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Gazette
APRIL 2012
WHEAT RIDGE
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EDGEWATER
Farmer Friendly Wheat Ridge Returns to its Roots By CyNDy BeAL
W
hat’s old is new again in Wheat Ridge. The city is returning to its agricultural roots, with local food production in town becoming more common. Wheat Ridge is not alone. Growing local and organic foods has become a national movement, with small farms, urban gardens, and greenhouse-grown produce springing up across the country. “Organic farming has been one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. agriculture for over a decade,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website. Also, according to a recent report by LiveWell Wheat Ridge, a division of LiveWell Colorado, about half of Wheat Ridge property owners have gardens; of those, three-quarters grow vegetables.
City involvement A number of Wheat Ridge city ordinances and regulations are urban farmer friendly, including those addressing homegrown produce and animal husbandry (keeping both small and large animals). In May and June 2011, the city expanded on these existing regulations. Wheat Ridge Ordinance 1491 updated zoning and building codes to include farmers’ markets, community gardens, produce stands and hoop houses. Most of these ordinances address agricultural activities already in practice for quite some time. One recent addition allows a resident to run a temporary produce stand or structure on their property, from 7 a.m. to sunset, to sell goods grown on their property. The Wheat Ridge website describes these changes as a way for residents to “engage in a range of urban agricultural activities, including growing and selling produce and keeping animals such as bees and chickens.” Someone maintaining a farm and keeping animals on the property such as chickens, rabbits, and large animals (goats and horses) is required to comply with Wheat Ridge’s nuisance laws pertaining to noise and odors, said Sarah Showalter, Wheat Ridge city planner. So having a rooster, due to the vocal nature of roosters, might conflict with the nuisance laws.
Chickens, eggs and Five Fridges Ordinance changes and the available land space in Wheat Ridge have led people like Amanda Weaver, urban farmer and UCD instructor, to start a chicken cooperative. The co-op, about 20 members, has 34 laying hens, but no roosters. Weaver wanted to start a cooperative at the farm she named Five Fridges for a few reasons. People were asking for fresh organic eggs at the farm, but she couldn’t sell eggs on her own because of the high cost of feed and the time commitment. The cost per dozen
eggs would have ranged from $5 to $7, she said, compared to around $2 per dozen at a grocery store. Weaver coined the name Five Fridges Farm (originally known as Red Wing Ranch). Five Fridges Farm is also the name of her business, which sells honey and other natural products. Telephone conversations and e-mails about the co-op began last fall. The coop’s first meeting was in January to discuss organization and other items like chicken feed type. The goal is organic fresh eggs. The feed chosen is non-GMO (non-genetically modified), no soy, no corn and vegetarian. “It’s been fun,” said Weaver of the overall process and getting to know neighbors and people in the community. Weaver and the late Louise Turner coowned and operated the farm together in recent years. In the past, Turner and her daughter, Ginny, had several generations of goats on the farm. In February, the co-op group bought 35 day-old baby chickens of different varieties through Wardle Feed in Wheat Ridge. The co-op members were supplied “chick kits” to house and care for the baby chicks. In April, all the chickens were put together on the property. One of the young chickens died, but the remaining 34 reside in a movable chicken coop on the farm. The chickens aren’t fully grown yet and
loCAl ANd orGANiC foodS have become part of a national movement and the City of Wheat Ridge is no exception. Sam Burris-Deboskey, an employee at the Circle Fresh Farms Greenhouse at 44th and Yarrow, is shown pruning tomato plants destined for local markets. The first harvest is expected around June 1. PHOTO CYNDY BEAL aren’t expected to produce eggs for another three months. Weaver said she had to do quite a bit of math, or what she calls “chicken economics,” to arrive at the cost of $50 per member for egg-production season. How many eggs members receive depends on how many shares they buy in the cooperative. One share equals one dozen eggs per month. The chicken care-taking duties are divided among the members on a rotating schedule. Each member typically has one morning and one evening per month.
the Changing Greenhouse Business “Colorado agriculture contributes $16 billion to the state’s economy each year,” according to the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s website. The return of locally grown foods, with a focus on organic, has become part of a new business model. ■ Continued on page 2
4Hearts4Help Project inspires Highland Residents for the Wheat Ridge Adult Center, located just south of the Highland Apartments, and gave them a call. The Center referred the call to Steve Reemts, Leasing and Building Manager of Highland West Apartments, and the spark of a generous idea ignited.
By JOAN WALLACH
R
ollo May, an American psychologist, defined community as, “understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.” What follows is a powerful, inspiring and perhaps unique story of community, reported by residents at Highland West and Highland South Senior Citizen Apartments about students from Bromwell Elementary, a Denver Public School in the Cherry Creek neighborhood. Four Bromwell students reached out with a request and together with dozens of Wheat Ridge elders embarked on a journey of “understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing” that continues to grow.
Destination imagiNation We learn from the Destination ImagiNation (D.I.) website (www.idodi.org) that D.I. is a non-profit organization that provides educational programs for 125,000 US students and more than 30 countries. “Students form teams and experience creativity, teamwork and problem solving.” Every year students have the opportunity to compete in local, regional, state and international competitions. Students lead, utilizing their smarts and creativity, and certainly in this case, compassion. Ava, a 5th grader at Bromwell, has long felt the loss of her best friend and neighbor Willa, who had cancer and died at age 3. Ava wanted to give something to children
4Hearts4Help dEfiNiNG A SENSE of CoMMUNiTy, residents of Highland West and South partnered with students competing in the Destination ImagiNation program to provide blankets for youth cancer patients. The project was aptly titled 4Hearts4Help. with cancer, something that would be of comfort. Her D.I. team partners, Abby, Justin and Samantha, all had been touched by people close to them experiencing cancer. They signed on, and their challenge called 4Hearts4Help (http://4hearts4help. wordpress.com/) evolved into philanthropy, partnership, affection and success. Moms Erin Fletter and Mona Ferrugia are Team Captains for 4Hearts4Help and helped facilitate this remarkable project. The children decided they wanted to make blankets and soon realized they would need some help. In thinking of who could help, thoughts turned to “Grandma,” and because their grandmas were not nearby they sought to find others who could help. Last fall, the team found the website
So far, 120 blankets, extraordinarily soft, with a variety of colors and themes, have been distributed to children at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children and The Children’s Hospital. Some residents made financial contributions, others donated special fabrics and many worked with the children and one another to create the unique blankets. As Reemts told us, “These are not wealthy people, and their giving says a lot about them.”
the elders On a sunny April day, Phyllis, June, Wayne, Jackie, Margarette and Peggy sit drinking coffee together, ready to tell their stories. The group’s time at Highland West and South ranges from less than a year to 11 years. Their sense of contribution, admiration for the children, and enthusiasm for the project showed in everything they said and the blankets they created. Phyllis told us the project was both “a perk up and a community builder,” involving ■ Continued on page 8