25feb25016 -- Food Hub, FRESH, Local Food Shift, Dirty Tricks, State Patrol, Josefina Mendéz, Lark & Sparrow, Cottonwood, and a poem “Leaving For Texas”

Local Food: Hub of the Revolution?

Josefina Mendez at the Lark & Sparrow

FRESH … While you have to love the acronym, this new Norwood group’s actual moniker is a little clunky: Food Resources Encompassing a Social Hub. But the group itself is anything but. The locavore food movement’s trendy and FRESH is off to a great start with last weekend’s free Health Day event at the Livery … I missed out on the free back massages, but Catherine Peterson’s salad was delicious. Jen Nelson & Mel Eggars’ Apple Core Project table I found fascinating, and Telluride Mushroom Company’s Scott Koch did a comprehensive presentation on the fungal world – pictures of his Idarado myco-remediation site off Black Bear Road being the most phenomenal ... I also missed Regan Tuttle’s yoga & essential oil workshops, astrology with Cynthia Zehm, and an evening of music with local musicians. Which is to say there were a lot of very fun things happening in Norwood Saturday. I met new people. Exchanged contacts. But I made it back to Cloud Acre in time to walk Simba and admire the rising moon … FRESH’s Food Hub is a buying club and local food store now under development, open to both the public & members, offering the best possible prices on wholesome, healthy foods. It will operate synergistically as a for-profit retail space and a non-profit buying club … Its website (http://freshfoodhub.net/content/about-fresh) links to an article in a Boulder-based publication at the forefront of Colorado’s local food revolution, Local Food Shift magazine (www.localfoodshift.pub). Darien Cabral’s article there is entitled, “Shift Happens: the Role of Food Hubs in Local Food.” As he notes, “The local food movement is taking off nationwide, and Colorado is no exception.” The founding of a Food Hub in Norwood – the county’s traditional agricultural center – seems to be right in line with a significant movement looking to decentralize food the way some have called for us to decentralize our power … “As the local food shift continues to happen,” adds Cabral, “food hubs will play a major role.” Food hubs along with established farmer’s markets, CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), traditional farms and ranches, and developing farm economies for cannabis and hemp … This is an exciting time to be in agriculture, as the Fossil Fuel Era winds down and self-sufficiency-in-place and sustainability-in-the-face-of-change become central dictums of the 21^st Century.

SHENANIGANS … It’s political season locally. Over the past 30+ years in this county, I’ve seen phony letters to the editor. Economic threats to participants in caucuses and assemblies. Lawsuit saber rattling. Lots of hanky panky … This year is no different. Someone is circulating an email purportedly from “San Miguel County Young Democrats” and signed mysteriously “R.W.” The email endorses Brian Ahern for county commissioner, attacks me and Elaine Fischer and our “high dollar supporters,” and claims there has been all kinds of political harassment against Mr. Ahern from local law enforcement folks resulting in his arrests … During elections it’s sometimes hard to distinguish lies from fact. So be discerning. Those claiming to be shining knights in ethical armor might just be the opposite of what they claim.

LARK & SPARROW … I love this new Montrose jazz club with great music, reasonable prices, café seating, mixed drinks, polished hardwood floors and a stained glass dome in its main performance hall that is visually stunning … Recently I got to catch Aspen-based jazz vocalist and Argentine porteña Josefina Méndez. Her big voice with its syncopated wizardry was backed up by the red-hot saxophone of Mark Johnson, understated piano whiz Tim Fox, and a couple local stand-ins. Méndez belted out some real showstoppers, all the more amazing since she was 8 months pregnant. Check out josefinamendez.com and her new album, Todo Llega  … And go check out the schedule at the Lark&Sparrow. Lots of sassy stuff brewing. Highly recommended.

SPEEDING ETIQUETTE … Now I admit to male privilege. But I have to say, the majority of State Patrol Leos (law enforcement officers) in this state that I’ve run across (so to speak) have been pretty nice people. Polite. Professional. Even the ones that gave me tickets … But a recent story told me by one of my readers left me flabbergasted. This local woman said a cop stopped her for speeding, held her up for 15 minutes and gave her a ticket, while her daughter in the backseat was dilated and waiting to go to the hospital to give birth … Pretty heartless, officer, if you ask me.

BIG TREE … Boulder County made the news a while back with a cottonwood growing along an irrigation ditch that held the distinction of being the largest known of its species for the past 45 years, beginning in 1967. It measured 112 ft. tall and was 36 ft. around (13 people joining hands to surround it) … This specimen stopped growing in 2011, ending its life at 120 years old. However, it’s still standing, just not growing. A county forestry team harvested a dead branch in 2012 and Longmont Museum held a show this past spring of all the amazing art objects created by local artists from one branch of this Grandma Populus.

WEEKLY QUOTA … "The poet can´t change anything, but the poet can demonstrate the power of the solitary conscience." -Stanley Kunitz (1906-2006)

THE TALKING GOURD

Leaving for Texas

-for A.G.

“Jim was a very good teacher

& Mike very supportive

It makes a difference

to have good bosses”

And McRedeye sez, good

employees & bosses are

the rock solid soil on which

 grows good local government