STANDARD BLADE B R I G H T O N
SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1903
75cI
VOLUME 119
Issue 36
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 8, 2022
Denver startup Visitors learn about provides bird banding at Barr Lake State Park
opportunity for organic farmers BY LINDSEY FORD ROCKY MOUNTAIN PBS
Meredith McBurney takes an excited first look at a bird she will soon be banding and measuring.
PHOTOS BY NINA JOSS
The Bird Conservancy of the Rockies conducts banding at five stations across Colorado and Nebraska in the fall BY NINA JOSS SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
As the early morning sunlight began to peek through the trees, Linda Grein helped her mother Sue Popp take a seat inside a small wooden pavilion at Barr Lake State Park. Nearby, scientists and volunteers were gently trapping migratory birds — many of which were about to begin a long journey to Central or South America, and others that were SEE BIRDS, P3
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies volunteers Susan Rosine (left) and Cynde Barnes (right) label envelopes that hold feather samples for the Bird Genoscape Project.
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OBITUARIES LOCAL CALENDAR SPORTS LEGALS CLASSIFIEDS
2 3 8 9 27 30
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HEALTH FALL 2022
Guide In this week’s paper!
Local farmers can have many different revenue streams, but they’re not all created equal. Some farmers may wholesale their produce to grocery stores or, perhaps they’ll sell directly to restaurants. But according to two local farmers who recently spoke with Rocky Mountain PBS, the real money is in farmers’ markets. Some studies show that farmers make “40%-70% more for their products at the market than selling them through wholesale outlets.” But farmers’ markets come with challenges, too. For one, the time and energy to travel and set up at the market is time and energy spent away from the farm. Secondly, hours and location are most often controlled by the market, not the individual vendors. A new start-up called Pinemelon, launched in April of this year, offers a chance for participating farmers to extend their reach to customers by cutting out the middlemen. Pinemelon is the sister company to the online grocery store Arbuz, based in Kazakhstan. Currently, the only location in the United States is in Denver. Its 30,000-square-foot warehouse contains pantry staples and local produce and meat that it can deliver to anyone in a half-an-hour radius. Christin Mihon, co-owner of Tasty Acres Colorado, said that before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, her family’s farm made the biggest profit by selling to restaurants. But when the pandemic hit and restaurants shut down, Mihon was in a difficult spot financially. Now in partnership with Pinemelon, Mihon said she could sell her produce SEE FARMERS, P9
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