5 Fridges Farm is Partnering with the Community of Wheat Ridge

Each Christmas season, many evergreen trees and boughs appear in the community. What happens to these when the season is over? Lucky for Wheat Ridge, goats LOVE to eat them!

Drop off your tree at the Farm (11100 W 38th Ave) any time during daylight hours (follow the signs for where to leave them). The goats will love you for it! The goats love the evergreens, but the chemicals and decorations are not good for them. Make sure your tree is free from all chemicals, colors, and frost/snow, wires, strings, and decorations.

Please bring your ghosts of Christmas past (trees) to us. We will happily recycle them and you will get placed on the "nice" list in Christmas future. (Sorry, we have now confused many human Christmas stories, but you know what we mean.) Merry Evergreens and Happy New Year!
The Goats

The City of Wheat Ridge manages several natural areas and right-of-ways. The upkeep of these areas can be difficult to manage and they are especially prone to invasive weeds and vegetation. Enter the goats of 5 Fridges Farm. The goats eat everything, especially the invasive species, and replace the need for gas-powered mowers. The Open Space Section has partnered with 5 Fridges Farm on this program for several years.

The goats were highlighted in the April - June 2017 News and Views newsletter and Wheat Ridge Top of the Hour - "Goats" - July 2017.

The farm a has wonderful partnership with Colorado+ Brew Pub in Wheat Ridge. Spent grain from the brew process is donated to feed animals rather than going into the waste stream. Each week the farm picks up about 200 pounds of wet grain. The goats and chickens love it. You'll also find eggs and vegetables from the Farm on the menu. Please support businesses such as CO Plus that make the effort to purchase local produce and allow farmers access to food waste that can go to feed animals.

5 Fridges Farm is working closely with Colorado Open Lands. Together we promote information about conserved lands by holding special events at the Farm. For more information on privately conserved land, please see the Colorado Open Lands website.

Video Links

2017 The Value of Open Lands 2015 COL achieves great land protection results through partnerships and leadership 2015 Colorado Open lands Protects the Treasure

This local cooking show is hosted by Dr. Claudia Folska. While Dr. Folska may be blind, she is less in the dark about where her food comes from than most of the rest of us are. Her Cooking in the Dark show airs on PBS, and in the spring of 2018 you will find an episode filmed at 5 Fridges Farm! In this episode, Dr. Folska and Amanda gather ingredients from the Farm to make deep fried, goat cheese stuffed, squash blossoms. To level the playing field, Amanda is blindfolded.

Pfz Farms is a Colorado family farm producing quality agricultural products with sustainable methods for a healthier world. While we produce a number of dry-land crops we also have a number of smaller production focuses that support our overall vision of a sustainable farm. Check out our Farm Store for Pfz Farms chickens.

“Brother Chickens” from Pfz Farms are not like grocery store chickens - meat that is bred for fast weight gain and less flavor. We buy the male chicks from egg-layer breeders who only want to keep females for egg production. Because these "brothers" of brown egg laying hens take twice as long to gain weight, they have better flavor and texture. They are the chickens that your grandparents grew up with, raised the same way your grandparents did. They are fed local grains and scraps from the garden and are allowed to wander around outside. The processing is done with respect, locally by hand, and sold to you to ensure your family can enjoy chicken as it was meant to be.

Farmer Amanda also teaches in the department of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Colorado Denver. Through her department she has created a certificate program in sustainable urban agriculture and several of those classes use the Farm as a field study location. This partnership allows students of the urban based university to come out 6 miles from the campus in downtown Denver to appreciate and study urban food systems in an urban agricultural setting. Email Amanda if you would like more information on the sustainable urban agriculture program at CU or other have other questions about her teaching at CU.

I Teach Online: Amanda Weaver