Fort Collins Courier, Winter 2016

“We bring you Fort Collins.”

Volume 2, Issue 3

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wolverine farm publishing

fort collins , colorado

Winter 2016

T E S E H R A T S V E E N H T O E NAM R E On Riding Your Bicycle in the Cold, or, The Winter Ralleye Series

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Article by Bill Hepp

MAKER PROFILE: Ryan Baldwin

Poudre Valley Community Farms

The Innovative Ethic of FOCO Cafe

Foraging the Front Range

pg. 14

pg. 18

pg. 20

pg. 22

We bring you Fort Collins, Colorado, a rustic little outpost on the edge of the Great Plains & the Rocky Mountains.

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WE BRING YOU FORT COLLINS The Fort Collins Courier

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 bicycling, 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 to over 35 locations throughout Fort Collins.

Fort Collins Courier Issue 2, Vol. 3, January 2016

publications manager

Evan Brengle cover photograph

Published by Wolverine Farm Publishing PO BOX 814 Fort Collins, Colorado 80522

Colin Piney contributors

Evan Brengle Claire Burnett Jessica Crouch Miranda Feldtman Bill Hepp Daniel Hesser Nathaniel Keen Delia LaJeunesse Aimee Moore Jimena Peck Colin Piney Rick Price David Roy Michelle Taylor April Wicker photographer

Dina Fike publisher/designer

Todd Simmons board of directors

Heather Manier Bryan Simpson Nate Turner Kathleen Willard 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.

corrections/updates In our previous issue, Volume 2, Issue 2, in the article entitled “Celebrating Immigrant Inventiveness,” we reported about the local food truck scene from the perspective of the Latino community, and specifically about Hector Lastra, owner of La Campechana. In reporting about how Mr. Lastra felt about his sense of inclusion in a particular food truck event that he was not part of, we inadvertantly left out the perspective of the local organization, the FoCo Food Truck Alliance. Through a series of emails to the Courier, the FoCo Food Truck Alliance expressed that their application process for events is open to all applicants who qualify, and that they never intentionally left anyone out.

Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily the opinions of Wolverine Farm Publishing, and are offered up freely to better discern the state of our local culture.

Donations accepted online or by mail to: Wolverine Farm Publishing PO BOX 814 Fort Collins, CO 80522 est.

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

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BICYCLE

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On Riding Your Bicycle in the Cold, or, The Winter Ralleye Series

ocal Colorado endurance legend Jason Shelman started the Winter Ralleye Series in 2003. Famous for finishing second in the Colorado Trail bike race on a dangerously cracked front fork, Jason led the punishing winter slogs for several years until he eventually moved to Salida, Colorado, to open the eponymous Subculture Cyclery. A native Kansan, Jason is soft-spoken and unassuming, the kind of mid-westerner who would give you his last beer. He is partial to bicycles without suspension. He eschews gears.

His retro-aesthetic is clear on the many hand-drawn Winter Ralleye posters that can be found hanging in places of honor in local bike shops, garages, and online. His quiet demeanor belies an otherworldly toughness on two wheels; his winter rides are not for sissies. One old poster famously lists the words: “push, pull, drag.” Be warned: the routes to Cherokee Park, Pennock Pass, the Wyoming border, or Deadman’s Hill just might require this level of effort to complete.

Riding a bicycle in cold weather is hard. The physical exertion is almost secondary to the challenge of keeping your body at a comfortable temperature. How do you dress so that you don’t overheat going uphill and then freeze on the way down? As you strategize the night before, packing sandwiches, washing your Thermos, checking the weather online, you can’t avoid a wave of dread. “This is stupid,” you think. “I’m going to get sweaty and cold. Can I ride in a down vest without overheating? Should I ride clipless pedals with shoe covers or will hiking boots with thick socks be warmer?

Should I wrap my feet with plastic bags and duct tape?”

At some point you just need to jump in. Hold your breath, plug your nose, shut your eyes and leap feet-first, right into the deep end. If you can dress to stay warm on a chairlift, it follows that you can stay warm on a bike, right? You’ll be fine. Who cares if you look like an astronaut preparing for a spacewalk…right?

Wrong. Your toes disappear into a vaguely painful sleep. Long descents pull tears from your eyes that freeze on your cheeks. What used to be your fingers become numb little logs. The sun sets early.

Your water bottles freeze. The bitterly cold wind is demoralizing. Your hair is wet with perspiration. You are forced to stop so you can warm your hands, and this is exquisitely painful. To increase circulation, you might wave your arms around like someone frantically signaling for help, and indeed

Wrong. Your toes disappear into a vaguely painful sleep. Long descents pull tears from your eyes that freeze on your cheeks.

What used to be your fingers become numb little logs.

Article by Bill Hepp

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© Rick Price © Adam Garry

© Colin Piney

you are, as what feels like thousands of needles are rammed through your fingers. You are tattooed by the cold.

