At Home - Spring 2010

Spring 2010

Sleeping with the bears A week in Alaska with photographer Don Tudor

Old Town recession remodels

Bike town beginnings Does Ski Town USA have what it takes to become a cycling draw? Page 14 Plus: Q&A with RCR president Robin Craigen

INSIDE: Home & Garden Guide

what you can grow in Steamboat â?™ PAGE 20

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Operating as Transformations

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Spring 2010 | At Home

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Contents

32

Inside: Home and Garden section Features

20 Growing green

12 Cooking With

14 The beginnings

Crème brûleé French toast that melts in your mouth

of a bike town City leaders say Ski Town USA has cycling draw

19 Get to know

Robin Craigen At Home sits down with the president of Routt County Riders

32 Sleeping with the bears

A week in Alaska with photographer Don Tudor

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Harsh conditions don’t stop locals from growing fresh produce

22 Tidy up your diet Four steps to a healthier you

24 Foolproof veggies

Learn what vegetables are sure to grow well in Routt County

26 Get started indoors

Get a jump on the growing season

29 Everything old

is new again Creative remodel projects continue during recession

On the cover: Robin Craigen, president of Routt County Riders, sat down with At Home to talk about cycling and his role in promoting the sport in Steamboat. He was photographed by John F. Russell at Orange Peel Bicycle Service.

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From the Editor

I love my mountain bike

I

bought a Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo mountain bike just before the start of my freshman year at the University of Colorado. New to Colorado and thrilled to have the Rocky Mountains as my backyard, I envisioned myself quickly adopting the increasingly popular sport of mountain biking.

Four years later, the bulk of the miles racked up on my Fisher were nothing more than commuter trips back and forth to campus. Only a few times did I venture onto some of Boulder County’s fantastic singletrack.

Mountain biking wasn’t part of the equation when I decided to move to Steamboat Springs in the winter of 2002.

The job was what lured me; the idea of living in a ski town where I could snowboard 30 or 40 days a winter was what sold me. And when I packed up the U-Haul truck and headed west on Interstate 70, my aging Fisher came along, too. For the first couple of years I lived here, the bike did

little more than take up space in my already crowded apartment. Then things changed.

A close friend from childhood moved to Steamboat a couple of summers later, and he brought with him his love of cycling — both the road and mountain varieties.

He soon was dragging me along on rides up Mount Werner and Emerald Mountain. I went reluctantly at first, knowing I needed the exercise but not necessarily thrilled about the means of accomplishing it.

Before long I was hooked by the adrenaline of flying down singletrack through Steamboat’s unbeatable aspen forests. And the heart-pumping rides up the mountain were invigorating for my mind and body.

I’ve twice raced — for fun — in the 24 Hours of Moab. I’m not a very good rider, and I’m never in the physical shape I should be in. Nonetheless, I’m contemplating entering some of the Town Challenge mountain bike races this summer.

But there’s a more important ride already scheduled on my summer 2010 calendar.

In mid-March I registered to be one of the 200 riders who will take part in the Aug. 8 Ride4yellow Continental Divide trail ride in Steamboat. Not only is the 30-plus-mile trail leading from Dumont Lake on Rabbit Ears Pass to the backside of Mount Werner one of my favorites in Northwest Colorado, but this one will be for a wonderful cause.

Each rider is asked to raise $500 for cancer research and efforts. Half of the money will go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation; the other half will go to local cancer initiatives.

Like many riders, this one will be special to me. I’ve lost two grandparents and an uncle to cancer, not to mention the extended relatives who have suffered the effects of this terrible disease. Sadly, I know my life will be touched again by cancer, as will many of yours.

The Ride4yellow event is representative not only of the increasing popularity of mountain biking here in Routt County, but of how our favorite activities can be put to good use. I, for one, will do what I can to help the sport of cycling grow in Steamboat Springs in the coming years and decades.

That participating can do good for others makes it that much better.

— Brent Boyer

Mail your comments, criticisms or ideas to: At Home in Steamboat Springs, Attn: Brent Boyer, P.O. Box 774827, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477. You can also e-mail bboyer@steamboatpilot.com.

10 | At Home | Spring 2010

Suzanne Schlicht Publisher Scott Stanford Director of Sales and Marketing Brent Boyer Editor Allison Miriani Editor and Designer Meg Boyer Creative Services Manager Steve Balgenorth Circulation Manager John F. Russell Photographer Writers Zach Fridell, Margaret Hair, Joel Reichenberger, Tom Ross Advertising Design and Production Suzanne Becker, Meghan Hine, Justin Hirsch, Julie Molema, Fran Reinier, Gayle Yovis Advertising Sales Kerry Crimmins, Karen Gilchrist, Deb Proper, Emma Simmins, Blake Stansbery Copy editing Laura Mazade, Nicole Miller, Christopher Woytko

At Home in Steamboat Springs is published three times a year, in November, March and July by the Steamboat Pilot & Today.

At Home magazines are free.

For advertising information, call Scott Stanford at 970-871-4202.

To get a copy mailed to your home, call Steve Balgenorth at 970-871-4232.

E-mail letters to the editor to bboyer@steamboatpilot.com or amiriani@steamboatpilot.com or call Brent Boyer at 970-871-4221 or Allison Miriani at 970-871-4207.

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Cooking With

Riggio’s

a simple indulgence

Gill’s crème brûleé French toast a special treat

R

oberta Gill’s crème brûleé French toast is deviously simple and unbelievably good.

Put some butter and sugar on the burner and let it become caramel. Whisk together some eggs and milk. Pour caramel in a pan, put bread on top, drench with eggs and milk, wait a bit, and bake.

But once the sweet and rich concoction comes out of the oven, it melts into a savory complexity that says “home cooking” and “I am a treat to be enjoyed only occasionally.”

Gill learned to bake and cook as a child growing up in the Midwest, spending much of her time in her grandmothers’ and mother’s kitchens. In her Steamboat Springs kitchen, Gill keeps her grandmother’s measuring cup on hand and occasionally picks recipes out of family heirloom cookbooks that have been yellowed by the decades.

Subbing in an oven-safe baking dish or the usual oven-heated skillet, Gill’s French toast swells up like a soufflé as it bakes for 35 to 40 minutes. In the cooking process, the caramel gets deeper and darker in flavor, combining with an egg and cream mixture to form a bread covering that packs toast, butter and syrup in each bite. This brunch item

needs at least 8 hours of make-ahead time, but it is worth the wait.

