Que te detiene ... para conocer a un vecino o ayudar a un amigo?

Siga leyendo para averiguar cómo algunas personas están quitando las barreras para levantarse unos a otros para construir una mejor comunidad:

David De Santiago y su esposa Irma viven en una casa cubierta de murales a una cuadra abajo de la Westwood Food Co-op. Si alguien quiere que se le recuerde el poder de hacer crecer un jardín del patio trasero, deben probablemente pasear por este patio. El jardín del patio trasero de De Santiago comienza con una trama que consiste en filas interminables de pimientos - su favorito - y continúa con una segunda parcela de filas  ordenadas de maíz, tomates, guisantes, zanahorias, rábanos, repollo, calabaza y calabacín. En cada pulgada puede crecer un vegetal.Pero la parte del jardín del patio trasero de De Santiago que más  me impresiona es la cerca

La cerca del jardin de David es  toda de madera reciclada y reutilizada, que alcanza la altura de la cintura, y en el medio de cada poste es una brecha lo suficientemente amplia como para adaptarse a una persona de tamaño mediano. Es la cerca más cuidadosamente e intencionalmente "defectuosa" que he visto en mi vida.

Así que le preguntamos a David al respecto la semana pasada: "David, ¿qué pasa con la cerca?"

Él respondió: "Las grandes brechas son para que la gente pudiera ver lo que estaba haciendo, y que vean lo que es posible."

"Pero ¿qué pasa si alguien roba su producto?" Respondimos. Él respondió con su firme sonrisa, una sonrisa que es a partes iguales humildad y sabiduría, "bueno, yo estaría encantado de saber que estaban comiendo algo sano.”

David es un héroe no reconocido de la comunidad, uno de los muchos que nosotros ponemos a trabajar todos los días en Westwood.

Otro vecino es Phil, un jubilado que visitó nuestra oficina sin avisar a las 9 de la mañana después de la primera reunión de Diseño de la Comunidad Westwood Food Co-op hace unas semanas. Me sentó en frente de su portátil y su perro  Raif, y declaró: "Quiero ser voluntario 10 horas a la semana para ir de puerta en puerta y reclutar a cada persona en este barrio para unirse a la Westwood Food Co -op. Esta es una gran cosa, y necesitamos a todos a bordo “.

Al oírle hablar, mi corazón salió de la habitación para ir a dar vueltas de victoria corriendo alrededor del edificio del Westwood Food Co-op .

Phil y David están en buena compañía. Otros miembros de la comunidad se ofrecen como voluntarios para dar clases de cocina saludable, tales como el uso de flores de calabaza para hacer un toque saludable y delicioso en la quesadilla. Y hay vecinos como Karimme que nunca se pierda una sola de estas clases porque quieren mejorar su salud y la salud de sus hijos.

Mi mandíbula gotea al trabajar en Re: Vision aproximadamente una vez al día.

La gente siempre nos pregunta por qué, de todos los lugares, ¿trabajas en Westwood? Hay unas razones prácticas - Westwood era tierra agrícola una vez, por lo que los jardines del patio trasero se hacen especialmente bien aquí. Pero hay una razón mucho más profunda, y es esta: Westwood es una comunidad con un corazón profundamente arraigado. Es una comunidad impulsada por el poder del pueblo. Es una comunidad en la construcción de un modelo de salud y resistencia a seguir por otros.

Durante años, Westwood también ha sido un barrio aislado del resto de Denver. Pero el poder del pueblo que he escrito en esta carta puede extenderse mucho más allá del código postal de Westwood. Y al igual que la cerca de David, necesitamos que nos ayuden a construir una cerca que invite a la gente en lugar de alejarla; una cerca que muestre a otros barrios y ciudades lo que es posible.

Cualquiera de ustedes que leen este boletín puede participar de muchas maneras. Necesitamos voluntarios que nos ayuden a vender membresías de la cooperativa en los eventos de fin de semana o los sábados. Necesitamos voluntarios que nos ayuden a pilotear un mercado educativo de productos  llamado "La Tiendita" (pequeña tienda) que estaremos abriendo en menos de dos semanas. Necesitamos voluntarios para ayudar con la difusión de miembros para el Westwood Food Co-op. Necesitamos que  todos los que lean esta carta se inscriban para ser miembros.

Necesitamos que todos ustedes, a su manera, se unan a nosotros en la construcción de una economía local más inclusiva y saludable; porque los Davids, las Irmas, los Phils y las Karimmes no pueden hacerlo solos.

Tenemos que hacerlo juntos.

Gracias, como siempre, por la lectura y espero verlos enalgunos de nuestros próximos eventos, clases, o en La Tiendita este mes de agosto.

Intensamente

Cat

Estamos en todas las noticias!

Re: Vision ha estado en todas las noticias últimamente! Entravision y CBS Noticieros locales transmitieron historias magistrales en los jardines  de residentes en Westwood. Y no te pierdas la poderosa charla TEDx del  co-fundador de Re: Vision Eric Kornacki en la construcción de economías basadas en el lugar! Póngase al día con estas historias cautivantes de cómo un desierto de alimentos se está convirtiendo en un líder en la construcción de economías basadas en el lugar en Denver.

La Tiendita, su nuevo mercado de productos está abriendo!

