When Fort Lewis College first became a college it was located near Hesperus. Today, the Old Fort is still there as an active farm as a source for education and community gatherings.
“We try to be a community resource, for education, meetings, conferences, weddings and picnics,” Beth LaShell, Old Fort coordinator, said.
The Old Fort is located four miles southwest of Hesperus on a 6,318 acre property, she said.
The farm consist of gardens, livestock, a hayfield, livestock grazing land, a hopyard, buildings and forest area, LaShell said.
“We have about six and a half acres in produce and 100 cows,” she said.
The Old Fort sells it’s produce and beef, LaShell said. The farm sells to the market on campus and the Farmington Growers market during the summer, she said.
The farm also sells to Sodexo, a couple of restaurant accounts and to the 16 members of Community Supported Agriculture, where people sign up and pay ahead of time for a weekly share, LaShell said.
“We’re self-funded, which means we generate our own revenue,” LaShell said. “We fund our staff, the bills, repairs and we’ve been this way since 2011.”
Matthew Sisler, a student intern, does a lot of weeding, seeding, sewing and general labor at the Old Fort and would recommend this internship to anyone, he said.
“It’s great seeing the planting first hand,” Sisler said. “And being able to see how much produce you can get from such a small area week after week gives you a whole new appreciation for gardening and growing.”
The farm has 450 acres of hay to feed the cows. All of the cattle is fed by hay grown at The Old Fort, along with grazing, LaShell said.
“We have a quarter acres hopyard that we sell to local breweries,” she said.
Hops are plants used in the brewing process for beer, Lashell said.
“We have about 200 acres buildings on the property,” LaShell said. “The majority of them are from the early 1920s when Fort Lewis became a college.”
To help preserve the history of Fort Lewis, the Old Fort strives to use land and buildings for what they were intended for, she said.
Some examples of this are historic building being used for similar purposes, such as a library or country store, or sections of land being used for gardening, livestock etc, LaShell said.
“We have four miles of the La Plata river that runs through the property, along with ponderosa pine forest,” LaShell said.
The Old Fort is primarily independent but they take on a lot of help from other organizations, she said.
“We couldn’t do what we do without our community partners,” LaShell said.
Some organizations the Old Fort partners with are the Southwest Conservations Corps, Mesa Verde Helitack, Fort Lewis Mesa Fire Dept and the Colorado State Forest Service, she said.
“We are the base-camp for the Southwest Conservation corps,” LaShell said. “They trade labor for lease and provide us with about 30,000 dollars of labor every year.”
Mesa Verde Helitack has an interagency fire crew that houses at The Old Fort and the Fort Lewis Mesa Fire department has a station on the property, she said.
“The Colorado State Forest service are responsible for helping us manage all of our forest lands,” LaShell said.
The Old Fort also provides winter education training for local farmers and community members, she said.
“We also serve as an outdoor lab for biology, geology, public health, faculty research, senior seminars and more,” LaShell said. “We have the same mission as the college, which is an educational mission.”
Experiential learning, outdoor activities are some aspects the Old Fort offers that you couldn’t get many other places, she said.
“The hands on component of education is so important,” LaShell said. “We want more and more people to utilize and know about us.”