Steamboat Living spring 2016

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Spring 2016 | Steamboat living

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from tHe EDitor

Passing the gardening torch

we asked our staff: what is your favorite gardening tool?

My sprinkler heads...but my dog chews them off every year, which drives me crazy.

Suzanne Schlicht Publisher Lisa Schlichtman Editor in chief eugene buchanan Magazines editor

My bright blue watering can. It’s colorful and I use it daily to water the hanging baskets on my front porch.

Laura tamucci Local sales manager Jim Patterson Assistant editor My green thumb!

Jenni DeFouw Magazine sales specialist

Lindsay Porter Creative services manager Saxonie Shirichena Circulation manager

O

ur yard growing up was a mixed blessing. Located between Chautauqua Park and the Hill in Boulder — allowing me to skateboard to preschool and my Ph. D. (had I earned one) — it was big enough to play baseball (yes, we put out a few windows), British bulldog and spud. I still remember neighbor Mark McCadden sliding into a rock serving as third base and breaking his arm. We’d play outside every evening until the clang of the dinner bell called us in.

But its size also made it a pain to maintain, whose job, of us six Buchanan kids, fell on me. During the fall, Mom would march us out to plant bulbs, which I never saw bloom, and rake and bag leaves. Come spring, she’d organize group planting sessions, limb pick-up brigades and patio sweeping and furniture-moving platoons.

In summer, the lawn was my domain and the main rationale for my allowance besides feeding our dog, Boots. And it was no walk in the park. It took four hours to mow (eight episodes of Gilligan’s Island), with countless nooks and rocks to avoid and two big hills you never knew whether to mow up and down or across.

Without a catcher, it took another itchy hour to rake up the grass. While we fertilized occasionally, we never bothered

4 | Steamboat living | Spring 2016

with aeration, aside from our cleats.

Our sprinkler system was also a work of art — a Roman aqueduct mix of old school, toe-stubbing metal valve heads and new school Rainbirds, installed by my older brother. Some zones were better than others, as indicated by brown swaths along 12th Street.

Mid-summer saw family dandeliondigging sessions — at a nickel a pop, if we got the whole root — all six kids armed with buckets and fork-shaped diggers. Then came picking up gross, smooshed apples, many of which fell in an arm-scratching thicket of unkempt rose bushes. We’d save the better ones to squish in an old, wooden apple cider press (we’ll forget about the batch Mom forgot to boil).

Flash forward to our current yard in Steamboat Springs, and things are different. It’s a lot smaller and covered in snow half the year. But every trick of the trade I learned in my impressionable years comes back like spring blooms. Now I find myself in my mom’s gardening galoshes cajoling my own kids into helping (“Get the whole root; plant the bulb nose-up; straddle the leaf bag”) — hopefully, just as this Home & Garden issue does for you.

— Eugene Buchanan

Photographers Austin Colbert, Larry Pierce, Joel Reichenberger, Tom Ross, John F. Russell, Matt Stensland

A long-handled, human-powered gardener’s scythe to control weeds. I can swing it with my left hand while holding a cold beverage in my right. It’s almost fun.

Copy editors Jim Patterson, Mackenzie Yelvington advertising design Mirko Erspamer, Veronika Khanisenko, Mack Maschmeier, Chris McGaw and Jessica Wagner Steamboat Living is published three times per year, in April, July and October, by Steamboat Today.

Steamboat Living magazines are free.

For advertising information, call 970-871-4235.

To get a copy mailed to your home, call 970-871-4252.

Email letters to the editor to ebuchanan@SteamboatToday.com or call 970-870-1376.

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Departments

12

Quick Hits New dinosaur found near — where else? — Dinosaur; Kermit the frog vs. local David Jolly; a flight home from the Middle Fork; and more.

9

Steamboat Snapshots Favorite photos from the winter

16

Artist Profile Abstract painter Jan Maret Willman

19

Cooking with CMC chef Joseph Lentz

46

5 minutes with Chief of the Chief Scott Parker

Photo by John F. Russell

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Home & Garden Gardening and home tips, straw-bale and raised-bed gardens, how to grow indoor herbs, the case for hoop houses, extending your season and more.

Features

Special section

21

Home feature The Lorenz home in Fairview blends industrial, mountain and contemporary components into a style unto its own.

36

Staycations Who needs mileage plans? Countless vacations await close to home, from overnighting at hot springs to rustic cabins, letting you stretch your legs as well as your pocketbook while having you home Sunday night.

On the cover: Master Gardener Britni Johnson plying the tools of her trade. (Photo by John F. Russell)

Spring 2016 | Steamboat living

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LEttErS to tHe eDitor Not sheepish about art

I read your “Tree art” story and thought I’d share my experience with it. Years ago I worked on a ranch north of Savery, Wyoming, and took people horseback riding into the Medicine Bow National Forest, where we saw many of these carvings.

Several had human bodies with heads of sheep and other sexually oriented themes.

I think Jupiter Jones has the right idea about a coffee table book. I come from an academic background in anthropology and think these carvings have cultural value. I got to know several Peruvian sheepherders, who spoke their native Quechua, and invited a couple of them to the ranch one year for Thanksgiving. Turns out they came back year after year to the same place. In any event, thanks for an interesting, informative article. I sure hope the carvings aren't destroyed by prudish do-gooders; they’re a part of our shared history here.

— Jonathan Hands, Clark

Pleased with Perry

The Winter 2016 issue of Steamboat Living magazine is fantastic. I read it cover to cover. It’s an amazing amount of work by your staff, and they did it beautifully. There was so much information with great pictures, and it included so many wonderful people in our community. I was especially thrilled to see Pete Perry in there. We were at CU together, and he is a wonderful guy. He deserves the accolades.

— Shannon Lukens, Steamboat Springs

NFL oversight

Great article on Steamboat’s NFLers (Winter 2016), but you forgot Harland “Swede” Svare, who resides at Casey’s Pond (his daughter lives in town, too). Born in 1930 in Clearfield, Minnesota, he was drafted out of Washington State in 1953 by the Los Angeles Rams and went to the New York Giants in 1955. He played linebacker there with Frank Gifford as quarterback until 1960. From 1962 to 1965, he was head coach of the Rams, then became assistant coach of the Redskins in 1969 and head coach of the San Diego Chargers from 1971 to 1973. He is one of the oldest living NFL players.

— Douglas Smith Jr., Steamboat Springs

Snowblower blues

Nice article on snow blowing. So far so good with my own blower here in Japan. I broke a bolt on the left rotor my first time out, but then I popped another one in, and it started spinning again. Unlike you guys in Steamboat, we’ve had a light snow year.

Neighbors say it often snows six feet here in two days, and the snow can be pretty heavy. Last night about 18 inches fell in just a few hours. My blower is pretty big — about 280 pounds but only 10 horsepower. The neighbors all have diesel, 20-plus horsepower and 500-pound beasts.

I might have to trade up. Everyone here uses Japanese machines, with Mitsubishi, Wado and Yanmar the most common. I don't fear and loathe mine yet, but the most recent outing took two hours.

— Sam Buchanan, Nozawa, Japan

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steamboatwildhorse

Steamboat Snapshot

A

s official photographer for Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp., Larry Pierce has plenty of lift-service fodder to focus on come winter.

Here are a few shots from when he points his lens off the mountain.

Night lights The Balloon Glow as part of this year’s Cowboy Downhill festivities.

Eye on the ball Two dogs finding another way to enjoy this year’s copious snowfall.

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Have a great Steamboat shot? Email your photo to ebuchanan@SteamboatToday.com

Steamboat Snapshot

Play misty for me Snowcovered boulders on an early morning Yampa River.

Broncoland A sunset the same color as our beloved Super Bowl champs.

Spring 2016 | Steamboat living

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Quick HitS

Faceoff

Kermit the Frog

P

eople in Steamboat have many hidden talents. None more guttural than that of David Jolly, a former Disney performer who, in 2004 after Disney’s acquisition of The Muppets, was a lily pad’s hop away from becoming the new voice for the lovable Kermit the Frog. Here’s how the two stack up head to slimy head.

David Jolly

1955 in Leland, Mississippi

Born:

1971 in Warner Robbins, Georgia

Swamps of Louisiana

Grew up in:

Lansthul, Germany, and Niceville, Florida

3,265

Number of siblings:

2

5 (other Muppets have 4)

Number of fingers per hand:

5

Sesame Street character

Originally a:

Disney World performer (including roles as Goofy, Beast, Jafar, Tigger, Chewbacca and Darth Vader)

Southampton College in 1996 with a doctorate in Amphibious Letters

Graduated from:

Okaloosa Walton, Florida

Leave his swamp (at age 12) and talk to humans

First to:

Perform live interviews in character costume on camera

“The Rainbow Connection” in 1978, which reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100

Songs:

“Silverthorne!” (Cabaret 2004); “Don’t Stop Steamboatin’” (Cabaret 2015)

“Before You Leap: A Frog’s Eye View of Life’s Greatest Lessons”

Wrote:

“The Bachelor’s Guide to Escaping Bachelorhood” (unpublished)

Fozzie Bear

Best friend:

Scott “Otis” Leggett

Miss Piggy

Crush on:

Heidi Meshurel-Jolly (wife)

Grand marshal for Michigan State University’s 2006 homecoming parade

Awards:

‘Mouscars’ Sweetums of the Year 1995-1996; Tinkerbell Award 1998

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Quick HitS

Fossil find

Pterosaur found near Dinosaur National Monument

T

here’s more reason to make the voyage toward Vernal, Utah — and to be glad you weren’t doing so 210 million years ago.

