Groundwork Blog

The beautiful Painted Mountain corn is a metaphor for our times, blending together different seeds to create something new and beautiful. Painted Mountain was bred by Dave Christensen in Montana over 20 years ago. He crossed a huge variety of native corns together, selecting traits that led to a short season, drought-tolerant and cold-tolerant corn variety. Typically, when heritage varieties of corn leave indigenous hands, the variety is re-named something generic, severing the ties between the seeds and their cultural stories and histories. All corn […]

Continue reading >>

My family and I have now been in the United States for exactly two weeks. It took nearly all that time to completely get over jet lag. Some say it takes the body one day for every hour traveled to fully recover. I believe it. The past 14 days have felt like swimming through delirious dreams, like awkwardly waltzing within bardos. But today, for the first time since landing in Los Angeles, I feel finally as though I am fully here. Mind, body and spirit […]

Continue reading >>

I applied to this fellowship because… I was desperate for a change. Prior to this experience I was living in ways that didn’t align with my vision of the future. It was unsustainable, so finding a program that explored ways of living firmly based on the land seemed like the opportunity I was waiting for. I have wanted to learn ways of being that are based on harmony and reverence for the place we call home. To get a chance to do exactly that while […]

Continue reading >>

I applied for this fellowship because I am interested in approaching sustainable food systems from a different perspective. I have previously worked on organic farms and researched the social and environmental aspects of sustainable and organic agriculture. This fellowship posed an exciting opportunity to learn about the issues facing our food system, and world, from a community perspective. I have always loved food and cooking, and growing up with an awareness of climate change led me to focus on the environmental impacts of our food […]

Continue reading >>

I applied for this fellowship because… I applied to this fellowship because I was drawn to the core values and mission of the organization, mainly those around divestment from capitalistic systems and returning to a land based lifestyle. I am interested in being a part of an intentional community space focused on exploring this lifestyle and learning together/from each other. I am also interested in learning more about food systems/production/sovereignty. Some life experiences that brought me to the point where I am are… Oh gosh! […]

Continue reading >>

We’re excited to share a short video talking with participants on our Human & Natural Ecologies of Colorado courses on the Grand Mesa in Western Colorado. Participants built their connection with the landscapes of Colorado, from the high alpine down into the aspen groves, scrub oaks, and piñon/juniper forests. Leaving the course, participants walked away with knowledge of wild edible plants, wild edible mushrooms and how to go mushroom hunting, knowledge of ecosystems to help in their foraging, and knowledge of landscape-scale human interactions in […]

Continue reading >>

Shannon first introduced me to the adage that “a river flows between banks” many years ago. She was describing the need for a clear container in transformational education experiences. But the adage extends beyond the watershed of education and into other streams of creativity, community, and culture. The constant current of a river requires clear banks. Many systems and processes likewise benefit from such boundaries. Creative writing requires a form and an intention. Music generally finds its aesthetic in the structures of rhythm and scales. […]

Continue reading >>

Seeds have a story… Groundwork grows and maintains over 200 varieties of seed. We partner with local seed companies that adapt seeds to our arid Colorado region, breeding resiliency for a changing climate. Indian Blue Pearl Millet. Millet is one of the most drought tolerant, versatile grain crops in the world. Millet is a broad category of grasses with edible seeds. In fact, the word “millet” doesn’t just refer to many species, but it includes 10 different plant genera (that’s the first word in the […]

Continue reading >>

This post was written by Cora, a student on a Traveling School semester program that visited the educational farm in fall 2022. Driving up to the Groundwork farm in Paonia, Colorado, I had no idea what I was getting into. Our van sputtered down the Colorado roads, past tall coniferous trees growing in pinkish-orange soil, surely sending rocks skittering as we descended into a stunning valley of yellow aspen and wide green farmland. The van rocked with music (usually Caamp or Taylor Swift) and shook […]

Continue reading >>

I spent almost three months interning on the Groundwork farm. My time on the farm showed me the variety of paths that exist through life, and I met people with experiences wildly different from anyone I had known. I learned the basics of many arts and practices, from basketry to seed saving, and it made me want to further develop my knowledge in the years to come. The farm was a place of learning and growth, and I look back on the laughter and experiences […]

Continue reading >>