Palisade Greenhouse builds gardens -- and business -- from the roots up

Take a good look at those young flowers that you brought home from the garden center and carefully transplanted into the garden.

They don’t look like manufactured products, do they?

But they are. And many of them probably were built on an 11-acre site along the Colorado River east of Palisade. Each year, Palisade Greenhouse churns out about 3,000 different product lines supplying hundreds of grocery store chains, landscapers, and garden centers throughout the intermountain West.

“Essentially it’s like any other production facility,” says Mark Anema, chief financial officer for Palisade Greenhouse. “You’re taking raw materials and putting them together for an end product.”

Palisade Greenhouse has been owned since 1977 by Tom and Carolyn McKee, and the general manager is their son, Brad McKee. The operation is a wholesale grower and supplier; it grows and sells its products only to retailers, who sell the end products to consumers. In other words, you can’t buy plants from Palisade Greenhouse, but the garden center where you buy your yard supplies can.

Converting soil, seeds, water, and sunshine into finished products that consumers want to buy – and timing the products so that they are ready precisely when those warm spring weekends invite gardeners to part with their hard-earned dollars at their local garden center – is a constant challenge, Anema says.

An added pressure is to keep up with trends in plant development and the ever-changing tastes of landscape designers and gardeners.

“Hopefully we come up with things our customers like, and their customers like in turn,” Anema says. “It’s always a challenge trying to determine what our production is going to be the coming year.”

For Palisade Greenhouse, a lot rides on getting the right plants to the right places at the right time. Anema says more than 90 percent of the company’s revenue comes in during April, May, June, and July.

On its 11 acres, Palisade Greenhouse has about 100,000 square feet in greenhouses that are an oasis of color in late winter when the landscape outside is cold and brown. The operation has three divisions: one for annuals (plants that must be replanted each year), a perennial division (plants that survive year after year), and a small-plants division that produces seedling “plugs” that are sold to other commercial greenhouses.

Anema says he is particularly proud of a computerized inventory system that tracks tens of thousands of plants at any given time. The computerized system helps the greenhouse develop an inventory that appeals to the widest number of customers. For example, blooming plants can be tracked and timed so customers receive plants in exactly the stage of bloom they’re seeking. Customers submit orders online in real time.

“They can order based on bloom stage,” Anema says.

Such production procedures are necessary because greenhouses are a highly competitive business dealing in perishable products, Anema says. Operating such a company successfully requires the perfect blend of sales expertise, customer service, inventory management, high-quality facilities, and product selection.

Palisade Greenhouse works to improve its operations each year, refining the art of growing and selling plants in a region where spring weather is notoriously fickle and can greatly impact operations. Anema says he enjoys the challenge.

“I feel really blessed to be here,” he says. “It’s neat to be able to take some soil and a seed and water and sunshine and see what God does with it. We put it together, and He grows it for us.”

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Biking Grand Junction? Start online

For a growing number of Grand Valley residents, spring means the start of biking season.

If you’re a cyclist – especially an aspiring cyclist – you could just hop on two wheels and try to find your way to the best trails to suit your ability. Take that approach, and you’d get a good workout looking for trailheads and suitable rides.

A better approach would be to start on the computer with two excellent websites that contain detailed maps of mountain bike trails and road bike routes in the area.

The first site, Western Colorado Mountain Biking, is found at http://www.gjmountainbiking.com/. Joel Schaefer and Randy Gehl have assembled the site, which includes photos, trail descriptions, and high-resolution maps of the trails plotted on topographical maps. Schaefer and Gehl have ridden each trail listed on the site and have plotted key locations with distances, elevations, and GPS coordinates.

Gehl points out that you don’t have to be an expert mountain biker to ride in western Colorado. For easier trails, he suggests some of the trails in the Lunch Loops area, whose main trailhead is located just up the No Thoroughfare/Monument Road on the Redlands (on the way to the east entrance of Colorado National Monument). Some easier trails also can be found in the Kokopelli’s Trail area (Rustler’s Loop, http://www.gjmountainbiking.com/koko/rustler.html) and in the 18 Road area near Fruita (specifically, the Vegetarian Loop trail). Gehl says Highline Lake also has a nice three-mile loop.