But riding a bike through the cold can free you from the sedentary shackles of winter.

Your primal instincts tell you to stay inside near the fire. But by venturing out, traversing the contours of Northern Colorado by bike, you can get closer to a different kind of fire. There is transcendence and joy in completing a winter adventure that begins at your front door. Because, even though you are embarking on an external journey, you can be sure that you will take a sublime internal voyage as well. You will dig deep, as the saying goes, and become reacquainted with your own reserves of internal fortitude. It will sparkle in your eyes like micah in the Poudre. The frozen winter landscape becomes a mirror from which you can discern your own glow, remembering that you are alive, that you burn. The world is still—I am not. Everything is hard, static, frozen, cold. I am soft, fluid, warm. This realization can be a kind of salvation. Think: “I can go and go and go.” Think: “I am irrepressible.”

It is a perfect time for contemplation. Listen as your tires crunch ruminatively over gravel; hear the rustling of the wind through the dead grass. Squint in the low-angled sunlight, watch as clouds scud and crows wheel crazily in gusts of wind. Everything is perfect. Everything is just as it should be.

© Rick Price

Winter Ralleye rides happen every month from November to April. Check www.yourgroupride.com for more details.

© Rick Price

© Rick Price

© Colin Piney

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IT COMES IN A HANDY DRINKING DEVICE. There’s never not a good reason to drink a 90 Shilling.

Smoothly-complex and deliciously medium-bodied, it’s the always appropriate ale. Need another reason?

Go to ODELL 90REASONS.COM

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LITERATURE

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Literature

The Sculptor, by Scott McCloud Review by Nathaniel Keen, Materials Handler, Council Tree Branch Scott McCloud’s The Sculptor is a long overdue work of fiction from one of comic’s greatest thinkers. McCloud’s Understanding Comics and other works have long been required reading for graphic novel fans, yet until now he has never produced such a bold work. The results are as strong as could be hoped for, though its ambitions don’t always pay off.

The Sculptor follows a young artist named David Smith through his last 200 days alive. Smith, a down and out sculptor in Manhattan, is offered a deal by Death itself: He will have absolute mastery of his art, but he will die in 200 days. Smith’s ambition causes him to accept, but achieving artistic greatness isn’t simple, and things get more complicated when Smith meets a woman who gives him a reason to live.

The resulting story is a behemoth of a comic, almost 500 pages, and explodes beyond its original boundaries.

McCloud doesn’t miss a moment of life, packing in every deep question he can. Of course, such a broad scope can lead to uneven themes, and the book sometimes feels like it raises an issue only to drop it later.

Fans of McCloud’s academic works will be pleased to find this book amazingly crafted. The Sculptor is clearly a labor of artistic delight despite its serious tone, and the structure playfully blends drawing, writing, and sculpture in a way unique to comic art. Overall, The Sculptor is a deep and tender book, almost more beautiful for its flaws.

A Field Guide to Awkward Silences,

by Alexandra Petri Review by Aimee Moore, Shelver/Page at Clearview Library & Farr Regional Library Alexandra Petri has a lot to say. She has things to say about bulldogs, manic pixie dream girls, whistling competitions, and Star Wars. Actually, she has quite a lot of things to say about Star Wars. But most of what she has to say is about being awkward. Namely, that it can be a wonderful thing when you embrace it. Her memoir, A Field Guide to Awkward Silences, proves this. Petri throws herself unashamedly into unbelievably ridiculous situations; instead of being embarrassed, she has fun with it.

Her hilarious stories will make you feel better about yourself either because they are relatable, or because they make you feel normal in comparison. For all the awkward things you’ve done, you can at least know that you have never tried Star Wars speed-dating, or accidentally joined a cult, or run through the agility course at a dog show yourself. Or maybe you have. In which case, you have found a kindred spirit in Alexandra Petri, who has much more awkwardness to share with you. From losing at Jeopardy! to winning a punning competition, Petri proves that life is more interesting when you are unafraid of awkward moments and embrace who you are, even if who you are is a little weird. Or in Petri’s case, a lot weird.

All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr Review by Miranda Feldtman, Library Aid, Old Town Branch All the Light We Cannot See is a stunningly immersive work of fiction that takes place during World War II. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel follows Marie-Laure, a blind girl growing up in France, and Werner, a disadvantaged German orphan, as the two navigate war-torn adolescences worlds away. As violence breaks out across the globe, their storylines converge in the besieged city of Saint-Malo, where they find themselves drawn together by circumstance—and the machinations of a priceless jewel that may or may not be cursed.

