Reflections of one year in Westwood

My name is Tyler Schrock, and this week will be my last week at Re:Vision. I am writing to tell you a bit about my story working here and in Westwood, and why I will miss being a part of this community.

I joined Re:Vision as part of DOOR Denver – a service organization focused on placing young adults at urban non-profits. DOOR houses them with other volunteers and challenges them to live simply. For my work, I spend two days each week with Re:Vision, working on the website and helping them with marketing. Two other days are spent at The Bridge Project, which is also in Westwood. The Bridge Project is an afterschool program and summer day camp that approaches education from a social work perspective, focusing more on the needs of kids and families instead of strictly grades or homework.

Over the past 12 months with both of these programs, I have quickly begun to learn about Westwood and the community. Half of my time has been spent with kids, helping with math homework, sitting in as a teachers aid for rowdy classrooms, and helping to prepare snacks for kids between their seven hour school day and evening tutoring. Other days, I was helping with online messaging about backyard gardens, building a new website for the Westwood Food Co-op and learning how Re:Vision has been reaching out to the same families and children that I have been working with as a tutor. Even though I lived a few miles away on West Colfax, I developed a connection to this community and the growth that has been so tangible here.

Here are some things that I have grown to love and will sorely miss as I head back to my home in Ohio:

• Den-Mex food: Green Chile, fresh tortillas and a bit of spice. These are some of my new favorite foods
• A bi-lingual office: My Spanish is pretty rough – I do my best to keep up with the conversations here at the office and around town.
• Our backyard garden: The house where I live is actually part of the Re:Vision backyard gardening program, and I am always amazed by how much our little garden supplies us with a ton of fresh food, although sometimes the swiss chard hit us all at once J
• Seeing the Bridge kids around town: During my bike commute, I often saw kids from the Bridge Project around town, in the park or walking around with their friends. Hearing them call me “Mr. Tyler” will stay with me long after I've left.
• Getting my hands dirty: With a job title involving the website, you might be surprised at how often I found myself out of the office. At different points, I spent assembling furniture for the new kitchen, inventorying thousands of glass eyeballs from the new property or helping with manure deliveries around town.

I’m moving back east to be close to my family, but I will miss the Westwood community and so many folks from Re:vision, the Bridge Project and the DOOR program. Thank you all for your dedication to this work, thank you Re:Vision for making me feel at home, and thank you Westwood for being a charismatic leader in agriculture and community organizing.

I will miss this place.

Our backyard garden- the tomatoes took off

A quick road trip with some of my roommates

Hula Hoops at the Bridge Project

CO-OP REAL TALK: What The Westwood Food Co-op Looks Like

Over the past few weeks, months - even years - you have heard us talk about the W-F-C; the Westwood Food Co-op. And this past June, we announced that after all of this time Re:Vision is working with the WFC to OPEN MEMBERSHIP TO THE PUBLIC! This means that now anyone can become a member of the Westwood Food Co-op.

When we said "opening membership to the public," a few people imagined we were opening up an actually store that looked like THIS.

Or THIS.

Or maybe even THIS.

They were thinking something along the lines of a bright newly constructed food co-op, a community grocery store with locally sourced food, cool new products, and friendly people ready to check out purchases with smiles and recycled packaging bags. 

The reality is, the 74,000 square ft. junkyard that Re:Vision purchased to turn into the Westwood Food Co-op has been going through a major transformation - of clearing out slashed tires and sticky keyboards and scrap metal and rust peels, of knocking down wobbly old warehouses and stripping down buildings to their bones through sweat, and dirt, and muscle power until we made it to THIS...

Open, clear, space with people at the center. And we have a word for this space. It's called the ground floor, or the foundation.

Just getting here, to this near "blank" slate has been beautiful...nay it's been stunning. Neighbors have been walking curiously around a space - that in all of the years they they have lived here - that they are actually seeing for the first time (this junkyard has been closed off to the neighborhood with black tarp shielding junk piles throughout its history). To think that it could now be something else; and not just something but a community hub for food, health, and recreation is exciting but also a great unknown.

