Contact info@theurbanfarm.org for more info.

:: Click here to download application and fees

>> DEADLINE is Monday, Jan 31st

Looking for something fun and educational to do with your kids?  Then 4-H is just the ticket.  Every Thursday evening from 5:30 – 6:45 pm through November, TUF is holding informational sessions for parents and kids to learn about the 4-H projects available at The Urban Farm.  Last week we spent an uproariously funny hour teaching lambs to walk on a leash!!!!  What a rodeo that was!  Join us for one or more of the sessions and find out about the many advantages to being a 4-H member at TUF.  Following is the schedule:

Nov. 4   Cloverbuds ( children 5 – 7 years old)
Nov.11   Non-livestock projects (e.g. shooting sports, gardening, photography, etc.)
Nov. 18  Large Livestock – Cows, pigs, horses
Dec. 2    Veterinary Science

TUF 4-H General Meeting

The November general 4-H meeting will be this Thursday (November 4) from 5:45 til 7:00 pm  Officer elections will be held.  All Farm participants are encouraged to participate in 4-H.  Plan to join us.  The Cloverbud informational session will be held at the same time.

In The Dark

We are literally in the dark – in our indoor arena.  Almost half of the huge lights in the indoor arena have burned out and we are teaching our evening Embracing Horses classes in a twilight setting. The replacement costs of each bulb is $258.  We need 12.  We have found a distributor who will sell us each light for $159.  Would you be willing to sponsor one big light bulb for the indoor arena?  If so, please send a check to The Urban Farm and make a notation in the memo line that you are sponsoring a light bulb.

Embracing Horses Winter/Spring Registration

Earlybird Registration forms will be sent out this week to all currently enrolled riders in Embracing Horses.  Forms and payment must be received no later than November 15 to ensure guaranteed enrollment and get the 12% earlybird discount.  Space is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis.

TUF Fundraising Committee Update

We still need to raise $40,000 by the end of 2010. Thanks to Kim Downing for facilitating the TUF Fundraising Committee.  Four subcommittees have been formed and your energy and expertise is needed on one of these committees.  Please contact Kim at kmangham@bigplanet.com to get more details as to how to be involved in helping TUF raise money to continue our programs.  The subcommittees are:

1. Small grant writing: This is something you can do from your own computer, on your own time.  It takes about 5-6 hours to complete and yields between $1,000 – $5,000.00.   We have the information you need to get started.
2. Large Grant writing: This takes 15-20 hours to write but the pay-offs are larger—anywhere from $5,000 – $30,000.00 (or more) These run about 4-8 pages long with 10-20 attachments.   Time is spent researching foundations and grants, and fine-tuning the grant application to fit the specifics of the organization we are requesting funds from.  A grant template has been developed.
3. Event planning: Several events – small and large – are planned.  These are projected to bring in from $7,000 to $15,000.
4. Sales of TUF Products: This can be anything from pony rides to birthday parties, garden plots, horse shows  and rental space.

Congratulations

Emma Gale, Alexis Haynes, and Malia Mangham had a great showing at last week’s Hunter/Jumper show at Hobby Horse Farm.  Three first place ribbons for Alexis and Doc, two seconds and a fifth for Emma and Gatan, and a first place ribbon for Malia and Bugsy.  Unfortunately, Bugsy stepped on Malia’s foot doing a bit of damage and resulting in her having to scratch from the remaining classes.

FARMFEST: SAVE THE DATE — September 18, local bands will play their music at The Urban Farm to raise money for TUF programs.  Gates open at 1:00 with activities for the kids; music is from 3:00 – 7:00.  Ticket prices range from $5 — $20, children under 5 are free. Silent auction items will include a Thanksgiving turkey, urban trail ride, birthday party at TUF, etc.  Contact austinsirus@yahoo.com for more information.  Bring your own lawn chair.

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4-H@TUF — Kids from the Urban Farm just finished Adams County Fair last week.  As in past years, we will take a break from 4H meetings for the remainder of the month of August.  The next 4H meeting will be September 9 from 5:45 – 7:00 pm.  This will be an end of the year meeting mostly focused on wrapping up Fair.  The first meeting of the new 4H year will be October 7 from 5:45 – 7:00 pm. :: Click here to view the 4-H Meeting Calendar

• Perennials (herbs, ornamental, fruit, vines) and spring bulbs.
• 1 ton or ¾ ton newer model, road-worthy pick-up truck with no more than 150,000 miles on it (must have a towing package and class 4 hitch).  Children and animals will be passengers in this vehicle.
• Larger tractor with implements (eg. bucket, snow plow, rototiller, mower, harrow, etc).
• Sheets of plywood to repair animal shelters.  Need 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch plywood.  No particle board please.