If road biking is more your style (skinny tires instead of fat tires), the Tomorrow Hill Farm website at http://www.tomorrowhillfarm.com/JohnHodgebicycleMaps.html#Top contains a series of useful maps and trail descriptions focusing mainly on paved routes. The maps and descriptions were compiled by local resident John Hodge, an avid cyclist who writes on the website that “a good map brings confidence and an easier, safer, more fun bicycle ride.”

The maps on these websites are worth a thorough review before you start a ride. You’ll gain an idea of what to expect on the trail, and you can be better prepared for the relative difficulty or each ride. Check them out before you ride.

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Calling all photographers! Photos sought for May-Investments calendar

Calling all photographers – amateur, expert, passive, obsessive or otherwise noted. The team at May-Investments is launching a new project for 2012 – our very own, custom photo calendar. Many of our clients travel to fascinating places, so we thought it would be fun to showcase a collection of their photographs in a 2012 calendar. With that in mind, we are calling on all of you to take pictures during your 2011 vacations (wherever they might be), then submit your favorites to us so that we can consider them for publication in our calendar.

Photos should be submitted digitally (in a .jpg or other standard photo format) to Lisa@GJStocks.com. We are looking primarily for photos of scenery and sites (not of people), unless the people are naturally part of the scene (i.e., a street scene in a busy city). If we select your photo, we will contact you for permission to include it in our special 2012 calendar.

We think this will be a fun way to celebrate our clients and friends and the places that are important to them. Thanking you in advance for your participation – we look forward to seeing the world through your eyes!

 Douglas B. May, CFA, is President of May-Investments, LLC and author of Investment Heresies .

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Selecting a Colorado wine for the holidays

Need to find the perfect wine for your holiday meal? Look no farther than Palisade, where the largest concentration of wineries in Colorado offer a variety of wines and meads to suit almost any taste.

But before we get into specific suggestions from some of the wineries, consider the advice of Lis Muse, who works in the tasting room at Carlson Vineyards, 461 35 Road on East Orchard Mesa.

“Don’t be afraid of wine,” she says. “A lot of people tend to shy away from wines because of the wine snobs."

Don’t be intimidated by people who might or might not know what they’re talking about when they sniff, taste, swish, and spit.

“Unless you’re trying to impress your boss or your in-laws, drink what you like,” Muse says. “Play with your food and wine.”

So with that philosophy in mind, here are some wines and pairings that Palisade wineries suggest to get you started on your wine/food playtime.

For Holiday Dinners

The folks at Grande River Vineyards, 787 Elberta Ave. (http://www.granderiverwines.com/), suggest its Meritage Red with a good prime rib for Christmas dinner. Meritage Red consists of 40 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 31 percent Cabernet Franc, 25 percent Merlot, and 4 percent Petit Verdot. “It will go with pretty much anything. If you’re having prime rib or ham, the Meritage Red is good,” says Jenny Nichols of Grande River Vineyards.

For white-wine lovers, Nichols suggests Grande River’s Meritage White, composed of 67 percent Sauvignon Blanc and 33 percent Semillon, or the winery’s Viognier. “The Viognier goes with white cheeses and lighter food if you’re having a holiday get-together,” she says.

At Plum Creek Winery, 3708 G Road (http://www.plumcreekwinery.com/), Winemaker Jenne Baldwin-Eaton suggests Riesling for the holidays, especially if the menu includes poultry. For tables where prime rib or ham will be served, Plum Creek’s Palisade Red is a good choice. Palisade Red, made with Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, “has a wide range as far as matching things, so it really is food-friendly,” Baldwin-Eaton says.

