by Jessica Hughes | Aug 26, 2022 | Main Articles
by Jessica Hughes
Rocky Ford Cantaloupes are famous for their sweet and flavorful taste.
The famous Rocky Ford melons have hit the shelves at big box grocery stores and local farmers markets across Colorado and this season is one of the sweetest yet. This season’s crop yielded some of the sweetest melons in years, particularly the cantaloupe.
Rocky Ford, Colo., lies in the Lower Arkansas River Valley, about an hour east of Pueblo. It is famous for producing some of the best cantaloupe, watermelon, and honeydew melons in the state and the world. The area is well-known for its melons due to its ideal climate, which includes large temperature swings — from hot and dry during the day, to much cooler evenings (which helps stimulate the sugars in the melon), the ideal soil composition, and right elevation.
“In my opinion, we produce the world’s best cantaloupe. The sweetest tasting and most flavorful,” says Eric Hanagan, owner of Hanagan Farms.
In fact, the region is so coveted that Rocky Ford Cantaloupes are trademarked. Just like how wine can’t be called Champagne if is produced outside the Champagne region of France, there is a defined area of where Rocky Ford melons can be grown and labeled as “Rocky Ford melons.”
Eric Hanagan, his wife, their children, and workers, who have been with them for nearly 30 years, run Hanagan Farms in Swink, just a few minutes east of Rocky Ford. The Centennial farm has been in business for generations growing produce in the Arkansas Valley for nearly 115 years. While their mainstay is now Rocky Ford cantaloupe, melons, and watermelons, they also produce vegetables such as peppers, pumpkins, and tomatoes.
Hanagan Farms produces other plentiful crops such as peppers.
“We have diversified over the years,” says Hanagan. “As the industry changes, so do we. In agriculture, if you aren’t changing, you are dying,” Hanagan expresses. For example, the introduction of drip irrigation technology at his farm has yielded high-producing crops over the years and helped to save 70% of their irrigation water usage. In fact, all his melons are raised on drip irrigation.
Despite a near 20-year drought the eastern plains and a lot of the country is experiencing, this doesn’t affect their melon crop much. “We don’t really need a lot of rain. In fact, we like it hot and dry but we need adequate snowfall in the winter so we can irrigate with mountain run-off from the Arkansas River,” says Hanagan. No hail is nice too!
So, where can you buy Rocky Ford melons? While some, like Hanagan Farms, sell mostly retail, direct to consumer at their farm, a good portion are packed and shipped by Hirakata Farms to grocery stores like King Soopers.
Watermelons are another popular crop grown in the Arkansas Valley.
Hanagan also suggests getting to know your farmer by visiting local farmers markets. “When you get to know your farmer, you get to know your food,” says Hanagan. “We wouldn’t sell anything we wouldn’t serve to our own family.” There are several farmers markets in the Rocky Ford region in which to buy fresh melons, along with plenty of roadside stands where the farmers are selling directly to their customers.
Despite the fact there are only five or six farmers that actually grow melons in the region, albeit very large farms, the future looks bright with generational possibilities on the horizon to keep the farms going. “We are still cranking out more melons than ever,” says Hanagan.
To learn more about Rocky Ford melons and harvest season visit rocky-ford-grow ers-association.mandccommunications.com. And to stay updated with happenings at Hanagan Farms, follow them on Facebook @hanaganfarm
All images are provided by Hanagan Farms via Hanagan Farms Facebook
by Ashe in America | Aug 26, 2022 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA
OPINION
Around the country, Republican Party establishments are publicly taking a victory lap. There’s going to be a “RED WAVE!” they exclaim. They’re going to reclaim the seats of power and set all things right in the world.
Privately, they are begging for unity and hemorrhaging support.
While the Republican establishment pats itself on the back, voter support for the Republican party is the lowest it’s been all year. According to Rasmussen polling, the Generic Congressional Ballot is now within three points, down two from the prior report.
“…Republicans have a three-point lead in their bid to recapture control of Congress. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that, if the elections for Congress were held today, 46% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for the Republican candidate, while 43% would vote for the Democrat. Just four percent (4%) would vote for some other candidate, but another eight percent (8%) are not sure.”
How Did That Happen?
I say it’s the primaries. Allegations of electronic manipulation and detection of algorithms have occurred in every primary that has been completed to date. In El Paso County, as I’ve reported on asheinamerica.com, the recount saw multiple statute violations, broken chain of custody, significant tabulator issues, election workers changing chain of custody documentation to match the recount (on video), and election workers being dismissed by the county for what, allegedly, amounts to obstruction.
Secretary of State Jena Griswold says everything I just said is disinformation. It’s on video, and you can see it with your own eyes, but you’re forgetting about the golden magical fairy dust of modern elections. It walks like fraud and talks like fraud but totally isn’t fraud.