What will a new food co-op look like? Will it be bright with colors and a big sign overhead? Will it have a statue of a tomato or an outdoor fruit stands?

REAL TALK.

The answer is, we don't know. No one at Re:Vision and none of the WFC board know what the WFC will look like...but you do. In becoming a member of the WFC you have a voice on what the WFC will look like, its members, its heart, and its soul. 

Speaking as the Communications Director, it has been difficult to explain this, that this kind of membership is a little different than becoming a member at REI and walking into a physical store in a chain of stores and purchasing a purple carabiner. This membership means ownership. This membership means joining a group of people who are excitedly walking around the ground floor and seeing what is possible in a place where it hasn't been possible before.

So join us. We have a number of upcoming meetings and events to begin designing the WFC together. Write down these dates, invite your friends, and let's walk across the ground floor together.

• The Frida Pop-Up Show -  Come to visit the WFC space, connect with community members over art, learn a little bit more. July 11, 4-10pm at 3735 Morrison Rd. Denver, CO 80219. RSVP on Facebook Here.
• The Community Design Meeting (pt 1) -  Come to give ideas and feedback to the Studiotrope team who will be working to compile all input for the WFC building designs. July 16, 4-7pm, at 3735 Morrison Rd. Denver, CO 80219. RSVP on Facebook Here.
• The first Westwood Food Co-op General Meeting -  Learn what it means to be part of the WFC, how board elections will happen, and who are your co-member/owners! July 23, 6-8pm, at 3735 Morrison Rd. Denver, CO 80219. RSVP on Facebook Here. 
• The Community Design Meeting (pt 2) -  Come to give ideas and feedback to the Studiotrope team who will be working to compile all input for the WFC building designs. July 30, 4-7pm, at 3735 Morrison Rd. Denver, CO 80219. RSVP on Facebook Here.

(Here are a few photos from our demolition day to give you a sense of the beauty of tearing something down and Re:Building it back up!).

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

The original version of this post can be found here! 

Welcome to Westwood. This is one of the most culturally vibrant neighborhoods in the Denver Metro Area, with over 81% of its residents identifying as Latinos. Some of the best authentic Mexican food is within a few blocks from the Westwood Food Co-op (WFC)… (here at Re:Vision, we have been really into the huaraches over at Tarrasco’s), and Denver’s favorite Thai and pho spots have been serving up noodles around the corner for years. 

The WFC sits right on Morrison Road, a busy street dotted with neon greens, pastel pinks, and deep blues. From intricate murals on most buildings to brightly painted trash cans on sidewalks, this neighborhood is rich with culture and united in their strong identity of art, history, and diversity. 

So how does a cooperative grocery store fit into all of this? 

Despite the number of tasty restaurants in Westwood, it is actually a food desert—meaning that most of the population has limited access to affordable, healthy food. So yes, you may be able to sit down to a good plate of gorditas, but you will have an awfully difficult time finding a fresh head of lettuce at the grocery store. 

It’s not financially feasible to eat out every meal and the reality is that there are very few grocery stores in the area, with the ones close by closing just this past weekend! The nearest Safeway closed just a few days ago. Because of this lack of access, many residents here suffer from a variety of health risks, with 67% of the community at risk of obesity and diet-related illnesses. As a result the average lifespan of a Westwood resident is 12 years shorter than surrounding Denver neighborhoods. 

The Westwood Food Co-op exists to transform a food desert into a local food oasis. How? Not by bringing in a big name supermarket or by forcing residents to travel long distances to other markets (taking money out of their own local economy), but by working with the neighborhood to cooperatively build its own grocery store from the ground up. This keeps the money, the power, and the identity in the hands of the people—an important model for sustainable communities. 

So sign up to become a member of the Westwood co-op and welcome! Welcome to a community with deep roots and united efforts to grow their own solutions. 