Canyon Wind Cellars, 3907 North River Road (http://www.canyonwindcellars.com/), recommends its Chardonnay with the Christmas turkey. But if you want to get a little more exotic for your holiday meal, Winemaker Jay Christianson recommends grass-fed roast buffalo served with Canyon Wind’s Petit Verdot or the winery’s newest offering, IV, which is 50 percent Petit Verdot, 32 percent Cabernet Franc, 16 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2 percent Merlot.

If you’re serving beef, Christianson recommends Canyon Wind’s Cabernet Franc.

At Carlson Vineyards (http://www.carlsonvineyards.com/), Lis Muse recommends the winery’s Riesling paired with a Christmas ham. “It makes ham less salty and brings out the flavor,” Muse says.

Carlson’s Gewurztraminer goes well with turkey and dressing, and the winery’s Sweet Baby Red (a blend made primarily from Merlot) goes well with barbecued meats or deep-fried turkey. Tyrannosaurus Red, made from Lemberger grapes, pairs well with turkey, prime rib, or grilled steak with cracked black peppers. T-Red also would go well with spaghetti or lasagna on New Year’s Eve, Muse says. If you’re thinking seafood such as shrimp or lobster, Muse suggests Carlson’s Dry Gewurztraminer.

Sandy Broughton, who works in the tasting room at St. Kathryn Cellars, 785 Elberta Ave. (http://www.st-kathryn-cellars.com/), suggests Talon Wingspan White, which is 69 percent Chardonnay and 31 percent Viognier, to accompany holiday turkey. St. Kathryn also makes Cranberry Kiss, a surprisingly tasty cranberry wine that would go well with poultry and ham.

If you’re serving red meat on Christmas, such as prime rib, Broughton recommends Talon Cabernet Sauvignon or Talon Wingspan Red, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc.

A good all-purpose wine from St. Kathryn Cellars is Sweet Scarlet, which is 50 percent Merlot and 50 percent blackberries. It’s generally considered a dry dessert wine, but it doesn’t taste like a dry wine and could go well with red meat. “For me, it’s an anytime wine, but for people who like dry wines, it’s a dessert wine. It’s our top seller,” Broughton says.

Time for Dessert

Now comes the fun.

At Meadery of the Rockies, 3701 G Road (http://www.meaderyoftherockies.com/), you can find a variety of wines made from honey (mead is fermented honey) and some delicious products perfectly suited for holiday desserts. The meadery’s Chocolate Cherry Satin is good from a glass but best from a cordials cup made of chocolate.

“It’s a dessert wine. It tastes like a chocolate-covered cherry,” says Donna Lively of the meadery.

The meadery also offers a raspberry chocolate satin – yes, break out the chocolate cordials cups again – and a Honey Shere that Lively describes as having “a brandy spirit without that brandy burn.”

Carlson Vineyards offers several fruit wines that are suitable for dessert sipping, but worth a special mention is the winery’s Cherry Wine. At the tasting room, you can buy a bottle of Cherry Wine with a block of Enstrom’s chocolate; for a great holiday dessert, melt the chocolate, dip a wine glass in the chocolate just far enough to coat the rim, then drink your cherry wine from the chocolate-dipped glass.

For yet another dessert treat, or for an après ski warm-up drink, add mulling spices to warm mead or peach wine. Mulling spices are available at several tasting rooms, including St. Kathryn Cellars and Meadery of the Rockies.

If traditional dessert wines are more to your liking, several Palisade wineries offer ports. Grande River Vineyards sells its Tawny Port, made from Merlot grapes, and Canyon Wind Cellars offers a Cabernet-based port fortified with brandy made at Palisade’s Peach Street Distillers.

Where the Wines Are

These are just a few ideas of various wines and pairings to make the holidays tastier. Many more wineries with an array of different products exist around the Grand Valley and throughout Colorado. For a complete list of Colorado wineries, visit the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board website at http://www.coloradowine.com/wineries/wineriesList.cfm. For a list of local wineries in the Grand Valley, visit the Grand Junction Visitor and Convention Bureau’s website at http://www.visitgrandjunction.com/attractions_culture/index.php?Heading=Wineries. Most of the wineries have tasting rooms and welcome visitors. A self-guided wine-tasting tour of the Grand Valley is a great way to spend an afternoon.

