Ploughboy – Made in Colorado

by Central Staff When Dave and Kerry Nelson discovered Salida while traveling around the country in 2008, they knew they’d found their new home. Soon after, they purchased a commercial building downtown. They just had to decide what to do with it. A graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Dave’s first inclination was …

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Doggone Tasty

by Ericka Kastner Cultural anthropologist-turned-baker for dogs, Salida’s Sydney Schalit is baking up a storm. Her business, The Colorado Barkery, cranks out an average of 700 handmade, meat-free “Colorado Proud” dog treats each week. With the help of Mountain Mama Milling in Monte Vista, supplier of the coarse-ground wheat, 70 percent of the ingredients are …

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Persistance – Food Production in the Gunnison Valley

By Polly Oberosler Up until the 1950s, water running through small ranches in the Gunnison Valley and other rural areas in western Colorado were destinations for fisherman from the Front Range. Nearly every ranch had a cabin or two where the fisherman came to set up “housekeeping” for a few days, and the ranchers had …

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Food Ink

By Hal Walter

My interest in locally grown foods began about 14 years ago. I had long held the belief that the highest-quality foods were essential to optimal health, fitness and brain function, and that eating well also was part of living life to its fullest.
I was at the annual Pueblo Chile Festival when I spied a small table. There were two farmers there and they didn’t really have much for sale, but I think I bought some onions and something else, and they told me some of their story. They were from an outfit called Tres Rios Co-op, and their names were Dan Hobbs and Doug Wiley. I think it was Dan who handed me a business card.
Being the curious sort, months later I decided to pay Dan a call. I ended up at Hobbs Family Farm near Avondale out east of Pueblo, where I bought a boxful of vegetables. Lo and behold Doug showed up there, too. I mentioned that I was also looking for some hay and Doug said he had some for sale. So we drove over to his Larga Vista Ranch where I bought a pickup load of alfalfa and some pork chops.

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Locally Grown Foods – (or, Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is)

by Bill Hatcher

I mean, how hard could it be? You take some seeds, you put them in the ground, add a little water, make sure they get plenty of sun, and voila! Instant veggies for garnishing every meal! Maybe give a few to friends. Maybe even sell some at the local farmer’s market.
That was back in March. And now, well, I guess my little experiment in gardening now looks more like an attempt made by early hunter-gatherers. But thank God there are several intrepid local farmers willing to provide the rest of us poor Neanderthals with some of their sunshine-fresh bounty.

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