It´s never easy being a Boulder County commissioner. In the best of times it’s a cross between housekeeping and playing referee. And then there are times like we’re having now when an emotional issue — in this case the expanded use of genetically modified crops on open space lands — has turned once-routine meetings into something more akin to cage fighting. It’s not an exaggeration.

Just eight months ago, a one-acre plot at the Denver Green School was an unused athletic field, but now that land has come to life with food-bearing vegetation.

​All season, gangs of predominantly twentysomethings have been invading local farms each month, expanding vegetable beds, weeding and planting orchards. “It’s like a flashmob, but for gardening,” says Laurie Schneyer, organizer of Denver Crop Mob and a volunteer with Slow Food Denver.

Heap is owner of Pearl Street’s SALT bistro, Colterra Food & Wine in Niwot and his own catering company, Bradford Heap Catering. With each business, he says, he strives to incorporate the highest quality local and organic food he can find year round. As the winter freeze sets in and most restaurants finish the last of their local food supply, Heap continues to serve his customers fresh and local food.

In Boulder, CO, the fight to keep GMOs off county lands is entering the final rounds. After months of deliberation, an agricultural policy group has recommended that GMOs be allowed on open space land and the people of Boulder county are making sure their leaders know they do not approve. Their message is being heard and the collective thorn is growing in Monsanto’s side. Will the county commissioners side with the corporations or the people?

The Farm to School program, an effort largely organized by LiveWell Fort Collins and the Poudre School District, aims to get as much fresh, local produce into the mouths of students as possible during the growing season each year.

Throughout the state, districts large and small confront the same epidemic of youthful obesity, nutritional and physical activity challenges, and all the other health-related issues plaguing modern society. And officials in nearly all districts are of one mind in wanting to make their schools as healthy as possible.

Pitkin County has a long history of preserving agricultural land for its aesthetic qualities. Now, stimulating local food production may be a goal, as well. The board of trustees that oversees Pitkin County Open Space and Trails generally embraced the expanded focus during an all-day retreat Thursday in Redstone. The new mindset will be put to the test quickly — the board will soon take up a proposed management plan for the Sopris Chase parcel in Basalt. The plan envisions not only community gardening on part of the property, but will open the door to greenhouses — a move that could test the charter that governs the open space program.

If gardening is a way of life for some people, Jacqueline Searle is hoping they are willing to share their passion with others. Searle has a vision of a community garden in Castle Rock, in an effort that would be the first of its kind in town limits. And if she’s successful with the first garden, she wants to see the idea blossom.