 
 Douglas B. May, CFA, is President of May-Investments, LLC and author of Investment Heresies .

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Nordic Council grooms ski trails atop Grand Mesa

When you’re gliding along smooth, firm ski tracks on top of Grand Mesa, it’s easy to forget that someone else played a big part in making your high-quality cross-country skiing experience possible.

The Grand Mesa Nordic Council (GMNC), a community-based nonprofit organization, grooms and maintains the mesa-top trail system at Skyway, County Line, and Ward Lake. Add up the distance of all the trails in the system, and you come up with 32.4 miles (54 kilometers) of groomed Nordic skiing fun. Difficulty varies among trails, but there’s enough terrain to accommodate all levels of skiers, from beginners to experts.

A basic trail map is available at http://www.gmnc.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/GMNC-Map-2003-Adless-2.pdf.

“I've lived and skied in areas all over the world, and I’ve found no other place that can match the Grand Mesa,” says Christie Aschwanden, who is in her third year as president of the Nordic Council. “I love that the GMNC is an inclusive, community-based organization run almost entirely by volunteer power. We get our funding from members, and our motto has always been to encourage donations via the carrot, not the stick. It’s satisfying to see how many people choose to give beyond our nominal membership fees.”

Trail grooming is funded and performed entirely by the Nordic Council, under a permit from the U.S. Forest Service. Nordic Council volunteers oversee races and learn-to-ski programs, raise funds through memberships and grants, and take care of other details to ensure that the trails are well-groomed throughout the winter. The council employs an operations manager and two groomers who are on the trails almost daily.

Grand Mesa Nordic Council trails are growing in popularity; parking lots at Skyway and County Line are often near capacity on weekends. Use of the trails is free, but users are encouraged to either leave a monetary donation in designated boxes at the trailheads or to join the council. Individual memberships are $45 per season, and family memberships are $75. Additional levels of financial support are available. All money from memberships goes toward paying groomers and covering the costs associated with keeping the trails groomed and in good shape for skiing.

“The recession has hit our communities hard, yet our membership numbers rose to 757 paid members last year. We hope to top that this year,” Aschwanden says.

The Nordic Council has grown and evolved since its founding in 1990.

“In the beginning, we groomed trails with a single volunteer on a snowmobile,” Ashwanden says. “But our members tell us they want more grooming, and over the years we’ve expanded the frequency of our grooming operations. Due to a very generous grant from the Jean Thomas Lambert Foundation, we were able to purchase a Pisten Bully snowcat a few years ago, and that has raised the quality of our grooming substantially. Hiring the operations manager was the next step, which has allowed us to improve the quality and quantity of grooming. Having an ops manager has also enabled us to become more responsive to our members’ feedback.”

Most of the operations manager’s position is funded this year by a grant from the Grand Junction REI store, and the Nordic Council is working on fund-raising efforts to sustain the position. In addition, the council is working to raise funds to maintain its high-quality grooming equipment.

“Our budget last year topped $57,000 and nearly all of that money went toward grooming,” Aschwanden says. “The Lambert Foundation grant that allowed us to purchase our snowcat also provided funds to run the machine for several years. That money is now gone, and we’re facing a deficit in our operations fund that we’ll need to make up through member support.”

“We are hoping to continue to operate at our current level, but this will require more members stepping up to increase their contributions. We hope to solicit some legacy partnerships, and we expect that some of our members will choose to boost their yearly donation,” she says.

The Nordic Council has ambitious plans not only for trails, but for on-mountain facilities to improve the experience for skiers.

“We have been working with the U.S. Forest Service for many years now to open a new trail at Skyway/County Line. We hope that the trail will finally be in place in the next year or so. We’ve also increased the number of events over the past couple of years. We now offer adult ski lessons (group and private), and we’ve added a sprint race and some kids’ races to our schedule. Last year we had a full-moon bonfire party to celebrate our 20-year anniversary, and we have another event like that scheduled for December 18,” Aschwanden says.

