About Us
Neighbors & Friends Farming Palisade’s East Orchard Mesa
Brandon & Laura Black
Brandon and Laura came to Palisade from Denver, CO in January of 2018. The two met on a construction job site in 2015, Brandon was building homes and Laura was selling them. Their skill sets complimented each other, so they decided to work together and successfully ran a fix and flip business in Denver for a couple years. Both being entrepreneurs at heart, Brandon and Laura share a love for hard work, travel, good food and wine and the outdoors.
The couple had been very fortunate to travel quite a bit together and during a trip to Argentina’s wine region they decided to pursue a new industry and venture. Mesa Park Vineyards and Winery presented itself shortly after their return and the couple decided to jump at the opportunity.
After 5 + years of owning and operating Mesa Park Vineyards, Laura and Brandon decided to narrow their focus to the farming side of their operation and close the winemaking and tasting room part of the business. They have expanded the crops they farm to include peaches, cherries, plums and pluots, along with wine grapes. A large portion of the farming expansion is on Laurie's property, our neighbor and good friend and now business partner!
Brandon and Laura love this little slice of heaven that is Palisade! They are blessed with a beautiful little girl named Maya, who will grow up on the farm, along with the best pup around, Daryl! From our farm to your table, cheers!
Laurie Priddy
Laurie escaped from corporate tech life in 2021 when she was lucky enough to purchase a vineyard right behind Mesa Park! As the first customer of Mesa Park Fruit Co (before we even knew MPFC was going to be “a thing”), she’s seen Brandon transform a dying vineyard into a beautiful 10 acre orchard filled with peach and cherry trees.
It was clear early on that retirement was not going to be a full-time gig for Laurie so when the opportunity to join Mesa Park Fruit Co came along, she jumped at the chance! With over 30 years in operations and customer-facing roles, Laurie’s excited to use her experience to help develop our fruit distribution network and to partner with other members of the Grand Valley farming community to expand their operations.
When Laurie isn’t working around the farm, she spends time with her family (she’s got two kids in college in Boulder, CO) and her rescue pup, Sadie.