At a cliffside first unearthed in 2009 on BLM land outside Dinosaur National Monument, paleontologists recently discovered the remains of a new pterosaur, the largest flying reptile of its time. Found in an ancient lake shoreline, the carnivore lived some 210 million years ago and was known for its powerful teeth and jaws.

“If you saw one of these things coming at you with its jaws open, it would freak you out,” Brigham Young University paleontologist Brooks Britt told experts about the discovery.

In all, more than 12,000 bones and eight different animals have been identified at the “Saints and Sinners” site, including a reptile with a head similar to a bird, arms like a mole and a clawed tail called a drepanosaur; small crocodile-like creatures called sphenosuchians; and two carnivorous di-

nosaurs, one related to the coelophysis.

But the new, yet-to-be-named pterosaur, found by a college student in a block of sandstone, is the most important discovery, bridging the fossil record between earlier, smaller pterosaurs and more recent, larger ones. With an intact skull and wing bone, it’s the first known Triassic pterosaur found in North America, the closest in Greenland.

“It’s a huge, milestone discovery of great scientific importance,” says Dinosaur Monument paleontologist Dan Chure.

“Finding a pterosaur of any kind is a remarkable occurrence, let alone one whose remains have been preserved so well. It’s only the second one from the Triassic ever discovered in the Western Hemisphere.”

The reptile’s skeleton, he adds, is “absurdly thin and built for flight, so finding any pieces of it extremely difficult.”

With a 6-foot wingspan — big for the Triassic period, Chure says — the aerial predator’s lower jaw was ringed with

Pterosaur sandwich: A rendering of the toothy flying reptile. Photo courtesy of Josh Cotton, brigham young university.

two fangs and 28 teeth on each side, for swooping down and eating small, crocodile-like prey.

“There’s no doubt that this is the greatest discovery of our careers by far,” Chure says about his team’s more than 100 years of combined paleontology experience. “And the site keeps serving up more and more surprises. It’s simply an amazing find.”

— Eugene Buchanan

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Quick Hits

Steamboat Scuttlebutt A real ski rack Putting new meaning into “ski rack,” local Dan Gilchrist got a surprise in December when, skiing the backcountry, he saw the tips of large moose antlers poking out of the snow. Gilchrist says he wasn’t overly surprised, because he’s had several moose encounters in the area on skis and bike. Nevertheless, he did what any scavenging skier would do: strapped them on his back and skied out, a bit top heavy. “It’s definitely the first time I’ve ever skied with antlers on my back,” he says. “I’ll think of something good to do with them — I want to have good moose karma.”

Can you do the can can?

of storing as much as 22 ounces of urine via integrated tubing.

When the wearer walks, the liquid is forced through microbial fuel cells that contain bacteria, which consume the urine’s nutrients, creating electricity. No word yet if they’re available in color schemes other than yellow.

New logo for MainStreet Steamboat There’s a new logo in town, pilgrim. A nationwide call for logo artists produced 103 submissions for a new MainStreet Steamboat logo, with the winner coming from local design firm SeeMe Media’s Casey Barnett. The submission features a simple cowboy hat in the shape of mountains, with the brim curved up, resembling a smile. “A cowboy hat says hospitality,” Barnett says. “And the mountains are a part of our community.”

Friends in high places

Butcherknife Brewing Co. can, after purchasing — and stacking in its brewing quarters — 250,000 empty cans (enough for 600 kegs) for its new canning operations. “We wanted to can it ourselves without bringing a third party in,” says co-owner Mark Fitzgerald, whose canning line machine came from Eddyline Brewing in Buena Vista. The problem is one of scale. To get a better deal on freight, they ordered an entire truckload, which arrived in 25, 9-foot-tall pallets, all double-stacked in their brewery. “It really filled the place up,” he says. “There’s not a lot of space to move around in the back anymore.” When they re-order next year, space will be even tighter. “This year it was only for our IPA,” he says. “Next year we’ll can another beer as well, so we’ll probably order half a million.”

Similar to George Jones’ “Friends in High Places” album, local Dave Kleiber was thankful for a high-flying cohort last summer on a river trip down Idaho’s Middle Fork of the Salmon. Two days in, while trying to retrieve a throw rope washed on shore, Kleiber slipped on a log, gashing his lower leg.

(Side note: The bag washed ashore thanks to an errant throw by former minor league pitcher Jeff LaRoche.)

His team rowed him down to an airstrip at Indian Creek, where they found out an air ambulance would have cost $24,000.

Instead, they called friend and small plane pilot Scott Middleton in Steamboat, who left that afternoon and landed at the gravel airstrip a few hours later to fly Kleiber to the hospital in Idaho Falls. After “100-plus stitches,” Middleton flew Kleiber to Steamboat the next day.

That’s not all. When Kleiber went to pick up his dog, the vet noticed that the stitch job wasn’t draining. So it was back on the cutting block, where Dr. Bryan Bomberg took out a small piece of wood still lodged in his leg and re-stitched it. Kleiber was on crutches for six weeks. “I had a day and a half on the river, and shot my whole summer,” he says. “But that flight out was key.”

Urine-powered socks

House huck

Watch out SmartWool and Point6: urine for some competition. A sock full of urine isn’t top of mind for comfy feet, but one company is now hanging its hat on peepowered socks. Researchers from the University of West of England have developed socks that can generate electricity using a person’s urine, with the socks capable 14 | Steamboat living | Spring 2016

What would you do if you were a Nordic-jumping, rad-dad Steamboat kid during December’s prodigious snowfall downtown?

If you’re Bennett Gamber, you forsake Howelsen Hill’s regulation launchers and climb onto the roof of your dad’s Big Agnes office downtown and huck your carcass onto the yard below. Cowabunga, dude!

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Artist Profile

“The Secret Life of Stars” is another piece from Jan’s new series of paintings. For Jan, art is a search through and celebration of the hidden meaning in the everyday life of the human soul.

“Andromeda Reflected” is a piece from Jan’s newest series of paintings featuring abstract work that includes a mix of mediums from watercolor, charcoal, pencil, acrylic and oil uniting for the overall layered effect.

Jan Maret Willman L “The Seventh Mansion” is the title of this piece from Jan’s new series. She has spent her life translating the vibration of beauty and the spiritualness in life into color, movement and form.

Often calling her work “mystical expressionism,” Jan’s work is inspired by elements of the natural world: wind, water, earth and other organic materials.

16 | Steamboat living | Spring 2016

ocal artist Jan Maret Willman won’t abide to rules or limitations: “Don’t tell me that I can’t do something,” she says. “Because I’ll figure out a way to do it.”

It’s a rebellious streak that makes this artist stand apart from the rest.

During a sculpture class at the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, where she studied from 1977 to 1978, Maret Willman remembers working on a project that entertained one of her experimental ideas. At first, the teacher told her the piece would never make it through the drawing process. It did.

Doubtful, the teacher said Maret Willman’s piece wouldn’t make it through the firing process either. It did.

“At the end of the semester, he held up my piece and said, ‘This piece is a perfect example of everything I’ve told you that you cannot do with this material,” she says. “I proved him wrong and still have that piece that stands as a testament to breaking the rules and forging into new territory.”

Maret Willman has been an artist her whole life, from a little girl transforming mud into a piece of art or creating advanced sewing projects, despite her teacher’s objections.

“I rebelled against the rules in art school,” she says. “I wanted to think out of the box and do what I wanted. Over the course of my lifetime, that attitude has allowed me a lot more freedom of expression. I’ll try things and push materials to their limits in ways other people won’t.”

Moving on from sculptures in 2008, Maret Willman discovered a more etherial and fluid method of expressing herself through abstract painting. She was accustomed to chemical processing and glazes, not painting. However, later that year, she was commissioned to paint a mural in a home on Buffalo Pass. It was the first time she had ever created a painting of that magnitude, and soon after, she declared her new pursuit.

“Overall, my style remains really varied,” she says. “It changes even throughout a body of work. I don’t think my work will ever look the same or repetitive, because I’m a renegade and I’ll still go off in different directions.”

Maret Willman’s most recent series, “Cosmos,” was inspired by her fascination with outer space and the images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Featuring a mix of mediums from charcoal, pencil, acrylic and oil to natural elements, she describes her work as mystical expressionism.