Even if you aren't a fan of war stories or historical fiction, Doerr's novel is surprisingly accessible. Short chapters make the novel easy to put down and pick back up again, although the disjointed narrative might be jarring to some readers. While the prose is lush in its description, the detail given by the author often reads more like an inventory. If you enjoy browsing museum collection catalogues or shopping lists of radio parts, then this is the book for you; otherwise, be prepared to skim occasionally to get to what is, at its heart, an incredibly powerful story.

I would recommend this book to fans of The Book Thief, and readers of historical fiction who enjoy a bit of whimsy. While the story can be heavy at times, especially in Werner's narrative, it expresses itself like a fantasy, populated by rich characters and ravishing locales. You won't regret the time you spend in this world.

DONATE!

Seeking quality used book donations in the following categories: • Children’s picture books • Poetry • Nature • Classic fiction • Spirituality

Wolverine Farm Publishing Co. & Bookstore | www.wolverinefarm.org | 144 N. College Ave, Fort Collins CO | (970) 472-4284

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A few BOOKS WE READ AND LIKED IN 2015

Sam Wood, Assistant Bookstore Manager Slade House by David Mitchell Filling the Harry Potter sized hole found in all of us that grew up with the Hogwarts crew, Slade House presents a delightfully twisted take on the haunted house genre in which absolutely nothing is as it appears.

Aimee Moore, Wolverine Farm Volunteer

Jane Roberti, Wolverine Farm Volunteer Get In Trouble by Kelly Link Kelly Link is a literary fantasy writer that can match wits with her elders any day of the week (Atwood, Le Guin, Oates).

Amy Palmer, Wolverine Farm Volunteer

Carol Johnson, Wolverine Farm Volunteer

You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day. Internet darling Felicia Day’s witty memoir about anxiety, the internet, and believing in yourself enough to make crazy, wonderful things happen.

Hold Still by Sally Mann This memoir by photographer Sally Mann introduces the reader to her rural roots in Virginia, a landscape that has shaped her artistic work.

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik A fun and creative biography to let you know how awesome RBG is.

Beth Kopp, Letterpress & Publick House General Manager The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan A strange and beautiful novel about a floating circus in a postapocalyptic, ocean-covered world.

Michael Crouch, Wolverine Farm Supporter Laterne Rouge by Max Leonard Author Max Leonard reveals a side of the Tour de France not typically highlighted by media, the Lanterne Rouge, the final finishers.

PARTICIPATE!

Take part in our regular monthly events: • Poetry Slam - 1st Fridays, 8pm • Little Wolverine’s Story Hour, 1st and 3rd Saturdays, 10am • Open Mic Night, Last Fridays, 8pm • Letter Writing Club, Last Sundays, 3pm

Wolverine Farm Publishing Co. & Bookstore | www.wolverinefarm.org | 144 N. College Ave, Fort Collins CO | (970) 472-4284

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LITERATURE

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Local Author and Writing Coach: Teresa Funke Interview by Evan Brengle

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eing an author is a challenging job. Even the most successful authors at the beginning of their careers have to take time away from writing to ask: Is my book the best book it can be? Can I find a publisher? Will stores carry my book? How will I let people know my book exists and that they should read it? In a sense, no book is complete until it has reached a reader, and between a book being written and being read, an author has a long list of tasks to tackle.

Local author Teresa Funke has found viable ways to connect with readers and keep writing. She published her first book in 2002 (Remember Wake), and has published five more since. Teresa is also a professional writing coach, helping writers throughout the U.S. to write, publish, and promote their books. She graciously took the time to share some of her insights and experience with us. Throughout her responses, her strength as a coach is illustrated; her perspectives are realistic, practical, and perhaps most importantly, encouraging. Find out more at www.teresafunke.com.

Fort Collins Courier: How long have you been an author?

Teresa Funke: I started writing in the fifth grade and received encouragement for my writing all the way through high school. Everyone said I should be a writer when I grew up. Then, during my senior year, they changed their tunes and told me writing wasn’t a career; it was a hobby. I was so disappointed. I got a degree in history, thinking that if I ever did write, I’d write about history. Shortly after college, I quit my low-paying job to become a freelance writer, and I started working on my first novel. It was a long journey to learn how to write well, though.

Do you find Fort Collins readers to be particularly receptive (or not) to local authors?

When I first moved to Fort Collins back in 1992, I was amazed to find such a vibrant literary culture here. Few people realize how many established, award-winning, successful authors live right here in Fort Collins. I’ve always found this community to be very supportive of local writers, although attendance at all book signing events is way down in the past few years. That’s true across the country, though. I’ve had dozens of local book clubs choose my books, I’ve worked with the local book stores, I’ve spoken at ¾ of the schools in town, and I’ve done numerous events with all the local libraries and many of the civic groups. As writers, like any local businesspeople, we are especially grateful for the support of our community.

When and why did you decide to become a writing coach?