The dish starts with a loaf of goodquality bread. It’s up to availability and the cook’s tastes what to use, Gill said — she prefers challah, an egg-rich bread traditionally enjoyed on the Jewish Sabbath.

Bringing its own flavor to the party, challah has a texture that stands up to many cooking preparations. Gill slices the bread in advance, giving it time to dry out to soak up the tasty egg mixture later.

When she’s ready to cook, Gill gets a simple sauce going on the stovetop, keeping a mixture of butter, brown sugar and light corn syrup moving until it takes on a medium caramel color. Moving the sugary sap off the heat, Gill is ready to whip up eggs, cream and Grand Marnier orange liqueur.

A dietician who spent years with the Steamboat Springs School District and now works with Yampa Valley Medical Center and the Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association, Gill has a couple of substitutes handy to keep her recipe from going over the top.

Two-percent milk can take away some of the creamy burden of half-and-half, and orange extract can stand in for Grand Marnier. It’s all Story by Margaret Hair ❘ Photos by John F. Russell

12 | At Home | Spring 2010

up to the cook, Gill said.

Once the ingredients are ready to go, Gill upends her pot of caramel into the baking dish. After it oozes across the pan to coat, Gill arranges her bread slices in a single layer. Her Midwestern upbringing doesn’t allow much to go to waste, so any small pieces that have crumbled in slicing get wedged into the mix,

Crème brûleé French toast Add brown sugar and corn syrup. Mix Ingredients until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the r 1/2 cup unsalted butte mixture into a 9-by-13-inch baking 1 cup packed brown sugar dish. syrup 2 tablespoons light corn Arrange bread slices in the pan in a Gill e; choic ’s (cook bread of s piece 8 single layer. ich egg-r er favors challah or anoth Whisk together eggs, cream or milk, ) bread vanilla and orange liqueur or extract.

5 large eggs Pour the egg mixture over the bread 1 1/2 cups half-and-half, or substitute and cover the dish. Chill for at least 8 cup 3/4 and 3/4 cup 2 percent milk hours or overnight. half-and-half Preheat oven to 350 degrees ct 1 teaspoon vanilla extra Fahrenheit. Remove the dish from 1 teaspoon orange liqueur (Gill the refrigerator and bring to room subor ier) Marn recommends Grand temperature. stitute 1 1/2 teaspoons orange extract Bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly Preparation browned. heat. um medi Melt the butter over

leaving just enough space for the eggs to expand.

The egg and cream mixture goes over the bread slices. Gill covers the dish in plastic and lets it sit for at least 8 hours.

Tackle the preparation the night before a big day of skiing or hiking, and the bread will be ready to bake while the cook prepares for the day, she said.

Coming out of the oven, this French toast looks like a

French pastry, oozing caramel and enjoying a few moments of soufflé glory. Powdered sugar and additional syrup are nice garnishes, but the finished product is plenty sweet on its own.

As a dietician who likes to stick to her own advice, Gill doesn’t eat like this on a regular basis. But for a once-in-a-while treat, baked French toast with a side of maple-infused bacon is hard to beat.

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Beginnings of a

A rider speeds along Routt County Road 42 during the time trial on the first day of the Steamboat Stage Race in 2009. The race is just one of the events that continue to draw cyclists and supporters to Steamboat Springs in the summer.

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bike town

Steamboat Springs leaders say Ski Town USA has all the right ingredients to become a cycling draw.

Now the real work begins.

T

he great Olympians of Steamboat Springs spent the month of February doing everything they could to further their hometown’s stranglehold on the moniker “Ski Town USA,” hauling home an unprecedented collection of medals and accomplishments from the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, 1,400 miles away from those Vancouver, British Columbia, battlegrounds, some of this city’s biggest dreamers toiled away, hoping to define Steamboat Springs as more than the home of Winter Olympians.

Facing a lengthy economic recession and lingering questions about the sustainability of summer tourism, and sitting atop what they swear are some of the nation’s best natural resources — summer or winter — leaders in Steamboat are seeking to add a second nickname: Bike Town USA. “It’s not like we’d have to go out there and build some mountains and some trails,” said Robin Craigen, president of Routt County Riders, the area’s hard-working bicycle club. “We need to start identifying the assets we already have.”

The quest for the label Bike Town USA is multi-pronged and seeks to pull together Steamboat’s already considerable resources in terms of biking while also adding a wealth of new ones.

The goal is nothing short of making Steamboat Springs one of the nation’s top biking destinations.

A happy home

Story by Joel Reichenberger Photos by John F. Russell

The plans are extensive. They call for new trails, new terrain and, in turn, new events.

Still, the wildest of dreams are possible only because of what Steamboat Springs already is, cycling proponents insist. What they think really helps the town stand out is the outlets for all different types of biking — everything a traveling rider might want for a weekend.

An extensive collection of cross-country mountain bike trails already exists in Steamboat. A complete network of routes crisscross Emerald Mountain, the long but stubby peak that rises right out of downtown.

Mount Werner, home to Steamboat Ski Area, also transforms into a network of cross-country mountain biking trails once the weather warms. When the snow melts, the mountain offers 17 routes.

“We’ve got some great, smooth singletrack trails up there and a good amount of vertical,” veteran local cyclist Barkley Robinson said. “It’s a pretty neat experience.

You are riding on the soil through the aspens as opposed to rocky terrain through pines as you would see in a lot of other Colorado high-country trails.

“And another neat thing about riding Mount Werner, the views are incredible. They are tremendous because the surrounding

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mountains are lower and the valley is flatter, so you get great expansive views.”

That valley, relatively flat with rolling hills, also offers the chance for long road rides that many other mountain towns, hemmed in by their geography, simply can’t offer.

Steamboat is already a town that loves its bicycles. Routt County Riders, for example, boasts more than 500 members. The city, with just about 10,000 residents, features no fewer than four bike shops.

Nearly 1,000 people attended a bike-in movie last summer at Howelsen Hill, and hundreds show up each Wednesday during the summer for the friendly but competitive Town Challenge mountain bike race series.

Combine all that with the town’s touristcentric focus — plenty of available condos, hotels and restaurants — and many think the infrastructure is there for a much greater cycling focus.

