by Erica Olson for Deep Roots
Somehow, it has already become November. For many, our gardens have brought forth their last produce of the year; the greenhouse-enabled are still able to boast of the fruits of their labor. It is also the time of year when livestock are heading to market. Locally, the Yampa valley offers up beef, lamb, pork, chevon (goat), rabbit, and a wide arrange of poultry. Additionally, we are literally the land of milk and honey, with local producers available to supply us with goat milk, cow's milk, and sweet, golden honey.
I-80 closed in Wyoming last week due to bad weather; it reminded us how isolated we can be. Nearly all of us remember the winter storms that closed the pass a few years ago and how quickly the stores ran bare. With those possibilities, it makes sense for us to develop a local food network so that we can thrive on our own resources, rather than depending on our ability to import from outside sources.
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From the Ground Up: Yampatika and Deep Roots have partnered together to sponsor a four-part series of hands-on gardening workshops out at Legacy Ranch. The focus is on a permaculture approach to gardening; participants have been assisting to re-create the heirloom gardens that may have existed at the site.
The first two workshops have come and gone, but we still have two more to go. The next workshop will be February 18th, so mark your calendars now! This will be a great opportunity for those of us who look at seed catalogs the way inmates look at centerfolds, especially those who love to garden and can't bear to see summer's end. We'll be going over choosing your plants, how to start seeds indoors, and various planting techniques for your garden. For further information or to sign up, call Yampatika at 970-871-9151.
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Sunday, November 8 will be the second annual Routt County Agricultural Fall Gathering. Meetings run from 11-3:30, featuring the Farmers Bureau, Farm Union, Routt County CattleWomen, Routt County Cattlemen, Habitat Protection Program, the Routt County Conservation District. In addition, Deep Roots will be hosting a public forum from 3-3:30 pm and would like to extend an invitation to all community members interested in developing a local food system to show up and make your voices heard!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Garlic & Lamb
A Stinking Rose for Steamboat
Garlic is one of the easiest vegetables to grow in our mountain climate. With a small investment and a little work, the gardener is rewarded with a luscious—if smelly—crop of beautiful, tasty bulbs. My general rule of thumb is to plant in late September, harvest in late July. Here are my steps to delicious garlic:
In Advance
1. Plan the garden location and size. The garden should be located where it can receive good sun and will get enough water, but won’t be in standing water. It takes about two pounds of seed garlic to plant a 4’ x 6’ bed, which produces more than my husband and I can eat in a year. Sell some, share with friends, pickle some, eat more.
2. Prepare the garden bed by removing all weeds. Loosen the soil and add soil amendments as soon as possible, so the soil has a chance to absorb them.
3. Check local garden stores for seed garlic or order it from a reputable source. Don’t use grocery-store garlic, which is often treated with sprouting inhibitor.
Planting Day
4. Peel off the outer layer of dry skin from the bulb of garlic. Gently separate the individual cloves. Depending on the variety, you may have 4-12 plantable cloves. I plant the largest cloves, and eat the smaller ones.
5. In the garden, use a narrow trowel or bulb planter to make a hole about 3 inches deep. You can add a sprinkle of bone meal to the bottom of the hole, which helps bulbs with root growth. Place the clove into the hole, root end down, and cover with soil. The root end is the dry, gnarly, rough end. Plant cloves 4 inches apart.
6. When you’ve planted all your cloves, give the garden a little water. Then cover with a good 6 inches of straw and water again. This mulch will help keep the moisture in until snow arrives and will help prevent weeds next spring.
Watch this space next spring for tips on growing and harvesting your garlic!
Mary’s Lamb Cook-Off
It’s all about LOCAL: talented local chefs will prepare mouth-watering dishes using locally-raised lamb and locally-raised produce! It’s the first-ever Mary’s Lamb Cook-Off!
Mark your calendar! This event is part of OktoberWest, September 19, at Bear River Bar & Grill on the ski mountain.
Competing chefs will receive one side of lamb and will prepare dishes for two competitions: Best Little Lamb and People’s Choice. The Best Little Lamb contest will be judged by a panel of five experts.
Please join us at 3:30 pm for the People’s Choice competition. You’ll get to sample an astonishing variety of lamb dishes, plus you get to vote for the winner!