“People always ask me what my inspiration was,” she says. “It’s hard because I come from the feeling of it when I paint. How do you describe a feeling? You have words for happy or joy, but how do you describe how you feel when you are in that space?”

Maret Willman’s work has been featured in numerous galleries and art events from Art in the Park to the Bust of Steamboat and First Friday Artwalk. She was also the featured cover artist for the Summer 2015 Yampa Valley Arts and Gallery Guide. Currently, her work is represented at Rogue West Gallery and Denver’s Artwork Network gallery.

— Audrey Dwyer

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Cooking With

Higher education and eating: CMC’s Bill Watkins, Cameron Poole and chef Joseph Lentz. Photos by Scott Franz

CMC’s Joseph Lentz Top-notch vittles for students and the public

C

ameron Poole still remembers when Colorado Mountain College’s cafeteria was more, well, college-like.

“It had a good salad bar, but we were always having french fries, grilled cheese and chicken nuggets,” Poole says.

Those days are long gone.

As college kids have grown more “food savvy” and aware of where their meals come from, CMC has adapted and stepped up its game in a brand new dining hall. Today, this city’s college kids, and any community members who are interested, feast on such items as Red Bird Chicken, Cuban Mojo Roasted Pork Loin, brown sugar-glazed sweet potatoes and punjabi roasted curry.

Now, 75 to 80 percent of the produce served is organic and/or local, with some of its pork coming from a farm right here in the Yampa Valley. And all of the pre-consumer waste (meat scraps, uneaten produce ends) is donated to feed livestock at Yampa Valley Farms, which donates a pig in return.

“We’ve really elevated the program here,” says Poole, who helps oversee the dining operations at the Neas Dining Hall, which is managed by Sodexo and features perhaps the best eat-

ery view in Steamboat.

An integral part of the college’s culinary renaissance is Head Chef Joseph Lentz, who moved here a year ago from the Napa Valley, which he describes as “the valley of good food and wine.”

Working alongside lead cook Rory Pierce, Lentz started cooking with his grandmother when he was a child and brought his skills to various restaurants before moving to Steamboat.

Lentz says the menu at CMC is crafted around what students enjoy eating. In addition to rotating entrees, students have daily access to a full salad bar, deli and dessert table.

Not working on a degree? No problem. Community members can eat lunch at the college for $7.35 and $8.80 for dinner, with meal plans also available.

“Students these days are way more food savvy, and because they eat here every day, we have to provide a range of authentic cuisine,” says dining hall general manager Bill Watkins. “It took us almost two years to put this team together, and I’m very impressed with the results.”

— Scott Franz

Spring 2016 | Steamboat living

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Photos by John F. Russell 20 | Steamboat living | Spring 2016

The Lorenz home A showcase of industrial mountain contemporary

C

all it “steampunk.”

That sums up the interior of Jim and Lisa Lorenz’s new 2,600-square-foot, three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath house in upper Fairview, which blends an array of modern finishes with a more rustic, industrialstyle feel.

“We love the idea of a contemporary design, but we wanted it to still feel like Steamboat,” says Jim, a longtime builder who recently focused his skills on his own home. “So we incorporated rustic mountain finishes like reclaimed hardwood floors and industrial styling.”

This teaming up of design elements echoes the couple’s synergies.

“We have a lot of fun as a designand-build team,” Lisa says. “Many couples dread building or remodel projects and worry it will wreck their relationship, but we’ve always loved it. Our skill sets and creativity complement each other.”

The modern-rustic-industrial look can be seen in everything from the living room’s exposed steel beams to sliding, flat-panel wood doors hung on rollers with stainless-steel hardware.

“We like their look over standard hinged doors,” Jim says. “They’re cleaner, work with the design-scheme, and take up a smaller footprint.”

The theme shows itself as soon as you walk through the oversized, steelbanded Douglas fir front door into a split-level entryway, which leads downstairs to two bedrooms, laundry room, great room and garage, and up to the kitchen, living room and master bedroom. Your eyes are immediately drawn to reclaimed oak floors sourced from Midwest barns, a gas-pipe shelving system for Steamboat’s mandatory outdoor gear, and a steel cable railinglined stairway. Industrial-style Edison bulb lighting complements the industrial-contemporary feel.

The motif carries to the European Bosch Benchmark appliances in the kitchen, from a convection oven and warming drawer to steam oven (yes, it cooks with steam). These augment a drawer-style microwave and induction cooktop mounted flush with the white, recycled quartz countertop on the main island.

“It has such a sleek, easy-to-clean look,” Jim says, adding that for its conductivity to work your cookware has to be magnetic steel or cast iron. Induction cooking is more efficient, faster and precise than gas or electric cooktops.

A brushed, stainless-steel apron sink sits below windows offering a 180-degree view including Storm Peak to the east, complemented by an articulated faucet by Brizo — the only model similar to it on the market.

Offset light cloud platforms, suspended by gas piping and housing lights recessed into reclaimed barn wood, break up the kitchen from the living room.

“It lights up the cooking area and helps define the cooking space,” Lisa says. “It also helps with sound dampening, with the gas pipe adding another cool industrial detail.”

European, flush-set pantry cabinets slide out of the wall next to a flushpanel SubZero refrigerator. Behind that lies a walk-in aisle pantry of two facing sets of six-foot-square, sliding glass door shelving systems and 10-foothigh, vertical-grain cherry cabinets, the highest of which are reached via a brushed-aluminum library ladder.

“It’s a cool-looking, efficient use of the space, with a tall European cabinet wall appeal,” Lisa says.

A subtle detail also plays into the Lorenz’s aesthetics. “We used dark brown, cherry vertical grain on the wall cabinets to oppose the grey, horizontal grain of the kitchen island cabinets,” Jim says.

Beyond the kitchen space is the living room, where the twisted wood of a teak, jet-propeller-shaped, Minka-aire Artemis fan directs your eyes skyward toward massive exposed steel beams.

A modern-looking, low-voltage LBL Bling chandelier hangs above the oak dining room table, and the far wall is commanded by a giant, flatscreen TV adjacent to a Napoleon gas linear fireplace positioned four feet up the wall for visibility.

The slate-floored bathrooms expand upon the open feel, all featuring vessel sinks and walk-in glass showers with no-channel drains and linear-veined marble tile. The master bath adds a Spring 2016 | Steamboat living

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who helped Construction couple: Jim and lisa lorenz in their industrial contemporary home. Page 20 (clockwise from top left): edison bulb lighting lends the home an industrial element; barn wood light cloud platforms delineate the kitchen from the living room; an lbl bling chandelier with leD-infused brushed nickel disks hangs over the dining room; and a recessed Cumulus fan brings modern flair to the master bedroom.

white, free-standing, resin tub with a standing tub-filler, as well as a spa-style vanity with tall, floating vertical cabinets.

A new age, recessed-in-wood Cumulus fan by Fanimation continues the atmosphere in the master bedroom, as does 6-inch-high, cold-rolled steel baseboard trim. “Not too many people have ever used it as trim,” Jim says. “It’s a nice complement.”

Manifold controls for the floor’s heating system allow them to program temperatures to different zones, hide behind a row of clothes in the master closet.

The home’s efficient space use is also illustrated in the lower stairway, which raises to access the utility room via two vintage, cast-iron, counter-weighted pulley systems. Simply lift the bottom step and the entire split-level stairway rises on a hinge, exposing stairs to the room below.

“It’s a hidden access to the mechanical room,” Lisa says of a space that’s also big enough to accommodate Jim’s office.

“Otherwise we would have had to put in an entire additional set of stairs.”

With its 250-pound counterweight set on tracks to keep it from swinging, the pulleys are exposed through the interior walls of the stairs and into the guest bathroom, lending it an industrial feel.

The mechanical room harbors a highefficiency, low-cycle, 75,000-BTU German Viessmann boiler, as well as a Fantech heat recovery and air-exchange system 22 | Steamboat living | Spring 2016

that brings in and heats outside air before mixing it with inside air. “The goal is to create as efficient and air-tight a house as possible,” Jim says. “An air-exchange system keeps it fresh.”

An in-slab, radiant floor downstairs enhances the home’s efficiency, thanks to 2-inch foam insulation topping a vapor barrier and radon piping system to direct heat upward. Add foiled-back insulation wrapping the exterior walls, taped joists and interior insulation, and Jim says his coldest winter heating bills average just $45 per month, including hot water.

“It all works together to stop thermal transmission,” he says, adding the air inside retains a comfortable humidity in the high 30-percent range.

Outside, four types of siding round out the look, including horizontal, thinline Douglas fir, black corrugated metal, shiplap grey barn wood, and, on the south, rectangular pieces of hot-rolled steel over a rain screen, allowing air flow to dissipate heat and eliminate expansion.

“It breathes in the summer and absorbs in the winter,” Jim says. “It also adds to the mix of look and material.”

The landscaping, once completed, will take advantage of a seasonal creek draining Emerald Mountain, as well as an old foundation-lined spring rumored to serve as a cooling room for the old dairy farm once stationed nearby.