“We see mountain biking as no different than skiing, just 40 years behind,” said Aryeh Copa, a longtime local cyclist.

“Mountain biking is a huge revenue source for other resorts that have embraced it and put in many different styles and types of trails for varying ability levels. People come out, just like skiing.”

Necessary additions

Riders in a Town Challenge mountain bike race fly down a trail near the base of Steamboat Ski Area last summer.

(Photo: Joel Reichenberger)

Freeride enthusiast Cory Prager is pushing the envelope in hopes of bringing downhill events and more downhill terrain to the Steamboat Springs area.

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Steamboat may be a town ready to host a new wave of visitors, but there are things that must change if the town is to out-duel other Colorado mountain resorts also in search of summer dollars.

Top on the to-do list, most acknowledge, is adding downhill or freeride mountain biking trails.

Downhill mountain biking races are of the “first-to-the-bottom” style, though most courses cut around on the slope of the mountain rather than point straight down the fall line.

Freeride trails, meanwhile, incorporate features into the trail that riders use for tricks.

Some of those features are natural, like rocks and tree stumps. Others are manmade, like wood-plank bridges and ramps.

Steamboat doesn’t have any official downhill or freeride trails. The ski area runs its gondola throughout the summer, and many cyclists ride up with their bikes, but the only trails available for them to descend on are two-way avenues.

“I enjoy the freeride aspect because it’s just a lot of fun,” said Cory Prager, a local enthusiast who has become a key representative for the freeriding community.

Prager also is the coach of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club’s gravity team, a squad that focuses on downhill and freeride races and events.

“Freeriding is great. The guys that are doing it are just having a good time, having a blast on their bikes. It’s about jumping off things and challenging yourself instead of challenging others,” Prager said.

Specific downhill and freeride trails would alleviate the obvious danger of having cyclists charging down a trail a family might be hiking up.

Ideally, many of those new trails would incorporate freeride elements, catering to a growing audience of cyclists.

“We’ve been trying to get them to build these trails since 2003,” said Copa, who leads Routt County Riders’ new freeride committee.

“If you have lift-served terrain and some jump lines, maybe 30 or 40 jumps in one run, it’s just so much fun.”

It’s not an element that’s been entirely absent from Steamboat’s cycling scene, much to the chagrin of the U.S. Forest Service.

As many as two dozen trails of various engineering complexity already are carved into the woods around Steamboat. Their existence was enough to prompt U.S. Forest Service recreation specialist Kent Foster into action.

He has begun to work with area freeriders to develop venues that don’t include such “renegade” trails, some of which cut through environmentally fragile areas.

“Either we choose to pick the fight and eliminate those trails or we work with the people to bring them on board,” Foster said.

“We are trying to figure out a way that is a win-win for everyone, a way that reduces the illegal trail-building that goes on and provides the opportunity for groups that will step up to help care for the trails.”

The ski area also appears eager to get on board with the downhill and freeride movement.

“We are looking at certain areas on the mountain where we could develop freeride trails,” said Jim Schneider, vice president of skier services at Steamboat Ski Area. “We are asking, ‘Can we make this work both physically, No. 1, and No. 2, financially does it make sense to do this?’”

Organization at the often unorganized grass-roots levels of the cycling fringe has helped that process, and now all involved parties are engaged in an unexpected partnership.

The Forest Service has tentatively stepped toward incorporating a few of the already existing freeride trails into its vast network of forest trails. That would require an agreement from volunteer organizations with regard to upkeep and also would hinge on rerouting sections of those trails around fragile areas.

The ski area has commissioned studies into the feasibility of adding freeride trails to the ski mountain’s network of gondola-serviced summer terrain.

The first fruits of the effort could be seen as early as this summer with downhill trails potentially opening not long after the mountain’s regular summer trails are made available.

Such improvements are seen as key to Steamboat becoming the everything-foreveryone biking destination many envision.

Winter Park, SolVista and Keystone already

Local cyclist Barkley Robinson excels on his mountain bike and road bike. have a significant head start on Steamboat in Colorado, with popular freeride venues built and open every summer.

Whistler, British Columbia, meanwhile, stands as the example everyone is first to cite as “the way things could be.” The Whistler-Blackcomb ski area has an extensive collection of cross-country and freeride trails and works to attract thousands of riders every summer day.

“We see this as a huge economic driver

for the valley,” Schneider said. “What we’ve seen in Whistler, one or two folks might be freeriders and the whole family comes up.

All the other things — lodging, food and beverages, retail and rentals — that all goes with it when the whole family comes and recreates in the valley.”

Event planning That vision of Whistler — booked hotel rooms, packed restaurants and lines of Spring 2010 | At Home

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Online

■ Routt County Riders advocates for bicycle causes in Steamboat Springs http://www.routtcountyriders.org/ ■ Routt County Riders’ freeride committee has worked with Steamboat Ski Area and the U.S. Forest Service to establish downhill and freeride trails in and around Steamboat. http://freeridesteamboat.com/

Katie Lindquist is a driving force in Steamboat Springs’ mountain biking community. She promotes the sport as a racer and also acts as a business partner at Eriksen Cycles. people waiting to ride up the lift — is the goal.

It’s in addition to that steady stream of visitors that planners see major cycling events fitting in. Such events already have begun to define Steamboat among its mountain town brethren.

The lack of suitable downhill trails has kept the town from hosting any races on the Mountain States Cup circuit or competing with other areas in the region for events such as the U.S. Mountain Biking National Championships, which SolVista hosted last summer and will again this summer.

But Steamboat is a regular stop on large road biking rides. It’s on the route of the Tour Divide continental divide trail race, and this summer, it will welcome three large cycling events.

The first, on July 17, is the annual Tour de Steamboat. The ride sends road cyclists up Rabbit Ears Pass on U.S. Highway 40 and around, down through the Gore Range and back up Colorado Highway 131. It’s a 110-mile noncompetitive loop that’s proven extremely popular.

Katie Lindquist, who along with former Routt County Riders president Brad Cusenbary has directed the event for each of its five years, said 2010 should be another strong edition.

The ride again should hit its limit of 500 riders, well more than the 300 it enlisted last year. All proceeds will go to the Sunshine Kids program, which offers activities to children with cancer.

18 | At Home | Spring 2010

“That’s just really grown,” Lindquist said. “It’s not a race, and we pull people from the Front Range and other states.