Garlic is one of the easiest vegetables to grow in our mountain climate. With a small investment and a little work, the gardener is rewarded with a luscious—if smelly—crop of beautiful, tasty bulbs. My general rule of thumb is to plant in late September, harvest in late July. Here are my steps to delicious garlic:
In Advance
1. Plan the garden location and size. The garden should be located where it can receive good sun and will get enough water, but won’t be in standing water. It takes about two pounds of seed garlic to plant a 4’ x 6’ bed, which produces more than my husband and I can eat in a year. Sell some, share with friends, pickle some, eat more.
2. Prepare the garden bed by removing all weeds. Loosen the soil and add soil amendments as soon as possible, so the soil has a chance to absorb them.
3. Check local garden stores for seed garlic or order it from a reputable source. Don’t use grocery-store garlic, which is often treated with sprouting inhibitor.
Planting Day
4. Peel off the outer layer of dry skin from the bulb of garlic. Gently separate the individual cloves. Depending on the variety, you may have 4-12 plantable cloves. I plant the largest cloves, and eat the smaller ones.
5. In the garden, use a narrow trowel or bulb planter to make a hole about 3 inches deep. You can add a sprinkle of bone meal to the bottom of the hole, which helps bulbs with root growth. Place the clove into the hole, root end down, and cover with soil. The root end is the dry, gnarly, rough end. Plant cloves 4 inches apart.
6. When you’ve planted all your cloves, give the garden a little water. Then cover with a good 6 inches of straw and water again. This mulch will help keep the moisture in until snow arrives and will help prevent weeds next spring.
Watch this space next spring for tips on growing and harvesting your garlic!
Mary’s Lamb Cook-Off
It’s all about LOCAL: talented local chefs will prepare mouth-watering dishes using locally-raised lamb and locally-raised produce! It’s the first-ever Mary’s Lamb Cook-Off!
Mark your calendar! This event is part of OktoberWest, September 19, at Bear River Bar & Grill on the ski mountain.
Competing chefs will receive one side of lamb and will prepare dishes for two competitions: Best Little Lamb and People’s Choice. The Best Little Lamb contest will be judged by a panel of five experts.
Please join us at 3:30 pm for the People’s Choice competition. You’ll get to sample an astonishing variety of lamb dishes, plus you get to vote for the winner!
Update on "Pass The Bread"
Pass the Bread
Report on inaugural event, June 26, 2009
First, to the future: It looks like October 24 will be a great day for our next Pass the Bread!We’ve received a lot of enthusiastic support for an October event, but to make it happen, Lynn and Lynne need your help! We need a few people for a small committee to plan the event, and help us find hosts for the event. Let us hear from you soon, so we can move forward with plans for the October Pass the Bread.
Please visit the website for continuing updates and to give your input: passthebreadcelebratecommunity.wordpress.com/
You can contact us at: passthebreadcelebratecommunity@gmail.com
And now, the report:
Pass the Bread, June 26
We had about 30 host homes, and around 300 people participated around Routt County. What a terrific start to this event! We received great feedback, with a lot of guests mentioning that they’d like to be hosts the next time around.
Different kinds of dinners
Hosts were creative, and came up with lots of different ways to do their dinners:
• A few dinners were co-hosted by two friends
• One of the co-hosted dinners was held as a patio party, and only singles were invited
• Another co-hosted event was a brown-bag lunch in the park
• One host home focused on age, and invited people representing every decade (in age) from the 20s through the 70s.
• The potluck structure seemed to work well for most people. One nice thing about a potluck is that everyone is participating in the meal at a more in-depth level.
Other suggestions we received:
• We learned some new ideas for how to include people you don’t know on your invitation list. One great idea that still works with the theme is to have the host invite a group of people he or she knows, but that don’t know each other.
• Another theme that we like is the block party. Knowing and understanding our neighbors can be the foundation to greater understanding across the greater community.
• Make it a day-long event so that hosts can choose between breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner.
• A few people noted that there was some confusion in the general community about what Pass the Bread actually is and how it works. We need to do a better job of helping people understand.
People’s response to Pass the Bread
In general, it appears that people’s response to Pass the Bread can be summed up with one or both of the following statements:
• Pass the Bread is about building community by people getting together
• Pass the Bread is about building community by enabling connections to work on community projects
And there was a nearly universal comment that what we have in Routt County is unique and special. Quite a few people who have lived in other communities commented that there’s a stronger sense of community and connectedness here than anyplace else they’ve lived.