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About the only thing that didn’t go right with the house, and came as an afterthought, is the mix of 2-foot-square carpet tile downstairs.

“We stained the concrete floor a beautiful light brown/gray, but the second coat turned it nearly black,” Lisa says. “It showed every footprint and speck of dust, and I found myself mopping it every day.

So, we found a source that had leftover, random carpet tiles for 90 cents each.”

Similar to everything else in the home that has come together so well, even that turned into a positive. “It actually looks interesting and has much better sound dampening,” Jim says. Lisa adds: “And it’s great for pet cleanup. If our two dogs, Frodo and Luna, have an accident, I just pull up the square, wash it in the sink, and put it back down.”

— Eugene Buchanan

Rub-a-dub-dub: A free-standing resin tub with standing tub filler helps modernize the master bath.

Spring 2016 | Steamboat living

| 23

Community

T

rOOtS

ucked in the alleyway behind Lincoln Avenue between Sixth and Seventh streets, a garden blossoms each year and brings together the community around it. The 20 plots in the Roots Community Garden, an initiative guided by the CSU Master Gardener program, are rented out each year by an assortment of families, businesses and groups.

The garden was kickstarted in 2010 by the Leadership Steamboat class, which took advantage of property originally acquired by the county for a new justice center. In 2012, local high school student Garrett Pohlman teamed up with Routt County Maintenance to take it on as his class project, cleaning up the plots and turning it into a well-kept, open-to-the-public oasis in the heart of downtown, complete with picnic tables for lunch.

The plots cost $25 each and are rented on a first-come, firstserved basis, mostly by locals who either don’t have enough space for their own gardening or want to practice under the guidance of Master Gardeners. Groups and businesses also rent them out. Déjà Vu has rented a plot for the past three years but is giving it up this year for hopefuls on the waiting list.

“It’s a cool program,” says Jen Latham, who headed the Déjà Vu plot before investing in her own last season. “Everybody’s responsible for their own plots, so there’s freedom to experiment and grow whatever you want.”

Latham grew a multitude of vegetables last year for her family in the $25 plot, which she thinks is an excellent payback. She also says it’s a great place for gardeners to meet. “I love running into people there,” she says. “It’s great to see someone and chit-chat while pulling weeds.”

The garden is also used for teaching gardening classes during the summer through the Steamboat Summer Recreation program.

The Master Gardeners have a demo plot as well, where they teach classes and grow fruits and vegetables that are donated to LiftUp. “It’s an awesome opportunity for people who don’t have their own place to go,” says CSU Extension agent Todd Hagenbuch.

“It’s their own patch of dirt.”

The garden is currently fully booked, with a hefty waiting list.

But its success is measured by more than the number of people involved.

“It was a Leadership project, so it was created out of different philosophies from different people,” says Hagenbuch. “That’s one of the coolest things about it.” It also provides its own special kind of therapy. He adds, “Gardening is a wonderful way to connect to nature. It’s great for people to get out there, pull some weeds, and see some things crawling.”

— Annie Martin

setting down roots: At the Community Garden everyone’s responsible for their own plot.

24 | Steamboat living | Spring 2016

Spring 2016 | Steamboat living

| 25

Photo by Austin Colbert

Fresh food fast

Farm to Fork delivers locally sourced foods

W

ant fresh food — that’s not pizza — delivered to your front door?

Enter Farm to Fork, Steamboat’s newest locally sourced food delivery service.

The brainchild of Charlie PrestonTownsend, the company sources food from area ranches and farms and then delivers it to the doorstep of local restaurants and residents.

“My goal is to be a sort of Cisco for smallscale producers within the area,” says PrestonTownsend, who makes the deliveries out of his Volkswagen wagon. “It’s a way for residents and restaurants to get locally sourced food delivered right to their doorstep.”

So far, he’s filling orders for such din-

special delivery: Farm to Fork founder Charlie Preston-townsend.

ing establishments as Harwig’s/L’Apogee, Cugino’s Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant and Wild Plum, with more signing up monthly.

He also has a growing business delivering food to residents also keen to take advantage of his service.

“People are very receptive to the idea of sourcing locally,” he says. “Knowing where your food comes from provides a level of familiarity that isn’t available from the conventional market.”

Farm to Fork delivers beef, pork, chicken, lamb, elk and buffalo from such suppliers as Whaley Lamb Co., Yampa Valley Beef, Tender Belly Pork and Boulder Natural Meats. “All these suppliers take a more

What makes us smile?

holistic approach to food production, shifting from purely economic measures of success to a focus on the health of each component of the system along the way,” Preston-Townsend says, adding that his Healthy Meat membership lets customers receive monthly or bimonthly meat packages, in either small or large bundles. “We strive to provide top-quality, locally raised products from growers concerned about animal welfare, environmental health, and, above all, good food. There are many great products available from our neighbors in northern Colorado.”

Info: coloradofarmtofork.com — Eugene Buchanan

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extending the season I

t takes a green thumb, good timing and a little bit of luck to pull off a successful garden in Steamboat Springs, where the average frost-free season is only 59 days. Unless, of course, you know these tips for extending the growing season.

“You can almost double the season if you try,” says Todd Hagenbuch, Routt County Extension agent for Colorado State University. Hagenbuch offers a few ideas to push the limits of Routt County’s traditionally short growing season — most involve keeping plants covered to retain the warmth collected by the soil during the day.

blankets and sheets Just about any fabric can be used to

cover up crops, but it’s important for blankets or sheets to remain dry and be removed during the day, so soil heat can be recharged.

Floating row covers These lightweight fabrics are blanketed directly over crops, providing 2 to 4 degrees of frost protection, defense against wind and insect protection. They are popular in commercial produce production, where crops are often planted in large blocks and easily blanketed.

Plastic or space blankets over a frame Plastic can be used to cover plants, but don’t let it touch the vegetation, as it can

act as a vector. “Use some sort of structure, whether its PVC pipes or concrete mesh, to keep the plastic off the plants,” Hagenbuch says. “Don’t let it touch.” Frames can be created from concrete reinforcing mesh, PVC pipes and other materials, with plastic draped over.

Repurpose Christmas lights for added heat Hagenbuch hangs onto old stringed Christmas lights with C7 and C9 bulbs and spreads the lights amongst his garden beds. The soft light emitted from the bulbs is great for “not cooking the plants,” Hagenbuch says. “It’s good for tender plants like squash and zucchini.”

— Teresa Ristow

Spring 2016 | Steamboat living

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Veggie Sampler PlAnting/HArVest Periods Early June to Late July: 40-day, cool-season crops (spinach) Early June to Early August: 45- to 50-day, cool-season crops (lettuce, kohlrabi) Early June to Mid-August: 55-day, coolseason crops Early June to Late August: 60- to 65-day, cool-season crops (beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, peas) Early June to Early September: 70- to 75day cool-season crops

wHAt to grow Hardy veggies tolerant of light frost and low-daytime temps (40 degrees+) Spinach, Lettuce, Kohlrabi, Broccoli, Cabbage, Radish, Turnips, Peas, Onion Semi-hardy veggies less tolerant of frost, but good in 40- to 50-degree temps Beets, Carrots, Cauliflower, Parsley, Parsnip, Potatoes, Swiss Chard Tender veggies needing warm days (above 55) and no frost Beans, Celery, Corn, Cucumbers, Summer Squash

28 | Steamboat living | Spring 2016

Grow your own N

othing beats homegrown veggies on the dinner plate. But with Steamboat Springs’ relatively short growing season, it’s easy for the window to close before your plants produce. We went to an expert — the CSU Extension Office’s Todd Hagenbuch — for the following pointers on growing produce in the Yampa Valley.

Growing season: The length of our growing season is the biggest limiting factor to gardening in Routt County. Historically, we have only 59 growing days without temperatures dipping lower than 32 degrees. But if you choose plants that can withstand temperatures as low as 28 degrees, growing days increase to 102. Learn what risks you’re dealing with, whether you live in Yampa, Craig or Steamboat.

Microclimates: Our yards are as variable as our weather. Every yard has microclimates influenced by trees, buildings, shade, soil and slopes. Look at how the snow falls in your yard; are there drifts, while other areas are bare? Wind, sun and moisture variations affect what you can plant where.

Beds: Are you going to plant in a raised bed, containers or the ground? Raised beds and containers allow you to better control soil type but increase your investment. Grow in the ground and expect soil variations from neighborhood to neighborhood and even within your yard. Collect a sample to determine what amendments you need to add.

Soil-testing procedures and kits are available at the Extension office.

Grouping: Group vegetables together according to sunlight and water requirements.

Some plants need less water than others, and others, such as beans, more.

Beware the frost: When an early frost is forecast, cover your crop to keep it producing. Covers can be simple or elaborate.

Get help: The CSU Extension office offers information on growing vegetables, flowers and more (visit its new Garden Library), as well as trained Master Gardeners ready to offer advice and perform site visits.