People really like the noncompetitive yet endurance-style riding.

“There are big changes in temperature and altitude, but it’s fully supported.

People know there’s a safety net out there, and they know they can ride it with their friends. People interested in that kind of event is a demographic that’s getting bigger.

We get all ages, not just racing ages.”

The Steamboat Springs Bicycle Stage Race figures to make it two summers in a row in Steamboat.

That four-day race filled a void in the region last year when it became Colorado’s only stage race. It attracted a crowd of more than 300 riders, a deep field that included Olympians and many of the state’s best.

New this summer will be the Ride4yellow mountain bike event, which will raise money for cancer research through the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Like the Tour de Steamboat, the earlyAugust event won’t be competitive, but it will attract a large crowd, it will have star power and it will showcase Steamboat’s potential to host major cycling events.

There will be three rides associated with the event. The signature ride will be a 35-mile cruise in the mountains above Steamboat along the Continental Divide trail. That will be open to 200 riders, all of whom will be required to raise at least $500 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and local cancer efforts.

Two other rides, one a cross-country style event and the other a downhill ride, will take place at the ski area.

Linda Armstrong Kelly, Lance Armstrong’s mother, will be on hand for the event, as will Gov. Bill Ritter and potentially Lance Armstrong himself.

Those events could be the starting point for Steamboat’s establishment as a cycling event hot spot. Lindquist and Cusenbary ran an endurance cycling event in Steamboat for several years, first a 24hour race, then a 12-hour competition.

Construction at the base area and Cusenbary’s cancer diagnosis put that on ice, but they haven’t ruled out its return in the near future.

“There is room here for more events,” Lindquist said. “The demographics on all our events right now are different. If we keep it like that, it will all grow. If events come in to town that are directly the same, we don’t have enough summer days, but hopefully our local planners are brighter than that.”

Coming together If it all comes to be — the trails and the crowds, the events and athletes — the implications for Steamboat are obvious and significant.

Cycling could be a summer savior for a town that never truly accepted its last “off season” tourism engine — consistently shrinking baseball and softball tournaments.

“Sounds corny to say synergy, or perfect storm, but it is the perfect storm,” said Craigen, director of Routt County Riders. “If you didn’t have each of these groups doing the things together, we wouldn’t be where we are now. There’s been such a buzz in the positive direction and very little pushback.

Maybe we can accelerate what might happen organically in the next 10 to 15 years into a three- to five-year plan.”

Many of those pushing to land Steamboat on the cycling map insist those are noble goals, reason to excite the town’s various interests and the disciples of the sport’s various disciplines.

Many also admit the reason they dream so big isn’t just so restaurants can sell more hamburgers and hotels more beds.

“Many of my friends leave Steamboat every weekend for the entire weekend to go to SolVista or Winter Park or Keystone,” Copa said. “Mainly I’m doing this because this is where I live and I don’t want to have to travel to play.”

Question & Answer

President of Routt County Riders

Robin Craigen Robin Craigen, president of Routt County Riders, lives in Steamboat Springs with his wife, Heather, and his daughters, Maddie, 7, and Chili, 4. He moved with Heather to Steamboat 12 years ago and said he’s grown to appreciate much about the town and the Yampa Valley, especially the cycling opportunities it offers.

At Home: What brought you to Steamboat Springs?

Robin Craigen: My wife and I ran a charter yacht in the Caribbean, and three families from Steamboat came as guests. They were like everyone I’ve ever met from Steamboat. We generally don’t stop talking about it. We tend to be our own marketing force. So these families, third-generation families, they just over and over planted seeds in our minds about what a great place it was for them to grow up. They raised their kids here. We heard a lot about the community of Steamboat. When we thought about moving off the boat to have a family, it became our first place to come check out. Then when we landed here, it was everything we hoped it would be. That was 12 years ago.

AH: How did you get interested in cycling?

RC: I didn’t get into it until I moved here, and it wasn’t even until I had been here two years I even thought about riding up Mount Werner. Now I do the Town Challenge, and I do some competitive riding, but for the most part, it’s what gets me out of the office and into another place.

It helps me appreciate why I live here.

AH: You’re one of the leading proponents of cycling in Steamboat Springs. What keeps you enthusiastic about that role?

RC: I feed off the excitement of other people. And it’s certainly not just me. There were people in this town long before me, back to the days of Kent Ericksen building his first Moots bike. There is a culture in this town that’s always been enthusiastic about biking. I have a lot of motivation because I have two kids. I rode to school every day growing up in the UK, and I would love for my kids to feel it’s safe and I’d love for me to feel it’s safe for them to ride to school. We all know that when we got our first bike, that was our first taste of independence. It was a part of that whole growing up experience that we want our kids to have. You need to know the environment you’re turning your kids loose into is safe. If we’re going to encourage people to ride, we need to change the environment we live in. This town, with the way it’s trying to grow, it would be great if we could fully embrace that idea of Bike Town USA.

As president of Routt County Riders, Robin Craigen is helping to shape Steamboat Springs’ identity as a cycling destination. Craigen is pictured here in Orange Peel Bicycle Service, 1136 Yampa St. AH: What is Routt Country Riders today and how is it developing?

RC: You don’t have to be an elite athlete to be somehow in Routt Country Riders. Really, we are interested in helping people help themselves to make this a better place for riding. We are trying to make a connection with the guy who might ride his bike to the store to pick up a pint of milk as much as we are the person who wants to be an Olympic mountain biker or an elite road biker.

Routt Country Riders is just an organization that brings all these different groups together. Just at our last meeting we were talking about initiating a Steamboat racing team, Steamboat Velo. We would be 100 percent in support of the idea. It’s just another way for us to promote ourselves as a biking town.

AH: There is a major effort under way to turn Steamboat Springs into a major cycling destination. What about Steamboat makes it so attractive to the cycling tourist?

RC: We have the infrastructure in place. We have the hotels and restaurants and a town. We recognize that we have some world-class mountain bike trails already, and we are in a place where people want to come and road bike. So you have places where people have already acknowledged we have world-class riding. They love the terrain. They love the hills. But I think we can broaden our appeal so that people that would not consider themselves elite athletes might still come here and bike.

