Edible southwest colorado summer 2016

southwest edible colorado Rea l stories on rea l (rec ycled) paper since 2010

No. 25 Summer 2016

A CHIROPRACTOR WALKS INTO A BARN ...

Summer Food Events The Trout are Waiting For You Raw Peach Tartlet Telluride's Secret Garden (hint: it's behind the school)

THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF COLORADO’S LARGEST WINE FESTIVAL

Presented By SEPTEMBER 15-18, 2016 - PALISADE, COLORADO SIPS FROM DOZENS OF COLORADO WINERIES LIVE MUSIC • CHEF DEMOS • GRAPE STOMP

TICKETS SELL OUT FAST! COLORADOWINEFEST.COM

2

6

CONTENTS

8

SUMMER FOOD EVENTS

By Sharon Sullivan

RAW PEACH TARTLET

By Bonni Pacheco & Gabriela Ranzi

EASILY ACHIEVABLE HOMEMADE RICOTTA

By Becca James

12

14

PALEO SCONES

By Becca James

THE TROUT ARE WAITING FOR YOU

By Rick Scibelli, Jr.

18

20 Today on our trail I saw a lone buck where we had never witnessed deer before.

Was it you? Are you still with me Sunny-bear?

You shined my handsome boy.

Sunny, 2003-2016

– Rick Scibelli, Jr.

26

WOODBLOCK PRINTS

By Dan Hinds

TELLURIDE'S SECRET GARDEN

By Katie Klingsporn

A CHIROPRACTOR WALKS INTO A BARN ...

By Sarah Syverson

31

32

33

34

THE GOAT Illustration by Bambi Edlund

MUSHROOM FIELD NOTES Illustrations By Dan Hinds Text by Rachel Turiel

CHAMBER MUSHROOM MUSIC Poem by Art Goodtimes

CONSIDERING A TOMATO'S GREEN BEGINNING ...

AS AN ENDING

By Caitlin Causey

MANAGING EDITOR'S LETTER

“A

re there any rules here?” my eight-year-old daughter asked on day four of our three-week trip in Indonesia this spring. We watched a man halt highway traffic with a palm frond while his barefoot, machete-wielding buddy 35 feet up a tree lopped coconuts to the ground. No permit necessary. Goats, dogs, children and chickens roamed through towns and rice fields, unsupervised.

The outdoor food markets were steamy warrens of commerce. As the sultry day wore on, women slept alongside shiny, black bricks of fermented fish. Cats, too, were sacked out in the heat, teats ripe with lactation. Rats, bloated from pilfered produce, scurried underfoot.

(We opted not to mention that my kids have a pet rat back home who snarfs organic hummus off our fingers).

The displays of fruit – mangosteens, jackfruit, rambutans, dragonfruit – sent us into fits of desire. But, the live chickens, feet tied together, awaiting death and panting in the heat, haunted my daughter for days. The fish, whole and silvery, were flopped on tarps, never having known refrigeration. Bundles of Asian greens drooped in the heat, and cigarettes extended from the vendors’ hands like a sixth digit. The produce, neither packaged nor styled, attracted battalions of insects while life pressed on, slow and sticky.

At an Indonesian market, you can find everything you need: a tremendous variety of fruits and vegetables, fish, eggs, rice, tofu, tempeh, chicken, spices, palm sugar, coffee, tea and nuts. People eat locally and in season because, economically, there’s little choice. (We met a farmer in Bali who asked with undisguised lust if we could find apples in America).

Here in the Southwest, we slap stickers celebrating local food on our water bottles; we idolize local farmers (okay, maybe that’s just me); we have paltry retirement savings, but pay extra for arugula grown in our ZIP code. Local Food is a movement, a practice, a throne upon which we sit nibbling sunflower sprouts while produce from around the globe is delivered, temptingly, to our grocery store shelves.

After a few weeks in Indonesia, you begin seeing Americans as this slightly different species: large, pale and quick to sweat. You realize you’ve spent your life cultivating innumerable preferences and sensitivities, parading out your pickiness with an odd sort of pride (“I only eat eggs with runny yolks, fried on cast iron, sprinkled with Himalayan sea salt…”) while every Indonesian you’ve met explains cheerily, “We eat rice three times a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner!”

You begin to wonder how much effort goes toward maintaining your likes and dislikes, and whether the lighthearted, friendly disposition of Indonesians is partially a result of being free from endless choices. Novelty is expensive. And, by nature, must be constantly renewed. As a wise Buddhist once said, “Happiness is easy!

Just remove all preferences." The allure of abundant options can be an obstacle to many things, including eating closer to home. But, iv edible

SOUTHWEST COLORADO SUMMER 2016

let’s be real here. Summer in Southwest Colorado is a parade float of shiny produce rolling through the farmers market while we clap and cheer. But, March? How about an avalanche of dandelion salads cascading bitterly across your plate? Or December, which looks a lot like dented apples and malingering root vegetables, their tough, dusty hides calling for imagination and butter.

Acclaimed nature writer Barry Lopez says, “One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once, life would collapse. You continue to make your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.”

If contradiction is championing local foods while also kinda relying on globally-stocked grocery stores, what would it look like to “lean into the light?” Could we love the one we’re with – not with sighing resignation – but with fierce gratitude for, say, the 10-week privilege of ripe tomatoes? Could we take joy in watching the tide of roasted green chilies rise in our freezers? Would it be a stretch to rejigger priorities (I’m looking at you, my Netflix binge-watching self) to make time to strip that neighborhood apple tree of its crisp, sweet orbs?

Could we develop a repertoire of fabulous recipes to match our CSA’s beet zealousness? Or, to borrow from a recent political campaign, let’s make root vegetables great again! Because, in January, there’s a turnip (or parsnip, potato, carrot, or motherloving rutabaga) meditating enduringly in a root cellar near you. Maybe you’ll plant a small, humble row of Swiss chard, which will become the ingredients for one gorgeous and celebrated veggie lasagna, the one your friends will talk about for months.

The best condiment is hunger and gratitude, and perhaps some involvement with the food on your plate. And when the earth is a newly-thawing landscape, those electric-green dandelions, heralding the nutritional end of winter, look a lot like dinner.

– Rachel Turiel, Managing Editor

ON THE COVER One just might be skeptical that a baby goat (or horse or a 1000pound prized steer or even a hen) would actually like to receive chiropratic care. But they do – in fact, they love it, as can be witnessed with the kid above. And a happy pain-free goat translates to a productive goat.

A while back, Petra Sullwood of Equus Chiropractic in Durango traded the treatment room for the barnyard where she finds her unique skills in high demand. Read her story on page 26.

southwest

edible colorado MANAGING EDITOR Rachel Turiel

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Rick Scibelli, Jr.

CO-PUBLISHER Michelle Ellis

COPY EDITOR Chris Brussat

WRITERS Sharon Sullivan, Sarah Syverson, Caitlin Causey Katie Klingsporn, Rachel Turiel, Becca James

PHOTOGRAPHY AND ILLUSTRATION Dan Hinds, Michelle Ellis, Bonni Pacheco, Rick Scibelli, Jr., Bambi Edlund DESIGN Rick Scibelli, Jr.

INTERESTED IN ADVERTISING? Michelle@ediblesouthwestcolorado.com Rick@ediblesouthwestcolorado.com

STORY IDEAS, WRITER'S QUERIES

the butcher

the baker

Contact Rachel at sanjuandrive@frontier.net Edible Southwest Colorado is published quarterly by Sunny Boy Publications. All rights reserved. Distribution is throughout southwest Colorado and nationally (and locally) by subscription. No part of this publication may be used without written permission of the publisher. © 2016. edible Southwest Colorado PO Box 3702, Telluride, CO 81435

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Fresh and friendly in downtownTelluride.

