Monday, July 26, 2010

North East Denver Knows

As part of a generous grant received by the City of Denver, we have hired and are in the process of training four community stewards at the parking lot farm on 42nd and Steele. Our four musketeers are responsible for the watering and general maintenance at the farm, and of course never-ending weed control duty. They range from age 16 to a vivacious grandma, and and we are very glad to have them! All four of our community stewards live and eat in the neighborhood directly surrounding the farm, and are invested in the little patch of green south of the freeway.

In conjunction with their daily farm duties our community stewards are conducting "stories from the community", an oral history project with emphasis on the agricultural knowledge of those who live in the neighborhood. In this story-core like project we hope to capture the rich cultural and farming experience from this area. The history of the Globeville/Elyria/Swansea neighborhoods is filled with the life histories of people who immigrated from all over the world- specifically Eastern European cultures and most recently Latino populations. Too often the old world knowledge of these populations is lost as they move towards assimilation into the American culture and their children grow up outside of the home country. The traditions of cooking and growing traditional foods is of crucial cultural importance and we are keeping record of it! Also, as we move back towards more home grown and less energy intensive methods of farming and producing food, we will be in need of the techniques that these people still practice.

Check out some of the first videos to be taken by our community stewards at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU9tRihuib0 and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sQD0LFib8o

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