— Interview by Joel Reichenberger Photo by John F. Russell

Spring 2010 | At Home

| 19

Home & Garden Guide Christina Yeager and her husband, Chad, enjoy some lettuce in the kitchen of their Steamboat Springs home. The couple owns Firefly Mountain Produce, which offers naturally grown salad and braising greens, as well as some root crops and herbs.

Growing green

20 | At Home | Spring 2010

Harsh conditions can’t stop locals’ fresh produce Story by Zach Fridell Photos by John F. Russell

The winter is long, and the growing season is short. The ground often is covered by rocks and trees. But for the few Routt County residents who persist in growing their own food, the rewards can outweigh all the obstacles the Rocky Mountains can throw in the way.

“It’s kind of a difficult climate to grow food in until you learn the tricks of the trade,” Christina Yeager said.

Yeager, owner of Firefly Mountain Produce, has decided to brave the elements on a plot of land in North Routt County to grow produce each summer, mostly greens for cooking, herbs and lettuce.

Yeager uses a covered, unheated growing area to give her plants a small advantage against the snow and storms, but she still loses a portion of her produce each

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Home & Garden Guide Continued from page 20 year — last year her beets were devoured by voles before harvest. But she said it’s worth it to have fresh produce that wasn’t grown just for shelf life.

“I started thinking that I like fresh food, and I wish it was more available. I see this is a pretty health-minded community around here, and I just knew people would appreciate buying food that is not only more healthy and fresh, but is also more delicious,” she said. “The type of variety of tomato (at the grocery store) can last 60 days in storage and can travel in a truck and not get crushed. It’s not optimal; it’s not grown for nutrition; it’s not grown for anything but storage and travel-ability.”

Routt County Extension Agent CJ Mucklow said Yeager’s business is the only commercial vegetable-growing operation he knows of in Routt County, but there are several community gardens with self-made growers.

So far, Yeager has cultivated about half an acre of the 32 acres she and her husband own near Clark, and she said she hopes to expand the business. Her food is available through local stores such as Bamboo Market Health Foods and Sweet Pea Market, and at several local restaurants.

She also sells food directly to consumers through a kind of subscription program — people interested in the produce pay a weekly fee and can choose a variety from Yeager’s weekly harvest during the height of the season.

Bridget Ferguson said she started buying Firefly Mountain Produce last year after gardening disasters discouraged her from starting her own garden.

“I was awful,” she said. “Between the grasshoppers and the bad soil, it’s so labor intensive. It’s so delightful to go pick it up every week in an insulated bag.”

The growing season is 59 days in Steamboat, 85 days in Hayden and 49 days in Oak Creek, Mucklow said.

Mucklow said he hopes to have a downtown Steamboat Springs community garden running by May, with 20 plots available for rent. He said the rent will be inexpensive, based on the cost of watering the plots. He said that despite the challenges, growers can produce vegetables and even some fruits not typically grown in Northwest Colorado, including tomatoes, pumpkins, spinach, potatoes and strawberries.

For more information about the Steamboat Springs community garden, call the extension office at 970-879-0825. For more information about Firefly Mountain Produce, visit: www.localsustainability. net/directory/produce-2/produce/fireflymountain-produce/ or e-mail FireflyMtn@ msn.com.

4 tips

to help tidy up your diet

There’s no one food that will make a person healthy, and there’s no one food that will ruin a diet. Steamboat Springs resident Roberta Gill spoke with At Home about a few simple tips to tidying up your diet for a healthier lifestyle.

An avid cook, Gill has been a dietician for about 25 years. Before she began her work with the Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association and Yampa Valley Medical Center, she spent more than 10 years leading nutrition services for the Steamboat Springs School District.

Here are a few of her tips for diet maintenance:

3

1 2

■ “The healthiest person reads all his food labels” Reading food labels is a pathway to good health, Gill said. Readily available information such as how many calories are in a serving size and how much sugar or fat is in a product can help give a better idea of what you should be eating and how much you should be consuming.

■ “The higher the age, the smaller the portion” That goes for everybody, Gill said.

4

■ “Cut out empty calories” If soda is a part of your diet, cut it out, Gill said.

Also check labels to make certain sugar is not one of the first three ingredients.

That’s any form of sugar, including corn syrup.

■ “The simpler the food, the healthier it is” For a busy or active mountain resident, the best way to fuel the body is with small amounts of simple foods, Gill said. Plain fruits, vegetables and unprocessed whole grains are worlds healthier than combination dishes that have taste-oriented additives.

Cool nights, dry days, short growing season For natural green thumbs or first-time growers, gardening in Steamboat Springs and surrounding areas has a special set of challenges.

An average 59 frost-free days in Steamboat from mid-June to mid-August give those starting or maintaining outdoor vegetable and flower gardens a narrow window to cultivate healthy and colorful additions to the dinner table.

Nutrient-rich soil, plenty of sunlight, proper watering and a dose of perseverance help any gardener get through the weeks leading up to out-

door planting season.

Karen Vail — a naturalist for the environmental stewardship organization Yampatika and owner of her own landscaping business, Karen’s Growing Ideas — gives specialized advice to her clients to match their gardening outlook and the microclimates in their yards.

Everyone does it different, but a few tips seem to work across the board, Vail said. With healthy soil and a prime growing spot to start plants, first-time gardeners should choose four or five favorite vegetables to start their gardens, she said.

— Information compiled by Margaret Hair

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Home & Garden Guide

Foolproof veggies S

teamboat Springs resident and certified Colorado State Extension Service master gardener Margie Arbogast has been cultivating a wide variety of vegetables in her home garden for the past 15 years.

In that time, she’s become familiar with a few surefire crops that work well with Routt County’s dry days, cold nights and short growing season.

The 12 varieties of lettuce flourishing each summer in Arbogast’s garden are a testament to the fortitude of leafy greens in Northwest Colorado’s specific growing climates. Several kinds of lettuce, spinach, bok choy, kale, collard greens and Swiss chard grow beautifully in Steamboat Springs, Arbogast said. Beets, carrots and a variety of herbs also work well.

Among other workable plants are beans, peas, potatoes, cucumbers, squash and banana peppers.

For beginning gardeners, the key is to start small, she said. Pick a few favorites from a list of greens, herbs and carrots, and go from there to build a garden that cuts grocery bills and increases vegetable intake.

