Fun fact: In 2021, Gov. Jared Polis proclaimed The Arts Campus at Willits’ Sept. 24 birthday an official Colorado holiday. To celebrate its third turn around the sun, the venue has planned a trio of concerts and its first live auction, which runs through Monday, Sept. 30.

It’s a testament to the spirit of diverse, community-oriented programming the organization has pursued since it opened its doors three years ago.

“When I was hired, I was presented with this vast programming wheel that allowed me to book anything, and I think in three years, I’ve realized I can still keep doing that,” said Kendall Smith, director of programming. “The biggest thing I learned is that while we’re 20 minutes away from a resort town, we’re a world away too. At our core, we are a community space for the residents in the midvalley and are programming for them.”

For many, The Arts Campus at Willits fills a void created by rising prices in Aspen. Because 65% of its budget relies on donations, ticket prices are lower and more accessible than Aspen standards. The team credits the generosity of its donors for making that possible.

The idea of opening a new venue downvalley came in 2001, originating with architect Michael Lipkin. Lipkin was the leading creator of Willits, a subsection of commerce and condos in Basalt, and had the foresight to set aside a parcel of land for an arts center.

The parcel’s first venue — The Temporary — opened in 2017. After two years of operation, nonprofit stakeholders and venue officials accumulated enough donations to open the permanent brick-and-mortar venue known as The Arts Campus at Willits. For a price tag of $8 million, it turned into a 10,000-square-foot structure featuring a hall that holds up to 400 attendees for standing room only or 240 seated.

The Arts Campus at Willits broke ground in 2020 and opened in the summer of 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With the support of its patrons and the local community, it has emerged as an important pillar of the region, filling a need in the ever-expanding midvalley. The facility is known and appreciated for presenting a mix of performing arts, entertainment, and provocative programming that celebrates community, creativity, and critical thinking. 

“I think Basalt had gotten used to getting their arts and culture in Aspen. And as a result of that, the cultural identity of Basalt sort of didn’t exist,” said Executive Director Ryan Honey. “I look at what’s happened the last few years, and for the people that live here, TACAW has become part of the identity of their community. It’s been fun to see people take ownership and feel pride in this facility, nonprofit, and institution.”

Another aspect of the center is that the organizers obtained a Randy Udall Energy (TRUE) Pioneer grant to build a 64-kilowatt solar array on its roof, thus making it an all-electric, energy-efficient building and the nation’s first net-zero performance center. It’s an important part of the venue’s mission and a point of pride that Honey and the team hope will encourage other facilities to go green.

“It’s an important part of our DNA. We’re encouraging anyone to learn from us and use us as a model if they want to,” Honey said. “Our dream is that we could be a part of a national network of net-zero tours. Artists could go around the country in electric vehicles and could have carbon-free touring. We just have to figure out how to make that happen nationally.”

Honey and Smith are excited about what the next three years and beyond will bring, but for this week are focused on celebrating with their community. The celebrations kick off Wednesday with Supper Club & Show featuring Allan Harris’s “Jazz, Poetry & Groove.” As usual, guest chefs Julia and Allen Domingos from Epicure Catering will present a menu featuring seasonal ingredients.

“It’s great when the food is as good as what Epicure puts out there,” Honey said. “And then you just get to slide right into the theater and go see the show. I mean, it’s the easiest date night in the world.”

Denver-based electronic, funk, and jam band SunSquabi takes the stage Friday before heading to Red Rocks to open for Big Gigantic in a show that Smith said will be a “really high-energy dance party.”

Saturday, Mexican-American rock band Los Lobos closes out the week, playing The Arts Campus at Willits for the first time. Smith said it took him three years to book the band, which had long been a dream of some of the founders.

“We had conversations about the vision for this place, ‘How cool would it be if we could have Los Lobos play?'” Honey said. “And, here we are. We’re fired up.”

For more information and tickets: tacaw.org.