How, you ask? Don’t be an election denier.
The algorithms that show obvious margin control — statistically impossible margin control for randomized behavior like elections. The broken chain of custody captured on video. The cover up of the broken chain of custody (without investigation as required) also captured on video.
All of that is a normal part of our elections. It just looks like fraud. But — pinky promise — it totally isn’t.
But Kari Lake Won — Obviously There Is No Election Fraud!
Kari Lake is involved in litigation against her opponent in the contest, the current Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, for a temporary injunction barring the use of electronic voting systems in the November election.
During the hearing on a motion to dismiss, the judge specifically asked the plaintiffs why their case did not explicitly include the primary election. Their response was that it did include the primaries, but that they recognized the practical reality of their proximity to the primary.
Lake won every Arizona county. Her victory was uncertain on election night, and Maricopa County stopped counting again.
Stopping counting on election night is a new phenomenon that first happened (practically in unison across multiple states) in the 2020 election. That was the first time we ever saw “edison zero” occur, where all state results were reset to zero and brought back online with the leads inverted.
Stopping counting is normal, see; it happens all the time (now). It’s not fraud, it’s just that golden magical fairy dust. DEBUNKED!
My hypothesis is that Lake’s win will be used to throw out the injunction against the machines. Bonus points for continuing to normalize machine issues as “just part of the system.”
About That Red Wave
Back to the polling, here in Colorado, GOP Chair Kristi Burton Brown is really excited about her slate of candidates, while unsuccessfully, transparently begging for unity.
The red wave is poisoned with establishment candidates who want to maintain the status quo of state power. Believing the primary results requires that you believe Republican voters want to maintain this status quo.
That’s a no for me and, according to this poll, voters agree. What changed?
The Generic Congressional Ballot isn’t that generic anymore.
As voters see the candidates, support for Republicans is shrinking.
There may be a “Red Wave” in November. The Republicans may retake the Congress, hold investigations, and make strongly worded statements.
Our level of representation, however, will not change.
Ashe Epp is a writer and election integrity activist. Read her work at asheinamerica.com and follow her on Telegram and other socials @asheinamerica.
by Peter Boyles | Aug 26, 2022 | Blasting with Boyles
OPINION
For God’s sake, let this little girl rest in peace. Recently again the murder of JonBenet Ramsey reappears in Colorado, the nation, and the world’s media spotlight. Having been through the Ramseys for so many years and seeing now her father John Ramsey and her brother Burke Ramsey (who did that unforgettable interview with Dr. Phil that was brokered by none other than Lin Wood, who was one of the original attorneys for the Ramsey family, only to move on to be the March Hare for Donald Trump) are petitioning Governor Jared Polis to call for an outside review of DNA in the murder case. The Ramseys, and even perhaps Jared Polis, have introduced yet another foil to attempt to misdirect the attention of people who know the truth of the murdered six-year-old little girl. This time CeCe Moore of Parabon NanoLabs, who mainstream media now will tell you can solve a crime, that years ago an FBI agent said to me “this ain’t no who-done-it.”
So, I’d like to once again introduce sealed court documents that the Colorado grand jury voted in 1999 to indict the parents of then six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey on charges of child abuse resulting in death, and being accessories to the crime.
Fighting DA Alex Hunter decided not to go after John and Patricia, claiming insufficient evidence. That was before any of us could see what the grand jury had actually concluded. And then along comes Mary Lacy in 2008, that same District Attorney who said John Mark Carr was the true killer, clears the Ramseys and their son in the death of the little girl.
Patsy, of course, died from ovarian cancer in 2006. But let me quote from the grand jury: Patsy Paugh Ramsey and John Bennett Ramsey did permit a child to be unreasonably placed in a situation which posed a threat to the child’s life or health, which resulted in the death of JonBenet Ramsey. The grand jury also said each parent did render assistance to a person with intent to hinder, delay, and prevent the discovery, detention, apprehension, prosecution, conviction, and punishment of such person for the commission of a crime, knowing the person being assisted has committee and was suspected of the crime of murder in the first degree, and child abuse resulting in death. Gee, I wonder who that person was.
There was little evidence of an intruder. There was no evidence of a break-in. Four people went in that house that night, three of them woke up. In October 1999 the grand jurors went home sworn to silence. Eight women and four men met for 13 months, 30,000 pieces of evidence all with one question, who killed the little girl.
The great sadness of this isn’t that someone got away with murder. It’s the ability of the family, people like District Attorney Mary Lacy, media laydowns, and sob sisters. So, they’ll try again to be able to lay the blame on somebody else.
