LOCAL AND ORGANIC FOODS have become part of a national movement and the City of Wheat Ridge is no exception. Sam Burris-Deboskey, an employee at the Circle Fresh Farms Greenhouse at 44th and Yarrow, is shown pruning tomato plants destined for local markets. The first harvest is expected around June 1. PHOTO CYNDY BEAL
By Cyndy Beal
What’s old is new again in Wheat Ridge. The city is returning to its agricultural roots, with local food production in town becoming more common.
Wheat Ridge is not alone. Growing local and organic foods has become a national movement, with small farms, urban gardens, and greenhouse-grown produce springing up across the country.
“Organic farming has been one of the fastest growing segments of U.S. agriculture for over a decade,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.
Also, according to a recent report by LiveWell Wheat Ridge, a division of LiveWell Colorado, about half of Wheat Ridge property owners have gardens; of those, three-quarters grow vegetables.
By Joan Wallach
Rollo May, an American psychologist, defined community as, “understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.” What follows is a powerful, inspiring and perhaps unique story of community, reported by residents at Highland West and Highland South Senior Citizen Apartments about students from Bromwell Elementary, a Denver Public School in the Cherry Creek neighborhood. Four Bromwell students reached out with a request and together with dozens of Wheat Ridge elders embarked on a journey of “understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing” that continues to grow.
Destination ImagiNation
We learn from the Destination ImagiNation (D.I.) website (www.idodi.org) that D.I. is a non-profit organization that provides educational programs for 125,000 US students and more than 30 countries. “Students form teams and experience creativity, teamwork and problem solving.” Every year students have the opportunity to compete in local, regional, state and international competitions. Students lead, utilizing their smarts and creativity, and certainly in this case, compassion.
The 38th Avenue Leadership Committee and Wheat Ridge 2020 invite you to share your thoughts on 38th Avenue by completing a brief online survey. Available at www.surveymonkey.com/s/CWRF8YX, it asks how you currently utilize this area of Wheat Ridge and what your hopes are for the future. The information collected will help inform the brand and marketing for the West 38th Avenue Commercial District. The survey will be open until Fri., April 27.
For a printed form of the survey, call Wheat Ridge 2020 at 720-259-1030.By J. Patrick O’Leary
Abstract contemporary painter and former city councilman Terry Womble has taken fine art to lofty heights – literally – with The Art Loft at Cebiche, above the Peruvian restaurant located at 7000 W. 38th Ave.
Womble and co-owner Lance Noriega, also an abstract contemporary painter, introduced their new gallery to the public with an inaugural “First Friday” reception in early April, attended by 71 guests.
“I can’t think of anywhere else that’s happened,” Womble says of the turnout. Celebrities at the fete were noted Wheat Ridge sculptor Kevin Robb and his wife, Diane, curator of Kevin’s work.
The new gallery occupies the entire newly remodeled top floor of the building, boasting new hardwood floors, vaulted ceiling, lighting and two bathrooms (separate from the restaurant’s), reached by a set of stairs in the restaurant’s lobby.
Read more: The Art Loft Helping Make 38th Avenue An Art Destination
