Fort Collins Courier, Fall 2014

We bring you Fort Collins.

Volume 1, Issue 3

wolverine farm publishing

fort collins , colorado

Fall 2014

FREE

wry goat studio ... 22 LaVida

Greens!...10

HISTORICAL SCHOOL BIKE RIDE. . 4 Sugar beets in the fort...12 We♼ Garlic...9 poudre wilderness volunteers...26 book review : house of deer ... 19 tyler morris woodworking ... 23 dumpster food...29

hemp house...30 yarn bombing 101...24

mini book tutorial...25

The James B. Arthur House...14

FALL BIKE CAMPING...6

2

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

Vintage Winter Ralleye Bicycle Ride © Courtesy Adam Garry

Fort Collins Courier Issue 3, Vol. 1, Fall 2014

Published by

Wolverine Farm Publishing PO BOX 814 Fort Collins, Colorado 80522

publisher’s Note

editor

Molly McCowan

I

f the month of September doesn’t wake you up to the fact that summer is fleeting and fall is tickling your toes, you might suddenly find yourself in November and wonder why you didn’t seize the transition.

It can happen before you know it: you find dozens of apples already on the ground and the ones left in the trees will soon follow suit; the garlic hanging in the drying shed needs to go in the ground soon but not too early; the continual beckoning of biking or hiking possibilities sometimes makes everything else moot and you give in and just go, knowing that winter is not too far off, and sometimes soaking up the sun and stretching the legs is the most important thing in the world. We love this time of year, with all the harvesting and processing, all the festivals and events, and we hungry humans attempting to squeeze everything in. We wish you good luck, with the swiftness of a fixed-gear bicycle on an empty city street.

masthead artist

Chris Jusell research assistant

Claire Heywood photographer

Dina Fike contributors

316 Willow Now Under Construction!

As of this printing, constr uction is in full swing on our Letter press & Publick House in the River District. In the above photo the roof is off and new plumbing is already in. We expect constr uction to take the rest of this year. Look to our website for updates and more infor mation.

Hooray!

Wolverine Farm Publishing is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in Fort Collins, CO. We publish books, this community newspaper, and collaborate with other non-profits, businesses, and people toward a more mindful engagement with the world. Donations accepted online or by mail.

Jenna Allen Meryl DePasquale Desirée Fiske Jason Hardung Danny Hesser Claire Heywood Carol Johnson Abby Kerstetter Beth Kopp Daniel Luévano Linda Wells Chris Vanjonack publisher/designer

Todd Simmons board of directors

Heather Manier Bryan Simpson Nate Turner Kathleen Willard

e s t . 2003 A 501( c )3 n o n - p ro f i t o rg a n i z at i o n

The F ort C ollins C ourier brings information, tools, and expertise together to help our community members live engaged and more self-reliant lives. We

want to explore the paths locals take, and inspire visitors with our city’s unique charm. Our areas-of-interest stem from our decade-long relationship with Fort Collins—in each issue we’ll feature content about bicycles, agriculture and the local food movement, as well as reporting about environmental issues and profiles of local makers and the return to craft. We distribute 5,000 copies of each issue by bicycle to over 50 locations throughout Fort Collins, and each print issue is bolstered by weekly web updates and fresh online content. Engage often at www.wolverinefarm.org.

tour de fall pale ale is brewed by new belgium brewing fort collins co

Introducing Tour de Fall Pale Ale, our seasonal event in a bottle.

To toast our bemusing bike event, Tour de Fat, we brewed up a hoppy Pale Ale full of carnie goodness like caramel and chocolate rye malt. Enjoy a Tour de Fall Pale Ale and follow the fun @tourdefat or newbelgium.com

4

BICYCLE

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

Bicycle

E. 330 E. Laurel Street Laurel Street School, now Centennial High School.

Another Montezuma W. Fuller design, built in 1906.

Oldest operating school in Fort Collins.

a

a

Make up your own route to visit these historic spots!

D. 115 Riverside Ave. The first schoolhouse in Fort Collins was built in 1871. It was known as the yellow schoolhouse.

a B.

318 Remington St. (S.E. corner of Remington & Olive) Site of the Remington School built in 1879. The school was razed in the 1960s and replaced with an apartment complex for seniors.

a

a

A.

417 S. Meldrum Street Fort Collins High School.

Designed by the renowned local architect Montezuma W. Fuller in 1903, the site is now home to the Lincoln Center.

d.

(S.W. corner of Howes and Mountain) Benjamin Franklin School.

Opened in the fall of 1887 for students from third to eighth grade. High school classes were taught in two rooms on the second floor.

Previously, high school students attended classes at the Agriculture College.

In 1959, the building was demolished.

H. 501 S. Washington Street Dunn Elementary.

The first modern-style school built in Fort Collins.

The sprawling, one-story school was built in 1949 and is still in use today.

G. F. 501 E. Elizabeth St. Abraham Lincoln School, now Harris Elementary.

School. Built in 1919 to showcase Progressive-era educational reforms.

1400 Remington St. Fort Collins High School, now CSU’s University Center for the Arts.

Built in the Colonial Revival style, the school opened in 1925. The building was sold to CSU in 1996.

a

By Carol Johnson

a

Historical School Bike Ride

Helping people and the planet since 1998

Insta

Reforestation • Green Job Training Renewable Energy • Clean Cookstoves

www.treeswaterpeople.org

6

BICYCLE

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

FALL BIKE CAMPING

By Todd Simmons

C

ar camping is easy, relaxing, and allows for more of the comforts of home (even though you’re trying to leave home—and all the stressors that come with it). But if you can replace “car” with “bike,” the experience becomes a little more challenging, a lot more rewarding, all at a slower pace that makes it easier to take in the beautiful surroundings. Fall is the best season for bike camping—cooler temperatures, less traffic on the roads and in the campgrounds. We’re lucky in Fort Collins to be able to head in almost any direction and find good bike camping options.

gear. Plan for a slower pace and make sure to get a campsite picked out and set up before nightfall. Planning a two- or three-night trip is easily feasible, with more and more options available the farther you get from Fort Collins. Try it once and you won’t be disappointed.

Head east 42 miles to the Crow Valley Campground located near the Pawnee Buttes. Towering cottonwood trees and ample birding opportunites await. If you’d rather head south, visit the confluence of the South Platte and Cache la Poudre (about 33 miles from Fort Collins), and then stay overnight at Carter Lake. Going west presents the most options, with an invigorating climb up Rist Canyon then down Stove Prairie Road to one of the many campgrounds in Poudre Canyon. If you’d rather be more adventurous, pack extra food and water and ride north and west to the campgrounds at Dowdy Lake (~45 miles) or Hohnholz Lakes (~100 miles).

Although you could go minimalist and pack everything on your back or on a rack, you’ll probably need a good set of panniers or a bicycle trailer to accomodate your

Basic Equipment & Supplies 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Light weight Tent Insul ation pad Sleeping Bag Cookstove & lighter pot & pan Water Food Coffee Brewer Extra L ayer of clothes 10. Rain ponc ho 11. Bicycle 12. Panniers or traileR

8

AGRICULTURE

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

Agriculture

Colorado State University Relaunches its CSA Program

By Danny Hesser

N

estled in north Fort Collins just east of I-25 lies a true farmland gem—Colorado State University’s own Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm has been resurrected after three years in limbo.

The farm is only offering shares to the CSU community (faculty, staff, and students) for now, but may open to the public as they attain more resources in the years to come. They are currently fulfilling more than 80 shares for the 2014 season, which started in mid-May and ends in late September.