I started coaching officially in 2005. By that time, I’d gained a reputation in the area as a writer who knew a lot about writing, publishing, promotion, etc. I was getting inquiries every week from people who wanted to “pick my brain,” but I was never able to fully help them in a quick conversation. I realized the only way to efficiently and effectively help people was to start coaching. At the time, there were very few coaches in this region, so I was able to come up with a model that worked best for me and my clients.

Even today, I’m a very different type of coach in that I don’t rope people into packages or require a set number of meetings. I personalize my approach with each client. Some of my clients have been with me since the beginning, and we are now working on their third or fourth books! I love coaching. I get tremendous satisfaction every time one of my clients finishes a project or makes it into print or achieves a goal we have set. Seeing them move forward and become better writers brings me so much pleasure.

What challenges did you encounter early in your writing career and how did you address them?

My first challenge as a writer is one that never really goes away for career writers: how to make enough money to support our businesses. As a freelance writer, the work was great, but the pay was low. Commercial writing paid better, but my heart wasn’t in it.

Now, there are three revenue streams to my business: book sales, coaching, and speaking.

Without all three, the business could not succeed, but the additional work takes time away from the writing. It’s a double-edged sword.

In terms of writing, my biggest challenge was simply learning how to become a GOOD writer. I did what every serious writer should do; I read dozens of books on writing, subscribed to writing magazines, attended conferences and events, joined a writers’ group, went to classes, and, most importantly, I wrote some really bad stuff before I wrote some good stories. Before I fully tackled my novel, I sought my voice by writing short stories and personal essays and getting those published. Learning the craft of writing is a huge commitment, and it takes years to become a good writer, but it’s so worth it in the end.

Do you personally use, or suggest to others, any particular strategies for connecting your books with the right readers?

Every book, like every author, is different. You’ll sometimes hear people spout off absolutes, like, “you must do a book tour,” or “you must do radio,” but connecting with readers effectively means first being realistic about who your ideal reader really is and then understanding how he/she finds the books that he/she reads. You will always have your primary target market and then secondary markets, but your goal is to build a dedicated tribe within that primary market. We’d all love to think that “everyone” is our market, but that will never be the case. It’s best to find your tribe and have them help you spread the word.

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Can you share one common challenge your clients face and how you suggest they address it?

This is such a huge question. Nearly all of my clients struggle with finding time to write, for example. Some are working mothers with three kids; others are retired people with full schedules volunteering or caring for grandkids. Writing is not a paying job for them, so finding time to write often means getting up early or staying up late. I’ve definitely experienced this myself as I’ve run my business, written my books, and raised three kids. I work with my clients to help them come up with goals for their work that are achievable and then to structure their writing time to meet those goals.

Another common challenge they all face is dealing with rejection. If you’re going to put your work out there in the world, it’s going to get rejected from time to time, and that NEVER feels good. Even if you’ve been writing and publishing for twenty-four years, as I have, a rejection is never easy to swallow. Beginning writers are especially susceptible to rejection because they immediately begin to doubt their talent and ability. But the publishing game is just that, a game. You have to land on the right desk on the right day at the right time to get accepted. “Rejection is progress,” I always say. For every “no” you get, you are one step closer to a “yes,” but only if you don’t give up.

Renewable Energy Climate Adaptation Reforestation Clean Cookstoves Latin America • Haiti • Tribal Lands

www.treeswaterpeople.org

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WOLVERINE FARM

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featured happenings at

Wolverine Farm Letterpress & Publick House { february }

{ march }

{april}

Artist-of-the-Month: FC BIKES

Artist-of-the-Month: TBD

Artist-of-the-Month: Bicycle Art

Maker: coleman Morris-goodrich

Maker-of-the-Month: TBD

Maker: WIld WOODs WELLNESSS

EVERY MONDAY 7:00 - 9pm

thursday, mar. 10 6:30pm

EVERY 2nd SUnday 2-4pm

BICYCLE Night series

wild roots

literary support group

EARTH ART CIRCLE (pre-register)

SATurday, feb. 6th

EVERY 2nd SUnday 2-4pm

EVERY MONDAY 5:15 - 6:30PM Yoga flow (by donation)

(free & open to all writers)

saturday, april 16th 3-5pm

WEDNEsday, mar. 16th 6:30-8:30pm

The WHeel HIstory:

fort FOLLIES (free & Open to the Publick)

2-5pm: workshop: into to letterpress

GROWING PROJECT TAKEOVER live music fundraiser : by donation : 7pm sunday, feb. 14th 7-9pm

Community Valentine Dinner w/ New Belgium & Welsh Rabbit (5-course meaL; $40/person or $75/couple)

wednesday, feb. 16th 7-9pm PUB TALKS!: DAN BEACHY-QUICK saturday, feb. 27th 7:30-10pm

Community

Barn Dance

(Suggested $8)

literary support group

REKINDLE THE CLASSICS BOOK DISCUSSION To the lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

SATURday, MAR. 26th 7:30-10pm

COMMUNITY Barn Dance (Suggested $8)

EVERY MONDAY 5:15 - 6:30PM Yoga flow (by donation)

(free & open to all writers)

A bicycle tour & history lesson

TO INQUIRE ABOUT RENTING SPACE or hosting an event AT THE PUBLICK HOUSE, please call 970-682-2590.