This may be hard to accept — but you need to start an environmental impact study (EIS) as soon as possible (ASAP). This isn’t an academic debate; it’s not about the political power of who sits at the council table. Colorado Highway 82 is a matter of mobility and public safety. Part of Highway 82 is within Aspen city limits, another 80 miles is not and 70% or more of Aspen’s workforce lives on the “other side” of Castle Creek.

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) work within a legal framework on all their projects from planning to funding through construction and later maintenance of their assets. They consider the needs of the traveling public — their safety first and then other considerations: travel patterns, future growth projections, mobility options, connectivity with destinations, spillover effects on other roads, pedestrian safety, construction cost, mitigation and staging impacts, least disruptive property condemnations, and lengthy legal challenges.

CDOT and FHWA have obligations to use their dollars wisely and count the billions of dollars they have invested into Highway 82 from Glenwood to its terminus in Lake County. Transportation dollars are highly competitive; cost, benefit, practicality, and feasibility are reviewed at state and federal levels.

Regardless of vote this November, other than approval of the ’98 Entrance to Aspen (ETA) Record of Decision (ROD) for a Preferred Alternative (PA) a new EIS will be required. Unlike all other ideas for the entrance, the ’98 PA only requires a re-evaluation process, not an EIS because 75% of it has already been built with federal approval and mitigation. Seeking funding to build it could begin now.

But if Aspen City Council’s goal has shrunk to just replacing the two-lane Castle Creek Bridge with a two-lane bridge, an EIS will be required to determine the least impactful and most beneficial way of replacing a two-lane bridge with a two-lane bridge.

An EIS must ask — what is the fastest way to build and what way will cost the least? Which offers a redundant wildfire emergency evacuation route after construction? Which approach disrupts transit and the traveling public the least? Which construction method is most difficult to stage? Understand CDOT and the FHWA cannot justify taking the family’s home “under the bridge” or other property along the route without the legal justification of a new EIS ROD PA that answers those and other “real impact” questions.

Additionally, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) doesn’t allow separating construction of permanent infrastructure from future infrastructure components known to be needed to make the alternative work. CDOT and FHWA have been to this rodeo before. “Trying to bifurcate” the known needs and impacts to make a three-lane remotely viable after construction was detailed in the Jacobs Engineering report.

Segmentation of the Castle Creek Bridge as only “one piece of Highway 82 infrastructure” — which in totality needs to provide redundant wildfire emergency evacuation routes, reduce head-on collisions with lane separation, and enhance mass transit services in keeping with the mobility goals memorialized in the ’98 PA — would lead to lengthy lawsuits that CDOT only avoids with an independent unbiased NEPA EIS.

Same goes for the “split shot” and its variations or new alternatives that might solve the Highway 82 equation in a way that makes everyone happy. The Friends of Marolt will, of course, sue again if a new EIS ROD PA uses the Marolt property. Federal courts take their time, and delay is victory for some.

So please just start an EIS now. Personally, I hope the PA is approved in November, but it may not, given the misinformation and money the Friends of Marolt will spend and that some council members hope for its defeat.

Sixteen months have passed since this council took office — traffic was the worst in memory this summer. They inherited a $10 million projected budget in 2023, so please whatever Entrance you want start an EIS now, get the process moving. A “no” vote on the PA simply does not imply a NEPA-free approval of else.

Rachel Richards is a former Aspen City Council member and is currently an Aspen resident.

A bull escaped the Snowmass Rodeo grounds and roamed a nearby neighborhood Wednesday.

The bull slipped through a fence as cowboys were unloading animals for the Wednesday night Snowmass Rodeo, Snowmass Police Chief Brian Olson said.

“They put up fencing to direct (the bull to) where they’re going to store him for the night,” Olson said. “And he probably got through the break in the fence somehow.”

The bull entered the Horse Ranch Subdivision of Snowmass, according to a Pitkin County alert. The Snowmass Police Department actively used a drone to locate it.