Remember the paint brush from Patsy’s hobby kit was used to tighten the cord that choked the little girl to death? The ransom note that came from a notepad inside the house and made reference to little-known details about the family’s past finances? There’s a statement that people use talking about the case as plain as the nose on your face. I think the little girl would have been more than 30 years old now. A long time ago her mother found a note demanding $118,000 for her return. She was dead in the family basement. Like so many others, this family and people that attach themselves to it simply have no shame. This case has been solved, let’s see what Jared Polis does after the election.
— Peter Boyles
by Glendale Sports Center | Aug 26, 2022 | Glendale City News
by Elias Jacobson, for the YMCA of Metro Denver
Many people encounter times in their lives where things get really rough. My difficult period came about 10 years ago. I had lost my sister suddenly, and a short time later my brother was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer, so I decided to move my life from California to Denver to support my parents. To cope with the stress coming at me from everywhere, I developed some unhealthy habits and soon found that my health and well-being had been severely impacted. In 2018 my brother passed away, and my doctor told me a Type II Diabetes diagnosis was imminent unless I took immediate action.
I realized that I needed to make significant changes in order to reclaim my physical and mental health. I yearned to get back to being physically fit and mentally sharp. I was blessed with longevity genes, if and only if, I took care of them! As a kid, I attended summer baseball camps and swim programs at the University Hills YMCA. I had enjoyed the Y’s diverse offering of programs growing up, and I made many friends. Those positive memories led me to check-out the Y’s adult programs. I knew the Y would support me in developing a long-term wellness plan with a full array of classes and staff to ensure long-lasting, sustainable results.
When I was younger, I loved long-distance cycling, so it was a great place to begin my journey back to health. The off-street trails located near my home made it a safe, easy way to ride anywhere in town. I started seeing the health benefits almost immediately, and the more I rode, the more I was motivated to continue my cycling. I also began to meet like-minded fitness friends at the Y. The camaraderie further motivated me to continue this healthy lifestyle choice, leading to my first 50 lbs of weight loss! It became easier to keep myself motivated as time went on.
In 2021, I joined the Y’s year-long Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) where participants are supported by a Lifestyle Coach and peer group in losing weight, learning about diabetes-specific nutrition, becoming more active, managing stress, and staying motivated. This program was exactly what I needed to augment my return to bicycling. The program helped me get my A1C under control, and I have maintained a healthy A1C range ever since with the great tips I learned through the program.
I also joined the Y’s Power Your Potential (PYP) program, a 12-week small group training experience. I loved that the program included an outstanding fitness coach along with super supportive teammates who, like me, were older and struggling with similar health and wellness issues. There was a strong nutritional component with this program as well. The Y’s nutrition staff is conversant with every diet obstacle you could face. The healthy tips and tricks they provide help you safely navigate the ins and outs of fast-food restaurants and grocery stores. This comprehensive nutritional support helped me reeducate myself on how to shop, prepare, and consume a balanced healthy diet.
I am grateful for the Y’s health and wellness programs, because they helped me regain my physical strength, renewed my energy, and helped give me a positive mental outlook. Moreover, they provided an accepting and comfortable place to form a supportive community devoted to staying healthy. I found the home-away-from-home I had been searching for at the Y. My Y friends are great influences and motivators. We keep each other accountable to our goals, yet we’re there to support a teammate with helpful suggestions whenever they have a setback.
When I started my journey back to a healthier, happier me, I weighed 280 lbs. Through lifestyle changes and the Y’s diverse health and wellness offerings, I’m proud to have achieved a total weight loss of 90 lbs. There were other unexpected benefits too; my knee pain slowly diminished because I wasn’t hammering my knees with the extra 90 lbs. That was a huge WOW for me! My friends who had been through knee replacement and the strenuous post-surgery physical therapy said if they could do it over they would have tried a diet and fitness approach first.
With the Y’s multi-faceted wellness improvement programs, the Y will be my “go-to” resource for maintaining the goals I’ve accomplished to date. Between the state-of-the-art EGYM, DPP, and PYP, I now find myself at the Y four times a week. I haven’t felt this good in over 10 years, and I attribute this to the ongoing motivation achieved through self-reflection, connections with like-minded people, and a sense of belonging to a community committed to lifelong health and wellness.
Each goal I completed along my path had a cumulative effect on my overall motivation — it only got stronger. It’s wonderful to know that the Y has been there for me all these years — from summer camps as a kid to helping me regain my health as a 70-year-old adult. With a wide range of activities and programs, the YMCA of Metro Denver is truly a welcoming and transformative place where any person can discover their own unique path to health and wellbeing.
Interested in the YMCA’s Power Your Potential program? There’s still time to register — visit denverymca.org/programs /fitness-programs/power-your-potential.