RESCHEDULED OPEN HOUSE AT TUF –  Saturday, June 26  10 – noon (free tours).  $5.00 horse rides for the kids (4H Fundraiser); bouncing castle; Feed Denver farm market, magical worm juice, compost for sale.

RESCHEDULED 4H Club Fundraiser – Saturday, July 3  5:00 – 8:00 pm  Hazel Miller Band Concert at Stapleton Founders Green – The 4H kids will be selling concessions.  All concession proceeds will help with 4H expenses at county Fair in August.

GARDEN VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – If you enjoy gardening, feel satisfied endlessly pulling weeds, enjoy planting seedlings and transplants, don’t mind getting wet from watering veggies, then we have the perfect volunteer job for you this summer.  Call Donna at 720-810-5475 or send email to dmgdenver@yahoo,ocm.

4-H Monthly Meeting — Thursday, June 17 — 5:45 – 7:00 pm.

4-H Fair Meeting – Tuesday, June 29 -  5:30 – 6:30  All Fair participants  must attend to finalize Fair forms.

Kitten and Baby Bunnies need good homes!  We have 5 show quality meat rabbits for sale (you don’t have to eat them they also make exceptional pets.  They need to be re-homed immediately (re-homing fee = $25).  Ten week old grey male kitten – well socialized and litter box trained – needs loving family.  Re-homing fee is $20.  Call Donna today at 720-810-5475.

4-H Project Meetings  — Day                                 Project                                Time                                    Leader
3rd Tuesday                        Goats and Sheep               4:30 – 6:00                         Meri
3rd Thursday                       Goats and Sheep               4:30 –6:00                          Meri

GENERAL MEETING 5:45 – 7:00                         All 4H Members
4th Tuesday                        Goats and Sheep               4:30 – 6:00                         Meri
Poultry                                4:30 – 5:30                         Donna
4th Thursday                       Goats and Sheep               4:30 – 6:00                         Meri
Swine                                  5:30 – 6:30                         Khadija and Stephan
Breeding Goats                 4:30 – 5:30                         Leda
Growing Good Food        5:00 – 6:00                         Kim
Cloverbuds                         4:30 – 5:30                         Lisa
4th Saturday                       Poultry                                10:15 – 11:30                    Donna
5th Tuesday                        Fair Meeting                      5:30 – 6:30                        All Fair Participants

YOU ARE INVITED!

Come to an Open House at The Urban Farm at Stapleton

Saturday, May 8, 2010  10:00 a.m. – noon

10200 Smith Road, Denver, CO 80239
(1/4 mile west of intersection of Havana and Smith Road)

• Free Farm Tours (Meet the animals and learn about Feed Denver)
• Farm Market (Fresh eggs, organic salad greens, goat’s milk and cheese)
• Pony/Horse Rides (Suggested donation of $5 per ride to benefit
• The Urban Farm 4H club)
• Information on Summer Programs for Kids and Adults

Contact info@theurbanfarm.org for more information

This Summer at TUF:

Embracing Horses – Horsemanship Education classes for children 5 – 18 years. Beginner thru Advanced Levels, weekly evening classes or one week morning riding camps.

Storybook Farm — A farm experience designed especially for young children between the ages of 4 and 6 years.

I Want To Be A Farmer — This workshop is for the 7 – 10 year old who relishes wearing overalls and getting dirty, loves animals and growing things and goes gaga for tractors.

Agriculture in The City classes for grownups on Culinary Herbs as Healing Herbs, Keeping Chickens in the City, Introduction to Permaculture, Fiber Arts, and others.

Farm Tours – On most Saturday mornings, visitors can come by for a Farm Tour. A $5.00 donation per person over the age of 2 years is greatly appreciated.

Sleepover At The Farm – Kids 8 – 11 years old will enjoy this sunset to sunrise experience at TUF. Campers will listen to the coyotes, roast marshmallows around a campfire, tell “scary stories”, sleep out under the stars and have an early morning riding experience.

The Urban Farm gets a facelift. TUF held a spring cleanup weekend on April 10 and 11^th.  More than 130 volunteers showed up to clean, reorganize, and spruce up The Farm.  Rocky Mountain Excavation donated a full day of road grading and crowning to address water runoff and pot hole issues.  The new look from Sand Creek Trail is astonishing!  Thank you to all those who helped make a difference.

Chipoltle holds fundraiser for TUF and Feed Denver. April 11^th, friends and neighbors converged on Chipoltle in Stapleton for a delicious time of good food and lively conversation.  The restaurant donated half of the receipts from the evening to TUF and Feed Denver.  Well over a hundred people enjoyed the concept – eat dinner and help The Farm at the same time. Thanks Chipoltle.