Cowboys rode through Snowmass looking for the bull immediately after its escape, but had to return to the grounds Wednesday afternoon to prepare for the rodeo night.

The police department hadn’t seen the bull for 90 minutes as of 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. The rodeo cowboys were instructed to lasso the bull once they found it, Olson said.

“They are very proficient at getting bulls out of pastures and fields and stuff like that,” Olson said.

The bull has still not been caught as of 8 p.m., Olson confirmed.

“(He’s) enjoying his freedom,” Olson said Wednesday night. “No change … (He’s) still out there somewhere.”

Four major Front Range water providers are concerned that the Colorado River District’s plan to purchase the Shoshone water rights on the Colorado River will cut into their supply, despite the Western Slope entity’s insistence that it will maintain the status quo through its acquisition. 

The Colorado Water Conservation Board will hold a hearing in September to formally address the providers’ objections. 

The Shoshone water rights — among the oldest and largest non-consumptive rights on the Colorado River — are tied to the hydroelectric plant located along the Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon. The Colorado River District, a government entity that represents Western Slope water users in 15 counties, is leading the effort to purchase the rights from Xcel Energy for $98.5 million. 

The rights — which include a 1905 senior right tied to the Shoshone Power Plant and a secondary, junior right established in 1929 for other water users, including Front Range providers — are among the oldest and largest non-consumptive rights on the Colorado River.  

“The Shoshone water rights, although physically impacting a relatively short reach of stream, because of its magnitude and location of operation, can have an effect on a large part of the entire state of Colorado,” according to a May staff memo from the Colorado Water Conservation Board. 

In acquiring the rights, the Colorado River District has repeatedly stated its intent is to maintain the status quo for all water users — including agricultural uses, municipal water providers and recreational flows — regardless of what happens with the power plant (as the current rights are tied to its operation). 

“It is our intent to — preserve the historic flows commanded by the Shoshone water rights, not to enlarge them,” said Matt Aboussie, the district’s communications director. 

As of July 1, the district has raised around $57.2 million toward the nearly $99 million price from the state legislature, its board and the various Western Slope municipalities and utilities it serves. While it was granted $40 million from the Inflation Reduction Act during the final days of the Biden administration, these funds have been tied up under the new presidential administration. 

Aboussie said that the district remains actively engaged with federal elected officials, namely Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Jeff Hurd, to unfreeze these federal dollars. 

Currently, the Colorado River flows around 166 miles through Grand Lake, Kremmling and Grand Canyon before it reaches the Shoshone Power Plant. Reaching the plant, water is diverted, used to generate electricity and returned to the river. 

The four Front Range providers — Denver Water, Northern Water, Aurora Water and Colorado Springs Utility — have also expressed a desire to maintain the historic flow regime, but object to the numbers the river district has assigned to the flows. 

The providers claim the district’s analysis erroneously expands the current Shoshone Rights, which they say would impact their ability to provide water to their Front Range consumers.  

“If, as the River District asserts, the status quo will be maintained, this acquisition can be a win-win for both the Front Range and the West Slope,” wrote Marshall Brown, Aurora Water’s general manager, in a June 9 letter to the Colorado Water Conservation Board.  “We have significant concerns that the methodology used to quantify historic use for both the senior and junior Shoshone rights overstates those amounts, effectively expanding the rights and altering the historic flow regime.”

Colorado Springs Utility said the expansion of Shoshone’s rights could reduce the water available for diversion and, in turn, impact its rights on the Blue River and interest in the rights for the Homestake Reservoir project. 

“Any reduction in water supplies currently available for a growing community like Colorado Springs results in increased reliance on water derived by changing agricultural water rights in other basins to meet their customers’ demands and limits our ability to fully develop our currently decreed Colorado River basin supplies,” according to the Utilities’ June 9 letter written by Michael Gustafson, Colorado Springs’ senior attorney. 

The Front Range providers believe the district’s analysis could overstate historic use by around 36%, according to the Aurora Water letter. 