While under the ultimate management of the Agricultural Research, Development, and Education Center, a network that includes nine sites throughout the state, this is the only one functioning, in part, as a CSA. About 65 acres serve as a testing ground for the latest techniques in mixed cropping, seed trials, harvesting, and tillage practices, with about ten acres committed to organic food production. The farm as a whole serves as a training ground for future sustainable farmers, many of whom are students of agronomy.

One of the farm managers, Gary Gross, took me on a grand loop to see organic hops grown at the perimeter, part of a specialty crops grant that brought together a local brewer and CSU. In the pepper house eight different varietals thrive, a testament to how a CSA traditionally cultivates more than one species to introduce perhaps more hardy, heirloom varietals to the public—and to be able to grow a concentrated amount of food on a relatively small plot.

Gross hunched down to display the bumblebee box in the tomato hoop house, taking time to show signs on the carefully latticed plants that a bee has successfully pollinated a flower. Attracting wild pollinator species has been part of the farm’s mission as well.

Gross spoke about the importance of a slow growth process for the CSA—a balancing act between expanding the farm’s potential, teaching sustainable methods of growing food, and not overburdening the workers growing the food to fulfill member shares. Also on the horizon is a collaboration with FoCo Café that begins this fall, in which volunteers will help work the farm in exchange for produce to be prepared for their donation-based menu.

To find out more, visit www.facebook.com/ColostateCSA.

Shares (currently only available to CSU faculty, staff, and students): • $500 full share: up to ten items per week (feeds a family of four) • $250 half share: up to five items per week (feeds a family of two) • $150 student share: up to three items per week • $100 fruit share: ten weeks of organic fruit (started July 31) Sign-up for shares begins in March of each year.

Box pickups began May 22, and will continue until September 25 (20 weeks).

Pick-up location is the Plant Environmental Research Center, at 630 W. Lake St. Weekly box pick-up is on Thursdays from 4–6pm.

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

AGRICULTURE

9

10

AGRICULTURE

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

grow here, grow now!

Fun, Food, & Community in the Hands of LaVida Greens

By Abigail Kerstetter

I

f you’re a frequenter of the Fort Collins Farmer’s Market, perhaps you’re already familiar with LaVida Greens, a Fort Collins urban agriculture project started and operated by Luke and Kathleen Loetscher, Nick Dufek, and Kyt Burton. These friends and neighbors are taking “local produce” to a whole new level—LaVida Greens’ produce is grown just three blocks from the market. But LaVida Greens isn’t your typical community garden.

When Luke and Nick became neighbors, they quickly realized they both shared a passion for sustainable urban agriculture. Luke is a graduate student in environmental engineering at CSU and has experience running his family’s farmer’s market stand in Wyoming, as well as with volunteer work to develop sustainable agricultural methods for impoverished communities abroad, along with Kathleen. Nick, a native of Wisconsin, works for the USDA in Colorado. With limited space for gardening, they realized there was plenty of unused space all around them—in their neighbors’ yards.

LaVida Greens is a neighborhood co-op with emphasis on sustainability through education, innovation, and community. Those who choose to participate don’t pay to rent space or for the fresh produce Kyt delivers every Friday night.

They’re not responsible for maintaining or harvesting plots. LaVida Greens does it all!

LaVida Greens entered the Farmer’s Market this summer with mostly starter plants. Now they’re growing more herbs and greens than they know what to do with—kale, spinach, lettuce, basil, cilantro, dill. They’ve also planted several varieties of tomatoes, peppers, carrots, and beets. Proving that no yard is too small, they’ve even planted strawberries in bags hanging along one neighbor’s fence.

While the market is a fun experience and helps with costs, Luke, Nick, Kathleen, and Kyt aren’t in it to make a profit.

They’re interested in promoting sustainable urban agriculture and helping others get started growing their own gardens so that everyone can have access to fresh, healthy food, no matter how much yard space or experience they have.

LaVida Greens has built raised garden beds in seven yards throughout the neighborhood, and has equipped most with built-in irrigation. They’ve provided the labor and material for all the beds (most yards have several beds, covering as much unused space as neighbors could spare), including the crops. The raised beds make harvesting easier and cut down on weeds, contributing to a low-maintenance, easy first experience for those interested in learning to do more gardening on their own. Not only does this allow participants from diverse economic backgrounds to get involved—it also provides an educational opportunity for those with limited or no gardening experience.

But produce isn’t the only thing these four friends are growing. They’re sowing seeds of trust and community as well.

LaVida Greens has no contract with any of the homeowners they’ve partnered with this summer, and some of the participants are renters with no guarantee they won’t move out in the next year or two and be replaced with less enthusiastic new renters. These possibilities, however, haven’t deterred the operators of LaVida Greens from investing heartily in as many yards as they can involve, and in addition to providing fresh produce, they’ve also given the entire neighborhood an excuse to meet the person next door. And the response from the neighborhood has been terrific.

“Everyone’s just been really great to work with and really appreciative,” Luke says of their experience so far.

As all four of them have reiterated again and again, “it’s just a fun hobby”—and a great way to meet the neighbors.

For more information on LaVida Greens, visit www.lavidagreens.com.

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

AGRICULTURE

11

12

HISTORY

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

History

A Saccharine History:

Sugar Beets in Fort Collins

Sugar beet workers Fort Collins History Archive [HOO688]

By Beth Kopp

I

grew up in a sugar beet town in North Dakota. Every fall during the harvest season, trucks overflowing with beets would drive through our streets on their way to the sugar factory. I have many memories of these trucks and the piles of sugar beets they carried and ultimately dropped on the roads. But mostly I remember the distinct smell that wafted from the factory—a sort of rotten, dirty, slightly sweet odor that blanketed the town when the wind was just right. Some people said it was the smell of money.

Sugar beets have been cash crop in the United States since the late 1800s and I recently found out that even Fort Collins has a sugar beet past. Although we no longer grow and process them here, they have shaped the city’s economic and cultural history.

Factory and Neighborhoods In 1903, the Fort Collins Sugar Manufacturing Company built a 120-acre factory complex on the southeast corner of Vine and Linden Streets. Great Western Sugar Company acquired the factory just a few years later, and processed sugar there until it was forced to close in 1955 due to poor weather conditions and economic factors. Today you can find the Fort Collins Streets Department housed in a remaining portion of the factory.

To entice workers to the fields in the early 1900s, Great Western provided small (240 square feet) homes in the Buckingham, Andersonville, and Alta Vista neighborhoods, although the workers had to build the homes themselves. Only one of these “beet shacks” still exists in the Buckingham neighborhood, at 209 3rd Street. It was one of the original 13 homes built for workers in 1902 and has a barrel roof, root cellar, and traditional summer kitchen. According to the City of Fort Collins’ Landmark Preservation Commission, this is one the historical properties most threatened with demolition.

Sugar Beet Workers The laborers of the sugar beet fields in Northern Colorado were mostly German-Russian immigrants (from the Volga region of Russia), Hispanics, and a small portion of Japanese immigrants. By 1924 a large portion of the German-Russians had moved on, so the Great Western Sugar Company shipped in laborers from Mexico to work the fields.

Many of the women and children ­­­­­­­­­­­­in both German-Russian and Mexican families worked in the fields alongside the men. In 1935, Hope William Sykes published Second Hoeing, a novel about the GermanRussian immigrants who worked the

Jimmy Dick Mattoon, 19lb. sugar beet Fort Collins History Archive [HA2514]

Sugar beet harvest Fort Collins History Archive [HOO257b] beet fields of Northern Colorado. Her novel helped bring attention to the child labor problem of the region. Two years after the book was published, legislation was passed to help curb child exploitation in sugar beet fields.