— Eugene Buchanan

HOOP

houses

O

ne of the most straightforward ways for controlling a gardening environment is the hoop house, a semi-circular tunnel structure encapsulating a garden.

Also known as a polytunnel or hoop greenhouse, hoop houses can be built through custom construction or purchased as a kit, using the basic principles of metal or PVC ribs to support a plastic layer to protect plants from the elements.

At Elkstone Farm in Strawberry Park, three 2,100-square-foot hoop houses make all the difference for extending the gardening season year-round to produce enough greens for winter and summer farm stands, local businesses and invento-

ry the farm offers through the Community Agriculture Alliance’s online marketplace.

“We grow completely year-round,” says principal grower Natalie Savage, listing off such edibles as salad greens, carrots and turnips. “Hoop houses extend the season greatly, to where we can pretty much grow any type of annual crop.”

Other benefits include protection from wind and other weather, solar gain to keep plants warm and a manufacturer claim that the plastic used can actually distribute light better than the sun.

“It blocks any minor frost that would kill your basic summer crops,” Savage says.

A 30-by-72-foot hoop house also has proved invaluable to Adele Carlson, a mas-

ter gardener who helps run a farm-to-table program at The Home Ranch in Clark.

Carlson says she starts planting in March and grows as long as possible. Some perennial herbs, such as sage, chives or cilantro, can usually make it through the winter, she says.

Growing in the hoop house allows Carlson to harvest more Mediterranean vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplant and peppers that don’t thrive as well outside because of cool nights at the ranch. “It also allows us to have a greens crop and other cool-season crops ready to harvest in May, when our outside beds are just barely ready to plant,” she says.

— Teresa Ristow

diY HooP HoUse

The same hoop house principles that help larger ranches extend the season can be downsized for use in a backyard garden, too. Here are a few tips to create a successful backyard hoop house: • Use PVC pipe or a similar material for the tunnel’s ribs.

Pipes should be placed double the width of the desired garden bed, with one pipe for every four feet of the tunnel’s length. Pound rebar stakes into the ground to support them.

• If the hoop house isn’t tall enough to move around inside, consider a drip irrigation system.

• Use high-quality UV-resistant greenhouse plastic.

• The house will be heated by solar energy and cooled by the wind, so consider how you will monitor the temperature and ventilate when necessary.

• A top piece, or purlin, can be used to connect all the hoops and provide additional support.

• Add lights. “A lot of success in winter depends on lights to extend the length of day,” Carlson says.

• Watch in the winter for snow buildup along the sides if the snow on top of the tunnel slides.

• Experiment. “Try everything,” Carlson says, “and don’t get discouraged.”

• Keep a log. Include observations like when birds return and when native shrubs and plants bud, and apply these observations to your own garden. “Track the highs and lows so you know when the nights are above freezing,” Carlson says. “Take the soil temperature to know when it’s warm enough for seeds to germinate.” hoop house hoopla: a simple structure can extend your gardening season year-round.

Spring 2016 | Steamboat living

| 29

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30 | Steamboat living | Spring 2016

Indoor gardens add homegrown flavor in winter

W

Basil the size of your hand skyrockets in the Tower Garden.

A testimonial to tower gardens Ever since seeing a tower garden presentation with the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council in 2012, I’ve been smitten with this growing system.

I’ve been a hobby gardener for 20 years and love getting my hands dirty, but high altitude growing can be hard. Enter the Tower Garden, developed by Tim Blank of Disney’s Epcot Center as a “plugand-play” system to make growing food indoors easy. The result: a food-grade plastic tower that holds 20 or more plants, combines aeroponic- and hydroponic-growing techniques, sits atop a 20-gallon reservoir that circulates water to the plants’ roots and produces tower-to-table produce from the comfort of your living room.

In Steamboat, we’re lucky to have 60 days without frost and often lose what we grow. With the Tower Garden, you don’t worry about seasons, weather, frost, watering, leaving town or pests.

The plants grow in one-third the time and use only 10 percent of the water of traditional gardening (20 gallons per month), all while letting you eat homegrown salad in January. It’s also a wonderful learning module for students, with most schools in town having one, allowing students to grow their own produce for classroom education and special events. Tower Garden has also created an online sharing center, educational training materials and class learning modules to help teaching the next generation to grow sustainably.

Info: andreakennedy.towergarden.com

— Andy Kennedy

ith Steamboat’s short growing season, why not extend it to produce fresh produce year-round? From microgreens to tomatoes, it’s easier than you think with a small-scale indoor garden. While it won’t yield the same results as a sunny outdoor garden, the flavor can’t be beat when outdoor growing isn’t an option.

Microgreens: Microgreens are a quick and easy way to add flavor and crunch to any wintertime plate. Just plant seeds labeled for sprouting or microgreens in a shallow container filled with a sterile potting or seed-starting mix. Within two weeks you’ll harvest nutritious mini vegetables and herb leaves for salads, sandwiches or snacking. You can also grow your favorite herbs on a warm, sunny windowsill. Select a container with drainage holes and set on the appropriate size saucer to protect your woodwork. Fill the container with well-drained potting mix and plant seeds or transplants. Purchase basil, chives, parsley, oregano and rosemary plants from your local garden center or the produce department.

Greens and vegetables: Green, such as lettuce and spinach, will also grow in a sunny window or under artificial lights. Grow them in a container filled with a well-drained potting mix similar to your windowsill herb garden. Plant seeds according to the seed packet. Continually harvest the outer leaves when they are 4 to 6 inches tall. While a bit more of a challenge, vegetables such as compact tomatoes, pepper or eggplant can also be grown indoors. For the best production, use a combination of natural and artificial light or full-spectrum lights.

Lighting: Natural sunlight and full-spectrum lights contain the variety of light plants need to grow, flower and fruit. Blue light promotes leaf and stem growth, while red combined with blue promotes flowering. Invest in energy-efficient and long-lasting, high intensity grow lights for the greatest yields when growing tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and other fruiting plants indoors. Leave lights on for 14, but no more than 16 hours, each day (plants also need a dark period to grow and thrive). Use a timer to ensure the right light duration. Also, keep the lights 6 to 12 inches above your plants, and use reflective surfaces under and around the plants to bounce light back into larger plants.

Growing space: Increase your indoor growing space by going vertical. Shelf units with built-in light fixtures, such as the Stack-n-Grow Light System, provide multiple layers of growing space, increasing your yield with the same footprint.

Shake things up: Once your tomatoes, peppers and eggplants start flowering, shake things up. Gently shake the plants daily, or at least several times per week, to move the pollen from the female to the male parts of the flower so fruit will develop. A gentle breeze from a fan or vibrations from a battery-operated toothbrush also work well.

— Melinda Myers Gardening expert Melinda Myers has written over 20 gardening books, hosts the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV and radio segments and is a columnist Birds & Blooms magazine.

Energy-efficient, high intensity grow lights will provide the greatest yields when growing tomatoes and other fruiting plants indoors. Photo courtesy of Gardener’s Supply Company Spring 2016 | Steamboat living

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Cultivating a generation T

he Yampa Valley Autism Program is cultivating more than only vegetables.

Its Community Cultivation program, established for individuals with disabilities and at-risk youth, cultivates life and social skills that help its members grow right alongside the produce.

With 25 members, many of whom are diagnosed with autism, the nonprofit relies on a mix of teachers, paraprofessionals and student staff members using horticulture to create a work environment that gives members the experience of an employee.

“It provides responsibility and challenges in an environment that is relaxing and therapeutic,” says Yampa Valley Autism Program Executive Director Lisa Lorenz.

Built and maintained by a mix of students from local high schools and middle schools, and those looking to build skills before joining the work force, the biggest project — a $20,000 greenhouse — was made possible in 2013 through donations from

different foundations. It has evolved into a 22-foot-long, off-the-grid, solar-powered garden dream house, complete with an underground water system growing organic herbs, fruits and vegetables year-round.

The greenhouse now produces “just about everything you could think of, including a fig tree,” says Lorenz.

The produce is sold at the MainStreet Farmers Market, through the Agriculture Alliance Co-op, and to local businesses such as Rex’s American Grill & Bar. Its produce is also donated to LiftUp of Routt County for families in need. Though the program is nonprofit, students receive a small “paycheck” from a portion of the revenue.

The greenhouse also assists in another project — students are able to start seedlings earlier to plant in the Yampa Valley Botanic Gardens, where six raised flowerbeds were donated to the program.

The whole process, from growing to selling, creates an invaluable experience for the students, who learn gardening, ap-

propriate behavior, how to work together and business skills.

Community Cultivation also has a business outreach program designed to help students get real-world jobs and work opportunities. Many students, says Lorenz, go on to get jobs in gardening or business.

The program also has small greenhouses and extensions across Routt County, including Steamboat Springs High School and South Routt. Lorenz hopes to create even more greenhouses across Routt County, ideally one in every school in the county. She hopes the program will eventually also include class projects, field trips and even botany lessons.

Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, which donated the land, is building an on-site workspace for the program, complete with bathrooms, kitchens and classrooms.