Thoughts about future dinners
There were a lot of good suggestions, some that we plan to incorporate the next time around. Here are some ideas:
• There was a lot of energy and animation created by meeting and conversing with a diversity of people outside a person’s usual social network. We intend to find ways to expand the range of people involved, so that the diversity is even greater (age, race, religion, political, geographic, etc.)
• One difficulty seems to be in having younger people involved in the event. How to reach them so they know it’s happening; how to encourage their attendance; how to have the participation of young parents? One suggestion we had was to have a group such as Girl Scouts or 4h have a fundraiser by offering babysitting for this event.
• Some people felt strongly that there should be a definite topic-driven conversation around each table. Others felt that the dinners should be followed up with community service on a project. Others just enjoyed meeting new people and having a good conversation.
We have set up a page called "After Dinner" on our web site (passthebreadcelebratecommunity.wordpress.com/) that gives people the opportunity to exchange information about community projects. We’ve listed a few that people reported from their dinner conversations, so be sure to add your own interests!
• The co-chairs had intended to do this event twice a year, but there was enough feedback suggesting quarterly events that we decided to make something happen in October.
• Several people would like to see this idea go national!
Report on inaugural event, June 26, 2009
First, to the future: It looks like October 24 will be a great day for our next Pass the Bread!We’ve received a lot of enthusiastic support for an October event, but to make it happen, Lynn and Lynne need your help! We need a few people for a small committee to plan the event, and help us find hosts for the event. Let us hear from you soon, so we can move forward with plans for the October Pass the Bread.
Please visit the website for continuing updates and to give your input: passthebreadcelebratecommunity.wordpress.com/
You can contact us at: passthebreadcelebratecommunity@gmail.com
And now, the report:
Pass the Bread, June 26
We had about 30 host homes, and around 300 people participated around Routt County. What a terrific start to this event! We received great feedback, with a lot of guests mentioning that they’d like to be hosts the next time around.
Different kinds of dinners
Hosts were creative, and came up with lots of different ways to do their dinners:
• A few dinners were co-hosted by two friends
• One of the co-hosted dinners was held as a patio party, and only singles were invited
• Another co-hosted event was a brown-bag lunch in the park
• One host home focused on age, and invited people representing every decade (in age) from the 20s through the 70s.
• The potluck structure seemed to work well for most people. One nice thing about a potluck is that everyone is participating in the meal at a more in-depth level.
Other suggestions we received:
• We learned some new ideas for how to include people you don’t know on your invitation list. One great idea that still works with the theme is to have the host invite a group of people he or she knows, but that don’t know each other.
• Another theme that we like is the block party. Knowing and understanding our neighbors can be the foundation to greater understanding across the greater community.
• Make it a day-long event so that hosts can choose between breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner.
• A few people noted that there was some confusion in the general community about what Pass the Bread actually is and how it works. We need to do a better job of helping people understand.
People’s response to Pass the Bread
In general, it appears that people’s response to Pass the Bread can be summed up with one or both of the following statements:
• Pass the Bread is about building community by people getting together
• Pass the Bread is about building community by enabling connections to work on community projects
And there was a nearly universal comment that what we have in Routt County is unique and special. Quite a few people who have lived in other communities commented that there’s a stronger sense of community and connectedness here than anyplace else they’ve lived.
Thoughts about future dinners
There were a lot of good suggestions, some that we plan to incorporate the next time around. Here are some ideas:
• There was a lot of energy and animation created by meeting and conversing with a diversity of people outside a person’s usual social network. We intend to find ways to expand the range of people involved, so that the diversity is even greater (age, race, religion, political, geographic, etc.)
• One difficulty seems to be in having younger people involved in the event. How to reach them so they know it’s happening; how to encourage their attendance; how to have the participation of young parents? One suggestion we had was to have a group such as Girl Scouts or 4h have a fundraiser by offering babysitting for this event.
• Some people felt strongly that there should be a definite topic-driven conversation around each table. Others felt that the dinners should be followed up with community service on a project. Others just enjoyed meeting new people and having a good conversation.
We have set up a page called "After Dinner" on our web site (passthebreadcelebratecommunity.wordpress.com/) that gives people the opportunity to exchange information about community projects. We’ve listed a few that people reported from their dinner conversations, so be sure to add your own interests!
• The co-chairs had intended to do this event twice a year, but there was enough feedback suggesting quarterly events that we decided to make something happen in October.
• Several people would like to see this idea go national!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
In Cahoots!