201 E. Colorado

(970) 728-2899

Can't-Miss Food Events

Telluride Mushroom Festival turns 35

W

hat began 35 years ago as a small conference on psychedelic mushrooms has grown to include wild, culinary mushrooms and morphed into “all things mushroom,” says Telluride Mushroom Festival director Britt Bunyard.

At this year’s festival, August 18-21, there will be wild mushroom forays, culinary competitions, and workshops on cultivating, cooking, and medicinal uses of wild mushrooms.

Telluride Brewing Company and mushroom expert Chad Carter will collaborate on a mushroom beer, available for sale. “There will be several opportunities to try wild mushrooms,” says Bunyard. “A lot of wild edible mushrooms will be picked during the event and consumed there. People will come away learning how important different fungi are for the ecosystem of Colorado and the planet.”

Author and weed expert Katrina Blair forages most of the ingredients she uses for the wild foods dinner she prepares each year for the festival. Blair will also lead a foray in Telluride, illuminating what’s edible around town.

“There are a bunch of forays led by world-renowned people,” says Bunyard. “For people new to mushrooms, these forays are really popular.”

Art Goodtimes (poet and San Miguel County Commissioner) has been involved with the festival since its inception. His favorite event is the parade. “We all dress up as mushrooms and parade down Main Street,” says Goodtimes. “It’s very colorful. It’s a costume contest for kids and adults. It’s quite fun.”

For more information on weekend passes, as well as tickets for individual events, visit www.telluridemushroomfest.com, or call 970248-4207.

– Sharon Sullivan

Tour de Farms Bike Tour Celebrates Ten Years

T

ake a short bike ride through Durango and view interesting backyard, community, and church gardens; or venture farther out of town, visiting larger, rural farms during Durango’s 10th annual Tour de Farms Bike Tour on Saturday, August 20.

The six-mile in-town bike ride, and the more rigorous 25-mile ride outside of Durango, both begin at the Smiley Building and include four or five stops, before cyclists reconvene at Ska Brewery for a lunch of locally-sourced foods prepared by Zia Taqueria.

Sponsored by the Garden Project of Southwest Colorado and Colorado State Extension Office, the goal is to celebrate local food, and inspire people to grow their own. “We hope people ride away

with inspiration and ideas to take into their own garden,” says Darrin Parmenter, of CSU Extension.

Last year’s tour introduced bicyclists to a 20-something farmer who shared how he makes ends meet in an area where fertile, irrigated land is expensive. At another farm, riders met a family with four grown kids, each of whom have their own businesses making cheese, raising flowers, growing vegetables, or raising pork and beef.

“Our main focus is local food awareness and production,” Parmenter says. “And it’s a fun way to get people out and active.”

Cost is $20 per person, which includes the catered lunch and beer. Participants also receive a commemorative pint glass. Each tour is limited to 40 riders.

Advanced registration is required. To register or for more information, visit www.thegardenprojectswcolorado.org. Or, call 970382-6464. – Sharon Sullivan

Crested Butte Wine & Food “Conscious Festival”

“E

at, Drink, Think” is the theme of Crested Butte’s Wine and Food Festival, July 28-31. Along with several high-end meals prepared by top Colorado chefs, festivalgoers can participate in seminars and panel discussions about food integrity and sustainability issues. “This is a conscious food and wine festival,” says chef Kelly Whitaker, who owns restaurants in Boulder and Denver.

Among the panelists at this year’s event are representatives from Wholesome Wave, whose mission includes making locally-grown produce accessible and affordable to underserved populations; Food Policy Action, an organization that works to support healthy diets and reduce hunger; and Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, helping consumers make environmentally sound choices when buying seafood.

The weekend includes wine seminars, hikes and picnics in Crested Butte’s wildflower meadows, and a Farm-to-Table dinner at a private residence on Friday. There will also be a guided stroll through the town’s art galleries, an art seminar with watercolors and wine, and film screenings of the documentaries “City of Gold” and “The Hundred-Foot Journey.”

“A Grand Finale of Extravagant Wines and Exquisite Food” will take place Sunday at Soupcon Bistro, with chef/owner Jason Vernon.

The finale is a benefit for Crested Butte’s Center for the Arts. The five-course meal is $1,000 and is 100 percent tax deductible. Grande Sponsor, Culinary Champion, and Patron Circle sponsorships get you into all events. Tickets for individual meals and events are also available.

For more information visit: www.crestedbuttearts.org/WineAnd-Food – Sharon Sullivan

Image by Bonni Pacheco Photography

WE FLEX SOME PRETTY BIG MUSSELS AROUND HERE WEDNESDAY–SUNDAY 5PM–10PM | BAR OPENS AT 4PM | RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED 970.563.6235.

SKYUTECASINO.COM | 888.842.4180 | IGNACIO, COLORADO

Can't-Miss Food Events

each pie and cobblers, peach smoothies, grilled peaches, nonalcoholic peach daiquiris, and the peach blast – made with Palisade Distillery vodka, are among the many peachy treats available at the Palisade Peach Festival, August 19 and 20, in Riverbend Park in Palisade, Colorado.

Begin the day with the Palisade Lion’s Club’s peach pancake breakfast. Food vendors will sell their peach-inspired items, such as the always-popular barbecue chicken and peach pizza. And, cooking demonstrations featuring peaches will take place all weekend, along with live music in the park. “Those who watch the demos get to sample and go home with the recipes,” says Palisade Chamber of Commerce director Juliann Adams.

If you have a scrumptious peach recipe of your own, consider entering it in the recipe contest for the chance to win local fame and prizes. Simply bring your recipe and prepared product to the community center, 120 W. 8th Street, Saturday, between 7:30 and 9 am. After the judging, 4-H kids will sell samples of the entries.

Categories include pies, tarts and cobblers; home-canned; and sweet/savory.

A street dance with live music and a free ice cream social in the town plaza takes place Thursday, August 18, starting at 4:30 pm.

Last year, the town served 2,400 bowls of ice cream topped with peaches.

Admission to the two-day festival is $7 for adults, $3 kids, and $5 seniors. For more information, visit www.palisadepeachfest.com.

– Sharon Sullivan

T

ative Arts Centers, the organization benefiting from the festival.

Purchased tickets allow participants to sample dishes at 10 different restaurants. New eateries this year include Brick House 737, which focuses on local foods; and Two Rascals Brewing Company, open in Ouray from May through October. The new KJ Wood Distillers will also join this year’s restaurant crawl.

Exotic Earth Coffee Roasters in Ridgway will offer samples, and demonstrate coffee bean roasting from 7 am to noon. A “Farm to Table” community potluck is planned for Saturday, 5-8 pm at Ridgway Town Park. People are encouraged to prepare dishes using farm-fresh foods from local markets or their own garden. Free chef demonstrations, including salsa-making using fresh veggies, cooking with infused oils, and growing your own herbs, will take place both days at Ridgway Town Park.

For more information, or to register for cooking classes, visit http://www.weehawkenarts.org/special-events/54-ouray-fork-fest.

– Sharon Sullivan

Various Historic Lodgings Continually Flowing Natural Hot Springs Vaporcave, Outdoor Pool & Private Lorelei

As featured in the Smithsonian, New York Times, Fodor’s, Travel & Leisure, Money, Forbes and many other publications ...

