Never Stop Growing: Switch Gear Farms

Brett Matson grew up farming on his grandpa’s dairy farm in Western Pennsylvania. As a kid, he never expected his life would come full circle back to farming.

However, as a college student he found himself captivated by books like the Omnivore’s Dilemma and volunteering on small farms. About ten years ago he moved out Colorado with his partner Vanita, who now handles the business side of Switch Gears. After working on a few local farms, the pair decided to give it a go on their own.

Brett hilariously documents the ups and downs of everyday farm life on their instagram page, @switchgearsfarm, but even when the going gets tough, they’re motivated to provide the community with fantastic, unique produce. 

He explains how fulfilling it is to provide veggies that bring people joy. “There’s a lady who comes down and buys all [our] Hungarian hot wax peppers, they’re really close to a banana pepper and they’re a frickin’ staple in western PA but nobody really grows them out here. Every market she buys every single one.”

For Brett, this community aspect is such an important part of what they do. When speaking about their CSA members he says, “we know them personally, probably about 80 or 90% of them….I really like that connection.” They also love the face-to-face aspect of selling at the Denver farmer’s market, where customers can ask questions and understand what they’re about, “that conversation is huge. Plus, it’s just fun…to hangout and sell vegetables.”

When asked about his Zero Foodprint grant, he remarked at the program’s simplicity, “it was super easy from what I remember, I just filled out the application…I liked the payments, you get half upfront. A lot of grants, you get awarded but you don’t see the money until the Fall. To cut me that check in Spring was huge, it was nice to have that coverage of compost.”

For Brett, the fun comes from continued learning. Being a small farm means they can easily, well…switch gears and try new crops or new ways of growing. The farm was named as a reminder that “there’s always a better way of doing things, there's always more to learn, there’s always more on the horizon, so don’t get comfortable! That’s the philosophy.”