A letterpress print shop and community event space in Fort Collins’ River District, Wolverine Farm Letterpress & Publick House is available for rent for community events, literary workshops and readings, films, music and other cultural offerings. We have local coffee, wine, beer, snacks, and local goods available for purchase. All proceeds go to Wolverine Farm Publishing, a local 501(c)3 literary/arts nonprofit.

Please visit www.wolverinefarm.org for more information or call 970-682-2590 with any questions.

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winter 2016

Wanting to evoke an old dance hall with our event space, we scored big time on Craigslist — the University of Boulder had recently re-done their ballroom, and some of the hardwood flooring was for sale on the cheap.

The original one-story building had a low-pitched roof supported by seventy-five 2x10s, each twelve feet long. It was a lot of lumber, most of it in good condition — what could we do with them once we peeled the roof off for the new second story? We immediately thought of farmhouse style tables, and so far we've built six out of the old rafters.

All the water that falls from the sky has to go somewhere, and with our penchant for concrete and asphalt in urban environments, the water doesn't get many chances to go into the ground anymore. Besides the expense of hooking into the city's stormwater infrastructure, we wanted to keep our water on-site, and let it percolate back into the ground. With the help of our design team and a Bobcat, we gave our site a haircut and sloped everything toward a rain garden on the west side of our property. We filled the low spot with a highly permeable soil mix, and planted grasses, dogwoods, and an Oak Tree.

A section of our courtyard was originally part of the 300 foot square parade grounds of the original Fort Collins (August 1864), with the flagpole centered near the intersection of Willow and Linden Streets. The Quartermaster's Storehouse stood near where our building now sits.

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Michelle M. Taylor • michmctaylor.com

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Make

Maker Profile: Ryan Baldwin Interview & Profile by Delia LaJeunesse

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yan Baldwin, a charming and passionate woodworker out in Laporte, took the Fort Collins Courier on a tour of his retail and work space. He’s got mounds of wood in various stages of drying, huge, gorgeous slabs that seem to be waiting for someone to walk in and fall in love with, lumber piled up in impressive stacks.

With American and Siberian Elm, Green Ash, Silver Maple, Black Walnut and a few random pieces like Apple and Sycamore, there’s an ample amount to choose from. Ryan, a former arborist, and two- full time employees (in need of another) utilize local, urban materials; about 90% of their wood comes from Fort Collins parks, backyards, city streets and construction sites.

Fort Collins Courier: What appeals to you about wood?

I like how rich wood is. I think it’s just a nice, very warm, classy look. Steel is popular right now, I don’t mind that but it’s not necessarily my flavor. I know guys that work with steel and they just have a different mindset, more of an engineer. Steel doesn’t move, they know exactly what they’re going to get, it’s precise. With wood, the project kind of is what it is. Sometimes a table ends up two inches shorter, it just depends on what we get. So the wood does a lot of the talking when it comes to furniture pieces for me. People come here because they are looking for interesting wood. They would rather see unique woodgrain than seeing it all stained up, so we do a lot of oil finishes or polyurethane. I do very little staining.

Can you tell me what the milling process is?

We take the logs on our sawmills and trim them down to usable boards or slabs depending on what we want to make out of the log. If we want to make lumber out of it we want a pretty straight, even grain. We get a lot of other pieces that are really knotty, that have a lot of branches and character. We’ll make a big full width table-top slab out of it. Inevitably we have a bit of stuff that goes into firewood. For the most part we use up everything we have. We do quite a bit with diseased wood.

We’re basically able to use 75% of that tree. Why bury a great Walnut log when you can use most of it, and take less material to the landfill. We process it quickly so we’re not spreading it and can turn the temperature in the kiln up to 160 degrees, to sanitize it.

What has been unexpected for you?

For me, it was just understanding how much wood moves around. It moves a lot, especially when you’re cutting it, working it. Every species is a little different, every cut is a little different. So learning the differences, their densities, how they like to be handled. I’ve been building furniture for ten years and even still every year I learn something new. I think the biggest learning curve Calling I went through was design and proportions; all Makers how to design it so it’s aesthetically appealing.

Proportions are big. If you don’t get it right it just looks clunky or small or thin or whatever it might be. My business now is really based Are you a maker or do you know someone who is? The on being here, because I sell a lot of lumber Fort Collins Courier is to other woodworkers. So I’ll have anywhere looking for makers to profile in upcoming issues. Everything from two to ten people come through in a day from bicycles to broomsticks, and buy wood or pick up projects. My busifurniture to fiber arts. For ness has really changed in a way that it’s hard more information please contact Beth at for me to be away from here doing built-in beth@wolverinefarm.org. work. So now we’re pretty much a shop that does custom furniture and woodworking, and supply lumber to other local woodworkers.