Ouray County Fork Fest In Third Year

he third annual Ouray County Fork Fest celebrates regional bounty in Ouray and Ridgway on August 19 and 20, with chef demonstrations using locally-sourced foods, cooking classes, and regional beer tastings on the Chef Demo Rooftop at the Blue Hungry Hart Café at Ridgway Town Park.

The Fork Fest Restaurant Crawl takes place from 5-9 pm Friday in downtown Ouray. “People park at one end of town and walk down the street,” says Faith Parry, President of Weehawken Cre-

The Wiesbaden Hot Springs Spa & Lodgings www.wiesbadenhotsprings.com

970-325-4347 | 625 5th St. Ouray

4 edible

SOUTHWEST COLORADO SUMMER 2016

XNLV180033

P

Palisade Peach Festival Features Peachy Treats

IMPROVE YOUR

PERFORMANCE WITH UPPER CERVICAL CARE “Before I started working with Clay my body was slowly morphing into my bike. My spine was turning kyphotic (hunchback) and my power was going from my legs into my back. Through upper cervical care I have corrected my posture, strengthened my immune system (I haven’t gotten sick), my mind is clearer, and I feel happier, healthier and more alive! I’ve seen many chiropractors and the Upper Cervical Care that Clay administers is giving me the best results both on and off the bike.”

—NICK GOULD | PRO ENDURANCE MTB RACER

HOW DOES UPPER CERVICAL CARE HELP TO IMPROVE ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE? The answer lies in the nervous system. In our bodies, the brain and brain stem act as our “Master Control System.” Everything that we do is regulated by the nerve impulses that are sent from the brain/ brain stem out to the body through our network of

nerves. For the athlete who is looking for an edge to his or her physical performance, this improved communication between the brain and every part of the body, especially the heart, lungs and muscles can make the difference between winning and losing.

Dr. Clayton Sullwold has helped thousands of people from the Four Corners area find relief from a variety of health conditions without the use of drugs or surgery. People who once suffered from allergies, back pain, digestive disorders, fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, migraine headaches, neck pain, sleeping problems, seizures, weakened immune function and even multiple sclerosis have found relief while under Upper Cervical Care.

1800 East Third Avenue, Suite 108 Durango 970.259.6803 durangochiropractor.com

Raw Peach Tartlet Text and Images by Bonni Pacheco Recipe by Gabriela Ranzi

A

peach picked straight from the tree evokes pure, crystalline pleasure.

Rather than alter these pristine peaches, why not embark on a raw journey where no baking is involved? Gabriela Ranzi, a raw/vegan chef based in Durango, has created a recipe that rises above others for its taste and simplicity.

METHOD INGREDIENTS 2-3 peaches 5-7 dates 1/8 teaspoon vanilla 1/3 cup almonds 1/3 cup coconut flakes 1 cup raisins 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon or less cardamom Pinch of salt

Place almonds, coconut, cinnamon, cardamom and salt in a food processor. Process finely. Handful by handful, add the raisins until a crust-like consistency is reached. Press mixture into 2 large tartlets or 3 to 4 smaller ones. Each tartlet crust needs to have sides with enough of a "bowl" to hold the peach filling.

For the filling, blend the peaches, dates and vanilla in the food processor until you have a smooth, whipped consistency. Fill the tartlet crusts with the puree.

Slice the remaining peaches and use to decorate the top of the tartlet. You can sprinkle some shredded coconut on top, add a mint leaf, or drizzle on local honey or maple syrup. Instead of individual tartlets, the mixture could also be turned into a whole raw peach pie.

Enjoy thoroughly!

Easily Achievable Homemade Ricotta

By Becca James

F

reshly-made creamy ricotta is a chef’s dream for both sweet and savory dishes. If making cheese at home sounds intimidating, I assure you this simplest of cheeses is achievable by everyone.

Ricotta, Italian for “re-cooked,” is traditionally made with the whey drained off while making sheep’s milk cheese. The whey is cooked again to extract the proteins and fat left over from its first time around in the vat. This works relatively well with the creamy, high-solid sheep’s milk and slightly less well with goat and cow’s milk. I’ve tried it. I cooked gallons of whey for a long, long time and got a couple tablespoons of cheese. The verdict is that boiling down large quantities of whey is not worth it for the stovetop cheese maker.

Whole milk ricotta is, however, decidedly worth making at

home. Commercial versions just cannot compare to the luscious, delicate homemade curds. And, due to its very short shelf life, truly good artisan ricotta is hard to find.

Your results will be consistent, creamy and voluminous. While you can make this cheese with whole milk, adding a little cream will encourage your creation toward something akin to velvety clouds you actually get to eat.

To make ricotta, you will need a pot, a bowl, a colander or strainer, a thermometer (a meat thermometer works fine) and some cheesecloth. You can buy cheesecloth in most grocery stores, but can also substitute a tea towel (not the fuzzy terry cloth kind). Your cheese will drain a bit more slowly, but the results will be the same.

Photo by Rick Scibelli, Jr.

8 edible

SOUTHWEST COLORADO SUMMER 2016

INGREDIENTS (Serves 6-8 as a side dish) 4 cups whole milk ½ cup cream 2 tablespoons lemon juice

The Farm Bistro

½ teaspoon non-iodized salt

METHOD Fill a medium pot with water and bring to a boil. Place your cheesecloth (or tea towel) in the boiling water and leave it there for about five minutes. Pull it out with tongs, let it drain over the sink until cool enough to handle. With clean hands, wring it out and line your colander with it. Place the colander (with cheese cloth) over a fairly large bowl.

Put milk and cream in a heavy-bottomed pot over mediumlow heat. Heat until the mixture reaches 190 degrees. Check it frequently during this heating time, as milk will go from 180 degrees to boiling over and creating a huge mess in about 2.2 seconds.

When it reaches 190 degrees, remove the pot from the heat.

Quickly add the salt and stir. Add the lemon juice and stir quickly to incorporate. Set aside and resist the urge to poke, stir and generally test the mixture for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, gently test the curd with a spoon. If you have delicate, wobbly curds that separate from the liquid whey, you have made ricotta! If the liquid portion still looks a bit milky, let it sit for a few more minutes. If, after this additional time, the liquid portion still looks milky instead of more clear, add more lemon juice – up to two more tablespoons. (The acidity of lemons can vary quite a bit, so adding more juice is sometimes necessary. The milk you are using can also affect results.)

You can use vinegar, which has consistent acidity but can leave a vinegar aftertaste.

Let your mixture sit another 5 minutes after the second lemon juice addition and you should have fragile, pillow-like curds and opaque, slightly yellow whey.

Ladle the curds into your cheesecloth to let them drain. Depending on the size of your bowl, it may be necessary to empty the collected whey one time. Let the curds drain for 20 minutes to 1 hour depending on your desired consistency. I like to leave a good bit of moisture for most applications so I lean toward the 20-minute drain time.

After draining is complete, I recommend you try a spoonful of the warm, silky curds as your cheese maker’s reward, and then refrigerate. Fresh ricotta is best used right away, but will keep up to three days in the fridge. You can use this cheese in recipes or simply enjoy it on toast or crackers.

Ricotta is meant to go far beyond lasagna layers or cannoli filling. Crafting a batch of fresh ricotta in your own kitchen will open you up to a new culinary adventure that could prove to be just a little bit addictive.

farm to table

lunch, dinner & lounge

mon thru fri

970 565 3834

34 west main, cortez

Mixed Grilled Vegetables with R icotta and Herbs METHOD Toss your prepared vegetables in oil and generously salt and pepper them.