The current proposal from the Colorado River District before the Colorado Water Conservation Board is to reach an instream agreement with the state for environmental use as a part of the acquisition process. This agreement seeks to preserve and improve the natural environment near the plant, regardless of its operation, according to the district’s May application to the board. 

In May, the water board launched a 120-day deadline to make its determination, which includes a period to contest the acquisition of this instream flow use. 

Within this period, the four Front Range entities requested that the Colorado Water Conservation Board hold a hearing to ensure the acquisition does not harm current water uses. The board granted the hearing at a special meeting on Tuesday, July 1, and will schedule the proceeding for September. 

In a July 1 statement, the Colorado River District said it takes the contests around the historic use analysis seriously, but it expressed concerns that the Front Range providers are asking the board to “encroach on the jurisdiction of water court.”

“Colorado’s water courts, not the (Colorado Water Conservation Board), have the exclusive legal authority to determine the historical use of a water right in the context of a change case,” Aboussie said. “That process is specifically designed to protect all water users through a rigorous, fact-based legal review.” 

Colorado’s Water Court would be the final stop for the district’s acquisition of the rights, which it is aiming to complete by Dec. 31, 2027. 

Aboussie said the district remains committed to having transparent and open conversations around the providers’ concerns through the “appropriate legal channels that are designed for these issues.”

“We will not, however, buckle to political pressure to diminish the flows in the Colorado River to create a windfall of additional water for unfettered growth in the metropolitan Front Range,” Aboussie added. 

As invasive species are increasingly discovered in critical Colorado watersheds, Pitkin County water sources like Ruedi Reservoir have been able to thwart their advance thanks to several initiatives that Colorado Parks and Wildlife undertakes and plans to expand. 

Pitkin County commissioners on Tuesday heard an update about “aquatic nuisance” species from CPW staff. 

New Zealand Mud Snails and zebra mussels are two aquatic nuisance species that CPW is tracking and actively trying to prevent from entering watersheds across Colorado. Through inspections on motorized watercraft at boat ramps, CPW has been able to prevent infested boats from entering the water. 

The snails, however, have been found in the Eagle River and Brush Creek, while the mussels were found in Highline Lake and De Beque Canyon. 

The aquatic nuisance species can be spread through transportation from one body of water to another via boats, kayaks, rafters, and other watercrafts. A large part of CPW’s focus is on educating watercraft recreationists that their vessels need to be “cleaned, drained, and dried.” 

“We have a big blurb up there on the ‘clean, drain, and dry’ process, the procedures, the protocols on what people should be paying attention to,” said Matt Yamashita, district wildlife manager for CPW. “We recognize a lot of our non-motorized users are not just sticking to the Roaring Fork. So we’re just trying to make people aware of what that is and what the vulnerabilities are.”

According to CPW staff, zebra mussels, in particular, will not survive on boats that are cleaned, drained, and dry for more than 72 hours. Mud snails present a harder challenge. 

“We’re planning on reaching out to some of the local shops that rent some of these craft,” said Yamashita. “Just to make sure that everybody’s on the same page, and get word out however we can.”

At the joint meeting with CPW, Pitkin County commissioners were able to ask questions of the CPW staff about the nuisance species. Commissioner Greg Poschman noted that the motorized requirement for vessels to be inspected for nuisance species could be an issue, and that CPW should consider expanding its inspections. 

“If somebody brings a 20-foot sailboat up to Ruedi, they still have to get inspected, right?” asked Poschman. 

According to CPW staff, if they are entering the reservoir away from the main boat ramp, they are not inspected. 

“That’s a problem,” replied Poschman. 

The Aspen Center for Environmental Studies hosted its annual Raptor Fair on Wednesday at Hallam Lake in Aspen. Numerous birds, including turkey vultures, hawks, and eagles, were on display with handlers for the public to learn about.