Build It From the Ground Up!

Denverites,

The time has come! The Westwood Food Co-op memberships have officially opened! There has been so much happening here at Re:Vision in the past week. Here is a peak at what has been going on:

If you want to continue your participation in the Buying Club or purchase a CSA share, you must first join the Westwood Food Co-op. This a huge day in Re:Vision and Westwood's history. We invite you to be a part of the story. 

Additionally, we have changed the pick-up days for Buying Club. Take a look below for the new schedule. CSA shares will be available for pick-up at all of these locations as well. A one-stop shop! 
 
Buying Club orders must be placed by Wednesday at noon for the following pick-up days: 

Re:Vision 
452 S. Newton St., Denver, CO 80210 
Friday 4-7pm (FRIDAY CSA SHARES ONLY! NO BUYING PICK-UP)
OR 
Monday 4-7pm 
 
Denver Community Church
1101 S. Washington St., Denver, CO 80210
Sunday 9-1pm 
 
JVA Consulting
2465 Sheridan Blvd., Denver, CO 80214
Monday 3:30-6
 
Alliance Center
1536 Wynkoop St., Denver, CO 80202
Monday 4-6pm 

Announcing Re:Vision’s Annual Photo Competition

Growing gardens, working with the community, cooking up delicious food…the work that we do is mighty photogenic!

And we think your gardens and food is pretty photogenic too!

We are announcing our very first Annual Photo Competition to display everyone’s beautiful work. We have three categories: Best before and after garden shot, tallest plant, and biggest zucchini.

The top winners of each category will be announced on September 10th at the Harvest Festival, and the top three finalists will be recognized publicly. The top winners will receive a surprise prize from Re:Vision.

All submissions can be sent to cjaffee@revision.coop, and the deadline for final submissions will be September 1, 2015.

Here are some of our favorites from 2014.

Meet new staff and join the team!

Hi! My name is Tyler Schrock. As part of a volunteer program, I came to Denver to intern with Re:vision and the Bridge Project who are both doing some amazing work in Westwood. Since joining the team in September, I’ve watched Re:Vision grow and seen a crew of pretty incredible people come on board. Let me tell you about two of our newest staff members:

Josh Sampson digs into the soil at the Westwood Food Co-op

Josh Sampson has been obsessed with soil his whole life. His passion for dirt led him to study urban farming in 2013 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then work with Will Allen at Growing Power Inc. where he learned how to turn depleted soil into black gold. After living in Brooklyn and LA, he moved out to Denver and worked to support the Denver Urban Farmer’s Collaborative, and start the Big Wonderful, and the Friday Night Bazaar. He has recently joined Re:Vision as our new Farm Manager, working to make the Westwood community a leader in organic local foods grown from the most nutrient rich soil in the front range.

Hannah Synder leading Re:Vision Volunteers.

Hannah Snyder is originally from Portland Oregon. She started her career as a community organizer and a political activist working to take on Big Ag in the Southwest, and retire coal fire power plants on the east coast, eventually helping to run a ballot initiative to stop a tarsands pipeline in Maine. Hannah started gardening and farming when she was 11 and never looked back—and now she is happy to through down her roots (literal and metaphorical) in Colorado and at Re:Vision where she is leading the charge as Office Manager. You might have already met Hannah through her incredible work uniting 80+ volunteers at Re:Vision, and if you haven’t, you should join Re:Vision’s cohort of volunteers and come say hello!

Americorps volunteers help manage Re:Vision’s community farms in 2014.

We are also looking for interns to come and join us to work on Social Media, Grant Writing, Food Policy, and become our Garden Manager. These are amazing opportunities to work on the ground and outside with the community. Don’t miss the chance to be out here working with the incredible people of Westwood.

The Buying Club Becomes the Westwood Food Co-op

We've got big news. As many of you already know, for the past year Re:Vision and residents of Westwood have been hard at work to launch the Westwood Food Co-op. This is the first co-op of its kind--started, owned, and operated by a community living in a food desert. 