Lettuce grows well in Routt County. Clockwise from top are: curly kale, baby arugula, red-stem Swiss chard and a mesclun mix that includes baby red and green lettuces, Swiss chard, frisée endive, arugula and baby Asian greens.

— Information compiled by Margaret Hair Photos by John F. Russell

24 | At Home | Spring 2010

Spring 2010 | At Home

| 25

Home & Garden Guide Getting started indoors

Plants don’t typically go in the ground until the end of Northwest Colorado’s frosty season, usually in the middle of June.

Because favorites such as tomatoes need a little more time to grow, starting with seeds or small plants indoors can give a boost to gardens new and old.

Kristen Pappas — the owner of Little Shop of Growers garden supply store who maintains a large home greenhouse for growing vegetables — recommends buying seeds in late March or early April for summer gardens.

Karen Vail uses seeds to start her tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, onions and herbs indoors. She gets the tomatoes going four to six weeks before it’s time to get them in the ground, she said. Tomatoes and peppers like warm soil, so Vail uses a heating mat under her starter seed trays for those plants, she said.

A good starter soil gets plants off to the right start. Plenty of light keeps vegetable plants from stretching and becoming spindly, and making sure to give the plant just enough water — and not too much — offers a sturdier structure.

Sterile containers and clean soil are key to the health of early starts; a store-bought manure tea offers a shot of nutrients to hungry vegetable plants, Vail said.

Most local seed and garden stores carry starter plants for those who don’t want to start with seeds, said Hayden Garden Club member and certified Colorado State Extension Service master gardener Dana Haskins.

Haskins has bought starters lately at Yampa Valley Feeds in Hayden, she said.

Once the vegetables are outside, tricks such as planting on south-facing walls and using plant protectors such as Wall O’ Water — a collection of plastic tubes filled with water that surround the plant and create a greenhouse-like effect — can help ensure quality crops, Vail said.

Plentiful herbs Few herbs kept outside can survive a Steamboat Springs winter. Tarragon and chives sometimes make the cut, but for the most part, gardeners in Routt County need to be ready to start anew on herbs each spring, said local herb

gardening expert Jane McLeod.

What to grow depends on the gardener’s culinary taste, as herbs in a garden are usually there to make their way into food, McLeod said. During the winter, McLeod keeps rosemary, thyme and basil on a sunny windowsill. When the frost starts to break, that list can expand greatly to include almost any herb a cook favors, she said.

“They’re healthy and they add a tremendous amount of flavor to your cooking. It gets you away from things like the salt shaker

and the ketchup bottle,” she said.

Lots of sun, regular watering, good drainage and rich, loamy soil with a little bit of compost added give even the most demanding herbs an environment for growing. Many herbs can be started from seeds, though more tender selections such as basil could benefit from buying starter plants at a local nursery, McLeod said.

Most herbs can flourish with a wellmaintained soil environment and otherwise relatively minimal care, she said. Strong growers in Steamboat are French tarragon, chives, oregano, marjoram and cilantro.

— Information compiled by Margaret Hair

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www.yampatika.org 28 | At Home | Spring 2010

Everything old is new again

The 1930s-era home at 345 Sixth St. is one of only a few colonial revival structures in Steamboat Springs. The symmetrical gables are part of the original structure. The covered front porch completed in a recent remodel is more faithful to the architectural style of the original home than was the previous porch.

Creative remodeling projects continue even during recession

I

n the midst of a slumbering Steamboat construction market in 2009 and early 2010, a few creative remodeling projects were transforming Old Town homes and modernizing the living spaces while maintaining a sensitivity to the visual character of the eclectic neighborhoods north of Lincoln Avenue.

In at least one case, a traditional looking home has been subtly expanded without substantially altering its curbside appearance.

In others, modest homes are being taken down to the original studs and rebuilt with an entirely new appearance.

Behind the trend are second-home owners from other cities and states who have been coming to Steamboat for many years and enjoying their original homes while assimilating into the Steamboat community.

“We had a townhome on the mountain here for 15 years. But we wanted to feel more a part of the actual community instead of the resort community,” said the owner of a re-

cently refurbished colonial revival style home at 345 Sixth St. The owners, a couple from Evergreen, purchased their 1930s-era Old Town home and occupied it for 5 to 7 years before undertaking the remodel.

The completed remodel has created a modern kitchen with a large island and a spacious second-story master bedroom that admits abundant natural light in winter and offers higher ceilings than the original.

A larger front porch also has been added to the outdoor living space and appears more welcoming to passers-by.

Yet after the remodel, the view of the home from curbside is just as faithful to its colonial heritage as it was before.

Laureen Schaffer, historic preservation coordinator for the city of Steamboat Springs, said the new porch is more consistent with the building’s architectural style than an earlier front porch addition.

“The home is one of only a handful of

colonial revival structures in town,” Schaffer said.

One of the key elements in preserving the home’s original architectural signature was the preservation of symmetrically placed twin gables on the front elevation.

The couple and their design-build team found a creative way to use the small gables.

In the master bath, the space inside one gable has been converted to a shower stall.

The other gable, in a secondary bedroom, provides a cozy reading nook with views to the Park Range to the east.

The interior of the home has been transformed by the use of shades of cream on the interior walls contrasted against original honey-colored wood floors.

Distinctly uncluttered, the home manages to keep its grasp of Old Town traditional while embracing contemporary touches like a modern chandelier at the landing of the staircase to the second-floor bedrooms.

The remodel was undertaken with archi-

Story and photos by Tom Ross

Spring 2010 | At Home

| 29

Opening up the kitchen and giving it an uncluttered aesthetic was accomplished through the recent remodel of a traditional Old Town home at 345 Sixth St.

tect Rob Hawkins and general contractor Hans Berend. He has since formally affiliated with designer Jeff Gerber in Gerber Berend Design Build.

“I’ve been doing remodels for 12 years now,” Berend said. “I love taking an existing house and seeing what I can do with it. It gets me fired up.”

Berend is also involved in a serial remodeling project just a couple of doors north at 409 Sixth St. The owners, Denver couple Richard Porreco and Terese Kaske, opted to remodel their bungalow-style house in phases. They began with a new kitchen, Berend said, and continued with a family room and a master bedroom. Hawkins’ design for the transformation of the exterior to more of a craftsman style was being executed over the window. Very attractive and low-maintenance cementitious board siding was installed, and battered columns taper at the top to add style to the covered front porch. Wood shingles were added in strips under the end gables.

