Celebrate spring at the 6th annual Farm & Ranch Day in Fruita this coming Saturday (March 16th). Dixie visits with a longtime area farmer and event committee member whose family has farmed the area since 1920.
Say ‘Gobbo’ and long timers will say apples, sugar beets, onions, corn and now hay. Bob Gobbo still lives in the area his family settled so long ago. Say ‘Farm and Ranch Day’ and you’ll meet Bob and many ranchers, growers and want to be growers! Bob says Colorado State Extensions and local COOPs have been the support they need. Awards and honors came his way as he supported agriculture, 4-H, FFA and more.
“In the last, I think, four or five years, we’ve given out our share of scholarships," said Gobbo. "They vary from five hundred dollars to over a thousand. And it’s great ... to get somebody with a broader sense into the community rather than be looking down the pipe.”
Growing interest and support of local farmers and ranchers and what they produce along with the desire to home garden and raise chickens will be evident at Farm & Ranch Day.
“They want to get back, past the insecticides and the fertilizers and they want to become more organic," explained Gobbo. "Times change and people don’t want the hybrid, intensified chickens, they want range chickens for their eggs with different vitamins and nutrients. They can go down there and they’ll be able to help them out and get them into the chicken business.”
Farm and Ranch Day, located in the Fruita COOP parking lot, offers over 40 booths, five presentations, demonstrations on home gardens, raising chickens, even horses on small acreage! Learn about FFA and 4-H. By the way, 4H is also serving free lunch. What’ll Bob be doing?
“We welcome everybody down there, to come to the Ranch Day," said Gobbo. "It’s a lot of people. We all chip in and fry the hamburgers or whatever we’re going to have that day as a board and it makes it for a nice day for everybody to sit down and visit with somebody maybe you haven’t seen in the past.“
Bob says that farming and ranching built this valley and you should come learn more about it. So, listen up! Whether you’re a home gardener with a few chickens in the back yard, or a farmer or a rancher, or you just want to learn the rich history of farming from guys like Bob, don’t miss Fruita Farm & Ranch Day, March 16th and I’ll see you there!
The 6th Annual Fruita Farm and Ranch Day, Saturday March 16th, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Fruita COOP Parking Lot. Link for all the details is: www.fruitacoop.org
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