“It’s a great program,” says Lorenz. “I hope to see it continue for a long time to come.”

— Annie Martin

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Straw bale gardens W

ith no shortage of straw in the Yampa Valley, add productive garden space and raise your planting bed with straw bale gardening.

Gaining new popularity, thanks to Joel Karsten’s book “Straw Bale Gardens,” the technique allows gardeners to create raisedbed gardens on a patio, lawn or any area with poor compacted soil. All you need are a few straw bales, fertilizer, a bit of compost and time to condition, plant and water the garden.

Procurement and preparation Purchase straw bales made from alfalfa, wheat, oats, rye or other cereal grain that have fewer weed seeds than hay. Start a few weeks before the designated planting date.

Place the bales in their permanent location with the cut sides up and twine parallel to the ground. Once you start the condition process, the bales will be very heavy and hard to move. When the bales are in place, start the conditioning process to start the inside of the straw bales composting, so they’ll support plant growth.

On day one, spread fertilizer over the top of the bale. Use a half cup of a complete garden fertilizer or three cups of an organic fertilizer such as Milorganite. Then completely moisten the bale. The organic fertilizers feed the microorganisms that help decompose the straw into a nutrient-rich planting medium.

Thoroughly soak the bale every day. On days three and five, add more fertilizer at the same rate used on day one. On days seven through nine use half the rate of fertilizer used on day one.

Thoroughly water the bale each time. On day 10, add one cup of 10-10-10 or 3 cups of an organic fertilizer rich in phosphorous and potassium to complete the conditioning process.

Planting Bales treated with a complete fertilizer should be ready to plant (you may need to wait a few more days when using an organic fertilizer). The inside of the bale should be the temperature of warm bath water or cooler for planting. If it’s hotter, wait for the bale to cool before planting.

Use a trowel to pry open a hole in the bale. Place the plant in the hole and cover the roots with potting mix or compost. Create a planting bed for seeds by covering the bale with a 1- to 2-inch thick layer of planting mix. Follow the planting directions on the back of the seed packet.

Regular watering is critical. Soaker hoses or drip irrigation make it easier. You can also use gallon milk jugs with holes in the bottom or inverted two-liter soda bottles placed near the base of each plant. Give your straw bale garden a nutrient boost about once per month or as needed throughout the growing season.

—Melinda Myers

Straw bale gardens let you grow on patios, lawns or any area with poor compacted soil.

Spring 2016 | Steamboat living

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10 tips

for creating a raised-bed garden W

ant your garden to grow to new heights, while saving your knees for Steamboat’s ski slopes? Try a raised bed for easier access and greater productivity. Raised beds let you overcome the region’s poor, clayish soil by creating an ideal growing mix, while making gardening time easier, thanks to less bending and kneeling.

Sun rules Locate it in a sunny area if possible. Most plants require at least six hours of sun, and vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers produce best with a full day of sunlight.

such as interlocking block, fieldstone, plastic lumber or longlasting wood such as cedar. The bed’s material will influence its shape. Some materials allow for curved beds, while others are limited to squares, rectangles and other angular shapes.

Space needs Design your raised bed to fit your space constraints. A 3or 4-foot width makes it easy to reach all parts of the garden for planting, weeding and harvesting. Raising your bed 8 to 12 inches improves drainage and provides an adequate space for plants to root and grow. To minimize bending, go higher and add additional benches. For plans visit bonnieplants.com.

Soil concerns

Roughen or loosen the existing soil surface if your bed is built on compact, slow-draining soil, allowing water to move from the raised bed into the soil below. Cover the bottom of the bed with newspaper or cardboard, if needed, to suffocate existing weeds and grass.

Lining Line the bottom of your raised bed with hardware cloth to reduce the risk of animal burrowing. Lay the hardware cloth over the ground and bend it up along the inside of the raised-bed walls.

Visionary

material matters

Select a long-lasting material

mix Fill the bed with a quality growing mix that is well

drained but able to retain moisture and nutrients (i.e. quality topsoil and compost, high-quality potting mix, or planting mix designed for raised-bed gardens).

Plants Grow any plants that you normally would grow in ground.

Make sure they’re suited to Steamboat Springs’ growing conditions. While a better soil mix and drainage will let you grow more plants per square foot, leave sufficient room for plants to reach their mature size.

watering While critical for any garden, proper watering is even more crucial in a fast-draining raised bed. Raising the gar-

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den height increases drainage, meaning more frequent watering. Consider using drip irrigation or soaker hoses for watering ease, and water thoroughly when the top inch of soil is dry.

Mulch Add mulch to reduce watering and ease maintenance.

Spread a layer of evergreen needles, pine straw, shredded leaves or other organic matter over the soil surface. This helps conserve moisture, suppress weeds and add nutrients to the soil as it decomposes.

Fertilizer Add an organic fertilizer at planting if your planting mix does not already contain one.

Apply again mid-season if the plants need a nutrient boost (follow directions on the container).

—Melinda Myers Gardening expert Melinda Myers has written over 20 gardening books, hosts the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV and radio segments and is a columnist Birds & Blooms magazine.

Raised-bed gardens with benches make it easier to plant, maintain and harvest. Photo courtesy of Bonnie Plants

Spring 2016 | Steamboat living

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Home away from home: Columbine Cabins makes a great year-round getaway.

Close-to-home getaways Steamboat Lake Cabins While these quaint little cottages might not offer a lot of living space, their spacious views make up for it. Nestled around Steamboat Lake in 2,820-acre Steamboat Lake State Park, and perfect for a summer lake holiday or winter cross country skiing retreat, the log cabins come with hand-crafted or built-in beds as well as electric heat, coffee makers and refrigerators/freezers. There are 10 in all, sleeping four to six people, with two heated, coin-operated shower houses with flush toilets and running water. While they don’t offer kitchen facilities (bring a stove or grill to cook on the porch), they include a campfire ring and picnic table, so bring the s’mores. Info: $80 per night, steamboatlakemarina.com.

36 | Steamboat living | Spring 2016

Horse & Hen Bed and Breakfast Looking for a home away from home on an actual real-live farm? With ranch roots dating back to 1934, Hayden’s Horse & Hen Bed and Breakfast serves up four, cozy two-person rooms in an authentic farmhouse, complete with resident farm animals (you can even rent to whole house). When not indulging in farm-fresh meals — crafted from a backyard of free-range chickens, cows, pigs, produce and more — guests can collect eggs, help garden and irrigate, plein air paint and bird watch. During winter, add snowshoeing and cross country skiing to the list. Regardless of the season, the visit will bring out the country spirit in anyone, down to the sun coming up and cakes on the griddle. Info: $109 to $149 per night, horseandheninn.com.

Three Forks Ranch While a tad high-end (hot stone spa and infinity pool, anyone?), you get what you pay for at Three Forks Ranch, located 75 minutes north of town. Featured in askmen. com, Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, the resort is known for its world-class fly-fishing on the Little Snake River (the river’s North, South and Middle forks join onsite), as well as its luxury accommodations and dining. Rates include meals, house wines and liquors, evening cocktail and hors d’oeurves, exercise room, steam rooms, pool and hot tubs, silver platter coffee service, afternoon tea, recreation equipment and more. As far as non-snow activities, 50,000 acres of private land serve up world-class fishing, hunting, horseback riding and hiking, while winter adds snowmobiling, snowshoeing, skiing and ice fishing to the mix. Info: $695 to $845 per night, threeforksranch.com.

Staycations Steamboat

Close-to-home travel ideas Who says you have to go to Botswana for your getaway?

Summer or winter, countless adventures await closer to home, from renting cabins with a crackling fire to soaking in hot springs or taking the train to Glenwood. Read on for close-by vacations that let you stretch your legs and pocketbook while having you back home Sunday night — tan, rested and ready for the week ahead.

Glen Eden Resort

Pearl Lake Yurts

Hahn’s Peak Roadhouse

Eighteen miles north of town, Glen Eden Resort blends modern and rustic mustic? for a welcome escape from the grind of “the big city.” Thirty-five cabins sleep four to eight people and come with fireplaces, mini kitchens and more, with an array of onsite amenities to keep you busy ’til the nearby cows come home. In the winter, soak in its hot tubs after a sleigh ride, snowmobile tour or cross country ski. During summer enjoy a heated swimming pool, tennis courts, BBQ area, campfire circle, volleyball court, horseshoe pit and private fishing access on Elk River. An onsite restaurant provides grub if you don’t want to cook your own but hit the nearby Clark Store for locally raised beef to throw on the outdoor grill. Info: $132 to $272 per night (depending on season), glenedenresort.com.

Henry David Thoreau can have his Walden’s Pond. For a similar lakeside getaway close to Steamboat, check out the Yurts at Pearl Lake.

