Volunteer recognition

Produce Denver would like to thank Andy Dyrsten for all of his hard work volunteering with us!

eggplant is a pretty, fragile plant

Thought it was about time for a bit of an update:

First, we have been harvesting a lot of food and only plan on more as tomatoes, peppers, gourds, and onions start to come around. Actually, we were able to donate 10 pounds of food to Same Cafe last week and plan on donating more to DUG for their youth farmers market programs. Yay! Starting the weekend of the 25th we are going to have 3 more weekly food shares available. We are charging according to household income as follows:

less than $20,000 (per year): $60
$20,000-40,000: $70
$40,000-75,000: $80
$75,000-125,000: $90
$125,000 and above: $100

We harvest on Saturdays, expect the monthly fee upfront, will most likely be able to drop it off, and includes all sorts of goodies. Please let us know if you or anyone you know are interested.

We have also been in touch with a farm in Kersey Colorado about distributing all natural holstein beef to those that are interested. It is a bit leaner than regular beef but really great for you and a sustainable use of resources being that the meat is usually used for dog food. It is not fatty enough for us Americans! Ha! Trust me, it is good. What a paradoxical food system we live in. Let us know if you are interested and we'll send you details.

Thanks to Adam Sikorski, we are going to have Produce Denver t-shirts available in the next couple of weeks including a couple child sizes, S, M, L, XL. They are a simple sand color with a green imprint of our logo on the front. 10 buck a pop to pay help pay for those we give away to volunteers. Thanks to John for the logo.

Check out Satchel's Market in Park Hill and Beet Box at south pearl street or highlands farmers market for some great food that may just have some of our produce wrapped up in the sweet goodness.

We have updated some pictures and our blog a bit on our website if you have the time to check it out.

Lastly, we are looking for more edible landscape projects to keep things moving along for us. The fall is a great time to move on getting ready for a bountiful spring. Our labor is also based on household income. Please spread the word for us!

Thanks so much for everyone's support!

Produce Denver Team
james.hale@producedenver.com

More Pics

Update

Things have been very busy with Produce Denver! The harvest has been great so far and has included lettuce, kale, chard, collards, chives, oregano, basil, sage, roses, carrots, peas, beets, radishes, turnips, potatoes, broccoli, and zucchini. We have actually had a lot of excess which has been sold to Beet Box (serves great vegan food at Highlands and South Pearl Farmers Markets) and Satchels Market in Park Hill. Additionally, we donated 10 pounds of chard, kale, and radishes to SAME Cafe last week.

We set up a new beehive last week with a swarm from one of our friend's hives. They seem to be doing well so far. Looking forward to some honey!

Nick and Meg went to the DBG Rooftop Garden Symposium in June. They learned a lot and have already begun to use some of the methods at the rooftop garden at 1515 restaurant. Thanks to DBG for hosting the event.

We are currently planning for our fall planting, preparing for weddings and harvest events, doing tax/business nonsense, looking for BIG pieces of land, collaborating with some folks as the Denver Urban Farmers Collaborative, and taking on and looking for more edible landscaping projects. Please hit us up if you can help!

As usual, thanks so much to the volunteers and those that have been letting us give their plants new homes.

First Harvest

We had our first harvest yesterday including: radishes, lettuce, spinach, collards, broccoli, oregano, sage, and chives. It was a good time and felt great to see the fruits of our labor. Thanks to the volunteers who helped and our shareholders for making this possible!

Swarm of pictures

So many pictures to share. Here are a few more for now:

"Stonemason Jon" getting it done at Leah's edible landscaping project

Swarm of bees staging for a new home

Check out that pollen!

Work of art

BEES!

Jesse greets bees

Jesse dances with bees

Queen bee: "Jesse, get me out of here!"

Jesse queens the bees

Worker bee: "we heart you Jesse"

Snow gardens

Little by little, we are preparing our sites, starting seeds, and designing and installing edible landscapes. We also had a very nice season kickoff potluck complete with a variety of local foods. Everybody went all out and we can't wait to do it again. Great to see everyone who came!

Thanks to all of our volunteers for making this more possible with every wheelbarrow and shovel! Additionally, thanks to our truck "Regulator" for withstanding our abuse!

Busy Busy

Nick and I have been moving forward on many aspects of Produce Denver. We have been planting seeds, building cold frames, working on site designs, and putting together this year's farm plan. We also have a new addition to our team! Megan Caley will be helping us in a variety of ways and is currently working on landscape designs for some clients. She has a wealth of skills and we are very excited to have her working with us!

We are also seeking out someone interested in being our lawyer so please contact us if you know someone who may be interested.

James

Building capacity

The "eat here now" food panel was an overwhelming success last week with nearly 200 people cramming into a little room at the Mercury Cafe. It was great to see so many people interested in strengthening our local food system! Thanks to everyone on the panel and Transition Denver for organizing this event. We made some great connections and will be setting up a number of home visits once Nick returns from a much needed vacation.

We have also had a number of individuals and organizations come forward who are interested in working with us including beekeepers, a city council member, a fundraiser, a number of non-profits, and two interns. These connections will undoubtedly help us realize our vision and we are very thankful to those willing to collaborate on projects with us. We are in the process of assembling an advisory board to further anchor us in work being done around Denver.

Our website (www.producedenver.com) is finely up and it would be wonderful to get feedback from anyone who feels so inclined. A large number of people are already finding us so it seems to be serving its purpose thus far. Hopefully we can get some better pictures as things move along this year!

James


"Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do. " -Wendell Berry

"Eat here now" panel discussion

Thanks to Transition Denver and SPROUT, James will be sitting on the "eat here now" panel discussion at 7pm on January 13th at Mercury Cafe. For more information you can go to http://transitioncolorado.ning.com/events/eat-here-now-a-panel-on. Hope to see you there!

Exciting times!

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." ...Albert Einstein

Since starting down this new path in November, we have been overwhelmed by the possibilities of what Produce Denver's future may hold and are now at a point to get things started. It is very exciting. Over the past month, we have been busy meeting with individuals working to strengthening food systems and Denver, researching other organizations doing similar work across the country, building our website, meeting with potential funders, contacting initial clients, and writing on our business and farm plans. We will be ordering seeds in a couple of weeks and plan on building a hoophouse to start our seeds in early February. There are a number of ways to get involved listed on our website (www.producedenver.com). Please contact us if you or someone you know may be interested.

I want to thank those who have taken the time to share insights and experiences with Nick and I over the last few weeks. Starting a project such as this necessitates feedback and it has been wonderful to connect with you all. Also, we would like to thank John Pechacek for our logo and design advice. He has been outstanding to work with, and if you are interested in contacting him about your own design needs, you can check out his website at www.johnpechacek.com.

Best,

James