NOW OPEN TO THE PUBLICK. Monday - Thursday: 10am - 9pm • Fri & Sat: 10am - 10pm • Sun: 1pm - 7pm

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COMMUNITY

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Community

E autre F inis (1) - R emnants Photographs by David Roy

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S nippets

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AGRICULTURE

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Agriculture © Claire Burnett

Breaking New Ground: Poudre Valley Community Farms Article by Danny Hesser

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id you know that many local farmers lack access to adequate farmland due to escalating land prices? This is a real dilemma for local growers, who provide fresh vegetables, fruits, meat and dairy at farmers markets, through CSA shares and farm stands, and by working with our community’s restaurants and grocers to provide an abundance of fresh food. Many practice the latest techniques in sustainability that preserve and enhance soil fertility and water quality. However, a lack of affordable farmland for purchase and reliance on short-term leases that limit investments in land and water are increasing the cost of doing business in Northern Colorado and driving local producers out of our community.

A new approach, the first of its kind in Colorado, if not in the U.S., is to use a multistakeholder land cooperative to keep agricultural lands productive and protected from development. Poudre Valley Community Farms (PVCF), a land cooperative, is building a community of member-owners with vested interests in the health and productive capacity of local farmland, including enhanced soil fertility and biodiversity, that will allow for increased local food production over time and create a viable strategy to keep land in agriculture. The PVCF is working with the County to place a conservation easement on the parcel which will make the land significantly more affordable for agriculture. The PVCF will own the land, water and mineral rights, and be able to lease the land back to farmers in our community. The first tenants are Nic Koontz and Katie Slota of Native Hill Farm.

© Claire Burnett

© April Wicker

tile soil is foundational to our community, and the land-cooperative model is a viable vehicle for enabling the most efficient and sustainable farming enterprises to stay here, ensuring access to good food for our businesses and families. For complete details, visit www.farmland.coop. © April Wicker

Farm businesses have traditionally been built with intergenerational capital so a farm family’s retirement plan typically involves selling their land. A land cooperative, however, can enable retiring farmers to sell their land yet keep it in farming—breaking out of the “land-rich-cash-poor” cycle. With no need to purchase land, a new farmer’s operational funds can go to living wages for themselves and their staff. Nic Koontz adds, “The extra capital also translates to more efficient and longer-lasting equipment, more land devoted to cover crops, and more soil-enhancing practices.” Ecosystem services such as windbreaks to prevent soil erosion, conservation of plants which support pollinators, and other salient farming practices become more affordable. Farming on community-owned land allows the farmers to do what they do best without struggling with land debt.

The ideas of “slow money” and investing in infrastructure that returns wealth to the community in more tangible ways are playing vital roles in making the land cooperative possible, says Gailmarie Kimmel of PVCF. Mobilizing community funds translates into providing secure land tenure for young farmers, a successive transfer of land from farmer to farmer, and providing resources for local food production. “We’re reorganizing our relationship to land and water, and to money for a new economy,” says Kimmel.

“We’ve laid the foundation to serve as a model for other communities that are moving towards more sustainable food production.”

A member-ownership drive is underway now. As stakeholders in our local foodshed, this is a unique opportunity to preserve and promote farms where they can thrive. Fer-

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FOOD & DRINK

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winter 2016

Food & Drink

© April Wicker

Nutrition and community for all:

the innovative ethic of Foco Cafe Article by Claire Heywood

“W

e’re open from eleven until two, but if you came because you’re hungry don’t go away—we do have some food left!” On a rainy afternoon, Jeff Baumgardner holds the door of a downtown cafe open for two older ladies who hesitate, a bit confused. The typical restaurant doesn’t bend the rules so cheerily, urging customers to come in 30 minutes after closing time while the staff busses tables, rolls silverware, and scrubs dishes. In order to believe how this place is shifting the norms of the food scene in Fort Collins, you’ll have to step inside and stay awhile.

Kathleen Baumgardner works full-time in communications at CSU’s College of Engineering. She is also FoCo Cafe’s volunteer executive director, running Fort Collins’ first nonprofit restaurant in partnership with volunteer head chef Jeff Baumgardner. I ask Kathleen what her call to action for the community of Fort Collins might be; she smiles and says simply, “come have lunch with us.”

that need comes in many diverse forms. As word of the new donation-based restaurant circulated over the past year, many locals wondered aloud whether the cafe would become a hub for the homeless population of Fort Collins. The restaurant does welcome volunteers and customers without houses, and offers an important new service to those individuals—but it would be problematic to profile the population served by the cafe in such reductive terms.

