James Ranch

Fresh farm produce. Sugar snap peas were the best I’ve ever had. Kale and other greens available. Fresh vegetables, eggs, meat, etc.
Out of town a few miles, but right off the highway.

We love this place. We live in NM but love to camp in Durango. We stop and buy as much beef here as our camper’s freezer will hold. Their cheese is also fantastic. I always hope we’ll get there early enough for their eggs too! Sandwiches from their Harvest Grill are not to be missed. Can’t wait until next week when we’ll be shopping again!

If you eat out once in Durango, this is the place to go. Just a few miles north of Durango, you can get an awesome burger made fresh with locally grown… really local… as in you are on the ranch… Sit under the trees on picnic tables and enjoy the mountain farm while eating. The folks there were very friendly and were eager to share everything about ranch life. Love this place… first place we will go back to when returning to Durango.

DON NOT MISS THIS PLACE! We loved everything about James Ranch. The food, the atmosphere, the people, and the farm! Can’t wait to return!

This place is incredible!
Great food, and it’s not a secret how it got that way: they use grass-​fed beef, raw milk cheese, and greens from the ranch.
If you’re local, this is the place to shop. Better prices than the organic grocery stores offer, and fresh produce if you order the night before. Mmmmmm.
Fun events through the summer, music and yoga and tours. Worth the drive!

I wish I could give James ranch more stars. I only lived in Durango for a month but I really miss this place. The owners are obviously passionate about everything they sell and it truly shows. Hats off to them. If you live within 100 miles of this place and you haven’t been, go. It’s worth the drive. The hamburger was hands down the best i have ever had. My mouth is watering just writing this.

Great spot! Beautiful view!

BEST burgers EVER! Grab a picnic table and enjoy the quaint, beautifully serene setting as cows and chickens roam freely together in nearby pastures. Super-​friendly, informative staff/​owners run this family-​owned roadside business set in picture-​perfect Durango hills. Four siblings have divvied up the workload: one takes care of the organic gardening (and she also provides tours of the ranch) — the lettuce for our burgers was picked as we placed our order! One of the brothers takes care of the cheese-​making, while the other runs the on-​site store, and finally, one of the sisters (along with her husband) take care of cooking those delicious burgers. Condiments are organic and few, as these burgers require little adornment. Why? The cows are grass-​fed (not corn-​fed). Does this make a difference? Yes, indeed! Be sure and order the yummy purple potato chips, too, which are made on the premises. If you want to experience the Farm-​toTable Movement firsthand, eat here. No problem giving this establishment 5 stars.
And a little aside: the fifth and youngest sibling, a brother, is the co-​owner of Serious Texas BBQ (two locations), in downtown Durango. You can check out my review there. NOTE: Serious Texas BBQ does NOT use James Ranch organic beef because of the quantity of beef they go through on a daily basis.

Amazing little spot with amazing views and great bites. There is a little market inside selling grass «finished» beef, fresh eggs and greens. Sweet little goats greet you and it’s staff is pretty advanced with taking orders electronically. The only reason I didn’t give five stars as they don’t seem to adapt to any off menu requests, as my friend wanted to buy a gluten free roll and they said they font sell it separately. Other than that we had spinach salads, burgers, garden salads and signature burger on a bed if greens. All was top notch and we will be back.

This is the kind of hometown, grass-​fed, organic ranch and farm that everyone wishes they had in their backyard. There are so many AMAZING aspects about this place that I will just have to make a list:
1. Organic grass-​fed beef from their very happy cows. They have every cut imaginable and it is all incredibly delicious. Yes, grass-​fed beef is a little bit of a different flavor than corn-​fed. And no, it isn’t as fatty and marbled as corn-​fed, so it may seem «tough» to some. But it is sooooo much better to eat grass-​fed, both for your own health and for the environment. And it tastes delicious! All right, stepping down off my soap box.
2. They make their own cheeses. From organic, grass-​fed milk from their dairy cows. And it, like everything else on this ranch, is good. I especially love their creamy Belford. And luckily, I have signed up to receive emails from James Ranch, because a few weeks ago I found myself and a bottle of Château St. Jean at an impromptu cheese tasting that they hosted, nibbling their pseudo-​brie (made from raw milk) with peaches and baguette, enjoying watching the thunderheads move in over the valley. The Ranch also has a raw-​milk «sharing» program (selling raw milk is illegal in Colorado) where you pay for a share of a cow and a boarding fee and get a gallon of raw milk a week for most of the warmer months from «your» cow.
3. Their pigs are fed off the whey from the cheese-​making process and their pork has a light and milky flavor. Just like their grass-​fed beef, it has a flavor that most aren’t used to, but it’s the best bacon around!
4. The Ranch store. It’s the same selection of meat, cheese, and produce they bring to the farmer’s market, but it also has the added bonuses of very friendly goats, eggs, and the ability to use your credit card. If you drive up 550 towards Silverton, you’ll see their sign just past Honeyville. They’re open weekdays 11 – 6 in the summer and Saturdays 11 – 4:30 in the winter.
5. The people. Everybody involved in James Ranch is extremely friendly and incredibly passionate about what they do and why they’re organic. It is a bit overwhelming how lucky I feel to have them in Durango as a supplier of my food. I can only hope I do it justice when it comes into my kitchen :)
What I really mean to say is I LOVE JAMES RANCH! It is an awesome place with some incredible food, and even if you don’t live in Durango you need to check it out! But maybe not, because then you might be jealous ;)