The round, platformed tents offer electric heat, ceiling fans, screened windows, skylights, tables and chairs, two sets of bunk beds, picnic tables and fire pits, providing a camping experience with added luxuries. In the winter, the yurts are accessible via snowshoe, ski or snowmobile, with the same amenities. The only knock is that there is no cooking set-up, meaning you have to bring your own stove and cook on the deck outside. But that’s a small price to pay for bunkside, out-of-the-elements access to thousands of acres of national forest and beautiful Pearl Lake. Info: $80 per night, cpw.state.co.us

At 8,128 feet in Hahn’s Peak Village, Hahn’s Peak Roadhouse adds elevation in altitude and adventure. It offers lodging ranging from hotel-style rooms to two-bedroom, rustic-feeling cabins, all equipped with modern luxuries. But its main selling point is its location and activities. In the winter, rent its snowmobiles to sled some of the best terrain in the country, or horseback ride and sleigh ride right from your door. In summer, throw in wagon rides, ATV/Ranger tours and rentals and recreating and fishing on Steamboat Lake. Add a great on-site restaurant, bar and live music, combined with a homey fireplace/living room, and the Roadhouse lives up to its motto — “Where Fun Never Ends.” Info: $109 to $219 per night, hahnspeakroadhouse.com.

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PO BOX 775903 路 2851 Riverside Plaza, Suite 150, Steamboat Springs, CO 80487 970.879.7122 Fax: 970-879-9181

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Soaking in rustic charm: your own teepee-lined hot spring and a trophy-filled lodge.

Soaking north of the border

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Saratoga Resort & Spa

trawberry Park Hot Springs may have a teepee as a changing room, but Saratoga Resort & Spa, two hours away in Saratoga, Wyoming, has that beat — four of its six hot springs are enclosed by 12-poled teepees, providing private pools for soaking. Combine that with a 70-foot-long spring for swimming, and you’ve got a warm, weekend retreat.

Known for their high mineral/low sulfur content, the springs — named for such famous Indians of the region as Sacajawea and chiefs Washakie, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse — invite Goldilocks-like sampling, with digital thermometers outside each displaying the temperatures.

And it’s not just the pools that are warm. You’re greeted with Wyomingfriendly hospitality the moment you arrive. Custom touches include homemade chocolate chip cookies, trophy mounts adorning the lodge’s barn wood walls, a gigantic, rock-walled fireplace in the lobby and 50 Western-themed rooms with such embellishments as feather top beds, branding irons, Indian blankets, elk horn

chandeliers, photos of cowboy boots and wall mirrors framed with saddles.

Then there’s Healing Waters Spa in the old State Bath House building, offering everything from massages and manicures to exfoliating foot spas.

You’ll soak in history, as well. Originally known as the Indian Bath Tubs, the springs are located close to Grand Encampment — named by French fur traders in 1838 for a trade camp on the Encampment River. They were visited by such mountain men as Jim Bridger and Ben Holladay, who built the road for the Overland Stage Company, and drew ranchers, railroad workers and loggers who floated logs down the North Platte to Fort Steele.

In the 1870s, the Hugus and Chatterton Log Store was built onsite, and after that came the Saratoga Hotel in 1884, named for a famous spa in New York. Serving as everything from drugstore and barbershop to a “ladies gathering place,” the hotel burned down in 1902, with the state then turning it into the State Bath House, charging 50 cents per dip.

It was converted to an inn in 1949, with a nine-hole golf course added in 1958, and it’s now owned by Denver spine surgeon Dr. Mike Janssen, 55, winner of the lifetime achievement award from Switzerlandbased AOSpine. He’s renovated the rooms and, best yet, added the Snowy Mountain Brewery.

When not soaking, come summer you can fly-fish area lakes or the blue-ribbon North Platte River, hike or golf; in winter, throw snowmobiling and cross country skiing in the Snowy Mountain Range into the mix.

But one thing’s for sure — one meal at its Silver Saddle Restaurant, whose pot roast melts in your mouth similar to icicles in the springs, and you’ll want to do something to burn up those calories.

— To get there, take Colorado Highway 230 north from Walden and turn right at Riverside. Rates: $150 to 180 per night.

Info: 800-594-0178, saratogaresortandspa.com.

— Eugene Buchanan

Guest Ranches While Guest Ranch County USA might sound contrived, it could ring true for Routt County. Offering luxurious longer vacations for the whole family, the wilderness north of Steamboat Springs is rife with ranches, providing all-inclusive packages combining fine dining and lodging, guided activities and genuine Western hospitality. All offer such activities as yoga, horseback riding, mountain biking, fishing and more, as well as kids’ programs designed to give parents time to relax. Top it off with gourmet meals and warm, cozy cabins and it’s a mountain heaven you won’t want to leave. Info: Vista Verde Guest Ranch (vistaverde.com); The Home Ranch (homeranch.com); Elk River Guest Ranch (elkrivergr.com).

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Rustic comfort Columbine Cabins

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e’re on the saddle below the summit of Hahn’s Peak, taking our skins off leeward of a wind-scoured pine. Far below to the west, a few hundred powder turns away, sits the quaint hamlet of Columbine Cabins nestled into the hills similar to the village of Whoville. Like the Grinch and his dog Max atop their sled, our skis will take us straight to our accommodations for the next two days.

That’s the beauty of the former gold mining settlement of Columbine, founded in 1897 with a general store, post office, saloon and a few dozen gold miners’ cabins. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s similar to a hut trip you can drive to, letting you skin, cross country ski, sled and snowmobile right from your front porch. Add a gameroom-topped bathhouse, wood-fired sauna, commercial kitchen for larger gatherings and rustic cabins with everything you need, and it’s tough to come home.

Linking wide-open glades to a centuries-old aspen forest with bear-clawed trunks, we ski down to the general store, where a note on the door says our cabin is ready. Without cell reception or wifi, next to it is our only contact with the outside world — a landline for local calls.

Our cabin is the Caron House, one of 14 with varying kitchen, bedroom and bathroom layouts. With three bedrooms and two bathrooms, it perfectly fits our party of six, which includes our Alaskan in-laws and their 7-year-old daughter. We figure this is as Alaskan an experience as we can give them.

We unload the car, fire up the wood stove in the cabin and sauna and settle into our quaint accommodations. Hooks are hung in all the right places for our gear, and the couch and corner table create a perfect nook for our guitars.

Unloading the cooler into the fridge and procuring our quarters, we kick up our feet by the fire and get into Columbine mode.

The late afternoon sun coming through the window silhouettes my profile on the wood stove door. Outside the front window rises Hahns Peak harboring our ski tracks.

Soon, there’s a knock at the door. It’s Columbine’s new owner, Todd Zvorak, who recently purchased the “resort” with his wife, Tammy. They’re in their second month of operation, and he’s making sure everything’s OK. “It couldn’t be better,” we reply.

It’s an uncrowded weekday, but he says the weekend before saw all 14 cabins booked by a Nederland group that’s been coming here for 20 years.

We relax with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres before rallying the troops to the sauna, which has a mudroom for changing and chopping wood and a giant, horizontal cast iron barrel for a stove.

Soon, hisses of water-splashed steam wisp off the stove, accompanying our ghost stories. A few snow-angels later, we feast on elk spaghetti before game room time, where we play pool, Bananagrams and Truth Be Told before returning to the cabin to play guitar and read in the rocking chair.

While we’re here during winter — enjoying its backcountry and cross country skiing, skate skiing at Steamboat Lake and snowmobiling at Big Red Park — it’s also a prime spot to visit in summer. The cabins are located near Steamboat, Pearl and Hahns Peak lakes, offering vast tracts of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness and national forest to explore.

Combined with its rustic elegance, Columbine Cabins are perfect for a romantic getaway as well as family or group gatherings.

For now, however, it’s hard to think too far ahead beyond the next log on the fire.

— Columbine Cabins are a 45-minute drive from Steamboat Springs; follow U.S. Highway 40 west and turn right on Elk River Road (Colorado Highway 129). Rates range from $90 to $180 per night year-round. Info: 970-879-5522, historiccolumbine.com

— Eugene Buchanan Quaint coziness: New owners Todd and Tammy Zvorak have given Columbine Cabins all the comforts of home. Photos courtesy of Columbine Cabins

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Photos by Audrey Dwyer

Soaking Steamboat-style Strawberry Park Hot Springs

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alking down the stone steps and manicured gravel path, the oasis of Strawberry Park Hot Springs beckons travelers, skiers and hikers to relax in one of Steamboat Springs’ most heralded amenities.

Few places have Strawberry Park’s historic, rustic charm. Here, life is simple. The frenzy of a work week or non-stop vacation is a distant thought. Cue the wine and watch meteorites streak through the sky as you make your way from your cozy cabin to the springs.

When we arrive, we feel as if we have booked a room at the Ritz Carlton of rustic hotels. We get a prime parking spot near our room and the use of a newly remodeled, solar-powered private bathroom for overnight guests. The quaint Covered Wagon cabin where we’re staying comes with a double mattress, two benches and outdoor kitchenette area with grill and picnic table — all only a five-minute walk to the hot springs.