Cook them over a hot grill until crisp-tender. This will vary depending on the vegetable, so just grab a drink and commune with the veggies while they cook, pulling them off the grill as they are done. Veggies can be loose, on skewers or combined in a grill basket.

In a large bowl, toss the still-warm vegetables with about 1 cup of your fresh ricotta (adjust the amount of cheese to taste).

Sprinkle the vegetable/cheese mixture with about 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh herbs.

Enjoy as a side dish with grilled meats or fish or as a light entrée.

– Becca James

INGREDIENTS About 4 cups mixed vegetables. Choices could include asparagus, cherry tomatoes (I put these on a wooden skewer), bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, zucchini or yellow squash and eggplant. Create a mixture that is to your taste and reflects what is in season.

2 tablespoons coconut oil or other oil of your choice Salt and pepper 1 cup fresh ricotta 2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs. My favorite combination is basil and chives but rosemary, thyme, tarragon, and oregano are all good choices.

P R E M I E R

S E N I O R

L I V I N G

C O M M U N I T I E S

The Independence we want and the Support we need.

Visit Hilltop’s independent and assisted living communities today and discover a world of gracious living, personalized care and unsurpassed amenities.

Now Renting Studio, 1 and 2 Bedroom Apartments n Luxurious apartments featuring great views and spacious floorplans n Personal assistance, room service and pet walking n Temporary assisted living stays

n Social activities and trips n Restaurant-style dining n Medication assistance and medical transportation n 24-hour emergency response

The Commons (970) 243-3333

The Fountains (970) 243-8800

www.TheCommonsGJ.org

www.TheFountainsGJ.org

3203 N. 15th Street

625 27 1/2 Road

L O C A L LY

O W N E D

10 edible

A N D

O P E R AT E D

B Y

H I L LT O P

-

SOUTHWEST COLORADO SUMMER 2016

M A K I N G

A

D I F F E R E N C E

F O R

P E O P L E

O F

A L L

A G E S

middle-eastern food & organic whole-food smoothies SINCE 1991 MAIL ORDER

-

CORPORATE GIFTS

-

HOSPITALITY

HAND-ROASTED TO ORDER IN TELLURIDE, CO FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OVER $60

V ISIT THE ROASTERY E NJOY A SHOT OF ESPRESSO ON

US !

164C Society Drive, Telluride, CO Open M-F 9am - 4pm

THEBEAN.COM INFO@THEBEAN.COM

shish kebabs  falafels  hummus spanakopita  fries  baba ganouj tabouli  greek salad  baklava – V E G AN & GLUT EN-F R EE M ENU IT EMS –

on the LA CocinA de Luz pAtio -- DOwnTOWn TELLuRIDE --

open dAily (weAtheR peRmitting)

970-728-5611

caravantelluride.com

1-800-230-BEAN (2326)

southwest edible colorado

home delivery subscribe today

ediblesouthwestcolorado.com/subscribe/

Paleo Scones

By Becca James

S

cones. They are ubiquitous behind the glass in coffee shops but, somehow, they seem non-committal. Not quite a biscuit, nor in the cakey sweet muffin category. Scones resemble someone’s dour old aunt next to the flashiness of a blueberry cream cheese swirl Danish.

However, this barely-sweet pastry, originally from Scotland, has won my heart. The pleasantly crusty exterior and the tender moist interior pairs beautifully with tea or coffee, while its apparent plainness opens up caverns of creativity.

There are those who will say that if you have to put the word “Paleo” in front of something, it isn’t a food our Paleolithic ancestors

INGREDIENTS (Makes 6) 2 cups blanched almond flour ¼ cup arrowroot powder 1 ½ teaspoons grain-free baking powder (or regular, depending upon how sensitive you are) ½ teaspoon sea salt 1 egg 2 tablespoons maple syrup 4 tablespoons butter, melted (coconut oil may be substituted) Add-ins of your choice

METHOD Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Melt the butter in a small pot and let it cool slightly. Once cooled, add one egg, the maple syrup and any other wet ingredients (I put citrus zests in with the dry ingredients). Pour the wet into the dry and stir them together. Fold in any remaining add-ins.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Form the dough into a ball. Place the ball on the parchment paper and flatten it into a disk about ¾ to 1 inch thick. With a sharp knife, cut the disk in half and then cut each half into thirds (you will end up with 6 scones). Separate these triangles and place evenly around the baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until they are just starting to turn golden.

would have eaten. Although true, I think these folks just really could use a ginger apricot scone and a cup of tea. Moist, dense and surprisingly pastry-like, Paleo scones offer more protein and nutrition to keep you going than their traditional counterparts. They are perfect for a special occasion, but fast enough for a weekday morning.

A Paleo diet can be packed with nutrition but also filled with the comfort of familiar favorites. Paleo scones offer not only an opportunity for creativity in the kitchen but a return to the coffee house contentment of a steaming mug and crumbly treat. I suggest pairing with a good book.

Photos by Rick Scibelli, Jr.

This is a basic recipe – a blank canvas to which you can embellish with endless combinations, limited only by your imagination. Dried and fresh fruit, citrus zest, flavor extracts, nuts and seeds are all options. If you add a fresh fruit and it makes the batter too wet (berries can do this), feel free to add an extra tablespoon or two of arrowroot to make the dough workable. An additional two to four minutes of baking time may be needed as well when using fresh fruits.

Here are some of my favorite combinations: - The zest of 2 lemons, poppy seeds, 1 teaspoon almond extract.

- ½ cup chopped crystallized ginger, ½ cup chopped dried apricots, 1 teaspoon ground, dried ginger.

- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and 1 cup fresh raspberries (fold in very gently).

- 1 cup fresh rhubarb, very finely diced.

- ½ cup chopped walnuts, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ cup raisins.

- The zest of 2 lemons and 1 cup fresh blueberries.

- The zest of 2 oranges and fresh or dried cranberries.

Finely diced apple, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, chopped pecans.

delicious pastries & sandwiches fresh squeezed juices, soups & salads local free-range eggs hand-crafted artisan breads award-winning coffee & espresso...

Bagels

MAIN STREET

You won’t taste better than this!

Artisan Bakery & Cafe

gjmainstreetbagels.com Open daily for 19 years at 6th & Main – Downtown Grand Junction

Fly Fishing instructor, Glenn Tinnin, demonstrates casting to his class of novice anglers in the middle of Durango's Memorial Park.

14 edible

SOUTHWEST COLORADO SUMMER 2016

The Trout are Waiting for You Story and Photos By Rick Scibelli, Jr.

I

t may seem that the sport of fly-fishing is a private club of which you have quietly concluded you will never be a member. We have all stood at the river’s edge watching the gal standing in the center of the flow with the mysterious but alluring gear, creating art. A living Ralph Lauren ad. The rod – an elegant instrument even from a distance – bent like a C as the line makes an S: back and forth and back and forth. It presents itself as an otherworldly quest – all at once one with the river and one with God’s creatures. And how many of us think, “I would love to do that,” but then don’t and never do?

“How do you keep yourself from hooking your own back?” Pam Kyselka of Fort Defiance, Arizona, asks her fly fishing instructor Glenn Tinnin, in the middle of Durango’s Memorial Park on a recent windy Saturday afternoon. Nowhere near the water’s edge on this day, Kyselka still had troubling memories. “You cast correctly,” Tinnin answers, foreshadowing the lesson to come. Kyselka, who once watched her friend try to fly fish only to hook her own daughter’s ear, was one of five newbies taking Tinnin’s beginning fly-fishing course this May. “And the hook was barbed,” she says, the visual obviously scarred into her memory.