For more on ACES and its abundance of summer programming, visit aspennature.org.

acolbert@aspentimes.com

With July 4 looming, Aspen saw the highest number of visitors Tuesday in nearly six months.

That’s according to influent flow data, which measures the amount of wastewater used in the Aspen Consolidated Sanitation District. Influent flow measures the volume of water running down a drain in a house — between sinks, toilets, showers, washing machines, and more, explained Nathan Nelson, who runs the district’s wastewater treatment facility. 

Wednesday tallied 1.428 million gallons of wastewater in the district, which strays slightly from Aspen’s limits but is a good representation of the wastewater use of the community, according to Nelson.

On average, Aspen residents each use about 70 gallons of water per day, which is lower than the roughly 100 used by the general public in the United States, Nelson said. At 70 gallons per person, per day, 20,400 people would’ve used water in the district on Tuesday. 

The last time visitation was this high was on Jan. 3, 2025, when the district recorded 1.485 million gallons of influent flow — about 21,214 people in town using the same conversion.

On July 1, 2024, however, the community used 1.637 million gallons of wastewater, an estimate of roughly 23,385 people, about 3,000 more than this year. 

To account for the still increased visitation, Aspen Police will increase their on-duty police presence from four or five to 16 officers on July 4. The county will increase from 10 to 12 deputies on duty.

Aspen Assistant Police Chief Bill Linn said they expect increased calls for assistance due to the increased visitation, but not following any particular police trend. 

“We just have the normal police calls that you’ll have any week, but it’s compounded by the number of folks in town,” he said.

With more people in town also comes a higher risk of human-caused fire. Though buying and using explosive, airborne fireworks in Colorado is illegal, the city still sees fireworks used by the public on the holiday.

Parker Lathrop, Pitkin County Chief deputy of operations, said minimizing fireworks use is about education. 

“They might be from the state of South Carolina, where there are firework stores all over the place, and that’s almost part of the culture,” Lathrop said. “Well, here it’s just different. We have a different risk.”

Last July 4 he said the public called in six firework reports in the county, four in the city, and one in Basalt. That’s compared to four reports in the county on July 4, 2023, two in Aspen, and one in Basalt at 2 a.m. July 5. 

This July 4, Lathrop expects five to 10 local firework reports, based on historical data. 

Individuals could be charged for using fireworks illegally, though police at first seek to educate, Lathrop said. But if fireworks start a fire, those responsible could be charged with arsen depending on the situation, Lathrop said. 

“The consequences (of) a fire (from) a firework can be substantial,” he said.

Pitkin County on June 27 entered a Stage 1 fire restriction, which prohibits use of all fireworks, including those that do not explode or leave the ground, which are normally legal in Colorado. The full list of restrictions — which also restrict campfire to designated fire grates, and more — can be found at on the Pitkin County website.

The city of Aspen has received an “A” score for the second year in a row for its excellence in committing to climate action initiatives.

The scores are awarded by CDP, a global nonprofit that operates the world’s only independent environmental disclosure system. Aspen is part of only 15% of 973 cities that earned an “A,” making it one of only 112 cities worldwide with a top score in 2024.

“Earning an ‘A’ score from the CDP represents the success of dedicated work by staff across all city operations,” Baker Casagrande, city of Aspen sustainability analyst, said in a press release. “It also reflects our community’s long-standing support for climate action through impactful municipal projects.”

The “A” is bestowed to cities that meet high sustainability standards and publicly report key environmental data. This data includes a city-wide emissions inventory submission, a climate risk and vulnerability assessment, and a published climate action plan.

Aspen has been reporting data to CDP since 2015, coordinating efforts across multiple departments including:

• Engineering: stormwater improvements and river health projects
• Parks: wildfire prevention and urban forest management
• Environmental health, parking, and streets: additional electric vehicle charging stations and fleet transition planning
• Community development: sustainable building and waste programs
• Police department: adoption of electric vehicles
• Utilities: renewable energy and intelligent metering initiatives

The city developed these initiatives to reach its science-based climate targets, which aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 63.4% by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. 