The end of July saw a presentation at the Community Center from Cindy Dvergsten of Dolores, Colorado. The topic was about how agriculture supports civilization, but that agriculture needs a community to sustain and nurture it in return. For those who missed it, let me essplain. No, is too much; let me sum up.
Cindy started the evening by discussing the complexity of agriculture. It is many things to people: art, science, craft, culture, practice, profession, industry, business, and/or a way of life. But for how much longer? 75% of our food comes from a mere 10% of the population—specifically, giant corporations.
Only ONE percent of our population is involved in agriculture: a mere SIX percent of those are under the age of 30; most farmers are 50+ years old.
The remaining 90% of the farms in the US are family-owned, although those numbers are precarious; government regulations continue to threaten small farms. Our government's policy since the 70s has been “get big or get out,” thanks to Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz. Butz believed that if we increased the efficiency of our agricultural production that it would lead to more disposable income.
Perhaps—for everyone but farmers. JFK described farmers as those who are forced to “buy at retail, sell at wholesale, and pay freight both ways.” Mid-sized family farms are feeling the ever-tightening pinch of the soaring cost of inputs coupled with low prices paid to them in return. The majority of family farms rely on off-farm work to supplement their farm income.
As Cindy pointed out, nurturing family-based agriculture is a continuous process, creating a full-cycle feedback loop. Healthier land equals more opportunities to create wealth; biological wealth leads to social wealth, which in turn leads to economic wealth.
But Steamboat's different! I can hear the cry now. We have such a short growing season! We can't possibly compete!
Really?
In 1930, Routt County was home to 928 family farms—compare that to the 610 farms in 2007 (with $34,115,000 as their combined value of production). Those farms were prolific in raspberries, strawberries, lettuce, peas, spinach, green beans, cabbage, potatoes, oats, barley, dairy cows, and so forth. In 2007, we were in the top 5% in the US for sheep production with a mere 9,000 head, versus 52,000 in 1930.
We may have a short growing season, but our weather is unbelievable. Our potential is huge and our soil is rich. We have not had to deal with the exploitation of our land the way other areas have. By buying locally-produced food, we support our economy, our land, and our selves.
Cindy started the evening by discussing the complexity of agriculture. It is many things to people: art, science, craft, culture, practice, profession, industry, business, and/or a way of life. But for how much longer? 75% of our food comes from a mere 10% of the population—specifically, giant corporations.
Only ONE percent of our population is involved in agriculture: a mere SIX percent of those are under the age of 30; most farmers are 50+ years old.
The remaining 90% of the farms in the US are family-owned, although those numbers are precarious; government regulations continue to threaten small farms. Our government's policy since the 70s has been “get big or get out,” thanks to Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz. Butz believed that if we increased the efficiency of our agricultural production that it would lead to more disposable income.
Perhaps—for everyone but farmers. JFK described farmers as those who are forced to “buy at retail, sell at wholesale, and pay freight both ways.” Mid-sized family farms are feeling the ever-tightening pinch of the soaring cost of inputs coupled with low prices paid to them in return. The majority of family farms rely on off-farm work to supplement their farm income.
As Cindy pointed out, nurturing family-based agriculture is a continuous process, creating a full-cycle feedback loop. Healthier land equals more opportunities to create wealth; biological wealth leads to social wealth, which in turn leads to economic wealth.
But Steamboat's different! I can hear the cry now. We have such a short growing season! We can't possibly compete!
Really?
In 1930, Routt County was home to 928 family farms—compare that to the 610 farms in 2007 (with $34,115,000 as their combined value of production). Those farms were prolific in raspberries, strawberries, lettuce, peas, spinach, green beans, cabbage, potatoes, oats, barley, dairy cows, and so forth. In 2007, we were in the top 5% in the US for sheep production with a mere 9,000 head, versus 52,000 in 1930.
We may have a short growing season, but our weather is unbelievable. Our potential is huge and our soil is rich. We have not had to deal with the exploitation of our land the way other areas have. By buying locally-produced food, we support our economy, our land, and our selves.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Fire Fly Mountain Produce introduces Routt Countys first CSA!
Firefly Mountain Produce CSA
*****(Sorry, this CSA has currently been filled.)********
About the CSA ...
These shares are available once a week and costs $14.
Right now, these greens are available:
baby arugula
baby mizuna (a great braising or stir-fry green)
baby spring turnips (crisp, pure white, and delicious!)
rainbow chard
tender kale
cilantro
basil
teenage lettuce heads
In a week or two, I will have my full salad mix (mesclun) available, which will include lettuce, spinach, arugula, kale, Asian greens, and some various other beautiful greens and flowers.