There are certainly easier ways to fish. Take the bobber and earthworm as exhibit A. But, like climbing rocks without ropes, there is an ilk of people who seek to turn simple hobbies into complex meditations. “If it’s not a little hard, it really isn’t worth doing” Connie LeCompte, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter and wanna-be angler, says to Tinnin. “Right?” Just moments before, LeCompte had caught her line in the only tree within casting radius.

Well, the barrier to entry rests only in your mind. It is accessible and surprisingly inclusive despite all evidence to the contrary. Take Tinnin, who, from a distance, would be one of those clubby insiders. Up close, he’s a truly happy guy who wants everybody to be happy and catching fish – on a fly. “Fly fisherman can be jerks,” Tinnin (who has fly fished all over the world) confesses. Like surfers. Or really anybody who knows how to do something that separates them from us regu-

lar people. “But most aren’t,” he adds. Tinnin is regular as regular can be.

There are really three hurdles to getting your feet wet. Get gear.

Learn to cast. Know where the fish hide. The rest is just patience and a healthy dose of humility.

You can rent this stuff. Or you can own it. Here is a breakdown.

Rods can be on the short side (for streams) or the long side (for rivers, lakes and oceans). Don’t buy a cheap rod. “I can cast with a broomstick,” Tinnin says, “but I cannot cast a Walmart fly rod.

Don’t go cheap.”

A decent fly rod starts at about $150. Scott Fly Rods happen to build some of the best rods in the world right in Montrose. They are available at most local fly shops. Reels are not as important as rods, according to Tinnin, unless you are catching really big fish on a small tippet (that would be the end of the line for us amateurs). Reels range from $50 to $700. The higher the price, the more durable the material. You don’t need a $700 reel, although they are quite beautiful and would look stunning as a paperweight. “All the reel does until you hook a fish is hold the line,” Tinnin says. “In a small stream, you may never even use the reel. Everything is done with your hands.”

One could write a book on fly-fishing line alone, not to mention another tome on flies. Rest assured, a local fly shop can guide you in all of these decisions. Tinnin, who has owned more than one fly shop, says even seasoned anglers, when fishing unfamiliar waters, have to ask. “That’s what they are there for.”

Here’s the thing about fly shops that isn’t so true about, say, surf shops: the people who work in them want to help you. So this can be a good place to start. Simply ask. “What do I need to fish the Animas below the dam?”

Gear aside, “the number-one most important thing in fly fishing is: can you cast?” Tinnin says.

Casting is something that needs to be seen and not read. Nonetheless, there is a method. Imagine a big clock facing you on the wall to the right. The rod will move back and forth between 9:00 and 1:00. Your effectiveness depends on acceleration and arm position.

The rod should be doing the work. This takes practice. Never break your wrists. It is all below the elbow. Everybody in Tinnin’s class was breaking their wrists. Most looked more like they were chopping wood than casting line. Really, this is where a lesson (group or private), or a YouTube video at the very least, would be paramount if you want to avoid embedding a hook into your own shoulder blade or worse, into your friend’s daughter’s ear. “The only thing I have ever caught is myself,” says Stefaan Bultinck, one of Tinnin’s students. Bultinck can also add a tree limb to this list after Saturday’s class. Yes, casting is best learned initially on the nearest open patch of grass (and not the water) where you will no doubt have an audience of looky-loos wondering why in Sam Hill you are looking for fish next to a picnic table. Ignore them.

And where are the fish? Ask yourself, if you were a hungry trout, where would you hang out? Burning precious calories in the middle of the raging current, or in the eddies and inlets on the edge of the madness waiting for something delicious to float by?

Of course it may be 387 outings before you catch that fish, but therein lies the beauty. With fly-fishing, you can enjoy the form while waiting for the function. As Tinnin will tell you, it just takes practice, so you might as well practice in the river. Everybody hooks trees, loses flies and fails to catch fish. Even seasoned anglers. But who cares – because now you are the one in the river creating lyrical shapes and no longer the spectator watching and wishing.

“The only thing I have ever caught is myself,” novice angler, Stefaan Bultinck said. And a tree.

(From the top) Cutthroat Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout and Brook Trout.

Woodblock Prints by Dan Hinds

"This is the most life changing and effective work I have ever experienced." – Nancy Anson, Grand Junction CO

Births at Mercy Regional Medical Center All pain relief options – including epidural.

Offering waterbirths, prenatal care, breastfeeding support, yearly checkups & paps, birth control Durango #1 Mercado St. Suite 145 Aztec 604 S. Rio Grande Ave 970-247-5543 Toll Free 877-371-2011 southwestmidwives.com

Ortho Bionomy is a neurological and structure based bodywork that has a profound ability to resolve trauma, organize injuries, work effectively with endocrine, lymph, vascular and head injuries. It is a calming work that moves the body away from pain. * The only unique and complete comprehensive training program in the world.

Learn more about classes or the work: rmobcenter@gmail.com

namaste health center Offering multi-day and week-long immersion treatment packages for chronic conditions including cancer, autoimmune, detoxification and more Integrated and Personalized - Right Down to Your DNA Michelle Hemingway, M.D. Stacy Mulkey, ND. Kirsten West, ND, L.Ac. Tracy Arens, RN. Lisa Gutt, LMT. Julia Fisher, LAc, Dipl OM. Rodney Russell, DC. Andrea Rossi, LNT. Molly Gibson, LAc, Dipl OM

namastehealthcenter.com

970-247-2043

Telluride's Secret Garden (hint: it's behind the school)

By Katie Klingsporn

W

hen I arrive at the Telluride Community Garden for my first workday of the season, I find dandelions exploding in the uneven walkways, a robin singing its lungs out from a nearby aspen and a fellow gardener named Sarah dropping pea seeds in her just-tilled bed.

I greet my plot, which is mussed and mulchy following its winter hibernation. After pulling bindweed from the dirt, I turn the earth with a shovel, exposing dark soil and squirming worms.

Despite the fact that the calendar says May 14, it’s early at the highaltitude garden, an overlooked and unruly pocket of wild in Telluride that’s tucked behind the high school’s tool shed. It’s not much: four wobbly rows carved into a 35-degree hillside where rocks separate beds of all shapes, vegetables come up scrappy and a fence offers little protection from the outside world. But it’s ours.

Two days ago it snowed. Despite that, here in the garden at 8,750 feet, it’s time to plant. Garden manager Jason White, a gentle long-haired hippie (who doesn’t see the point of pulling all the dandelions just because they’re branded “weeds”), arrives in bare feet and munches spicy volunteer arugula that has sprouted on the fringes of his plot. A hummingbird preens on a fencepost. And the long light catches on the dandelions, creating tiny fiery suns.

I’ve been working a patch of rocky soil here for seven years, in which I’ve learned that to grow food at altitude is a lesson in non-attachment. The less attachment you have, the less it will hurt when your chard grows as tall as a Lego man, your carrot seeds don’t sprout at all and a deer wanders through on a September night and decimates your beet patch.

20 edible

SOUTHWEST COLORADO SUMMER 2016

Jason White, garden manager for the Telluride Community Garden, contemplates a bumper crop of dandelions.

Photos by Rick Scibelli, Jr.

Scenes from the Telluride Community Garden

22 edible

SOUTHWEST COLORADO SUMMER 2016

It’s also taught me there can be big returns in small victories. The yields may be paltry, but when you eat a hand-grown salad, roast your own potatoes or pick cilantro, each bite is all the more miraculous. Here is a town at the bottom of a shadowy box canyon where the mountains that give it so much beauty also rob it of sunlight and where snow can fall every month. Our growing season, around 50 days, is laughable.