“Aspen remains committed to reducing emissions, enhancing climate resilience, and continuing the work necessary to meet its long-term climate goals,” the press release states.

Those interested in learning more about Aspen’s climate goals can visit aspen.gov/climate.

Comedian Brittany Brave and Friends will deliver a full hour of her fearless standup at Snowmass Live’s Comedy WKND! from 7:30 to 9 p.m. July 13. 

And yes, “Brave” is truly her name, a nod to her Italian roots. Lately, Brave has been touring across the country as the headliner of her one-hour “I Have a Secret” tour. 

“It’s been awesome,” Brave said of her first national tour as lead performer.

Although Brave has only been to Colorado one time before, she already loves it. It’s part of Brave’s main mission to continue to tour, professing, “I love standup more than anything.”

A New York and Miami-based comedian who has made a splash on the comedy scene for the past seven years, Brave has been acknowledged as an Emerging Talent by TBS in 2022 and NY Comedy Festival Comic to Watch in 2024.

As part of her upcoming Snowmass show, Brave will incorporate some of her tour material. Future audience members and fans can share their deepest, darkest secrets, and…

“I will share their secrets with the audience and give advice,” Brave said, allowing people to remain anonymous or speak up, whatever the secret-sharer prefers. 

The Collective Snowmass will be collecting these undisclosed tidbits over the next week and a half leading up to the festival, including a pop-up asking people for their input at the Snowmass Gondola on July 12.

“It will be playful and fun, and we will have tiny microphones,” Director of Plaza Venues and Events Sarah Sanders said, estimating the pop-up will begin around noon. 

Brave had Comedy WKND! on her calendar since December, when she headlined the Collective Snowmass’ 2024 “Ho! Ho! Ho! Holiday Show” and was so entertaining that Sanders invited her back in a larger role.

“I love the crowds, I love the team. I loved Snowmass so much, they invited me back for the Comedy WKND! It’s so cool to see what Sarah Sanders and her team are building. It’s growing, and now it’s a whole long festival,” Brave said.

Brave is also the executive producer of “Muchacha” — a short film documentary about the Miami comedy scene set to be released in 2026.

Brave’s comedy chops have been inspired by Joan Rivers, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and most of all her mother, Karen — “the funniest person” Brave knows. 

The event will be hosted by comedy expert Christie Buchele and feature local comedian Julie Gillespie, taking place at the Collective Hall space located at 49 Wood Rd., Snowmass Village.

Families in Aspen seeking financial relief for childcare costs have until Aug. 1 to apply for assistance through the city’s childcare financial aid program. 

The program, offered in partnership with Kids First, is designed to support working families by easing the burden of childcare expenses.

Kids First, a city-run early childhood resource, focuses on expanding access to high-quality, affordable childcare across the community. Recognizing the strain that childcare costs can place on working households, the organization provides need-based financial assistance as part of its broader mission to support family wellbeing and early childhood development.

Approved applicants will begin receiving assistance starting Sept. 1.

Families interested in applying can find more information and the application form at www.aspen.gov/316/Financial-Aid. 

For additional questions or support during the application process, Kids First can be reached at 970-925-5363 or via email at kristy.grau@aspen.gov.

A chef or restaurateur will endeavor to tell a story or build on a theme when writing the season’s new menu. A source of inspiration for me in menu design stemmed from the ingredients’ “proximity to the soil.”

In the restaurant kitchens I’ve operated over the past 20 years, I referred to our relationships with the farmers and cultivators for the best ingredients. Then wrapping a menu around those choice products. I recall an interview with Thomas Keller when he was asked about his creativity. His response was that he is not a creative. He is simply inspired by his team, staff, environment, and produce. This has been my mantra ever since: “Know your farmer, know your food.”

