Lately on the Farm....

We reached our goal! Thanks to generous donations from our supporters during the global giving campaign our New Americans will have warm clothes to farm in this winter and our greenhouse will be flush with new crops. The farm at Stapleton is alive with activity and visitors, and the spinach is looking mighty. You are welcome to come visit the farm and see how your donations are working, taste some fresh greens, or pet the goats. Contact a Feed Denver staff member to arrange a visit!

Farm Markets at 42nd and Steele!

The farm at 42nd and Steele is blooming! Our community stewards are busy pulling weeds, watering through the heat of the season, and harvesting all the vegetables that are ripe and ready. The parking lot, which was once hot and desolate is now crowded with greenery and a buzz of people.

This Thursday night the 19th we will hold our first farm market there from 6-8, with produce fresh from our gardens made available (Snap benefits accepted!). Our community stewards are also heading up a hot dinner by donation, with hot dogs and homemade sides benefiting the project. There is going to be entertainment and socializing, food and fun, and of course fresh produce. Come make the farm sparkle with your presence and enjoy the evening! This will be the first of five consecutive farm markets held there Thursday nights from the 19th of August through the 16th of September. The markets are a step towards the sustainability of our 42nd and Steele farm, and providing fresh affordable foods to the people in the neighborhood. Hope to see you there!

76 Trombones Led the Big Parade!

On Monday March 1, Feed Denver expanded their employee base. We received 76 baby chicks sent through the mail and they are growing quickly! The baby chicks keep us company in the office where their chirping is a constant reminder of their presence. Already their wings are beginning to show and develop and within 8-10 weeks they will move into their new digs, a spacious wooden chicken coop with three separate grazing areas. Kate Johnson, the chicken queen here at Feed Denver, says they are healthy and most of them will make it out to the chicken coop. She is especially excited for the Cuckoo Marans, a French breed, who lay dark brown eggs. "In about ten weeks they will have all there adult feathers and can move out into the chicken coop, late April or mid-May, depending on the weather. Right now we are feeding them pellets, but eventually we want to move them onto vegetable scraps and a mixture of seeds for scratch." Johnson has been studying the local prairie ecology and in the bigger picture she would like to see them also subsist on seeds and other foraged food from the land surrounding their chicken coop.

Chickens can be a valuable source of food for families and individuals in the city. 7 chickens can produce up to 35 eggs a week, which can then be eaten as omelets, turned into homemade pasta, or used for baking. In these difficult economic times, chickens can provide a source of delicious food and entertaining pets! They are easy to maintain, as long as you have a little bit of backyard space and a bit of time for feeding and collecting. Currently it is legal in the city of Denver to own chickens, although a permit must be obtained and the law as it stands now does not allow owners to sell the eggs for profit. It is also a good idea to talk to your neighbors ahead of time and make sure they know you will share! Johnson says that as time are getting more and more difficult this is an easy and cheap way to provide food for your family! Contact Feed Denver for chicken raising educational opportunities or with any questions.

Today is the first day of the food revolution of your life.

Have you ever been at a place in your life - or at some time - when everything stood still and you realized in that instant that your world was about to change forever? When you realized that the group of people whom you called "strangers" yesterday would be your Community tomorrow and forever?

I was at that place today. And that WILL BE my community tomorrow.

Today we welcomed (well, I curtseyed) Will Allen and his Growing Power team to our beginnings at Feed Denver! Will and his team arrived for a day of prep work and educational outreach before the kick off of the (sold out) hands-on workshop, "From the Ground Up", starting tomorrow and running through the weekend at our place of residence at The Urban Farm at Stapleton.

Today Colleen Brown and Jordan Stone, the sparkling duo from Growing Power, were busy cutting lengths of lumber for the construction of our demonstration aquaculture and aquaponics greenhouse systems, hoop house construction, worm depository and more. We Feed Denver-ers, an enthusiastic crew of volunteers who've been working for weeks and months on the project, were busy assisting Will and his team, setting up for the workshop, making runs for food and supplies, placing last-minute phone calls and emails and truly BONDING with each other like we'd all discovered the secret to life and happiness: working together to feed Denver and to make a difference. Lisa Rogers, Feed Denver's Founder and Executive Director, made herself available to everyone. Her mantra today - "I just say okay!" - was the best directive I've ever received and sealed my conviction that this was The Day That Life Changed Forever.

Later in the morning, when Will had graciously turned the phone over to me and allowed me to hook up with Ming, his social media guru at Growing Power, I had the pleasure of a few moments with him to ask about his thoughts for the day:

"It's great to be here at Feed Denver's new urban farm. We look forward to assisting you in the development of this farm and its infrastructure. We look forward to educating and training the folks in the Denver metro and regional area - and the surrounding states - who are taking part in this workshop. We hope that our outreach will foster the growth of small-scale enterprises that will ultimately provide food to this area. We want to engage and encourage the community to bring in more local food and to become part of the larger food system and, mostly, to help grow The Good Food Revolution."

A revelation: it's a revolution. A Food Revolution... has begun.


Jan Dillon is creator of City Farmer(tm) and Social Media Consultant to Feed Denver