And yet, a group of idealistic townspeople got together about ten years ago and decided to build a community garden in town. They secured funding and a piece of land, carved terraces into the red hillside and obtained permission from the school district to use its water.

A decade later, the garden is still going (now under the umbrella of the San Juan Institute for Resilience and the mellow management of White, a volunteer.) These days, the fence shows evidence of many break-ins and subsequent repairs and the water tank sags under its own weight, but each year people return to share in the victories and hardships of growing food at altitude. In a town where worker housing is mainly constrained to apartments, the garden offers a chance to claim a small patch of earth as your own.

The animals seem to like it, too. Sparrows flit along the fence line, chipmunks build homes in the rocks and magpies hop through beds. The garden’s location on the fringe of town offers a convenient location for deer, and chipmunks get downright chubby.

Gardeners run the gamut, from dread-locked youngsters to middle-aged mothers. Many stay only a season, discouraged perhaps by the amount of commitment required to water each day or the relatively small return on investment. Others come back year after year. All of them have one thing in common: optimism.

Courtney Childe, a fourth grade teacher, signed up for her first time last summer with a friend. The pair aimed high, planting greens, carrots, beets, cabbage, potatoes and even zucchini. Not everything succeeded: the carrots were sad, the zucchini were hollow and all the beet greens were eaten by a deer. But, she said, the potatoes were astonishingly good, and the cabbage supplied her with the best slaw she has ever tasted. She thinks gardening here is amazing, as long as you adjust your standards. “It’s not at all like the gardening I grew up with. You are very limited in what you can grow,” the Pennsylvania native says. “But it makes it all the more satisfying when you do grow something.” Childe and her friend are back this summer. This time, they’ll skip the zucchini altogether, and put those carrot seeds in earlier.

Luke Wells lived in Telluride for a couple years before he knew there was a community garden. He signed up for his first plot this spring. Wells, who worked at an organic farm in Illinois before moving to Telluride, said he jumped on the opportunity to grow food outside.

“When I found out, it was awesome, because all I had been doing was growing herbs on this little balcony,” he says. “It’s tough, with the high altitude and cold nights, but I’m going for things that will hopefully work out. I’m excited. It should be a fun summer.”

When I was a first-time gardener, I learned the hard way that you can’t get crazy ambitious. My first year, I attempted to grow green beans, and the plants came up stunted and anemic-looking.

My squash got blasted by a late freeze and never recovered. And the basil plant I transferred died straightaway. Despite that, that season was punctuated with moments of triumph. My lettuce sprang up happy, and my heirloom red spinach produced delicious leaves of deep purple. It wasn’t until an evening in early July that I was able to harvest enough greens for a salad, but, oh, how that salad made my heart sing! Every green filament that sprouted from the earth, edible, felt like a miracle.

And it’s these little miracles — Jason’s arugula, Courtney’s cabbage, my purple spinach — that keep us going.

White has been gardening here since the beginning. “I got a plot because I was living in a condo, and it was something I felt like I was missing in my life,” he says. “The garden was a way to have a little piece of dirt that felt like it was my own. I could work with shovels and wheelbarrows and YouTube nerdy things like how to plant potatoes and just jump into that world.”

It’s a tiny piece of earth, he says, “but when the birds are chirping and the sun is shining and you have dirt underneath your fingernails, you might as well be an organic farmer in Costa Rica. You tap into the same thing.”

White has also had his fair share of heartbreak. But he’s fine with it, he says, because filling his fridge is only part of why he gardens.

It’s more about digging in the dirt, being close to nature and the human camaraderie.

“If it’s enough to be there and enjoy the process, then the fruits of your labor are a bonus,” he says.

cold pressed + organic + local raw + unpasteurized

Press Colorado Juice Company

presscoloradojuiceco.com

Grand Junction

970 201 7346

ROW CANYON CARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER

Feed your mind for adults, teens & school groups crowcanyon.org | Cortez, CO | 800.422.8975

CST 2059347-50

archaeology tours • field trips • summer camps

Abby, a six-year-old agreeable mule, gets a much-needed alignment from chiropractor Petra Sullwold.

A Chiropractor Walks Into a Barn ...

By Sarah Syverson

L

et’s face it: we all have spines. Some of us have longer, straighter, yogic-like ones, while others have what we could call creatively curved, slouchy, writerly ones. Regardless, all of them are composed of vertebrae piled up like the leaning tower of Pisa until they reach our heavy little craniums. These remarkable vertebral bone bodies encase the nervy wonder of the spinal cord in an effort to keep us upright, mobile, and well adjusted.

Our animal kingdom friends are no different. Though our furry farm compatriots romp around with spines of a more horizontal nature, those spines have the same duty – to protect their precious nervous system channels so that what the brain says to the toes gets heard and understood correctly. Without this amazing network of communication, we’d all be left in a confused ball of panic-stricken craziness. Thank goodness for spines!

26 edible

So, one might wonder what recourse a 12-pound Polish hen has if she throws out her neck diving for a worm at the wrong moment.

Or how about a 120-pound nanny goat after a particularly challenging birth of four kids? (You try having four kids in a barn in March!)

She can’t just sign up for a yoga class or get a massage. That’s not in the farm animal cards.

And what about those enormous beasts of burden? How is a 1200-pound steer supposed to tend to his duties when his back goes out of whack? After all, life in the field can be harsh: gopher holes, bovine roughhousing gone wrong, and sometimes you just tweak your back while pulling away from the feed trough too quickly. It happens.

Your first thought might not be to call an animal chiropractor. But maybe it should be. Durango-based animal chiropractor

SOUTHWEST COLORADO SUMMER 2016

16 international medals for our dry wines in 2016

“Known For Our Sweet –But Try Our Dry” Music and Dinner in the courtyard every Sunday 4 to 7 pm

228 E Main St

Montrose 970-240-1100

Take out available montrosebistro.com

Open Daily 10-6pm, Sunday 12-7pm, Closed Tuesdays WinesoftheSanJuan.com | 505-632-0879 | 233 HWY 511 | Blanco, NM

Take out available

Photos by Rick Scibelli, Jr.

Dr. Petra Sullwold has worked on sentient beings of all sorts since she launched her practice nine years ago. Initially, she practiced on her own barnyard friends. Soon, she found the health benefits and resilience she was seeing in her personal array of creatures (from barn cats to mustangs to Nana the Pig) could be extended to any creature that needed an adjustment.

Certified by the International Veterinary Chiropractic Association, Sullwold went through a 6-month process to earn the credentials to adjust in the animal kingdom on top of her degree in the human chiropractic realm. Adjusting animals is nothing new. It’s been happening since the start of the 20th century, right alongside human chiropractic. An article from the March 2012 Chiropractic Journal of Australia is an anecdotal story from the early 1900s that BJ Palmer (son of DD Palmer, founding father of chiropractic) recounts about a “stud bull that suddenly would not ‘bull’. The bull was adjusted and suddenly began ‘bulling’ again.” May we all experience such great success in our lives.

Though her specialty is equines, Sullwold works on a wide assortment of farm animals in her weekly travels throughout Southwest Colorado – llamas, pigs, goats, sheep, cows, cats, rabbits, and herding dogs to name a few. If it breathes and has a spine, you’ll likely find her there probing along the spinal column, feeling for the next subluxation (misalignment of the vertebrae) to correct.