Berend is most enthused about the replacement of the pre-existing blue metal roof with a subtler gray.

Starting all over again

A few blocks to the east, on upper Fourth Street, Kenneth and Michelle Taylor, of Atlanta, asked Berend and Gerber to give them something entirely new.

A modest single-story post World War II-

30 | At Home | Spring 2010

era home with a single-car garage under the roof was stripped to its original stud framing and over the winter an ambitious new home was being built over the top of the old home.

Berend’s carpenters worked hard during a cold snap that produced little snow, and the new second-story roof was being installed in late January.

The Taylors had been renting a home just up the street as Michelle migrated to Steamboat for the winters so that the couple’s teenage daughter, Zoe, could train with the U.S. Telemark Ski Team.

When the new remodeled home is complete, the original garage will have been reclaimed for a living room and a new master suite will gain space from being cantilevered over a new carport.

The Telemark skier in the family will be within easy walking distance of the high school and just a quick trip from the slalom course at Howelsen Hill.

“It’s just a great walking location for this family,” Berend said.

Like many of the homes, this home is on an alley, and the construction crew was able to preserve a large evergreen tree that flanks a generous backyard on the alley.

Schaffer and the Steamboat Springs Historic Preservation Commission were less than enthusiastic about this remodel, which transformed the house.

Schaffer explained it was one of three vir-

tually identical homes constructed in the early 1950s by builder Art Gumprecht.

The homes were not particularly attractive in the architectural sense. However, the presence of a trio of period homes, all of the same character, defined their historic significance, Schaffer said.

However, a second Gumprehct home next door to Berend’s project has been completely demolished, and a new design is taking shape right next door.

The remodeled Taylor home reuses the foundation and the first-story walls.

The original wood flooring on the main floor has been retained, but the walls were stripped to the studs and the electrical work was replaced.

“We’re basically rewiring the house,” Berend said. “None of it was where it needs to be, so there was no point in keeping it.”

One bathroom on the first floor was retained, though the entry door was moved 90 degrees “It’s like a time capsule,” Berend quipped.

The remodel created a 14-by-14-foot master bedroom with high ceilings. It is cantilevered over the carport on the south side of the home. Two front bedrooms have access to a shared, small deck on the Fourth Street side of the home.

The new steeply pitched 10/12 roofline blends well into the neighborhood, and the front façade was given a classic look with

Contractor Hans Berend, of Gerber Berend Design Build, has developed a specialty in remodeling Old Town homes such as this project overlooking the ski mountain from Third Street. The remodel, including a cantilevered second story, was designed by his partner Jeff Gerber. decorative columns. The five structural fiberglass composite columns support the weight of a second story cantilever at the front of the house, creating a larger upstairs bedroom and a covered porch. They are an alternative to building columns of dimensional lumber and wrapping them with stonework, Berend said.

One of the most innovative construction techniques in the home is the innovative Warmboard flooring on the home’s second level. It involves tongueand-groove flooring with grooved channels topped by an aluminum skin to accommodate in-floor heating, Berend said.

The aluminum skin helps to spread the warmth efficiently and brings the upstairs bedrooms to a comfortable temperature more quickly, reducing the temptation

for second-home owners to keep the base level temperature high all winter.

“A remodel can be super green if you do it right,” Berend said.

Green is good, but teenagers want a stylish crib of their own.

Zoe Taylor has that wish fulfilled with a getaway room cleverly captured by Gerber just above her bedroom, where a custom-built wooden ladder leads to a 10-by-42-foot attic escape where young adults can hang out in their own world.

“She has her own little annex,” Berend said. “We were planning to provide a removable ladder, but she wanted the ladder to be a part of her room.”

Even in a slumping building economy, the gradual transformation of Old Town Steamboat is under way.

Spring 2010 | At Home

| 31

A sow and two yearlings dig for clams while the tide is out in Swikshak Bay, in Katmai National Park.

32 | At Home | Spring 2010

Sleeping

with the bears Getting up close and personal with Alaska’s great grizzlies

Story and photos by Don Tudor

Spring 2010 | At Home

| 33

A view of Hallo Bay International Airport, in Alaska.

T

he Cessna 206 roared as the plane dropped quickly through the clouds and over the cliff while our pilot, Stephanie Anderson, lined up for a landing on the deserted beach. The fog was thick — too thick to land at our camp on the Alaska Peninsula — so the plan was to set down a safe distance away and wait it out.

Other than the fog bank over camp, it was a perfect day for flying. Puffy clouds dotted the sky and added drama to the landscape. I kept my camera lens tight to the scratched window and the shutter clicking as volcano after volcano drifted by beneath the wing struts.

I was traveling with my wife, Cully Kistler.

Our destination was a camp in a remote area of Katmai National Park, an hour flight from Homer in the single-engine bush plane and 300 miles from the nearest access road. Our purpose was to view, photograph, paint and learn all that we could about brown bears in the five days we would be at Hallo Bay Camp. The camp is less than 20 miles from where Tim Treadwell — “The Grizzly Man” — and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were killed by bears in 2003.

I had not been to Alaska since 1995, when I drove up the Alcan Highway with my 16-foot self-bailing raft and what seemed like a ton of river gear. With a few adventurous friends, we had slipped into the Tatshenshini River south of Haines Junction and floated 150 miles to the Pacific Ocean. It was the kind of expedition that I had dreamed of for many years, and I wasn’t disappointed.

From the day I returned home to Steamboat Springs, Alaska had been calling me back.

Hallo Bay is to the north of Kodiak Island across the Shelikof Strait and southwest of Homer, where you will find a seemingly endless list of historically active volcanoes.

From our bush plane we could see Redoubt, Iliamna, Augustine, Douglas, Fourpeaked and Kaguyak. I took a photograph one day of Cully sitting and painting next to a huge boulder that had been thrown 50 miles when Novarupta blew in 1912, leading to 34 | At Home | Spring 2010

Cully Kistler, Don Tudor’s wife, gets out of the Cessna 206 at Hallo Bay Camp after arriving from Homer, Alaska.

the formation of Katmai National Park.

I think that is what draws me to Alaska.

The forces that shaped the landscape here in Colorado more than 10,000 years ago are still hard at work in this wild land to the north. The glaciers continue to grind away; the rivers are steep and fast; and the wildlife is, well, wild.