In the next couple of weeks, these will be available:
mesclun mix
arugula
spring turnips with greens
baby bok choy
baby beets with greens
baby carrots
green onions
radishes
new blue potatoes and russets
various Asian greens for braising
I am open to ideas and being flexible, but an example of a weekly
share would be:
1 small head of lettuce (or equivalent substitute)
1/2 lb of mixed salad greens
1 bunch of arugula
1 bunch of radishes
1 bunch of something else:
(bok choy or turnips or chard or kale or beets, etc.)
Subscribers can keep in touch with me by email and phone, and we can substitute items as well as add any extras that might be available. This share could be picked up once a week and would cost $14. Pickup location to be determined.
Contact info:
Christina
Firefly Mountain Produce
40431 Anchor Way
Steamboat Springs, CO 80487
970.846.9662
fireflymtn@msn.com
*****(Sorry, this CSA has currently been filled.)********
About the CSA ...
These shares are available once a week and costs $14.
Right now, these greens are available:
baby arugula
baby mizuna (a great braising or stir-fry green)
baby spring turnips (crisp, pure white, and delicious!)
rainbow chard
tender kale
cilantro
basil
teenage lettuce heads
In a week or two, I will have my full salad mix (mesclun) available, which will include lettuce, spinach, arugula, kale, Asian greens, and some various other beautiful greens and flowers.
In the next couple of weeks, these will be available:
mesclun mix
arugula
spring turnips with greens
baby bok choy
baby beets with greens
baby carrots
green onions
radishes
new blue potatoes and russets
various Asian greens for braising
I am open to ideas and being flexible, but an example of a weekly
share would be:
1 small head of lettuce (or equivalent substitute)
1/2 lb of mixed salad greens
1 bunch of arugula
1 bunch of radishes
1 bunch of something else:
(bok choy or turnips or chard or kale or beets, etc.)
Subscribers can keep in touch with me by email and phone, and we can substitute items as well as add any extras that might be available. This share could be picked up once a week and would cost $14. Pickup location to be determined.
Contact info:
Christina
Firefly Mountain Produce
40431 Anchor Way
Steamboat Springs, CO 80487
970.846.9662
fireflymtn@msn.com
Local CSA available!
Morgaine's 8 Gardens will be a High Altitude All Year Round greenhouse.
Emphasizing winter growing, the idea is to provide enough vegatables and berries to approximateley 10 families in a CSA style. Practicing "french" intensive raised bed gardening with a full cycle of soil nourishment. Worms, rain catching, and composting are included in accordance with organic growing practices.
Though, we have no intention of being Certified Organic (in attempt to keep prices low) any one would be welcome to see how we are growing.
We will rotate 150+ different varieties of heirloom vegatables ranging from lettuces to cauliflowers as well as corns.
We will be looking for some help in a cinder block party that we are trying to organize for the weekend of August 8th. Barbeque and Fat Tire will be served to all those who can help.
Expected to Start Fall 2010 in full service. During Fall/Winter 2009 garden anaylsis; food would be based on availability and volunteer's get first preference and then an interest list (email name and phone number to morgaine8@hotmail.com)
Tina Husman Suriano
Morgaine's 8 Gardens
Kremmling, Co.
970-724-9062
970-819-8594 (cell)
970-879-3081 (fax)
morgaine8@hotmail.com
Emphasizing winter growing, the idea is to provide enough vegatables and berries to approximateley 10 families in a CSA style. Practicing "french" intensive raised bed gardening with a full cycle of soil nourishment. Worms, rain catching, and composting are included in accordance with organic growing practices.
Though, we have no intention of being Certified Organic (in attempt to keep prices low) any one would be welcome to see how we are growing.
We will rotate 150+ different varieties of heirloom vegatables ranging from lettuces to cauliflowers as well as corns.
We will be looking for some help in a cinder block party that we are trying to organize for the weekend of August 8th. Barbeque and Fat Tire will be served to all those who can help.
Expected to Start Fall 2010 in full service. During Fall/Winter 2009 garden anaylsis; food would be based on availability and volunteer's get first preference and then an interest list (email name and phone number to morgaine8@hotmail.com)
Tina Husman Suriano
Morgaine's 8 Gardens
Kremmling, Co.
970-724-9062
970-819-8594 (cell)
970-879-3081 (fax)
morgaine8@hotmail.com
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