More of “glamping” than hotel outing, all we had to bring was our sleeping bags, headlamps, lantern, food, warm clothes, swimsuits and towels.

Strawberry Park Hot Springs offers overnight stays year-round in nine cabins that sleep two to four each, including the Caboose, which comes with a small kitchenette, and three Covered Wagons. All of the cabins and wagons have a grill for cooking, or you can bring your own stove (the Caboose has a stovetop). Come summertime, five campsites are available near the creek.

According to manager Joe Stepan, Ute Indians were the first to soak in the springs, followed by homesteaders in the 1880s. Its current charm is owed to owner Don Johnson, who first discovered the springs cross country skiing with a friend before buying

the property in 1981.

Settling into our quarters, we toast with wine and nibble cheese before heading down to the springs as stars begin to blanket the sky. Aware of its “clothing-optional-after-dark” policy, we plunge in and sample Strawberry Park Hots Springs’ many different pools, each a different size and temperature, divided by stone walls and waterfalls. A private pool is used for watsu warm water massages, and the facility also offers Swedish massages.

Conversation flowing as easy as the rising steam, on a dare, we jump into the coldest pool before warming up again and eventually heading back for hors d’oeuvres in our little kitchenette.

As the evening crowd dwindles, we make our way back for the best part of the night, when we seem to be the only people there (overnight guests can also enjoy a solitary soak before the pools open to the public at 10 a.m.).

Worries melting away along with the soreness of our muscles, we sit and stare up at the sky, finding it hard to fathom an oasis so close to town that feels so far away.

— Strawberry Park Hot Springs is located seven miles from downtown Steamboat Springs at the end of Routt County Road 36. Cabin rates range from $65 to $175 per night year-round, including springs admission (note: BYO bedding, cookware, stove and towels; no pets). No glass or alcohol in the springs.

In the summer, you can also hike or bike to the springs from the Mad Creek Trailhead, only six miles out of town on Routt County Road 129 (U.S. Forest Service Trail 1169). 970-879-0342, strawberryhotsprings.com

— Audrey Dwyer

Mariposa Lodge

Seedhouse Guard Station

Tired of your own home décor?

Located in the heart of downtown Steamboat Springs, Mariposa Lodge offers a great change of scenery.

The Western-style home with a Southwestern interior can be rented out by room bed-and-breakfast style or, for bigger parties, the entire home. Bed-and-breakfast guests get the chance to know their fellow visitors during gourmet breakfasts in the kitchen and relaxing in the living room. Rooms are outfitted with varying king and queen beds and private bathrooms. Whole-lodge rental comes with or without the service of the hosts, locals Bob and Cindy Maddox, Danielle Steeves, Flint Teitsworth and Annie Kavanaugh. From $160 per night; steamboatmariposa.com.

Although constructed in 1933, the Seedhouse Guard Station has stood the test of time and become an easy-access cabin, perfect for adventuring staycationers in winter or summer. Situated along the North Fork of Elk River with the Mount Zirkel Wilderness in view, summertime trailheads are a short drive away, and, come winter, backcountry skiing is right out your backdoor. The station is furnished with two sets of bunkbeds with mattresses, sleeping as many as four people, and includes a propane range, refrigerator, lights, heater, table and chairs, utensils and cookware.

Drinking water and electricity are not provided, but the cabin does have a campfire ring outside and accessible firewood, as well as grills. Guests may also bring their own horses and keep them in the on-site corral or pasture. Info: $65 per night, recreation.gov.

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euro-style skiing in the Rockies Training to Glenwood Springs

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All aboard! Amtrak’s California Zephyr making its stop in Glenwood springs. Photo courtesy of Glenwood springs Visitor Center

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ith trains a daily occurrence in Steamboat, why not take one to the slopes? For a Euro-style ski or summer tour of the Rockies, drive to Granby to catch Amtrak’s California Zephyr en route from Chicago to San Francisco and ride it to Glenwood Springs, where you can soak in hot springs and ski Snowmass or nearby Sunlight before returning home.

Save for having to play Steve McQueen through Byers Canyon to make its quick stopover time, the pistons to our plan fired on all cylinders.

We arrived just as the train did, found our seats, hung our tickets above them and settled into reclining chairs complete with footrests and pull-down trays for books and games. Soon, 42-year conductor Jess Lewis came by to punch our stubs, prompting a cry of “All Aboard!” from Casey, our “Polar Express”saturated daughter.

No sooner than the trays came down, our daughters were up and racing from car to car, exploring stairwells, the snack bar and an observatory car with skylights.

While you can drive to Glenwood faster — at 30 mph, the train ride takes three hours and 15 minutes — with Amtrak you get to watch the scenery unfold from pillow-laden recliners. The ride through the Rockies has been called the most beautiful train trip in North America, and you’re on one of its most picturesque sections.

The train picks up the Colorado River in Granby and follows it for 268 miles — the longest stretch a train follows a single river in the country. From there, it rolls through Byers Canyon and Gore Canyon, where ice dams block waterfalls churning through glacial-looking corridors. When a passenger spotted four eagles high in bank-side trees, I ran downstairs to grab Casey from a pick-up card game she joined with another family.

We continued past historic State Bridge and soon entered Glenwood Canyon, the most scenic portion of the trip, where the tracks cling to 2,000-foot canyon walls. After the last tunnel, we unloaded at the century-old Glenwood Station and carried our gear to the Hotel Denver.

Our room overlooked the station’s red-tiled roof and Glenwood Hot Springs Lodge across the river, where everyone from gunslinger Doc Holliday to Teddy Roosevelt has stayed. That afternoon we took a 4,300-foot-long tram up Iron Mountain for a cave tour, and the next day, we shuttled up for a family ski day at nearby Snowmass.

After a dinner of shepherd’s pie and a pint of ale at the Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co., we soaked in the town’s world-class hot springs. The only thing more soothing? The clackity-clack serenade of the tracks carrying us home the next day.

Trains run between Granby and Glenwood Springs once daily (call ahead to see if it’s on time). Cost: $56 round-trip (adult); $28 (kids 2 to 15). For accommodations, try the Hotel Denver, where rooms start at $126 per night. Info: 800-USARAIL, amtrak.com.

— Eugene Buchanan

“We continued past historic State Bridge and soon entered Glenwood Canyon, the most scenic portion of the trip, where the tracks cling to 2,000-foot canyon walls.”

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5 minutes with CHIEF OF THE CHIEF

SCOTT PARKER O ne look at the marquee for the Chief Theater downtown — Western Melodrama, Acronym, The Vagina Monologues — and it’s easy to see that Executive Director Scott Parker is 1. having fun; and 2. doing a great job of bringing the arts in myriad forms to downtown’s premiere performance venue. When not juggling his Chief duties, he can be found doing so for his family — including wife, Shannon, and kids Delaney, 11, Finley, 8, and Veronika, 3; comedy troupe We’re Not Clowns; and as president-elect of the Ski Town USA Rotary Club. We caught up with the chief of the Chief for his take on Steamboat Springs, the Sabres and town’s newest stage.

— Eugene Buchanan

I grew up in Buffalo, New York, (go Sabres!) and went to Kenmore West High School, the same as news anchor Wolf Blitzer, and then Buffalo State College, where I played four years of volleyball.

I moved to Steamboat in 1996, because my friend Kelly Anzalone was moving here because of his friend Rick Boese. It’s the classic friend-of-a-friend story, like how a lot of people got here. I went back home for a few years but quickly realized how great it is in Steamboat and came back.

The people here are what set Steamboat apart. Most everyone here moved here by choice. It makes a huge difference to live somewhere where people actually want to be. Steamboat is a super generous and supportive community. I couldn’t imagine raising my kids anyplace else.

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My first time on stage came in 1998 performing in the Western Melodrama at the Ore House. I play Cyril (not Cereal) Twigbucket; I’m the hero people yell “Yay!” for.

I still do occasional gigs with We’re Not Clowns also, even after 20 years. We won a Silver Medal in 2000 at the world’s biggest juggling convention in Montreal, and in 2001, we performed three shows in Switzerland and at the Netherlands’ European Juggling Convention.

The juggling background definitely helps me keep all the balls in the air for the Chief. Juggling is an apt metaphor for life.

You have to learn to multitask ... and if you drop the ball, pick it up and try again.

I have the best job in the world. I’m executive director of an amazing nonprofit organization, in an historic building that has been entertaining locals since the

mid-1920s. There’s a lot of history there.

I also get to book some amazing acts and work with amazing actors, musicians and dancers. I love seeing people’s smiles after a great show.

This winter I was voted president-elect of the Ski Town USA Rotary Club. I’m honored to be working with such a great club, whose goal is to make a difference in people’s lives. I hope to do a lot of outreach to let people know how we support the community. I’m heading to the national convention in May. I’m a big sports fan (and recovering Buffalo Bills fan). If it wasn’t the Bills winning the Super Bowl, I’m glad it was the Broncos. I also love playing hockey and hiking with my kids, whenever I can get them all going the same direction. I guess the juggling helps there, as well.

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