Denver Urban Homesteading, in collaboration with Infinite Monkey Theorem Winery, announces a Community Wine Project.
The purpose of this project is to promote urban and backyard grapegrowing which will be made into wine at our neighbor's winery three blocks away.  The wine will then be labeled Denver Urban Homesteading and credit will be given to the backyard farmers who contributed to the making of the wine, and who will have first rights to purchase the wine.  So, if the Smith Family, the Garcia Family and Liu Wang all contributed grapes that made a barrel of Pinot Noir, the label will list their names or they will be referenced online.
Participants in the project will learn about growing, cultivating and harvesting wine grapes, and the fruits of their labors will be converted into wine that they can enjoy with their families and friends.  The project will bring people together and help create a new social activity centered around urban farming and wine.
We are trying to identify wine grapes now that are most suitable for the Denver area and the Front Range, so that project participants can order and plant them this year.  Since the grapes may take three years to harvest, the first batch of wine is expected to be produced in 2012.
Interested?  Contact James Bertini at james@denverurbanhomesteading.com to get involved and be notified of the first meeting to be held soon!

Willow Way Herbal CSA

We are pleased to announce Willow Way’s Herbal CSA. When you pay for a CSA farm-share up-front before the growing season, you are provided with a weekly share of fresh organic produce throughout the growing season, while lessening the farmer’s risk. Our Herbal CSA shares will be distributed for each season. You may sign up for Summer, Fall, Winter or Spring shares—or all four. Each season’s share will reflect the needs of that time of year. For example, the summer share will include herbal insect repellant along with summer sun teas, skin creams & salves, etc.. The winter share will include herbal massage oil, immune booster teas, medicinal honeys and local beeswax candles, etc.

In our quest to provide a Permaculture model, we aim at growing our fertilizers on our site to maintain a healthy nutrient balance in our soil. We are serious about cutting the petro-calories in each calorie of food.We are not yet certified as organic. However, we do not use any chemical fertilizer or toxic pest controls on our land.

What is a Willow Way Permaculture Herbal Share?
Our Herbal CSA shares provide you with quality herb teas for your table, vibrant medicinal herbal products to keep you healthy, as well as culinary herbs. A share consists of a wide variety of herbal health preparations containing herbs organically grown on our farm. In general, they contain formulas that both enhance vitality and address a variety of common conditions.

We grow herbs that are native or well-adapted here, thus not needing excessive inputs, preferably those with low-water needs. Plants that are well-adapted here will also help us adapt. We also grow local natives that are under pressure from over-harvesting.

Paying for your share now will enable us to move forward with our production plans for 2010. We are so appreciative of your participation. Shares are available now.Sign up for one season-share, at $90. or all four seasons for a 15% discount at $300.One share is recommended for one person. Shares will be delivered to convenient pick-up points around the County.

You can also purchase our current Willow Way Herbals now at Niwot Market.

For more info:

http://ziaparker.com/blog/2010/01/csa/#more-529

The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (FTPF) is an award-winning international nonprofit charity dedicated to planting fruit trees to alleviate world hunger, combat global warming, strengthen communities, and improve the surrounding air, soil, and water. FTPF is launching a groundbreaking new community fruit tree planting program and is currently accepting applications for 2010 orchard donations. This is an especially exciting opportunity for community gardens, food banks, and other neighborhood empowerment organizations, as an orchard will produce delightful, high quality produce for many years with relatively little work. The first 100 qualified applications received by February 28 will be considered for a free FTPF orchard, so act fast! You can download the application form here, which contains a more detailed description of our programs, or cut and paste the following into a web browser: www.ftpf.org/application.doc Please feel free to contact us with any questions or visit our website for more. If you are unable to take advantage of this program, we would be happy if you could forward this possibility along to others that you know may be interested.
-- Robyn du Pre' Director of Outreach and Development The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (FTPF) P.O. Box 632 Mill Valley, CA  94942 robyn@ftpf.org www.ftpf.org