“Our next big goal is a parking lot expansion, new restrooms, and a small warming hut at County Line. It’s a costly project, but the U.S. Forest Service and Mesa and Delta counties have been very supportive, and together we’re working toward raising the funds to make it happen.”

For more information about the Grand Mesa Nordic Council, visit http://www.gmnc.org/. An online membership form is available at http://www.gmnc.org/grand-mesa-nordic-council-membership-application/. Anyone with specific questions about the Nordic Council or its operations can reach Aschwanden at http://www.blogger.com/grandmesanordic@gmail.com or Operations Manager Doug Conant at http://www.blogger.com/gmnordic@gmail.com (970-261-2392).

 
 Douglas B. May, CFA, is President of May-Investments, LLC and author of Investment Heresies .

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Couple pioneers trend in upscale camping

When part-time Aspen residents Shelley and John Bogaert bought a rustic 80-acre camp on San Juan Island, Wash., they didn’t think they would be among the pioneers of the latest trend in outdoor recreation.

But five years later, Lakedale Resort at Three Lakes (http://www.lakedale.com/) is a poster child for “glamorous camping,” a concept which the recreation industry and popular media have shortened into the memorable word “glamping.” The resort has been featured on websites such as Sunset.com and HipTravelMama.com.

“It started as an investment. It became an obsession,” Shelley says. “It’s been a labor of love. We’ve pretty much redone the place since we bought it.”

Glamorous camping means campers don’t have to contend with many of the hardships of pitching a tent, rolling out the sleeping bags on thin foam mattresses, and wondering whether the tent will leak if rain falls during the night. Instead, “glamping” means staying in a sturdy structure, sleeping on a bed, and not having to worry about getting too much dirt under your fingernails.

“It’s really for people who love the camping experience but for whom the idea of pitching a tent and sleeping on an air mattress isn’t that appealing,” Shelley says.

When the Bogaerts bought the property – half of which is lakes – it had a 10-room lodge, six cabins, a lakehouse, and a 120-site campground. They planned to add some yurts – round, tent-like structures elevated on wooden platforms – but as they discussed their plans with yurt makers, they decided to install four-sided tents like those used in hunting camps.

“It was less expensive to put tents in, plus it would be a lot more fun,” Shelley said.

Lakedale Resort now boasts 13 “upscale canvas cabins” built on durable imitation-wood platforms. Shelley, whose background is in interior design, selected the furnishings and highlights that give a feeling of luxury to the canvas cabins. The cabins feature queen-size beds, wrought-iron accessories, futons, tables, and chairs. Each has an outdoor fire ring, a picnic table, and four Adirondack chairs.

Initially, the Bogaerts thought the canvas cabins would attract families with kids who were looking for an easy way to camp. Indeed, the tents were a hit with families, but a big part of the clientele turned out to be upscale residents of nearby Seattle who wanted to visit San Juan Island and indulge in something less formal than a lodge but a step or two above ordinary camping.

The canvas cabins rent for about $149 per night, which makes them affordable for a wide range of customers. In contrast, a room in the lodge can cost between $200 and $300.

“A lot of (guests) have the money to stay in the lodge, but they like giving their kids the camping experience,” Shelley says.

Lakedale Resort also added some vintage Airstream trailers as a lodging option. The silver metal icons of 1960s-70s trailer camping have proven “very, very popular,” Shelley says. “They’re very retro.”

The resort offers an activity tent, where craft projects and other diversions are available for children and adults. The lakes are stocked with bass and trout each year for fishing, and boating is popular activity. There is no cellphone service, and Internet is not available outside of the main lodge.

“It gets everybody off their devices so they can chat and sit around a campfire,” Shelley says.

The Bogaerts, who are clients of May-Investments and split their time between homes in Aspen and Washington state, hired a management company to operate Lakedale, but Shelley says she and John spend a fair amount of time looking after the property.

“We weren’t supposed to be quite so hands-on, but it’s been a lot of fun,” she says.