled the mesas around Telluride in the late 19th century----hay, potatoes, carrots, turnips, rhubarb, onions.

High altitude horticulture requires an understanding of the concept of the "food shed"--that is, what's produced in a given local area and how many people it can serve. Key to her philosophy of sustainability is shrinking the distance between producers and consumers. This means supporting local growers and ranchers in "relocalization efforts" whenever possible. While the range of crops can be greatly amplified by carefully designed and sited green houses, one of the biggest challenges continues to be marketing.

Her current well is 109 feet deep and has recently started to fail due to increased numbers of user above her property on Hastings Mesa. Kris wonders if the Anasazi would survive given the severity of the climate and the shrinking water supply. She runs her operation mostly on solar power--indeed, Hastings Mesa has been unique until recently for being "off the grid"--but the recent underground easement for electric power that runs near her property does not bode well for the continued use of alternative energy sources. A new 12,000 square foot house just up the road is wired to the grid.

Still, Kris is philosophical about the bigger picture. At Tomten farms, the greenhouses are set off by mural sized paintings on the barns, wind sculptures, and prayer flags. While her favorite destination is her farm, she enjoys traversing two watersheds when driving to Dolores, or taking a dip in Orvis Hot Springs down by Ouray. A memorable image is a herd of elk framed by a "pink snow bow" set aglow by the setting sun. For Kris, this is "the stuff I get to wake up to every day."

The entry to Tomten Farm on Hastings Mesa near Telluride, Colorado.

Contact

email: kholstrom@gmail.com

Telluride , Colorado
July 2007