Sugar Beet Facts • The sugar beet is a white root vegetable about a foot long, weighing between two and five pounds. It contains 15 to 20 percent sugar.

• After the beet is processed at a factory, the remaining pulp is often used in livestock feed.

• Beet sugar makes up about half of domestically produced sugar and about 20 percent of the world’s sugar.

• 95 percent of beet sugar in the U.S. comes from genetically modified seeds produced by the agricultural giant Monsanto.

• You can grow and eat your own sugar beets: organic, non-GMO seeds are available online. Both the leafy greens and the root are edible and you can even process them yourself to make homemade sugar.

fort collins courier

:

HISTORY

fall 2014

13

City Park boating area in the 1920s Fort Collins History Archive [H08505]

Then & Now: City Park 1907 - The city buys 62 acres west of downtown for $25,080, part of the original Mercer Colony purchased

by John Sheldon in 1874. This acreage includes Sheldon Lake.

1912 - The town Park Commission officially names the park “City Park.”

1913 - The city purchases Prospect Park to add acreage to City Park.

designed with removable walls for summer shade. (The concrete steps still remain to this day.) A shower bath house is built at the campground.

1927 - 16 rental cabins are built by Mr. Lampton west of the canal and campground to accommodate tourists who don’t want to camp in tents. The cabins are collectively called the “Fort Collins Auto Camp.”

1919 - A 26-space public campground at Oak and Bryan is opened, featuring water faucets and restrooms for campers.

Fort Collins Trolley Car #22 at City Park, 1948 [H13216] 1981 - A storage facility is built on Mountain Ave. for the historic trolley that runs from City Park to Meldrum St.

1920 - Summer band concerts previously held in Lincoln Park are moved to the Sheldon Lake bandstand.

City Park Campground Office, Restrooms, Shower House, 1932 [H14863]

Pavilion at City Park, 1933 [H09085] 1921 - City Park concessionaire Robert Lampton builds the Pavilion (now Club Tico) on the north shore of Sheldon Lake.

1923 - Mr. Lampton builds a community house at Oak and Bryan for the campers.

1925 - The Sheldon Lake bandstand is enlarged. A diving tower is constructed in Sheldon Lake and the swimming area is designated with a barrier. A warming house is built for skaters on the north shore of the lake,

1974 - The Community House is renovated as a pottery studio and general classroom facility.

1982 - Streets are converted to one-way inside the park.

1932 - A cannon is installed to honor WWI veterans.

1999 - Work begins to improve the lake shoreline.

1935 - Mr. Lampton does not renew his concession agreement and sells the Fort Collins Auto Camp to the city.

2001 - The Don and May Wilkins Family Trust fund a boardwalk along the lake’s north shore. A new boat rental dock is attached to the boardwalk.

1940 - City Park Nine Golf Course is dedicated and opened to the public. The auto camp closes.

2002 - City Park Pool is closed and totally replaced with a leisure pool.

1949 - The Pavilion is renamed Club Tico. A pool and separate wader are built in Sheldon Lake. Moose Lodge builds three fishing piers along the shore of Sheldon Lake.

2003 - The renovated City Park Pool reopens.

2009 - Club Tico undergoes a major renovation.

1952 - A pool permanently separate from the lake is built next to Club Tico.

1958 - The north ball field is improved with backstop, bleachers, and grass.

Timeline adapted from www.fcgov.com/citypark100/history.

14

HISTORY

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

Arthur House, 1988 Fort Collins History Archive [HOO257b]

The James B. Arthur House: 132 Years in Fort Collins

By Desirée Fiske

A

1882–1919: The Arthurs occupy their home from the time of construction through Mrs. Arthur’s passing in 1919. The Arthurs did not have children.

The original Fort Collins Courier described the interior of the first floor of the house in 1882: “The first floor is arranged for a roomy vestibule connecting with the main hall through an arch, parlor, and dining room connected by sliding doors, and each supplied with grate and mantle. A large bay window projects from the east side of dining room.”

1922–1930: The home is converted into a frat house for Sigma Chi. The basement door of the house still sports Greek letters on its interior.

1930–1934: The house remains vacant.

1934–1951: The house is purchased by the Minter family in 1934 and stays with the family into the 1940s. The home is then sold to Curtis C. Hicks, manager and director of the Larimer County Farm Bureau, and Doug W. Hicks.

s Fort Collins celebrates its 150th anniversary, I, less impressively, celebrate my first anniversary as a city resident. Touring apartments a year ago, I came across a quaint historical home in Old Town. I envisioned my décor strung throughout the space and imagined the layouts within the home throughout its 132 years.

The house was constructed in 1882, designed by Denver architects for local entrepreneur James B. Arthur. Born in Ireland in 1835 and immigrating to the United States as a teen, Arthur and his wife, Mary Kelley, settled in Fort Collins in 1883. James B. Arthur was mayor of Fort Collins from 1893–1895 and state senator from 1901–1902. As a member of the elite class, the Arthurs frequently hosted parties in their home, and were well known in the community.

James B. Arthur died on August 11, 1905. The August 16, 1905 issue of the Fort Collins Courier reported that “Fort Collins was inexpressibly shocked when the announcement was made on Friday afternoon that Former State Senator James B. Arthur, one of the foremost citizens of Northern Colorado, was dead.”

The history of the James B. Arthur House, like so many of the structures scattered throughout Old Town, reflects the transformation of Fort Collins through time.

Historical Timeline for the James B. Arthur House January 19, 1882: The Fort Collins Courier reports James B. Arthur’s purchase of land and proposal for the house.

1951–1955: The house remains vacant.

1955–1977: George W. Donegan and Bernice Donegan purchase the home in 1955 and convert the space into the Donegan Rest Home in 1957. The home remains open until 1977.

1977: Kim Stuart and Ted Gateau purchase the building and perform restoration work. Stuart had previously been involved with Victorian home restoration projects in San Francisco.

1977–1981: The house is converted into a variety of commercial office spaces, including realty, insurance, and medical offices.

1981–1985: Weeks before the house’s 100th year, L’Aloutte French Café moves into the main floor. The restaurant is named after the French term for meadowlark, in reference to its association with French-Canadian trappers who explored and named the Cache la Poudre.

1985–1990s: The restaurant closes, and the house is once again briefly converted into offices, a salon, and other commercial businesses.

James B. Arthur, circa 1900 [H01447A] March 1, 1883: Ansel Watrous, editor of the Fort Collins Courier, tours the Arthur house for a descriptive feature article. Watrous describes the deso late scenery surrounding the home: “…[it is situated] on a slight prominence, granting 1990s–now: Since the 1990s, the house has been converted into five apartments, each a fine sight of the mountain range and Long’s Peak on one hand, and a comprehensive with their own unique characteristics and charm. view of the Poudre and its verdant fields on the other.”

1882: James B. Arthur hires Denver architects “to make his home one of the finest in Fort Collins” for a cost of about $7,000. The Victorian-style home is known as a “Queen Anne.”

The James B. Arthur House is located at 334 E. Mulberry St., on the northwest corner of E. Mulberry St. and Peterson St. For more information, visit www.historiccoloradovictorian.com.

Timber Framing: A selfsupporting framework of milled timbers fastened with integral wooden connections ( pegs, wedges, interlocking joinery).

1925 CR 54G 80535 (970) 472-5519 : corey @ highplainstimberframes . com

H igh P l ains T imber F rames

laporte , co

LLC

10

%

OFF BIKE-IN

DISCOUNT

Acupuncture - Chinese Herbs Massage - Qigong - Diet Therapy In LaPorte at 3522 W. County Rd. 54G North from Fort Collins on College/old 287 Across from Cache la Poudre Elementary just off the Poudre Bike Trail.