Today, I accompany Dr. Petra on her rounds. She is called to adjust a 1000-pound steer named Bam Bam who had fallen on a concrete pad a month prior. Keana Smith, Bam Bam’s owner, remarks that “when they’re out of alignment, they become very heavy headed,” meaning cows will carry their head low to the ground, much like humans slouching over with the weight of their craniums, but times ten. After Dr. Petra performs a series of what can only be called Samurai Cow Chiropractic moves…YES! Bam Bam begins licking and chewing, licking and chewing. Smith points out that this is the steer’s way of integrating the adjustment.

To see Sullwold adjust an animal is like watching an Italian chef in the kitchen with his favorite fresh ingredients, singing along to Rigoletto and sipping a glass of fine red wine. She moves with a kind of deep love for the creatures that shows how much she cares for them. It doesn’t matter how scrappy or beaten down or incapacitated they are. She’s like the Mother Teresa of animal spines. Each one is special and interesting to her.

That puffy Polish chicken that tweaked her neck? Sullwold

30 edible

SOUTHWEST COLORADO SUMMER 2016

found her one morning with her head dangling between her little chicken legs, wandering around disoriented and disabled. Dr. Petra thought it couldn’t hurt to give her an adjustment and, in no time flat, Adrian the hen was flapping around just like all the other barnyard fowl.

Sullwold adjusts Adrian by popping her head up as if it were a little ping-pong ball, and the hen looks out at the world as if to say, “Did you feel that? I’m a Supah Star!” Yoda the barn cat sidles up behind Adrian as if queuing up to be adjusted next. It was all I could do to not get behind Yoda and moo like a cow in hopes of some spinal tapping magic making its way to my backward side.

At another farm, there were goats to be fine-tuned. Becky Schleeter’s boar goat, Emerald, had been sashaying around “like a lady, not a goat.” Sullwold does a bicycle move with the goat’s hind legs and points out that the muscle vibrations that occurred indicated a subluxation in the lower spine. Lower lumbar vertebrae, along with the sacrum on animals, are directly correlated to the lower organs, according to Sullwold. Both Schleeter and neighbor Jan Bradbury get their nanny goats adjusted to support fertility and easier pregnancies for their caprines.

As you might imagine, they aren’t all easy customers in the farmyard. Some animals are skittish and unpredictable, especially when in pain. This requires a unique kind of communication and awareness, particularly around horns and hooves and 2000-pound bodies. For most of us, the most dangerous thing we do is drive to work. For Dr. Petra, she regularly cavorts with bulls and donkeys and llamas that spit and kick and throw their weight around. When she approaches an anxious animal, she drops into a kind of Zensensei zone. She stops listening to any humans that may be droning on about farm-life-what-have-you and goes into direct communication mode with the animal. She re-aligned the spinal column of a particularly tense 6-year-old mule named Abby with a case of laminitis, and by the end of the adjustment Abby was eating out of Sullwold’s hand.

There is something deeply joyful in watching these sweet (and sometimes ornery) creatures get adjusted. We so often look at farm animals as solely a source of food or productivity for us. While this may be true as the necessary bottom line, there’s also a heart line that runs through these farmers and ranchers. They adjust their animals not only to increase productivity but also because it gives the animals better, happier, healthier lives. May we all be that well adjusted.

Goat

Both male and female goats can have horns.

Goats’ horns are used for self-defence, but also act as a radiator to keep the animal cool in hot weather

GOATS HAVE SQUARE PUPILS, WHICH MAY IMPROVE DEPTH PERCEPTION REQUIRED FOR CLIMBING STEEP, ROCKY CRAGS

worldwide, the most-consumed milk comes from goats

Caper: a playful romp. From the Latin caper, goat.

Goat cheese is called chèvre, which is the French word for goat

MOHAIR and CASHMERE ARE BOTH SPUN FROM GOAT HAIR

Legend has it that coffee was discovered when goatherds noticed their flocks becoming energetic after eating the berries of the coffee plant.

A group of goats is called a trip...

A BABY GOAT IS A KID

The Greek god Pan, the god of shepherds and flocks, had the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat. He was also the god of theatrical criticism, which is why critics are said to pan a poor performance.

Goats live an average of 15–18 years GOAT’S MILK IS NATURALLY SELFHOMOGENIZED

bambiedlund.com

The Yule Goat, made of straw or wood, is one of the oldest Christmas symbols in Scandinavia (which, oddly enough, is one of the original habitats of the reindeer).

MUSHROOM FIELD NOTES

32 edible

SOUTHWEST COLORADO SUMMER 2016

Illustrations by Dan Hinds.

Text by Rachel Turiel

Chamber Mushroom Music

{edible advertisment}

Chanterelles simmer in a pan of butter, garlic diced walla wallas I stand by the stove Chef. Conductor Remembering the Mozart of her morning strings sizzling beneath me & the hot sighs of our mingled oils

Poem by Art Goodtimes

Infused in Telluride n 2012, Telluride’s Alpine Infusions became the first Ilicensed manufacturer of marijuana-infused products in

Southwest Colorado. Today, they are still blazing the trail right here from the box canyon.

Alpine Infusions has an entire line of locally-produced, non-solvent, low-dose edibles that are available at shops throughout Colorado.

It all began with their flagship edible, the Ganjala (pronounced “Gahn-juh-luh”). Named after the Telluride gondola, Ganjalas are handmade cannabis caramels available in 7 flavors. Craving a chocolate? Try their Fatties (It’s a pun.

Get it?). Prefer a baked treat? Try one of the new KOTO cookies – affectionately named after Telluride’s local radio station, to which a portion of all profits are donated.

“We pride ourselves on using original recipes and crafting all of our edibles by hand,” says Laura Idema, the company’s wholesale manager.

Alpine Infusions, along with its sister company Alpine Wellness, is part of the fabric of Telluride. Whether it’s supporting local sports teams and charity events or hosting community forums, they are involved.

“We love living in Telluride and playing in the mountains.

We believe that our edible line can complement an active lifestyle and also offer a reliable source of relief for those seeking it through edible cannabis.”

Original oil on canvas by Wendy Prather

Considering a Tomato's Green Beginning ... as an Ending Story and Recipes By Caitlin Causey

E

very high-altitude home gardener knows that, come late summer, a gang of hard green tomatoes will remain hanging like bullies on their withered vines.

These fruits are laden with meaning. They’re not only harbingers of fall, but edible lamentations of summer’s end, nurtured tenderly for months and then stalled by the onslaught of late-season freezes.

Homegrown vegetables are precious; we know exactly what it takes to make them. A quick glance at a cageful of green tomatoes reminds us that, despite our best efforts, some will just never become what we hoped. But, oh, these green tomatoes hold a secret of their own: they are not only edible, but as entirely delicious as their sun-ripened counterparts.

So be not weary, home gardener, for though these late fruits will never know the glory of a homemade pasta sauce or the delight of being bitten into like an apple over the kitchen sink, they do harbor

their own singular and standalone potential. Firm, smooth, and often perfectly unblemished, green tomatoes are beautiful. They are tough, too, and will often maintain their dignity through a first frost.

Picking them at the very last minute is key: gather all remaining green tomatoes at once before too much cold turns them into woebegone balls of mush. This practice will inevitably lead to a stock pot’s worth or more of the fruits, depending on the size of your garden.

Perhaps you will end up with several bushels. All the better! Generations of savvy cooks have learned that green tomatoes usually arrive avalanche-style in large quantities, so their recipes have been honed and passed down with this in mind.

