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We found an urban oasis in an industrial warehouse in Denver this past weekend. Greeted by pre-fabricated city backyard-ready chicken coops, I knew I was in the right place. Denver Urban Homesteading is a new venture designed to promote alternatives to industrial food production and delivery through education and a year-round market for local food growers and producers.
Co-founder James Bertini is a leading voice for change in the chicken-permitting process. Yes. There is a chicken-permitting process in Denver. Backyard chickens are legal, but compared to other cities, Denver’s process is excessively bureaucratic and expensive, leading to a burgeoning ‘underground chicken’ movement. James would like it to be simplified. Do you live in Denver and have an opinion about backyard chickens? City council member Jeanne Robb wants to know what you think. Take the survey here.
Here’s a coop that re-uses old street signs. That’s a little roof that opens up for access to the nesting boxes.
Saturday’s from 9:00 to 2:00 at 200 Santa Fe Drive, a handful of vendors from around Colorado gather for a farmers’ market. Here’s a sampling of what they had to offer.
Lot’s of interesting onions, good storage veggies, from Berry Patch Farms. I’m still investigating, but I think this may be the closest organic fruit and veggie farm to my house.
Candy onions. I wonder if they’re as sweet as Walla Walla’s or Willamette Sweets.
UFO-shaped onions. I brought some Cipollini’s home.
These onions are from Kiowa Valley Organics.
This one ounce package contains 56 grape tomatoes!
They also sell organic grass-fed beef. David, from Kiowa Valley Organics has been working hard to develop a market for their beef, but has run into road blocks. Denver is a cowtown. But is it an organic grass-fed beef town? It will be if we want it to be. I’ve been hearing more and more about distribution challenges for small family farmers. This is a topic I’d like to learn more about.
There were several vendors selling cheese: cow and goat. These cheeses are from Twin Mountain Milkhouse in Del Norte, CO. They offer ‘cow shares’ for raw milk and are willing to start distributing milk at the Denver Urban Homesteading site if there is enough interest. They may occasionally run into weather issues preventing them from coming to market, and ask that cow share members keep this in mind in winter. Read about cow shares for raw milk here, and email them if you are Denverite interested in a cow share!
Have a great week!
Want more veggies? Check out last week’s veggie story: Butternut Squash and Risotto Revelation. New veggie stories every Thursday.
Did you see last week’s market photos? Click here for Monday Dose of Market: Toothache Plant and Tomato Reprieve. New photos every Monday.
New to The Weekly Veggie? Read how it all began with My Childhood Vegetable Nemesis