Monday-Friday: 6am-5pm Saturday-Sunday 7am-6pm

Hugh’s Acupuncture clinic fort collins source for acupuncture and traditional chinese medicine

ALSO AT ME OH MY COFFEE & PIE:

NORTHERN COLORADO FARMER’S MARKET SUNDAYS, 10am - 2pm STARTING IN JUNE!

970.215.7419 : www.hughsacupuncture.com

18

LITERATURE

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

Literature Our Hero Makes an Impression

By Kristin Abraham, from The Disappearing Cowboy Trick Noon again, with her “touch-this-and-I’ll-burn-it-down” attitude. Noon, when she stirred coals and sparked after a morning without words. Noon, when he watched her with the supper dough through the window; he watched her with the dough, watched it quiver from her hands like a triumph filled with suns. Then noon, and the bread was gone, days old, dry, eaten; noon, and more dull biscuits in the Dutch oven; noon, and he squared his shoulders.

Noon, when he came home and ate cold meats for dinner, when he wouldn’t shuffle his gaze near her face. Noon, he’s whiskey-licked; noon, with a blueberry buckle; noon, she’s a wing in a box. Noon, when they live and they live and they live because they don’t know how to not.

Poet Kristin Abraham on Her New Book, The Disappearing Cowboy Trick

By Meryl DePasquale

O

riginally from Michigan, Kristin Abraham now lives in Fort Collins with her husband, fiction writer Matt VanderMeulen, and teaches creative writing and literature at Laramie County Community College. Her first book of poetry, The Disappearing Cowboy Trick, was released

by Horse Less Press in 2013. I sat down with her to talk about what drew her to write poetry, her new book, and how the education system should look at poetry.

Fort Collins Courier: What drove you to write poems in the first place?

Kristin Abraham: I always wrote fiction when I was growing up. I didn’t know I wanted to take creative writing classes; I just got signed up for one my first semester in college, and we started with poetry. I fell in love and that was it; my mind was only working in poetry. I’m intuitive about things, and poetry fit those very emotional and sometimes scattered, disjointed thought processes.

It’s an art form that captures something that nothing else can. It’s a way to use and investigate language and get to the essence of the feeling.

When I was reading The Disappearing Cowboy Trick, I imagined you alternating between watching country western movies and reading Grimm’s fairy tales, especially Little Red Riding Hood. Is that accurate? What was your process?

It started with language, really, and this book called Cowboy Lingo. Then I had always wanted to move West, so I was obsessing over the landscape. Some of the imagery came from watching Carnivále on HBO: depression era, circus, you know. And I was researching the Mormon

pilgrimage. There was a lot of naivety, as with all the pioneers encountering Native Americans, different massacres. So it all coalesced in weird ways. It was mostly the imagery and the language, and then from that I built my own little world.

The little red riding hood poems came first, and they started with a sculpture by Kiki Smith [“Daughter,” 1999]. She’s life-size, she has her hood, and the rest of her is paper mâché, and then she has this big, brown, bushy beard. I became obsessed with that and this idea about identity, that little red riding hood has the wolf inside of her and maybe is the wolf, depending on the narrative.

What new creative projects have you been working on? What is the next step for you?

I have a chapbook manuscript called Swallow Your Archetype.

It’s focused on one female persona named Helena, which is one aspect of the speaker’s self. A lot of the poems are letters to her. She’s that secret person, that a woman would have inside of her more than a man, trying to grapple with what is expected in society— what a female is-—the gender roles and the insecurities that come with that. She’s kind of the weakling inside—inside me, obviously. She’s some aspect of me. The cowboy poems and little red riding hood were wrapped up in mythology, but these are much more personal poems for me, and revealing in some way, even though it’s still third person.

It seems like I’m always reading doom-and-gloom articles about the

declining readership for poetry. There is a wide array of potential causes and solutions. If you could snap your fingers and change one thing in the literary community, what would it be?

As someone who teaches at the college level, what’s saddest to me is education. Every year that I see it, it’s worse: the effects of standardized testing. Students think they have to have one answer to get it right on the test.

They freak out if they can’t understand a poem, because there’s supposed to be just that one answer. But poetry isn’t measurable. I feel like we’ve lost education where we can just say “poetry is fun!” and sometimes there’s nothing to figure out. Sometimes it’s just because it sounds amazing or the words fit together. We need to get people excited about all of the possibilities again, to realize that we can just enjoy poetry for what it is.

fort collins courier

:

LITERATURE

fall 2014

19

Review House of Deer, by Sasha Steensen Review by Abigail Kerstetter How does a group of individuals become a family? How does that family survive?

“Anyone here know how / we’re all related?” These are the questions Sasha Steensen asks in House of Deer. Part story, part history, part myth, Steensen’s latest collection set my bones humming as I read: an ingenious hunter skins his prey & slits the hide … an ingenious hunter conceals himself by stepping inside House of Deer steps inside its tender animal skin to present the story of a family that would return to the land, while at the same time challenging romantic notions of what that land would look like. It’s a fine line between wild and domestic, and in this place the family is continually breaking and rebuilding.

Of course the deer should provide the animal eyes through which to observe family—wild despite their gentle nature, living somewhere between open grasslands and impenetrable cover, constantly redefining the terms of familial structure. It is in this between-place that the poet moves throughout these poems, where “the family was born again” and again.

These poems are about finding what you need when you’re looking for something useful:

House of Deer by Sasha Steensen Publisher: Fence Books (April, 2014) Paperback: $15.95

Searching a garage for a hoe, we find something sharper and better for sowing: we find a word that waits on the tips of our tongues to be sung.

Come forth peril, little pearl in the darkness.

Is it still possible to return to the land? Did we ever leave? Does anyone know how we are all related? We are all wild, and there is no going back—there is only being in this land, in family, as the deer—some place between those open spaces we find nourishment, and those wooded shelters, the covered places we go to survive.

New Sustainable Living

B o o k s Tiny Homes on the Move: Wheels and Water by Lloyd Khan

Publisher: Shelter Publications (May 20, 2014) This new collection by green building pioneer Lloyd Kahn explores modern-day nomads and their movable homes. Over 1,000 color photos accompany the stories and descriptions.

Preserving by the Pint: Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces by Marisa McClellan

Publisher: Running Press (March 25, 2014) A fun new book full of irresistible small-batch canning recipes like salted brown sugar peach jam, mustardy rhubarb chutney, and pickled nectarine slices. Perfect for apartment dwellers who want to try their hand at preserving.

The Wastewater Gardener: Preserving the Planet One Flush at a Time by Mark Nelson

Publisher: Synergetic Press (June 30, 2014) Mark Nelson offers a creative solution to our global water problems in his new book about managing human waste.

The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food by Dan Barbar

Publisher: Penguin Press (May 20, 2014) A new perspective on the food movement by renowned farm-to-table chef Dan Barbar. This book proposes radically changing the way we eat to build a truly sustainable food system.

Carbon Shock: A Tale of Risk and Calculus on the Front Lines of the Disrupted Global Economy by Mark Schapiro

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing (August 20, 2014) Journalist Mark Schapiro explores the costs of the world’s carbon emissions and who will ultimately have to pay the price for our fossil fuel addictions.

Cold Antler Farm: A Memoir of Growing Food and Celebrating Life on a Scrappy Six-Acre Homestead by Jenna Woginrich

Publisher: Roost Books (June 10, 2014) Woginrich shares stories and imparts wisdom from her

one-woman farm while following the natural rhythms of the seasons.