I spent many a day in the recent past scurrying around the Aspen Saturday Market, elbowing my way through the streets like a mosh pit, trying to locate our restaurant’s order for dozens of free-range eggs from Rock Bottom Ranch. Mine was a mad dash to get back to the kitchen before the lunch rush kicked in. Arriving at the stall, the interaction with the cashier during my egg pickup was brief and matter-of-fact — as usual in the business. My sense of urgency was reinforced by my “hurry up and wait” stance in the queue. The only thing setting me apart from all the people in line was my crispy white cook’s shirt and scuffed Troentorp clogs. It was more of a mission than a hangout.

These days, now that I find myself on the other side of the kitchen, I have the luxury to stop and talk — to get to know our Valley farmers, curators, makers, and growers.

A culinarian knows the joy of conversing with those who hold the knowledge of how things grow. More importantly, to get a chance to highlight their produce on the menus around town. Chefs will build recipes around a certain ingredient just to make it the star.

As I approached the Aspen Saturday Market from Hunter and Hyman, the smell of fresh popcorn was in the air. I noticed all the families and children at the stand. Next to this, a well-placed baby goat petting enclosure. Strategic goats always get the kids’ attention.

This was to highlight the rotational grazing paddock design from Eden Vardy’s Farm Collaborative near Brush Creek. A custom built, open-bottom chicken coop on wheels is another toy in the barn to exemplify the rotational method. Doing more with less seems to be working. I learned that his rhubarb is just coming in through that clay-rich soil. Challenging to till, but once saturated, does hold moisture very well. I was told it’s a balance between tilling and irrigation to achieve the results.

I continued through the stalls until I reached Abundant Life Organic’s incredibly effective and potion-controlled stall. I first met Gus, who was busy caring for the volume of patrons and the goods. His best pick of the table was the Haricot Vert. This reminded me of a buttery French green bean Almondine dish I grew up with in New Orleans. I briefly bantered with Gus about the connection to Cajun Zydeco music and the petite French legume.

Legend says the Cajun “patois” for Haricot was translated to “zy-de-co.” I’d imagine that the snappy pace of shucking the stems off of the bean had an inborn cadence to the fingerwork. A time signature of quickly working through the day’s harvest gave way to a rhythm, timely enough to play an accordion and fiddle to.

Abundant Life Organic is located in Hotchkiss, 10 miles near Paonia, Colorado’s wine country. I ran into Jeff Armstrong on my way out. Jeff developed his cultivation process in the volcanic soil of Hawaii. Interesting to hear that Hotchkiss and Paonia soil are of volcanic loam as well. The porous nature of this foamed rock material provides nooks and crannies for the microbiome to thrive. The results of good bacteria and Jeff’s experience together make today’s market a robust harvest. 

Welcome to summer, come meet your farmers.

Good people, honest people, hardworking individuals, taxpayers are being rounded up and deported. OK, I get it! Anyone who crossed the border illegally committed a crime. But, certainly there’s a scale (Lady Justice does hold a scale), to the levels of the crime. Does a jaywalker go to jail? Does someone who shoplifts a can of tuna deserve the same sentence as a bank robber? Surely not. Our policy should be simple; and given today’s technology is relatively easy to implement, when someone is detained who it turns out is here illegally, a simple quick background check is made. Do you have a criminal record? Have you paid taxes, etc.? Assuming, none of these are “criminal,” i.e., you have been arrested for robbery, etc., and if the individual should be released with the caveat “we’ll get back to you, review your situation at a later date; right now, we have more important individuals to pursue.”

In American law there is a statute of limitations. Exceptions are murder, treason and terrorism. If you commit a robbery, or any other crime that is not a “capital crime,” there is a statute of limitations, 5 years. The same statute should be available to law abiding, hardworking, illegal immigrants. Honest, hardworking, yes, illegal immigrants, have and are making a contribution to America. Yes, they broke the law by entering America illegally. But, as our President is fond of saying, “Let’s have some common sense!”

Jeffrey Kallenberg

Aspen