Ron and Lee planted three seed trays today–Galilee Spinach, Brightlight Swiss Chard, dwarf pak choi, Claremont lettuce, Winter Density lettuce, Golden celery and Shiraz beets. We also tended to the chores which always bubble up to grab your attention when gardening. This was a good day for high altitude gardening in the Rocky Mountains… if you have a dome greenhouse!

1:30pm – 3:30pm February 26 at WP Library
We’ll begin with an overview of how to select seeds and seed companies in order to maximize likelihood of success. You’ll learn which seeds to plant indoors and which to seed directly outdoors and when. Some varieties thrive when started indoors and others don’t. We’ll have a few varieties of locally adapted heirloom seeds available for purchase.

An excellent cook from Westcreek will share her secrets for maintaining a steady supply of kitchen herbs year-round. She grows certain herbs indoors all the time and others outside during our so called “growing season”. Everyone should have an herb garden, but few do. Kim’s presentation may well inspire you to start cooking with freshly grown herbs.

During the break, visit with Jim and Earlyn to learn about their heirloom seeds. Jon will show his range of growing boxes. Kris will be available to sign up new Harvest Center members.

We are very pleased that Lois will present “The Intersection of Nutrition and Garden Planning.” This is an rare opportunity to hear a nutritionist with excellent gardening skills explain how to plan a nutritionally-dense garden for our high altitude setting.

Organic veggie treats will be provided by Community Partnership Family Resource Center. Admission is free; donations are always appreciated.

We presented brief descriptions of our 2012 projects January 22, 1:30-3:30pm at the Woodland Park Library. Most of the ideas presented will form the basis of our future workshops. You will likely be impressed by the creative energy of our Harvest Center members.  A narrated slideshow summary of the event is available.

Teller County Garden Geeks – Learn about the Glauth Foundation and their collaboration with The Harvest Center to develop affordable sensors for soil moisture, pH, and other properties. We’ll describe our plans to measure Degrees of Brix to aid our understanding of plant health and resistance to harmful insects.

Locally Adapted Heirloom Seeds – We are fortunate to have access to a limited amount of heirloom seeds which have a 20+ year history of local adaptation. The seed varieties will be described and a seed bank plan will be proposed.

More Education in the Dome and on the Web – Having proven that our off-grid dome greenhouse is very productive, we will increase our use of the dome as an educational/demonstration site. We will provide an overview of plans to use tours and signage with QR code linking smartphones to our web content. We also will announce a project to translate our web content to Spanish.

Constructing Spaces for Growing in the Mountains – Several people have tweaked various techniques for constructing growing environments suitable to our mountain conditions. We will present ideas for new directions for 2012 based on our experiences. Expect to learn about indoor growing opportunities including hydroponics, creating a compact complex of greenhouse and raised beds, and a highly efficient greenhouse design.

Advanced Composting Techniques – Like our growing season, the composting season is short in our mountain environment. We will describe plans for advancing composting techniques based on experience from the last 2-3 years.

New Community & Legislative Directions – We will describe recent positive food related developments in our community. We will also describe a few legislative proposals which require your attention. For example, a Local Food bill proposed in the Colorado legislative session would facilitate local commerce related to sale of eggs and other farm/home produced products.

The Harvest Center calendar of events for 2012 is available for download.  The lineup of workshops and events is excellent.  Come grow with us!

Download the  2012 HC calendar of events.

Clients of our local food pantry, The Community Cupboard, received 477 pounds of fresh, organic veggies from The Harvest Center in 2011.  Volunteers grew the produce in a 22 ft diameter dome greenhouse from Growing Spaces in Pagosa Springs, CO.  Read about our greenhouse project in the Ag Journal based in La Junta, Co.

We collaborated with community partners to contribute an additional couple hundred pounds to the Community Cupboard.  About one hundred pounds of produce was generated through the collaborative effort of volunteers from the Mountain View United Methodist Church and High View Baptist Church tending the nine raised beds at MVUMC.  Another hundred pounds were donated through the efforts of volunteers harvesting in their backyards and at Tarryall Mountain Farms.

The Story of Broke: Why There’s Still Plenty of Money to Build a Better Future

The battle over government spending priorities is the latest subject of award- winning Internet filmmaker Annie Leonard, who on November 8th released “The Story of Broke”, a new 8-minute animated movie.

The Story of Broke challenges those who tell us that America—the wealthiest country in the world and a country in which the wealthiest among us are doing exceptionally well—is penniless and incapable of paying its bills, let alone making investments in a more sustainable and fair economy. The film calls for a shift in government spending away from support for the ailing “dinosaur economy” and toward investments in the 21st Century green economy.

Welcome to Plutocracy

Bill Moyers explains in 4 minutes how plutocracy has captured our economy with a plutonomy which threatens our democracy.  This video is based on his final “sign off” for his public television series in 2010.

P.S. although there is snow on the ground and nighttime temperatures have been markedly below freezing, we took 7 pounds of tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce to the Community Cupboard today (November 4, 2012)

Stretching a Short Growing Season by Ron Capen on Vimeo.

Ron Capen describes his method for using a protected patio space for Summer container gardening followed by use of indoor space for crop maturity and continued harvest. Keep in mind that he is gardening in Colorado about 9,000 ft above sea level.