Home Grown: Adventures in Parenting off the Beaten Path, Unschooling, and Reconnecting with the Natural World by Ben Hewitt

Publisher: Roost Books (September 9, 2014) In this collection of personal essays on nature-based education and parenting, author Ben Hewitt shares stories of his own sons’ upbringing on their Vermont farm.

Local: The New Face of Food and Farming

by Douglas Gayeton Publisher: Harper Design (June 10, 2014) This book features collage-like artwork coupled with more than 200 agricultural terms explained by today’s leaders in the farming and food movement. Alice Waters, Wes Jackson, Temple Grandin, Vandana Shiva, Joel Salatin, and others demystify the new sustainability lexicon.

fort collins courier

:

LITERATURE

fall 2014

21

The Painter, by Peter Heller Review by Chris Vanjonack

Motherland, Fatherland, Homelandsexuals,

by Patricia Lockwood Review by Jason Hardung When I was asked to do a review of Motherland, Fatherland, Homelandsexuals by Patricia Lockwood—or Pattycakes, as I like to call her—I was hesitant because a poet shouldn’t be this famous unless they write poems about clouds and hearts or hearts made of clouds. And maybe I was just a tiny bit jealous.

Pattycakes became well known after her poem “Rape Joke” went viral and her Twittership shot through the roof. But then I found out that she was like me in that she grew up in shitty town and never went to college to be an “academically-trained” poet. So I said I’d review her book.

When it was handed to me, the first thing I noticed was the texture of the cover—gritty like my dad’s five o’ clock shadow, or the tongue of a cat.

I could read the poems in this book many times over and find something each new each time. Sometimes they are hard to follow—not in an academic, “what the hell does that word mean” way, but in an obscure, “what the hell did she just say” way.

One of my favorite poems in the book is called “He Marries The Stuffed Owl Exhibit at the Indiana Welcome Center.” It starts like this: He marries her mites and the wires in her wings, he marries her yellow glass eyes and black centers, he marries her near-total head turn, he marries the curve of each of her claws, he marries the information plaque, he marries the extinction [...]

The above passage shows her knack for using nature as a metaphor for human struggles. Most of the poems in the book tie back to Mother Nature.

After reading this book I’m still jealous of Pattycakes Lockwood, but in a different way—I wish I wrote something like this. The biggest compliment I can give is that it makes me want to put the book down and write my own poems.

Motherland, Fatherland, Homelandsexuals, by Patricia Lockwood Publisher: Penguin Books (May 27, 2014) Paperback: $15.95

In his sophomore novel, Peter Heller explores the relationship between grief, forgiveness, and art through the lens of Jim Stegner, a prolific expressionist painter with a violent temper. Haunted by feelings of guilt over the death of his teenage daughter, Jim retreats to a quiet life of fishing and painting in rural Colorado. His complacency is threatened, however, when he discovers a local hunting guide savagely beating a small horse and feels compelled to intervene. This act of violence instigates a string of chaotic events, sending Jim on a journey that eventually leads him back to Santa Fe, where he is forced to confront his tragic past.

Although the novel meanders somewhat in the middle, Heller’s gorgeous writing style never lets up. Poetic, blunt, and arresting, the writing alone should be enough to see most readers through the umpteenth page-long description of fly fishing. In Jim, Heller has sketched a difficult but engrossing narrator—a man who views himself as good in spite of his seeming inability to be good. The question of what it means to be good is never far from Jim’s mind, and even as the novel turns into something of a suspense thriller in its final act, the reader never loses sight of Jim’s moral journey. Heller does a spectacular job of getting into the head of his main character—while Jim’s decisions are sometimes frustrating, his thought process is so well defined that the reader finds it difficult to truly object.

A black hole of grief and regret eats away at the heart of this novel—and clearly, at Jim—but The Painter stands out for how it approaches despair as a process rather than an endgame. The novel builds towards a surprisingly cathartic finish that makes it clear that this is a story not about rage or violence, but rather about forgiveness. Toward the end of the novel, Jim laments that life is never as simple as we wish it could be; funny then, that The Painter succeeds by hinging on such a simple concept.

The Painter, by Peter Heller Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf (May, 2014) Hardcover: $24.95

Think Like a Freak,

by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner Review by Daniel Luévano Readers of Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics should be geared already, intellectually and temperamentally, to engage the vexing issue of their choice with the clear-eyed tenacity the authors advocate.

For those familiar with the earlier collaborative works of Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, their new book Think Like a Freak may outline the major points of the problem-solving approach the authors lend to a broad reach of conundrums, public and personal. From hot-dog eating contests to British healthcare to medieval torture, Levitt and Dubner spin charming, if often disturbing, yarns that serve to validate their lucid, empirical approach.

The subtitle of the new volume, The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain, edges toward hyperbole: the relevant guidance could be gleaned from a dozen or fewer well-selected pages. That training might be boiled down to something like: 1) form precise, dispassionate questions that can clarify your chosen dilemma, 2) do your research, and 3) be ready to accept the previously unacceptable.

If that doesn’t sound as titillating as the title, it’s not. But it is a worthwhile interpretation of the scientific method.

As with its predecessors, the chief pleasure and value of Think Like a Freak is in the anecdotal recounting of many personal, professional, and historical triumphs and fiascos realized in the pursuit of a good answer to a bad problem. Suicide, slavery, David Lee Roth—few mysteries are off-limits to the Freaks.

Being a Freak, the authors insist, involves intellectual sobriety and scientific rigor, and can be applied to any of society’s mousetraps-in-quicksand quandaries: global warming, public education, and yes, competitive eating.

With each subject, the freaky authors offer an entertaining and provocative read in a jovial, enthusiastic, academics-at-a-barbeque atmosphere.

Think Like a Freak, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner Publisher: William Morrow (May 12, 2014) Hardcover: $17.39

Wolverine Farm

P u blis hi ng C o. & B o oks tore

wolver inefarm.org : 9 70 .4 7 2 . 4 2 84 1 4 4 N. C olle g e Ave n ue F ort coll ins, co 8 0 524

22

MAKE

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

Make

MAKER PROFILE:

WRY GOAT STUDIO T

revor Ryan is the owner of Wry Goat Studio, an artisanal furniture shop here in Fort Collins. He makes his furniture one piece at a time, using reclaimed wood and beetle-kill pine. Fort Collins Courier caught up with him to learn more about his craft.

Fort Collins Courier: How and when did you get into woodworking?

Trevor Ryan: I started working as an apprentice for a studio furniture maker about 15 years ago. I had just moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico after completing my MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute. I had worked as a chef throughout undergraduate and grad school for rent and spending money, and I wanted a change. I knew I wanted to work with wood, and, within a week of moving to Sante Fe, I was lucky to meet a talented and experienced furniture maker who wanted an apprentice. From there I moved from shop to shop for a while, building everything from kitchens to massive entry doors for high-end homes. I ended up working as a production and operations manager for a large-scale residential millwork company that built everything from reclaimed douglas fir timbers to architectural antiques. It was there that I developed a love for all things made from solid wood. I realized that spending my working days in and around woodshops suited me and I really didn’t want to do anything else.

My wife and I relocated to Fort Collins six years ago and I started work at a millwork company in Longmont that specializes in building store fixtures for luxury retail brands. Right up until about two years ago I kept up a studio habit that was separate from my day-job woodworking career. I would spend my weekends and evenings in the studio making woodcut prints, drawings, and paintings. Then the day came when I felt like it was time to stop making 2-D images and merge these two pursuits. I converted my painting studio into a furniture-making shop and started spending my studio time making furniture.

What are the most important and interesting tools in your shop?

They all have their day. Working wood with hand tools is always a great pleasure but I also enjoy using machines. My most recent addition is a large 20” heavyduty planer. It’s a huge timesaver, and it allows me to crank out the production of part blanks for a design quickly.