On June 9th, membership will finally be open to the public. And we want you to be our first members and help launch this incredible initiative. To be the first to know when sign-ups are ready, register here and we will keep you updated on everything right in the moment.

The Re:Vision Buying Club began as a way to lay the foundation for the Westwood Food Co-op. We have spent our time seeking out the best possible farmers, ranchers, and producers for the purpose of building a regional supply chain. We have worked to build a customer base through various drop-off locations in the city. And we've worked to raise awareness amongst incredible supporters like you about local healthy food.

We will continue to do all of this to ensure a successful launch. But Buying Club is about to become so much more. 

Re:Vision will soon be handing over the Buying Club to the Westwood Food Co-op. Because of this switch, we will be changing the structure of the Buying Club to support this positive growth and ownership. When we began, we waived the membership fees to introduce the initial benefits of the Buying Club to a wider scope of customers, including the Westwood community. On June 9th, all Buying Club members will need to become members of the Westwood Food Co-op in order to continue ordering.  

Becoming a member of a co-op is an exciting and important step towards a new type of business relationship. You have the chance to build the first grocery store with a lasting effect in a community that needs it. No longer are you simply a customer. You become a member-owner.  

The Westwood Food Cooperative has the enormous potential to impact the local communities surrounding Westwood, Denver's urban agricultural landscape, and the way the country approaches food co-ops at large. You are the building blocks from which we will collectively create wealth and increase food access in a sustainable way. 

So stay tuned for the June 9th launch! Sign up for more details on how you can become a founding member of the Westwood Food Co-op!

How to love the Rain (Hint: It Involves Chili)

Denverites,

It is difficult to imagine working in your garden or strolling through the farmer's market when it's a cloudy and rainy 40 degrees outside. It's mid May and despite the recent snowfall, we have the warm taste of summer on our lips. But the reality is that I am currently wearing a heavy scarf and much of our staff is covered in muddy compost. 

Don't get me wrong, this rain is so very good for us! We have a city full of thirsty yards and gardens that need some love, and thankfully things are looking as green as the north coast around here. So what do we, as spoiled, sunshine-loving Denver dwellers do in the meantime to cope? Some of us hit the climbing gyms, watch an unhealthy amount of Netflix, work more, finish those six books we started in the dead of winter, and pull back out the flannels and wool socks.

Some of us cook. Many of your would agree that dreary days like these call for comfort food and  the Re:Vision Buying Club is an awesome resource! Included to help you get through this week is a recipe using our ground elk meat from Frontiere Natural Meats. For all the vegetarians out there, substitute some of our pinto beans, black beans, or rice to fill you up! 

Enjoy!
Megan 

P.S. And if all of this didn't cheer you up, start looking forward to our newsletter next week - we've got some big news to share!

Elk Chili

INGEDIENTS
4 tablespoons Golden Organics Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 lbs. Frontiere Meats Ground Elk (thawed)
4 (4.5oz) cans of diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
375 ml red wine
1 large onion, diced 
5 stalks celery, diced 
5 Re:Vision Garden garlic cloves, minced
1 cup water
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chipotle powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon + 1 tablespoon salt 
1 teaspoon pepper 
1 tablespoon Golden Organics Raw Cane Sugar

DIRECTIONS
Heat heavy stock pot w/ 2 tablespoons oil. Add ground elk and cook until meant has browned. Remove meat to separate bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, onions, celery, and garlic. Sauté until onions are translucent and soft. Add 1/2 bottle of red wine to pot to deglaze. Add cooked meat, tomatoes, tomato paste, seasonings, and water. Simmer for 2-3 hours, finish your book, and stir intermittently between chapters. 
I encourage you to add other seasonal veggies to the chili like hearty winter greens! Soups and chilis are great for packing in all kinds of veggies on the verge of going bad. 
Garnish with Rocking W White Cheddar Cheese, hot sauce, cilantro, or any other goodies you can find! 