Take a day or a weekend to do something wonderful with your green tomatoes, to salute their valiant evanescence and wave the last flag of summer.

Helping to Connect Local Restaurants with Local Growers

STUDIO WORKSHOPS Mancos School of the West offers the unique experience of studio instruction in and around the historic town of Mancos, Colorado, and throughout the Four Corners.

Running March to October, classes are the experience of a lifetime.

Sculpture Painting Fiber Arts Blacksmith Photography

... your customer is looking at this (and it is making them happy)

Pottery Creative Writing Jewelery And more...

Find us on Facebook: Mancos School of the West

Email at: info@schoolofthewest.org www.schoolofthewest.org

edible

SOUTHWEST COLORADO

Reserve your space. Contact Michelle Ellis. michelle@ediblesouthwestcolorado.com 970 234 9586

Green Tomato Relish

T

INGREDIENTS 4 pounds green tomatoes, seeded and diced

angy with a delicate sweet spice, this relish will become your new pantry staple. Stir it into batches of slaw or potato salad, spoon it over bowls of slow-cooked black-eyed peas, or simply use it to top burgers and sausages.

INGREDIENTS (makes five pints) 5 pounds green tomatoes, seeded 2 whole fresh pimiento or red bell peppers, seeded 1 extra-large sweet onion ¼ cup pure kosher salt 2 cups white vinegar (5% acidity) ½-1 cup white sugar 2 small cinnamon sticks 1 anise star 1 ½ teaspoons whole cloves 1 ½ teaspoons whole allspice

METHOD Roughly chop the tomatoes, peppers, and onion. In batches, pulse them in a food processor to mince and then mix together in a large pot. Stir in the kosher salt, cover, and allow to sit overnight. In the morning, heat the vegetables to boiling and cook for about 5 minutes and then drain, pushing out as much liquid as possible.

In a separate saucepan, stir together the vinegar, sugar, and spices. Boil for 5 minutes and then strain out the whole spices.

Combine the vinegar mixture with the vegetables in the large pot, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Ladle hot relish into 5 sterilized pint jars, leaving a half-inch of space at the top before putting on lids and rings. Place sealed jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes plus 1 minute for every 1,000 feet you live above sea level (i.e. 6,000 feet above sea level = 16 minutes).

Consult a trusted resource such as the Ball Blue Book Guide To Preserving before attempting home canning.

Spiced Green Tomato Jam

T

his jam is a revelation. Exotic cardamom and heady vanilla beans team up to make a fragrant treat worthy of jam cookies, cakes, smoothies, or yogurt bowls.

36 edible

SOUTHWEST COLORADO SUMMER 2016

2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon freshly-ground cardamom 1 vanilla bean Juice of one lemon

METHOD Place tomatoes in a large pot and add the sugar, ground cardamom, and lemon juice. Slice the vanilla bean lengthwise to remove seeds, scraping the pod halves with the back of your knife and adding them to the pot. Cook mixture on medium-high heat, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom of the pot so as not to burn the jam, until desired thickness is achieved. Cook time could be an hour or more, and using a stick blender once the tomatoes have softened helps add smoothness.

Spoon a bit of the jam onto a very cold plate. If it gels, it is ready.

Remove pot from heat and allow to cool. Eat jam immediately and store leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer for later use.

Bella Balsamic & The Pressed Olive COLORADO ITALIAN CUISINE FRESH BAKED GOODS BEAUTIFUL GARDEN SEATING PAONIA

“All Natural”

Certified Olive Oils from Traceable Farms Solera Aged Basalmic Vinegars

(970) 527-3203

555 Main St. Grand Junction bellabasalmic.net 970.581.6703

CORNER OF THIRD AND MAIN

Dinner, 5:30 - 9, Tues - Sun

Bakery, noon - 9, Tues - Fri

See you at the Friday T-Ride Farmers Market !

4-7pm @ city Park    

60+ vendors 11 farms Live music Great food

Call (970) 464-5602

Sundays, June 12–Sept. 25 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Downtown Palisade, Colo.

Third & Main Streets

» Start Your Mancos Experience Here!

M

os an c

brewing compa

ny

* Artisan Craft beer *Proud Supporter of Local Market Farms *Beer To Go! 550 970-533-9761 OPEN W-Sun 4-9

mancosbrewingcompany.com

W. Railroad Ave In Mancos

Public House

SUMMER BREWFEST

A benefit for Mancos Valley Resources, Mancos Food Share and the Pay It Forward Fund.

August 13th at Cottonwood Park Beer provided by Mancos Brewing Company and Riff Raff Brewing, wine provided by Guy Drew Vineyards.

SP

ve Music Li

Hello Dollface

Classic Fried Green Tomatoes

T

he best fried green tomatoes start with the best cornmeal, so spend the extra buck or two on the stone-ground good stuff. Avoid tomatoes with red or yellow semi-ripened spots; these will not hold up in a pan of hot oil.

Afrobeatniks Wake Up Laughing Secondhand Strings

Southwest Printing Co.

Information, including ticket prices and ticket outlets available at www.mancosbrewingcompany.com.

INGREDIENTS 4 green tomatoes, sliced ¼ inch thick 1 cup all-purpose flour, divided ¾ cup cornmeal Pinch each of cayenne, smoked paprika, and white pepper Salt and black pepper to taste 1 egg

Music in the Mountains

¾ cup whole buttermilk Coconut oil (for frying)

Classical Music Festival & Conservatory July 8th - 31st, 2016

TICKETS & SCHEDULE CORTEZ DURANGO PAGOSA SPRINGS

BAYFIELD

970.385.6820 OR MUSICINTHEMOUNTAINS.COM 38 edible

SOUTHWEST COLORADO SUMMER 2016

METHOD Whisk together egg and buttermilk in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine ½ cup flour, cornmeal, and seasonings. In a third bowl, place remaining ½ cup flour.

Dredge tomato slices first in flour, then dip each in the egg mixture, and then dredge in cornmeal mixture. In small batches, fry the slices in a skillet of oil ½-inch deep and heated to almost 350 degrees. Keep an eye on the temperature, and do not allow the oil to smoke.

Cook tomato slices until golden, about 2 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels, and serve immediately with crumbled goat cheese or remoulade.

TELLURIDE

C R E AT I V E S E A S O N A L F A R E Proprietor chef Chad Scothorn

IN

H OT E L C O L U M B I A 970.728.1292

THE

M A K E YO U R R E S E RVAT I O N S AT W W W . C O S M O T E L L U R I D E . C O M

housemade menu including sausage, bread, pasta, pastry and dessert Catering and cooking classes just steps away from the gondola open 5:30 to close - sunday brunch 10-1 - patio dining 970-728-9507 221southoak.com

Mesa Verde Country 2000 Years of Local Foods

1870 BEEF:

20 A.D. CORN: Planted by Ancient Puebloans.

Today: Ute Mountain Ute Tribe farms 3,000 acres of Bow and Arrow cornmeal.

1930’s egGs: 258,965 dozen milk: 2,104,339 gallons produced annually. wheat: Blue Bird Flour launched.

established.

Today: 15,000 head raised annually.

1904 McElmo Canyon PEACHES: Win national awards at the Saint Louis World’s Fair.

Today: U-Pick at heritage Orchards.

2015 farm to table restaurants vineyards, pubs, and more...

1972 Cortez Farmers Market opens.

Today: Five local markets, winter through fall.

1,200 Farms 5 Farmers Markets 3 Vineyards/Wineries 4 Brew Pubs 1 Distillery 5 School Gardens

follow our roots mesaverdecountry.com