Is woodworking your primary means of making a living?

No, I still work for a store-fixture fabricator full-time during the week. It’s challenging and engaging work and it pays the bills. In that part of my life—the large-scale commercial woodworking world—I am a manager and I spend my days

either traveling around the country to jobsites or in front of a screen and on the phone. I drive large multimillion-dollar projects to completion and negotiate contracts and logistics with clients, general contractors, and architects.

It is another experience entirely to spend an evening or weekend in my own shop, working with my hands, and building something that I designed. I know most people who burn the midnight oil working in a cottage industry strive for the day when they can be financially independent and quit their day jobs. I approach it with great trepidation. If Wry Goat Studio ever became busy enough to feed my family, I’m afraid I would end up back in an office in front of a spreadsheet full of numbers with a phone to my ear. It’s very important to me that this endeavor is and remains about what my hands can do.

What’s on the horizon?

I’ve spent the last couple of years designing and building pieces without looking up. This year, I want to put some effort into getting the work out there. One of the main reasons my fine art production faded was the growing pile of work that stayed in my studio. I was never successful at the gallery and museum courtship dance. Selling furniture and millwork is something I have done professionally in one way or another for 15 years—it’s a straightforward transaction that makes sense to me. Beyond that, I’m eager to start building some new designs I have been developing.

Anything else to add?

I’m grateful that Fort Collins Courier is highlighting makers in our community who are working with their hands. The recent craft movement has been wonderful to watch across the entire country. I can see that it is a reaction to technology and how screen inundation has been limiting our everyday physical experiences more and more every year.

Human hands and their production of objects is an expression that lies somewhere between the body and the mind, or could be considered a perfect synchronization of the two. Hands have an intelligence all their own. Like the body and the mind, they require an investment of training and practice to develop. When you put the time into developing your hands’ intelligence and fitness, you can reap the rewards by making things you want to bring into the world. For me there is no time better spent.

Learn more at www.wrygoatstudio.com.

fort collins courier

:

MAKE

fall 2014

23

MAKER PROFILE:

TYLER MORRIS WOODWORKING T

yler Morris owns a woodworking business (Tyler Morris Woodworking) here in Fort Collins. He and his coworkers make a line of wood products that include corbels, shelf brackets, recipe boxes, trays, and leaf presses. They also have some commercial production manufacturing accounts and on occasion they make custom furniture. Fort Collins Courier interviewed Morris via email to learn more.

Fort Collins Courier: How did you discover woodworking?

Tyler Morris: I became interested in woodworking and furniture design while studying at Colorado State University, where I earned a degree in Wood Science and Technology in 1994. After graduating, I worked in a cabinet shop, a hardwood lumber store, and as an interior trim carpenter. I started the wood shop in the summer of 1997. After one year I hired an experienced craftsman, Steve Wright, who is still working with me. Also, Patrick Dunn has contributed greatly at the shop for a few years.

How did you learn your skills?

For the most part, I’m self-taught. However, occasionally my coworkers and I will enter “uncharted waters” and not have the necessary skill to accomplish a job. In those cases, we seek advice from other local woodworkers and craftsmen. Also, we frequently turn to reference materials such as woodworking books, old Fine Woodworking magazines, and how-to videos on YouTube.

What are the most important and interesting tools in your shop?

There are some woodworking machines that are important and necessary for production work: the tablesaw, jointer, planer, wide-belt sander, drill press, and a handful of routers.

As for interesting tools, we (and especially Steve) have built many shop-made tools, most used in conjunction with shop-made dedicated fixtures or “jigs.” These tools and jigs allow us to make safe and accurate reproducible cuts.

Is this your primary means of making a living?

Yes. What’s on the horizon?

We are wrapping up a job making a ton of elementary school desks for Mountain Sage Community School, where my daughter, Olivia, attends. Steve, Pat, and myself have found this job very rewarding, plus they have been well received. Next, I plan on doing some research to figure out if we could compete in the school-desk market and if so we may give it a shot.

Learn more about Tyler’s work at www.tylermorriswoodworking.com.

24

MAKE

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

Yarn Bombing 101

By Beth Kopp

T

o celebrate Fort Collins’ 150th anniversary, Denver’s Ladies Fancywork Society came to town this spring and yarn-bombed the fence on the corner of Oak and Remington in Old Town. The crocheted pieces appropriately incorporate bicycles, music notes, and a river, bringing a bit of color and whimsy to the empty lot that was once the Elks Lodge. One of the many purposes of yarn bombing is to brighten up otherwise dull, sterile parts of cities, making this a great example of the art form.

Yarn bombing is simply crocheted or knitted street art or graffiti. It is rumored to have originated in 2005 when Texas shop owner Magda Sayeg decided to knit up a cozy for her store’s door handle. Since then, it has spread worldwide and has been used for political and social statements. Projects vary in size, from small bike rack coverings to huge installations covering bridges, statues, or trees.

How to Yarn Bomb

Here are a few easy steps to getting started!

1. Gather friends. Get some crafty folks together who can knit and/or crochet. Yarn bombing is easier and way more fun with company. It’s also a great way to get rid of yarn scraps and practice different stitches.

2. Decide what to cover. It’s best to get permission before yarn bombing a large structure or property that doesn’t belong to you. Yarn bombing is technically illegal in some places, but rarely enforced, and if you’re caught, you’ll probably just be asked to remove it. If you want to play it safe, start with a tree in your own yard. Or talk to a local business owner and offer to brighten up a bike rack or bench in front of their shop.

3. Have fun and take pictures. Yarn bombing is temporary by design. If you decide to cover public property, it may be removed quickly so make sure you have a great time putting it up and of course, take photos or videos. Post your creations on social media, your blog, or send your pictures to us here at the Fort Collins Courier.

4. Be charitable. Some yarn bombing groups are deliberately placing hats and scarves where homeless populations might find them. One group is knitting sweaters for penguins affected by oil spills. There was also a call out recently for knitted nests for orphaned baby birds. Do some research and find out what your community needs.

Need inspiration?

Check out these books and websites for more info on yarn bombing: ● ● ● ●

Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti by Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain Craft Activism: People, Ideas, and Projects from the New Community of Handmade and How You Can Join In by Joan Tapper www.ladiesfancyworksociety.com www.knitta.com

fort collins courier

:

MAKE

fall 2014

25

2

3

4

5

11

7

8

9

10

12

13

14

15

16

1

6

tutorial :

How to Make a Mini Book

By Meryl DePasquale

T

his simple and versatile technique has been used by fine artists, zine authors, and children in crafts classes. The possibilities are endless; you could design an informational brochure, a love letter, a short comic. Be creative! (Numbers correspond to images above.)

7-8. Cut a slit down the lengthwise fold, only along the middle two sections. The easiest way to do this with a pair of scissors is to keep the paper folded along the center widthwise and cut through two sheets at once.

9-10. Open the paper up and fold it in half again lengthwise. Then push the ends together so the middle section looks like an “X” from above. In your left hand you’re now holding the front cover of the book.

11-12. Wrap the front and back covers loosely around the center pages. Take a moment to line up the corners and bring the edges of the pages together neatly, then reposition the spine fold and crease it well. The paper will give a little so you can get a better alignment.

Now for the fun part: designing the content!

1. All you really need to get started is a rectangular sheet of paper and a pair of scissors.

I’m using 8.5x11 sheets, since they work well in a photocopier, in case I’d like to make multiple copies of the book.

13. This basic grid shows the order of the pages and how they are oriented (top & bottom). The printable area on a 8.5x11 sheet is 8.2x10.6, so you’ll want to leave margins of 1/8” along the paper’s length, and 1/4” along the paper’s width.