A partir de las 9 de la mañana del día 10 de agosto, estaremos llevando a cabo una ceremonia de apertura con un  desayuno para celebrar La Tiendita, un mercado que estamos poniendo a prueba para centrarse en la educación de los consumidores acerca de dónde viene la comida. Estará abierto unos  días de la semana hasta el 24 de octubre de 2015. La Tiendita también será un lugar para probar los productos que desea ver l en el Westwood Food Co-op ... y mucho más. Aprenda más y venga a visitarnos y comprar!

¿Por qué necesitamos $ 5.

La apertura de una cooperativa de alimentos es como tener un bebé. Se requiere una gran cantidad de tiempo, recursos, energía y amor. Nosotros en Re: Vision estamos lanzando una campaña de capital este otoño para recaudar $ 200,000 para ayudar a que nuestro bebé venga a la vida. Hasta este punto, nosotros hemos cubierto casi la totalidad de los fondos necesarios para comprar la propiedad y rediseñar el edificio - pero necesitamos su ayuda para recaudar fondos para obtener la cantidad restante para llenar la tienda y abrir las puertas. Si usted todavía no ha donado a Re: Vision, por favor haga clic abajo para ser un donante mensual. Incluso sólo cinco dólares al mes nos ayudarian a estar mucho más cerca. Gracias, gracias, gracias.

¿Qué se está cocinando en La Cocina?

Julio fue el primer mes en que La Cocina celebró  clases de una sola clase, desde panqueques saludables a cómo preparar ensaladas como plato principal ... y han sido un gran éxito! Este mes de agosto, incluso hay más clases que  ofrecen  voluntarios, miembros de  familia, y potencialmente (con un poco más de empuje) nuestro propio Eric Kornacki. No se demore en inscribirse para tomar una clase, enseñar una clase, o incluso alquilar el espacio para un evento de la comunidad. Para obtener más información, visite nuestra página aquí.

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 

Join Re:Vision in Welcoming Seven New Team Members!

In 2007, Re:Vision started as two cool college kids with one big vision… and one haircut from the 1970’s.

Over the years, Re:Vision has grown like a good idea whose time has come, with over 300 gardening families welcoming one of ten Re:Vision Promotoras into their homes to talk about health, nutrition, and wellness. We recently bought a promising neighborhood lot (i.e. a former junk yard about to undergo a ground breaking metamorphosis). And our commercial kitchen is whirring with trainers being trained and dips being dipped. 
This exciting growth includes seven new members of our team. You can read their formal bios here. To learn surprising facts that they would never share in their bios, read on…

Let’s start by saying, “Dumela,” to Lindsay Kuck (which is Setswana for “hello!”). Lindsay speaks Tswana from living in Botswana for over two years as part of the Peace Corps. Beyond Botswana, Lindsay has traveled to over 23 countries and climbed to the top of over twenty 14,000 ft peaks in Colorado, making her an avid explorer (and skilled number tallier!). Lindsay has also graduated from cosmetology school and brews beer, making her skills in high demand by everyone in the office.  

Becoming our 11th Promotora, Maria Coronado comes to Re:Vision with years of service in the Westwood community under her belt. She is originally from Tizapan el Alto Jalisco and is married with two sons. She is excited to be joining Re:Vision as a Promotora because she can move beyond her volunteer work and earn a living doing her passion of service. 

Re:Vision’s new Program Director, Kristin Lacy comes to us from Guatemala, where she spent the past two and a half years co-founding a non-profit that works with local farmers. When she is not impressing everyone with her mad organizing, evaluation, and Spanish skills, she is crocheting hats and gloves (as we write this, we are hoping she will be fielding staff requests for hand warmers). Kristin loves to dance and once sung in a wedding band, a hobby we aim to see resurface at upcoming events.

Mirna Morales moved from Durango, Mexico to become a resident of Westwood and now a Promotora at Re:Vision. She has two kids and has always loved working with the land and the community. She believes that as a mother, it is her job to help and teach her children every day. 

Megan Lloyd is Re:Vision’s new Food System’s Coordinator, and her first day is today! We didn’t think it would be fair to post too much about her on her first day of work, so instead, we offer a limerick. “Megan Lloyd, we welcome you. Life in Westwood has quite a view. You will love it here, Lindsay makes beer! We bet that you have fun skills too.”

If you stop by the office, chances are that you might meet our new part-time office pup Maya. Maya hails from a reservation in Arizona. She loves all people and treats, she spends her weekends skiing and eating snow, and on sunny days, she skateboards in the park. 

Maya’s caretaker is Cat Jaffee, Re:Vision’s new Director of Communications and Public Affairs. Cat is a National Geographic Young Explorer and spent most of the last decade hunting honey in the South Caucasus. In her free time, she is training to read the news as a volunteer for KGNU (Colorado’s community radio station), and can be found sitting in the Re:Vision office after hours talking to herself through a Blue Yeti mic. 

Re:Vision is growing beyond gardens, staff, and cooperative food spaces – we are becoming a larger community of friends and partners. Join one of our many events, and get to know every one of the incredible characters that make up this powerful network, of wedding singers, parents, and skateboarders.

Re:Vision is a community that believes in putting local leaders first, striving tirelessly to be inclusive, empathetic, creative, and collectively powerful. We are artists and visionaries, organizers and farmers. Are you interested in joining our ever-growing team? Check out some of our team openings here.

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!