Free gardening workshop teaches cover cropping

Have you ever thought about cover cropping for your garden? Not really sure what that means or why you should do it? As part of the first workshop of the 2015 Ohana Kuleana Community Garden Workshop Series, community garden manager Mia Carrasco-Songer will cover some of the basics of soil health and how to use cover crops to cultivate healthy soil.

“The best thing we can do to grow great vegetables is to really focus on the soil and growing healthy, living soil,” Carrasco-Songer said. According to Carrasco-Songer, you can help to grow healthy soil by planting cover crops in your garden during the off-season. These crops help crowd out the weeds you don’t want and enable the soil food web to keep thriving.

Workshop participants will learn how to test their soil and choose the right cover crops and also will get hands-on experience seeding a cover crop for the community garden. This free workshop will take place from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. March 7 at the garden, 564 E. 30th St., Durango. Space is limited, so RSVP to mia@thegardenprojectswcolorado.org or online at www.thegardenprojectswcolorado.org.

For Firkin Friday, a twist on raspberry lambic

Now that we have snow to enjoy and ski afternoons to plan, it’s the perfect time for Steamworks to hold a “framboozin” party at Purgy’s.

So this Firkin Friday, head on up to Durango Mountain Resort, where Steamworks Brewing Co. will offer up a twist on the traditional Belgian-style ale called framboise.

The original is a fermented raspberry lambic ale, but the Steamworks version will start with a Backside Stout base that is re-fermented in its cask with raspberries, resulting in a hint of sweet carbonation.

“The beer will have roughly a 6.5 percent ABV, so it should be a nice warm-up after a day on the slopes,” said Steamworks’ Spencer Roper.

Bring your skis and be ready to party at 3 p.m. Feb. 27.

Pie Maker bakery cafe sets up shop in Cortez

Durango isn’t the only town in the Four Corners with a notable bakery. Cortez soon will host the opening of The Pie Maker, which farmer’s market customers in both cities will attest to having the most delicious éclairs this side of Paris.

Baker Shani Winer and partner Tim Stubbs will open their shop March 2 at 17 N. Harrison St., across from City Market in Cortez. The bakery and cafe will be open from 7 a.m.-2 p.m. every day but Sunday. It will feature both sweet and savory pies, breakfast pastries and their famous hand-made bagels, plus homemade soups.

Winer is busily perfecting that 1950s favorite, the spudnut, a doughnut made of potatoes and topped with natural glazes. The mid-century modern sweet echoes some of the artwork in the cafe by West Coast painter Eric Joyner. (Check out the atomic-age image of a robot eating a doughnut – so atmospheric.)

“That was a time in American history that contributed to so many people’s modern-day visions of homemade pies and hand-cooked meals, which is exactly what we offer at the bakery,” Winer said.

Amanda Saunders and Pamela Hasterok