The cafe is indeed a retreat for people without homes, as well as single parents, elderly people on a fixed income, those indebted by medical bills and loans, those who have been laid off, recent college graduates completing free internships, minimum wage workers, and the many who struggle to keep up with rising rent and food costs. In addition to addressing community food security needs, the cafe provides a welcoming social environment for those who may lack access to community.

Depending on your definition of need, quite a few locals are in need of the opportunities the FoCo Cafe provides. Those who already have access to nutritious food will benefit nonetheless from a quick and nourishing lunch option within walking distance to most downtown professionals.

Kathleen exudes the calm assurance that upon experiencing the community-driven model of operation at the cafe, people will understand its role and significant potential in the community. Here’s why:

Access to nutrition for all The model of the cafe is distinct from most restaurants: it gives significant responsibility to consumers in an industry which does not normally require consumers to understand the complex system that supports their dietary needs.

Alternatively, some consumers and establishments in Fort Collins have already begun to accept more accountability for their habits by shopping locally, reading labels and learning about the origins of their food. Perhaps we are ready for something different.

This new model of restaurant gives the community a chance to take more responsibility—and Jeff and Kathleen are clear that the cafe belongs to the community.

Cafe customers with expendable income can pay what they normally would for a similar meal, making a much-appreciated financial contribution. Those without excess income are encouraged to pay what they can or trade volunteerism for food.

Access to community for all © April Wicker

One of the cafe’s core values is that “everyone needs a hand-up at some point in their life.” Kathleen says the difference between a hand-out and a hand-up is critical: she theorizes that humans intrinsically desire to give and that it may be damaging for people in need to be told their only role is that of the receiver. The community of the cafe is centered on giving and receiving, whether by contributing financially or in time spent working in the restaurant.

For those with limited abilities to complete typical volunteer duties, which take place in a fast-paced social environment, Kathleen and Jeff have asked volunteers to consider alternative options. One volunteer feels more comfortable playing music, and another would prefer to quietly serve by picking up cigarette butts and watering the garden. The ethic of FoCo Cafe suggests everyone has something to contribute, including people who are periodically told that their way of being is unhelpful or irrelevant to mainstream society.

Kathleen anecdotally estimates that 40% of cafe visitors are in need on some level, and © Pete Lengo

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“Lately, I’ve been thinking that offering a hand-in would be even better terminology than a hand-up,” Kathleen says. “Because what we want to do here is give everyone a handin to our community. Everyone deserves access to the feeling of giving joy to others.”

Investing in local growers, artists and goods If you visit FoCo Cafe on any given day, a volunteer will offer you a heaping salad and a quick lesson on where your meal comes from. Quatrix Aquaponics, Sunspot Urban Farm, Hope Farm or The Shire CSA may have grown the greens. The apples and pecans come from the Fort Collins Food Co-Op.

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Significantly reduced waste One of the ethical foundations of FoCo Cafe is non-wastefulness. Nearly 100% of food waste is composted and fed to two flocks of chickens or utilized in John Anderson’s vermiculture operation. Napkins and coffee are composted, and Jeff teaches volunteers how to reduce water waste while washing dishes. He points out the lack of a grease-trap or hood; the cafe’s kitchen does not generate grease. The volunteer-driven staff is trained to reduce food waste with their food prep practices, down to chopping each apple and onion mindfully.

“We’re not in a rush; we have plenty of time,” Jeff tells new volunteers. “We want to do it right.”

Visitors can select one of four soups brimming with local vegetables, many from Harvest Farm or Garden Sweet, some with pasture-fed beef from Liberty Farm. The cafe sources cheese from Welsh Rabbit Cheese Shop, coffee from Silver Canyon Coffee in Boulder, and iced tea from Happy Lucky’s Teahouse and Treasures.

Focus on arts and education Plans for the cafe’s future include education programs and tons of creative opportunities for interested community members. A Girl Scout troop learned about Hugelkultur while planting garden beds in front of the restaurant, and a series of Spark Creativity art classes were recently hosted on the patio. This year two graduate students and four undergraduate students were accepted into FoCo Cafe’s social services internship program.

Now and again a local farmer will donate a heaping pile of rhubarb, to be used in apple-rhubarb crisp. While large quantity donations are appreciated—“If there’s good food out there, we’ll take it!”—Kathleen doesn’t intend to run the restaurant on food donations.

Only about 40 nonprofit cafes exist in the US, including Denver’s SAME Cafe, whose leadership helped inspire Jeff and Kathleen Baumgardner to open FoCo Cafe. Dozens of people have reached out to FoCo Cafe seeking advice on opening their own nonprofit restaurants. It seems a new © April Wicker kind of food access movement has begun—and the Baumgardners are determined to help that movement gain steam.

