This weekend marked the beginning of a very exciting project. James and I have been looking to start a sustainable agriculture project involving fungi for quite a while now, and lucky for us, Jackie’s Farm came along. The farm is located just east of Denver in the community of Brighton, Colorado. There is a lot of history in this town. It came about as the fur trade expanded into the West. At first, it was just a stop along the trail from Fort Bent and Fort Laramie, Wyoming. The town actually developed in the late 1860s at the junction of the Denver Pacific and the Denver, Marshall and Boulder railways. Now, Brighton is a combination of the old and new. Just over the hill from the farm is a fairly new, large housing development. The juxtaposition of this town is quite extreme. What James and I don’t understand is why a resource like Jackie’s farm is so underutilized by the surrounding community? We are about to change that.

When I first set foot on Jackie’s farm, I got very excited. As an ecological designer, I am always trying to find underutilized resources and put them to use. I see the perfection of Nature’s cycles all around me everyday, and can’t help but to stare in awe at the complexity of Life itself. Jackie’s farm is nature in harmony, and as I looked around I noticed a multitude of resources. In fact pretty much everywhere I looked, I saw more and more underutilized resources. But beyond the greenhouse structures, potting benches, and 55 gallon steel drums, animals are everywhere. Cows, chickens, yaks, bees, turkeys, worms, geese, and horses all doing their part to sustain her family. But the best part about the animals for us it that they are constantly producing some of the best resources around… manure! (An alchemist is someone who can turn dung into gold)

These resources that Jackie has available to her family are very under appreciated by most city folk. We go to the store and buy all of our food from a supermarket, severing ourselves from the place where these amazing products actually come from. All it takes just one look into one of Jackie’s cows faces to show you that. (and maybe a sip of coffee with cream from one of Jackie’s cows…mmmm!)

Jackiesfarm.com will soon be online! We will post a list of what is locally available at her farm that is constantly updated. Check back to see updates on Jackie’s farm here at amateurmycology.com! Hope all is going well for you all out there! Get excited! Spring is on the way!