2. Optional materials: If you are comfortable using a bone folder, you may prefer it, especially if the paper you’re working with is high quality. An x-acto blade and ruler could be used instead of scissors for a more precise cut, though scissors work well in most cases.

14-16. Some design tips:

Eventually you will want materials to make the text and/or images that will go in your book. Collage is a possibility, as are crayons and colored pencils. I’m going to stick with black-and-white, since it photocopies easiest. I like to use sharpies for heavy lines and fill-in, micron pens for fine lines, and either graphite or grayscale markers (like Copic markers) for shading and different values.

Well then, let’s make a book!

3. Fold the paper in half lengthwise. Then open it back up.

4. Fold the paper in half widthwise. This time keep it closed.

5-6. Take one open edge and fold it back to the previous fold. Flip the paper over and do the same with the remaining edge. When you are finished, you should have a “W” or accordion-like shape. Book artists call these peaks and valleys.

● Instead of centering your text and/or images on the page, use the Rule of Thirds. ● The text and/or image on the cover shows the reader which way to open the book. Don’t leave your reader in doubt about what is the front and back, top and bottom. ● Keep in mind that you could have text and/or an image that wraps around the front and back covers, or takes up a whole page spread (as shown). ● You could include a larger, hidden scene or text on the back of the paper; the reader would have to unfold the book to see this.

Once you’ve figured out what you want inside your book, you’re ready to make copies, if you wish. You’ll unfold and photocopy your original, then go through the folding and cutting steps with each new copy. Enjoy!

Meryl DePasquale is a poet, letterpress printer, and Wolverine Farm volunteer; more at www.meryldepasquale.com.

26

NATURE

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

Nature

Poudre Wilderness Volunteers: Using Education and Elbow Grease to Protect Larimer County’s Backcountry

Raptor Program Educates:

By Molly McCowan

Wildlife is Vital in a Changing World

P

oudre Wilderness Volunteers (PWV), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, was formed in 1996 by Chuck Bell, Art Bunn, and a founding board of directors. The founders saw a gap in the services that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) was able to provide, largely due to budget cuts and understaffing, and created a volunteer organization designed to complement and assist the USFS’s work.

PWV maintains more than 280 miles of trails and currently has 320 volunteers, who primarily live in Northern Colorado and range in age from 18 to 80. As a non-profit, PWV has no paid staff and is managed by an elected board of directors.

Recruiting for new volunteers happens throughout the year, with PWV collecting names and contact information. In January, PWV contacts everyone on the recruiting list and hosts two open house events. Volunteers are interviewed in mid-March, and the final selections are made. In May, new recruits must attend a three-day training program.

Volunteers commit to completing six trail patrols from May through September, in the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the Roosevelt National Forest. Volunteers wear a uniform shirt and name badge, showing their affiliation to PWV, and can patrol any of the 69 trails in the region on foot or on horseback. Volunteers pay their own travel costs and supply their own hiking and backpacking materials.

The primary goal of Poudre Wilderness Volunteers is to educate people recreating in the backcountry on ways to preserve and protect the natural areas they are enjoying.

Jerry Hanley has been volunteering with PWV for nine years, has served on the board for five years, and is now serving as the Chair of the board. “The most important work that we do is public education,” he said. “We try to educate the public relative to their role in the wilderness, and the role that their behavior has in the wilderness. We answer a lot of questions from people who have never been on the trails. We do monitor people’s safety, and we’ve been doing a lot of trail restoration lately because of the ‘biblical three’: floods, fire, and pestilence.”

PWV promotes the “Leave No Trace” principle also encouraged by the USFS. Volunteers on patrol keep records of trail conditions, report any trail-safety or signage problems to the USFS, pack out trash that they find on the trail and in campsites, report downed trees that are blocking a trail, remove or rehabilitate illegal or inappropriate fire rings, and carry out minor trail maintenance as needed.

PWV also does a lot of trail restoration, and sometimes directly purchases building materials for bridges and trail structures that the USFS is unable to provide. Anyone 18 or older can participate in a trail restoration event, keeping in mind that these activities often require moderate to high physical activity levels. Check the PWV website for upcoming trail restoration projects.

As a non-profit, PWV is entirely funded through grants, donors, and financial contributions from the public. With a very low operating budget, most of the funds raised are able to go straight into providing resources to protect the wilderness.

Volunteering for PWV is a great way to enjoy the local backcountry and work to preserve it at the same time. In Hanley’s words, “It’s a good opportunity to get out, get some exercise, see absolutely beautiful scenery, and help the Forest Service in preserving wilderness as it should be: wilderness.”

For more information, and to see upcoming dates for trail restoration events, visit www.poudrewildernessvolunteers.org.

BEFORE

By Claire Heywood

L

ast winter, the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program saw a dramatic increase in the number of rough-legged hawks admitted in critical condition after collisions with cars and power lines during migration from the Arctic. According to the program’s director, Judy Scherpelz, these birds come from ever-shrinking open spaces, where the reaches of development have not yet affected wildlife. Scherpelz is the executive director of the non-profit organization, which has rescued and rehabilitated birds of prey since 1979.

In addition to winter increases, Scherpelz emphasizes that the program has seen a significant increase in cases over the last 20 years. The program’s main concerns are West Nile virus, trauma, and habitat loss related to widespread growth and development.

West Nile virus swept through the program’s service area in 2003, devastating bird populations. The program has been deeply involved with West Nile virus research, and their work is nationally recognized.

In Eastern Colorado, oil development has created toxic sludge pits that birds mistakenly see as water or solid ground. When birds drop through the crust into the sludge, veterinarians must treat them similarly to wildlife rescues from oil spills. RMRP has worked to educate oil companies in the area about the impact of these pits on wildlife, and as a result certain companies have stopped using them. Scherpelz is currently more concerned about birds colliding with vehicles in the transportation corridors of energy development areas.

Trauma is perhaps the most serious threat to local birds of prey, and the staff at RMRP treats many birds experiencing high-voltage trauma. Birds also suffer trauma from collisions with vehicles, power lines, barbed wire, and windows. Domestic dogs and cats often catch birds of prey, injuring them seriously. Human development has resulted in widespread habitat loss, the most significant threat to wildlife.

Scherpelz explains that these threats are not only unanimously related to human activities, but are contributing to a steady increase in trauma for birds of prey. However, she emphasizes that humans are key to rehabilitating and preserving wildlife: in any given year, 70 to 80 percent of the program’s funding comes from individual donations. Volunteers, who receive a profound depth of education on rehabilitation and care, contribute a total of 40,000 hours per year. The program works with participants as young as 12 in parent-child teams.

With proximity to Old Town, Scherpelz predicts the center’s 27 acres will soon be surrounded by housing and shopping developments. The program’s directors plan to relocate, as birds need a large, peaceful area to rehabilitate after trauma. They are actively pursuing the option of moving to a calmer area nearby where the program can continue to thrive.

Scherpelz explains that the program is “strong as ever, viable and always moving forward. But that’s because the community values us. I could talk about what amazing work we do, but it wouldn’t happen without our supporters.”

The program treats approximately 300 raptors per year with the goal of reintroduction into the wild. RMRP collectively educates hundreds of thousands of people each year about the vital importance of wildlife in our world.

AFTER

To donate, volunteer or inquire about educational programs, visit www.rmrp.org.

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

NATURE

27

28

FOOD & DRINK

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

Food & Drink

4

way s to e at apples

Fall is on the way, and it’s time to go apple-picking. Here are some of our favorite ways to eat apples fresh off the tree (other than biting into one!).