28 school days till summer break! It’s not too late to sign up for summer workshops at The Urban Farm. TUF still has some morning workshop and evening class availability for children and youth ages 4 – 18 years. Offerings include Embracing Horses classes, Storybook Farm and I Want To Be A Farmer workshops.  Contact info@theurbanfarm.org or 303-307-9332 for more information.

Adults can take classes too! Adult riding classes are available.  Feed Denver is launching a series of classes on Urban Agriculture – class offerings include Culinary Herbs as Healing Herbs, Keeping Chickens in the City, Introduction to Permaculture, Fiber Arts, and others.  Online registration can be completed at www.FeedDenver.com.

Youth Corps teaches sustainable food production. — Recently, four youth were selected by Feed Denver at The Urban Farm to participate as part of a national Youth Corps to teach other kids about sustainable food production.  The kids have spent several months learning the Growing Power model being replicated at TUF (ie growing soil, vermicomposting, year round food production, aquaponics, etc) and are now going to other cities around the country helping schools and youth groups establish their own projects.  Over spring break the kids and TUF staff travelled to New Orleans to help establish an aquaponics project in the 9th ward.

Free Farm tours for Stapleton friends and neighbors. May 8^th between 9:00 and noon, Stapleton residents are invited to come over to The Farm for a free tour.  TUF Kids and adult volunteers will show people around the Farm – introducing them to the animals (we may have new lambs by then) and showing them around the gardens.

Summer Farm Market.  On May 8^th we will also launch a summer “farm market” which will be held each Saturday morning from 9:00 am till noon.  Fresh greens, fresh eggs, and other delectables will be available for purchase.  Pony rides for $5.00 will be available during the market.

Summer Program for Young Children at The Urban Farm

Wondering what your kids can do all summer at The Urban Farm?   Children and youth can ride horses and learn how to care for them.  They can enjoy the experience of feeling freshly tilled earth or sitting on a log watching a couple of baby goats suckle from their momma then bounce away chasing imaginary butterflies.  They can sit under the shade of a tree and learn how to knit from a ball of yarn that they spun themselves.  Or, they can wander through the garden picking their own vegetables to eat for snack.  There is sleeping out under the stars after cooking hotdogs over a fire and experiencing that quivery feeling in the pit of their tummies from telling slightly scary stories and then hearing coyotes howl in the distance. They might give a miniature horse a bubble bath and learn how to make old-fashioned strawberry jam.

Sound like fun?  Then open the attachments and register your child in one or more summer activities today.  Space is very limited and registrations with payments are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

:: Click here to download form

The Urban Farm’s signature program, Embracing Horses is an extremely popular program in which children ages 5 through 18 learn to care for and ride horses. A skills-based program, children progress through a variety of levels of riding and horsemanship. The program includes opportunities for kids to ride once a week as well as opportunities for youngsters who are interested in becoming accomplished equestriennes and in competing at local, regional, or even national levels. Embracing Horses has a great track record for launching girls, especially, into science-related fields of study. Yearly, about 360 kids participate in the program.

:: To Register for Classes AND to pay through PayPal, click here

“From the Ground Up” Workshop Weekend

FEATURING

MacArthur Fellow, Will Allen &
The Growing Power Regional Outreach Training Team
November 14-15, 2009
Saturday: 8am-5pm + Sunday: 9am-3pm

This 2-day intensive, hands-on workshop will show how sustainable, healthy local food production can e developed in an urban setting with urban farming pioneer and winner of the MacArthur Foundation “genius grant,” Will Allen.

This training offers diverse groups the opportunity to learn, plan develop, operate and sustain community food projects. Participants leave the workshop with improved skills that they can take back into their communities and pass onto others. These workshops are for both rural and urban projects.

Workshop Breakout Sessions May Include:

Compost & Vermicompost • Aquaponics • Hoophouse Construction
Year-Round Greenhouse Production • Urban Animal Husbandry
Planning for Urban Agriculture • Community Project Design

For more info, contact Feed Denver, at info@feeddenver.com

Click here to watch video about Will Allen.

THIS 2009 WORKSHOP IS FULL — REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.

Sunday, October 25th, 2009 • 1 pm – 3 pm

The following activities are free with gate admission:

Hay Rides

Fun with Farm Animals

Farm and Harvest Games

Paint the Farm Truck

and many more….

Activities are aimed at children 10 and under.

Gate Admission:

Children Under 2: Free

Adults and Children over 2: $5.00

Horse/Pony Rides: $5.00 / Per ride

Snacks and drinks available for purchase

Come enjoy the fun!

The Urban Farm is located at 10200 Smith Road,

just south of I-70 and west of Havana.

We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission to teach agricultural and environmental education to urban youth and their families and your attendance helps support our program.