Click here to read more about the Girl Scouts recent visit to The Urban Farm.

Click here to schedule a group tour at The Urban Farm!

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.

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.

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.