The Art of a Thoughtful Grocery List

A couple weeks ago, my partner and I were doing our usual weekly grocery shopping at Natural Grocers.  When we went to check out and unload our cart, the cashier said, “You guys stocking up for the month?”  “No”, we replied a little sheepishly, “These are our groceries for the week.”  The total rang up to about $135 and was a plethora of different veggies and fruits (probably around 20 lbs.), a whole organic chicken, a pound of grass-fed beef, two cans of coconut milk, a variety of tea, nuts, peanut butter, milk, bread, and some other stuff I can’t remember.  This was not the first time we’ve experienced amazement from fellow consumers at the amount of groceries we buy.  Almost every week during check out, shoppers (holding their small handful of goodies) look incredulously at our weekly bounty.    

In addition to what we spend at Natural Grocers we also buy $30-$40 worth of goods from Re:Vision’s Buying Club as part of our weekly grocery shopping.  We order from the Buying Club each Sunday some of the goods that we would otherwise buy at Natural Grocers like local organic meat, olive oil or beans.  The prices are even lower than what we pay at Natural Grocers and I know that the money I spend at the Buying Club is helping to create access to healthy food for residents in Denver’s food deserts.  It’s a win-win.  I get the same amazing food from the Buying Club that I would at Natural Grocers and I’m helping to create a local sustainable food system where everyone (not just people like me) can access healthy food.

It’s just the two of us, so why do we need all that food?  Don’t you waste a ton?  Nope! Before we head out to the grocery store, we put in a little time to plan the week’s meals and figure out what ingredients we need to buy to make those meals.   We have very little food waste, filling less than one 20-gallon trash bag per week and composting the veggie scraps or giving them to our chickens.   $175 for a pair may seem outrageous at first glance, but let’s break it out. That’s $87.50 per person per week,  $12.50 per day for each person, or a about $4.16 per meal.  More importantly to us, these $4 meals are made with 100% organic, healthy goods! 

One of the big motivators for me to write this blog is to address the shift in American food culture over the last 30 years.  Namely, Americans are spending less and less of their income on groceries and more on eating out.  As a nation, we spend less on food than any other county in the world.  Incredibly, this March the Commerce Department released data showing that for the first time in US history, sales at restaurants and bars surpassed spending at grocery stores! Jarrod and I budget $100 per month to spend on food and beverages outside the home.  This averages to about 1-2 meals at restaurants, 1-2 happy hours and the occasional coffee.  We work to be cognizant of our consumer habits.  We don’t feel deprived; we allow ourselves the occasional treat if we want to meet up with friends or need coffee to get us through a Monday.  The key phrase here is “occasional treat”.  We choose to make restaurant outings more of a fun experience rather than a regular habit.    

You can make significant cost savings if you shift more of your food budget from restaurants to groceries. On average, Americans eat between 4-5 meals out per week.  The average cost of a lunch out is $10 compared to a home-cooked lunch that only costs $4.   This means that if you eat out just one time less a week, you’ll save about $315 annually! And that’s just the savings from lunch.  This doesn’t take into account the typically more expensive dinner and happy hour spending. Cut one of those outings and you’re looking at much more significant savings.  Not to mention the fact that home cooked meals are usually healthier because you have control over the quality of ingredients and how much salt, sugar, and fat you add.   

“Wow, you guys must feel amazing!” the Natural Grocers cashier said as he took stock of our cart amassed with vegetables.  One of the toughest things about convincing friends and family to eat out less is that it’s nearly impossible to convey the benefits to your physical and mental wellbeing that cooking healthy food affords.   I’m afraid that the majority of people are accustomed to feeling like crap because of what they put in their body, and because they have no point of reference to know differently they don’t see the value in spending more on groceries.  They haven’t experienced how healthy eating can transform the way you feel—more energized, stronger, more alert, positive and focused.  