One of the intentions for the cafe is to circulate money locally while providing everyone in Fort Collins a means of obtaining nutritious food at least once per day, six days per week. The cafe has invested more than $50,000 in ingredients at the Fort Collins Food Co-Op since opening just over one year ago.

A glance around the cafe demonstrates that the founders value local makers and artists: the graphics outlining the unique payment system were made by local artist Karina Mullen-Branson of Conversketch, and galleries by local artists are featured in rotating displays.

This season, the Baumgardners purchased 2 CSA shares from Garden Sweet and 3 shares from Harvest Farm, whose therapeutic participants drop off vegetables and volunteer in the kitchen once per week. The cafe was also awarded grant funds to construct a large hoop house at Native Hill Farm, again investing in local economy and agriculture.

Impact 986 volunteers have contributed more than 6,146 service hours to serve over 23,433 meals since Thanksgiving 2014. In 2015, FoCo Cafe won the Municipal Hero Award f or Colorado and an E-Town achievement award. On Colorado Gives Day, members of Von Stomper and Wood Belly played music for FoCo Cafe fundraiser attendees at Odell Brewing Co. That day, the 501(c)3 nonprofit restaurant raised enough to cover 10½ months of cafe rent.

To volunteer, donate or write the founders with your suggestions on future offerings at FoCo Cafe, visit www.fococafe.org.

Bryan Whitaker

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VISIONARY

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winter 2016

Visionary

Foraging the Front Range Article by Danny Hesser Photographs by Jimena Peck

T

he need to push the boundaries on food craft has a new player, an emerging culture of foragers who are poised to educate us about the value of wild edible food. A collaborative dinner organized by Fish Restaurant, Equinox Brewery, and local food activist and permaculturist Nic Mouton was described by Chef Oskar Arevalo as the best meal he’s enjoyed this year. The pairing of foraged and farmed food with beer was a hit, and the first time such a fusion took place in Fort Collins.

Not that foraging is anything new. When Mouton began farming in LaPorte, he noticed thistle, amaranth, and lambsquarter where the soil was not amended. And he began to wonder why we labor so hard to transform land into weedless zones for growing food that requires so much care to grow—tomatoes, for one. What if the food was that which seemed to proliferate already? That led to experiments in growing polycultures, planting veggies and hardy perennials right into the weeds which had taken over the old farm prior to his arrival. Organically, the next thought was, why not just start eating the weeds? He sought a local foraging guru, buried himself in guidebooks to practice the art of identifying what grew nearby, and continued to graze, dining on milkweeds (declared noxious in our city), wild mushrooms, and bitter greens, also learning about their medicinal qualities.

Chef Arevalo tells a story of Mouton dropping by the restaurant with some cattail shoots. When asked how he might serve these up, Arevalo, intrigued, ushered Mouton to the kitchen. He sliced into the shoots and discovered a watermelon rind flavor, thinking this might be good pickled. Thus began a joint venture, with Mouton bringing in different foraged foods over the course of months. It would lead to cow parsnip and apricot chutney, wild gobo (burdock) and dashi soup, morel and oyster mushroom ag-

nolotti, and lemon balm puree. Wild plums would flavor both sorbet and amber ale. This collaboration between chef, forager, and craft brewer succeeded in alighting the imaginations and all senses of those present during two nights of dinner to the possibility of healthy, nutritious food growing in the wild. The lead collaborators told their story to a captive audience, creating a narrative that would linger on well after the enticing flavors.

On the trail, leading a small gang of the willing, Mouton stops about every 20 yards to point something out, and to taste. We find wild licorice, hawthorn, oregano, Shepard’s purse, and Oregon grape. The ecotone begins to take shape as something to be explored by taste, something nutritious, even medicinal. Are we walking in the same woods traipsed by early settlers, and Natives before them, discovering an old foodway anew? They say that in the wild, most activity occurs at the edge zone between habitats, in the estuary where the river meets the ocean, where the meadow turns to forest. There are indeed fallow farms, but there is also stream habitat ripe with elderberry, willow and aspen shoots, maple trees, burdock and watercress. There is a new interface between those who would spray pesticides, according to the City’s integrated pest management policies, and those who want our families, our animals, to thrive in these habitats free of chemicals. There are boundaries perhaps that need to be pushed. Mouton looks at home, finding ground cherries hidden away in a stand of licorice. There’s just enough for us to have a taste—deliciously tart and sweet at the same time, like a cross between gooseberry and tomatillo. “You gotta be crazy not to eat these things,” he states. Once discovered, by tasting and being nourished, foraging will push these discussions regarding how and where we farm, eat, and even recreate.

*The Fort Collins Courier encourages beginners interested in plant identification to seek workshops, classes and guided walks facilitated by the knowledgable folks of The Growing Project. Visit www.thegrowingproject.org for more information.

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Y A M E H T T R FO E B H T I W U YO