We visited Katmai National Park the third week in June with hopes of catching the grizzly sows bringing their spring cubs down from their winter dens for the first time. The rich abundance of plant life and seasonal salmon runs combine to make this area of the Alaska Peninsula among the best brown bear habitat on the planet. After the winter hibernation, the bears are lean and hungry.

The common food sources are sedge grass, horsetail, wild celery and razor clams. The malnourished bears need to consume a tremendous amount of food each day to give them the calories needed to regain the weight lost during six months of dormancy.

The protein- and fat-rich coho salmon won’t

show up until mid-August.

When the tide is out, the bears converge on the tidal flats to dig and gorge themselves with the clams. And they aren’t the only ones — the wolves and foxes enjoy the clams, too. Late June is also the tail end of mating season. The first two days at camp we watched a sow with two yearling cubs.

They were usually on the tidal flats digging clams and taking naps. The larger cub, probably a male, would dig his own while the smaller of the two was very content to let mom do the work. On the third day, a large older male bear showed up and the mother and her cubs seemingly disappeared. The sow moved the cubs to a safe place, and for good reason. A male bear can and will kill them given the opportunity. Less than half of grizzly bear cubs survive their first few years.

Most of the people that I talk to in our Sleeping Giant Gallery in downtown Steamboat Springs think of bears, especially grizzlies, as unpredictable, man-eating predators. But an in-depth study conducted

through 1985 revealed some interesting facts. From 1900 to 1985, 20 people were killed by bears in Alaska. During a 10-year period from 1975 to 1985, 19 people were killed by dogs in Alaska. I think I’ll take my chances with the bears.

It is widely accepted by people who spend a lot of time around bears that if you do not surprise them, make them aware of your presence, and respect their needs and behavior, you are in little danger when around them. Give them the opportunity and the space to do the right thing, and

they usually will.

Making bears aware of your presence is not always as easy as you would expect.

One afternoon we were walking down the beach into a stiff headwind. The wind was strong enough to blow sand into the air.

Suddenly, two bears came running out of the bush straight for us at a high rate of speed. Brown bears can run as fast as 40 mph, and they had no idea we were there.

Waving our arms, and later our jackets, we finally got their attention, but not until they were practically on top of us. One dove

into the bush to our right, the other ran to the edge of the surf on our left. Feeling somewhat like a highway divider, the bears blew by us, met back up and proceeded along as if we were never there.

The extended hours of daylight at 58 degrees latitude are one of the highlights of summer trips up north. On the summer solstice, we watched a large brown bear graze on horsetail, totally aware of our presence, to within 10 yards of us without much more than a glance in our direction. The sun was setting with warm glowing light Spring 2010 | At Home

| 35

Fresh snow in the Aleutian mountains north of camp June 21.

Take a trip

There are many choices for grizzly-watching trips on the Alaskan Peninsula. Some of the most highly recommended ones include: ■ From a comfortable lodge: www.alaskahomestead lodge.com ■ From a boat: www.katmaibears.com ■ From a drop camp: www.goseebears.com

winter. There is no barrier around the camp so the bears are free to wander through as they please. The galley tent is the social center where we ate our meals and hung around when it was raining or we needed to rest up before the next hike. The camp cook was Morty Miller, and she spent the entire time the galley was open — from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. — cooking and baking. She, of course, made everything from scratch, and her skills were impressive. The

dancing on the surf and rock outcroppings.

I glanced down at my watch. It was 11:30 p.m. If you are planning a summer trip to Alaska, stock up on sleep before you go, because you won’t find much of it up there.

Hallo Bay Camp (www.hallobay.com) has been in operation for more than 20 years. The camp itself consists of 10 tents of various sizes. The only wooden structures are the shower, bathroom facilities and the shed that stores the tent fabrics over the

Professional landscape and wildlife photographer Don Tudor plans to offer an Alaskan Bear Photography Trip this summer. The adventure will take place from Aug. 23 to 29 in Lake Clark National Park. The group will be limited to six people. The cost is $3,800 a person from Anchorage, with a $1,900 deposit. Most of the four full days in Lake Clark National Park will be spent photographing and viewing bears during the annual salmon run feeding frenzy. Tudor and his staff also will provide photography tips and training. For more information, e-mail don@dontudorphotography.com.

Visit Don’s Web site at www.dontudorphotography.com.

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Gary Fresques, DDS, PC Spring 2010 | At Home

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to DeWaine that a bear was right in front of him, which surprised me because he was in the lead and I was bringing up the rear. He was new at bear guiding and was unsure exactly what to do. The guides at the camp do not carry guns. They believe the best deterrent to an aggressive bear is a flare. The goal is to put a wall of smoke and flame between the two of you. Cully told DeWaine the bear appeared not to be bothered and we should step off to the other side of the trail and let it pass. Good idea, Cully. It worked perfectly. DeWaine and our other guide John Havey were both very likeable. John was in his second year of guiding and always was sure to keep an eye on our backside. That’s a nice feeling when occasionally you can be surrounded by bears and wolves, foxes and eagles.

Wild animals and raw nature. That’s Alaska, and it continues to call me back.

one food item that is not available at camp is seafood. Bears associating humans with salmon or clams would be a bad idea. The galley had electricity, but it was available only for the camp operations. If you wanted to download your photographs, you had to run your laptop on the batteries.

We typically went out for a hike twice a day, and each hike was about four miles.

Some days there were bears clamming

38 | At Home | Spring 2010

directly in front of camp. Other times we saw them near the base of the cliffs at The Bootleg, and of course, in the meadow.

One day going through the bush on Nancy’s Trail, our guide DeWaine Tollefsrud, an entomologist, was pointing out the plants and insects when I noticed a bear 20 yards ahead. If you think bears look big in the open, wait until you see one at this range in the thick bush. I mentioned

About the author: Don Tudor is a professional nature and wildlife photographer based in Steamboat Springs, which he has called home since 1969.

He and his wife, Cully Kistler, own and operate Sleeping Giant Gallery at 601 Lincoln Ave. in downtown Steamboat.

Visit www.dontudor photography.com for more information.

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Overlooking the Yampa River from our “tree house” location just off 12th between Lincoln & Yampa Streets Spring 2010 | At Home

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40 | At Home | Spring 2010