A phrase I often hear from friends and colleagues when I tell them about my eating and cooking habits is, “I don’t have the time or skill to cook at home.”  It will take some small behavioral changes and a little more time, but you can do it incrementally and eventually it will become second nature to you.  For example, try to set a goal of swapping one of the nights you typically eat out and plan to cook a meal at home.   Cooking is not hard.  Sure, it is harder than driving through Burger King, but there are a billion simple, quick and healthy recipes online that everyone is capable of doing.  You just have to give it a try and get creative about how you make time to cook.  I truly believe the time is out there for most of us, we just need to reexamine our priorities.  Instead of spending hours shopping at the mall or watching movies all night, distribute some of that time to planning and cooking some healthy meals that will ultimately raise the quality of your life.  My spouse and I spend about 20 minutes meal planning on Sundays to create the week’s menu. Most nights, we spend around 30 minutes making dinner and cook enough for our lunch the next day.  It’s likely that this is less time many people spend driving to different restaurants for lunch and dinner, parking, and waiting for their meal.  I also allot a couple weekend hours to make a meal or two to freeze for those weeks we’ll have late meetings and know we won’t feel like cooking when we get home.   

Cooking together is fun and relaxing.  I look forward to coming home and preparing and eating a meal with my partner; we use this time to debrief about our day and unwind.    This is a great time for families to spend together and revive the sacred time of preparing and sharing food that is integral to everyone’s wellbeing and cultivates a healthy relationship with food and family.  The way we eat is a lifestyle and is guided by our ideals and priorities.  We care deeply about the health of our bodies, earth and the ethical treatment of animals and people locally and globally.  If you care about these things too, I recommend cooking more meals at home and eating out less.  Thanks for reading!

 Sincerely,

Claire

P.S. Please check out this excellent article that includes an overview of why buying quality food matters:  http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/01/america-food-spending-less

P.P.S.  I challenge you to try meal and grocery planning this week.  Sit down for 20 minutes before you go out to get groceries and plan some meals for the week and create a shopping list of ingredients you need to buy to make those meals. If you need some inspiration, check out this week's Buying Club list and put in your order today!

It Starts With The Soil

Life is a beautiful thing. 

It can be found everywhere - all around us. The massive mammals roaming the Earth, the countless species of birds with their feathers rustling through the breeze, the labyrinth of complexity that is the rainforest. Yet to me, the life I can’t see is the most inspiring. The most important, the most overlooked. Scientists say in one teaspoon of soil there are over 2 billion - read that again, b-illion!! - living organisms. Speak to any farmer and they’ll tell you soil is what determines how well their crops grow. Sure, weather and moisture play their parts, but without the nutrients, the minerals, the bacteria, fungi, the worms and so forth who all turn those nutrients and minerals into food for the plant roots, no amount of sun and water will make a seed become a productive, fruit-baring plant. 

So we started with the right soil - custom-mixed potting soil containing coconut coir, worm castings, and other micro-organism heaven stuff. We wanted the best to start 20,000 seedlings that would find their way to 400 families’ backyard gardens. The seedlings sprouted wonderfully, reaching out for the lights above and exploring deep into their tiny starter-cells for all the food their roots could find. They couldn’t have looked stronger and healthier. But just as life is beautiful, it is often fragile. Soon after potting up the first batch of tomatoes and peppers, spider mites struck - killing many plants, and our lack of infrastructure led many more to ‘dampen off’ from over watering. 

We started a seedling hospital, and today many look as though they might pull through, but we made the tough decision to cancel the seedling sale. We wanted to ensure we’d have enough plants for those 400 families who will be relying on them for a large percentage of their food come harvest time.

We’re bummed to have to pull back on the 3rd annual seedling sales, but we know its the right thing to do, and we’re excited about the response of our community of supporters so far. Already one gentleman has taken it upon himself to go around to nurseries and get donations of plants - what can you do to help us ensure we have the best possible plants for our families? Thank you for reading. Thank you for supporting. Thank you for donating.