Mulled apple cider Ingredients

puree it (immersion blenders are great for this). Then continue cooking until it’s the thickness that you want. If it’s not cooking down enough, vent the lid a little. If it gets too thick, add some water or apple juice.

7. When it’s the consistency you want, can it using a waterbath method, or refrigerate and use promptly.

● 1 (64 fluid ounce) bottle apple cider ● 3 cinnamon sticks ● 1 tsp whole allspice ● 1 tsp whole cloves ● 1 cup brown sugar

Sweet Apple Chips Instructions 1. In a crockpot, combine apple cider and cinnamon sticks.

Ingredients 2. Wrap allspice and cloves in a small piece of cheesecloth and add to pot. ● 2 small apples 3. Stir in brown sugar. ● 1 cup sugar 4. Bring to a boil over high heat. ● 1 cup water 5. Reduce heat and serve.

Instructions Homemade Applesauce 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly (fills a 16 oz. jar) grease a wire rack with cooking spray Ingredients and place in a ● 4 cups chopped apples, peels on 15x10-inch pan. ● 1 cup water 2. Bring sugar and water to boil in a medium saucepan, stirring ● ½ tsp ground cinnamon frequently. ● honey or sugar to taste (optional) 3. Using a mandoline (be careful!), slice apples into 1/16-inch thick slices.

Instructions 4. Quickly, before they start to brown, place apples into boiling 1. Toss the chopped apples, water, and cinnamon in a pot. sugar mixture. Turn heat down to a simmer. Cook apples, stirring 2. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook with a lid on, stiroften, until they’re translucent and the syrup starts to thicken, ring occasionally, until the apples have broken completely apart (about about 10 to 12 minutes.

20–30 minutes).

5. Remove from heat and quickly remove the apples from the syrup 3. Sweeten it a little with honey or sugar, or leave it deliciously tart if you one at a time using tongs. Place the apples flat on a wire rack set prefer. on top of a cookie sheet.

4. Let cool and refrigerate.

6. Bake apples 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden. Transfer to lightly greased wax paper. They will feel soft at this point but will crisp up as they cool.

Cinnamon Apple Butter (makes 3 to 5 pints) Ingredients ● ● ● ● ●

25 to 30 apples 2 to 4 tsp cinnamon ¼ to ½ tsp allspice ½ to 1 tsp ground cloves 2 to 4 cups sugar

Café Ardour

Instructions 1. Core and slice apples, putting the slices into a crockpot until it’s full.

(Save the leftover apples for later.)

2. Add 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp cloves, and 2 cups of sugar. Mix well and put the crockpot on low for 10 hours.

3. After 10 hours, core and slice more apples to fill the crockpot. Dump the new apple slices into what’s already cooked down. Mix well. Cook another 10 hours on low.

4. Add more apples, mix, and set the crockpot for another 10 hours.

5. Taste-test your apple butter and add more cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and sugar to taste.

6. After the mixture has slow-cooked for 30–40 hours, use a blender to

organic coffees , light fare , and handmade baked goods

225

linden street

:

fort collins, co

: 970-493-9683

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

Food & Drink

29

30

Visionary

fort collins courier

:

fall 2014

Visionary Out of the Ashes Home Destroyed in High Park Fire Being Rebuilt Using Hemp Materials

By Molly McCowan

J

ohn Patterson and Josh Rabe, co-owners of Colorado Industrial Hemp Supply, LLC, are taking action to spread the good word about hemp.

Patterson has been a carpenter for 30 years, and has been researching sustainable living methods since the 1970s. In 2012, he took a class on building with hemp taught by Ireland’s Steve Allin, one of the world’s leading experts on hemp construction.

Rabe holds a degree in social work, and has a diverse background that has shaped him into a gifted educator and community builder.

Both Patterson and Rabe believe that hemp is a way forward: an incredibly useful plant with a multitude of uses. Their main goal is to educate the public on the many uses of hemp—especially industrial hemp.

“We’re currently doing a lot of education and advocacy and teaching people how to build with his material,” Rabe said. “We feel that we really want to share this and get it into a lot of people’s hands so they can start building with it as well.”

The owner of the house being rebuilt, Larry Lewis, was friends with Rabe before the High Park fire destroyed Lewis’s original home. Patterson and Rabe were both there with him in the aftermath of the fire.

“We started coming up here with [Lewis] after the fire, picking around through all the soot and really feeling the pain for all of our friends and family and neighbors that had lost their homes up here,” Patterson said.

“We went through that healing process with them.”

As Patterson and Rabe were launching Colorado Industrial Hemp Supply in late 2012, they shared ideas with Lewis. This idea exchange eventually turned into a full-fledged project: rebuilding Lewis’s home using industrial hemp.

Hemp Concrete: An Alternative Building Material that Packs a Punch The hemp product used in the rebuild is “hempcrete”: industrial hemp (the inner, woody core of the hemp plant, chopped into small pieces) mixed with a lime-based

binder to create a concrete-like material. Hempcrete has been used in structures around the world for many years: the U.S. is just now catching on to its benefits as a building material.

“This particular system of hempcrete building has been done in Europe for several years,” Patterson said. “They’ve built hundreds of hempcrete homes over there.”

Hempcrete is sustainable, fire resistant, energy efficient, extremely durable, breathable, mold and mildew resistant, lightweight, insect resistant, and non-toxic. Because it’s breathable, hempcrete acts as a natural moisture regulator, meaning that homes built with it don’t need as many fans and ventilation ducts to control moisture that other materials trap inside. Hempcrete can also regulate temperatures better than normal building materials, making homes cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

The rebuild of Lewis’s home will use hempcrete to create a thermal wall system. This means that hempcrete replaces the drywall, insulation, exterior boarding, and siding often used in traditional wall construction. The walls are then given a final coating of plaster on the interior and stucco on the exterior. Hempcrete can also be used in floors and ceilings, making a home that is really a sort of “hemp cocoon,” in Patterson’s words.

“We’re hoping that, this being the first [hempcrete house] that we know of in Colorado, we’ll be setting precedents for other municipalities to look at what we’re doing,” Rabe said. “One of the ideas behind us being involved in every step of this project is that we’ll be able to give others a template or a guide to go from that was successful.”

Interested in building a home using industrial hemp? Visit www.hempseedrevival.com or search for “Hemp Seed Revival” on Facebook to contact Patterson and Rabe and learn more about Colorado Industrial Hemp Supply.

Want to learn more about growing industrial hemp in Colorado?

Visit www.colorado.gov/ag and click on “plants” in the top menu.

Forging a New Path: Growing Industrial Hemp in the U.S. Because hemp is a variety of cannabis, and because it contains a very small amount of THC (0.3 percent or less; not near enough to produce a high), hemp has long been a controlled substance in the U.S., making cultivating it illegal under federal law. With the 2014 Farm Bill, however, the U.S. took a big step toward allowing industrial hemp production. In the bill, 15 states defined industrial hemp as distinct from marijuana and removed barriers to its production (these states are: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia). Importing viable hemp seed across U.S. borders remains illegal, however, posing a major logistical challenge to many farmers hoping to cultivate industrial hemp. Many U.S. growers are managing to tackle this hurdle, and more than 100 Colorado farmers registered to grow industrial hemp for the 2014 season.

Meryl DePasquale

Blair Wittig

Sheri Talkington

Carol Johnson

Kaleigh Murphy

Anna Koivu

Shawn Hebrank

YEARS

Beth Kopp

collage postcards

Postcards made at Wolverine Farm Bookstore’s Letter Writing Club.

Join us the last Sunday of every month at 3pm in the loft.

144 N. College inside The Bean Cycle Coffeehouse More info: 970.472.4284