My Time in Purgatory: What I did with my McGill-Lawrence scholarship

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My Time in PurgatoryWhat I did with
myMcGill-Lawrence scholarship
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Samara Holub-Moorman Project Starting a food
co-op / community center Location Trinidad,
Colorado
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The town of Trinidad (once the Jewel of the West,
a favorite hangout of Al Capone, still has a
complete underground tunnel system) sits in the
Purgatory Valley and is run through by the
Purgatoire River. Its population is largely
comprised of poor rural farmers who live nearby.
The surrounding countryside is torn apart by gas
drilling companies, the water is contaminated by
dangerous chemicals, the Wal-Mart has drained the
local economy, and addiction, bad eating habits,
and abuse run rampant among the citizens. There
are negative and engrained cycles of abusing the
land and the human body. However, there is also
a growing movement toward sustainable building,
ecological consciousness, and healthy living.
There is hope, but the land is hard and dry. j
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Earth Mountain Education Farm the sustainable
farm where I lived for a while. It is about an
hour outside of Trinidad, in the Wet Canyon.
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Earth Mountain Education Farm is a non-profit
dedicated to providing good food and education
about sustainable farming to the community. The
farms electricity is produced by the three solar
panels (pictured). For water, there is a rain
catch system and a well. The farm grows lettuce,
arugula, beets, turnips, potatoes, carrots,
cabbage, tomatoes, basil, cauliflower, broccoli,
green beans, sweet peas, pumpkins, butternut
squash, watermelons, and canteloupe. Earth
Mountain also works within Trinidad at the
Farmers Market, and has set up community gardens
in town as well as a CSA (Community Supported
Agriculture) program.
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The horno a cob oven we built.
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Residents of Wet Canyon at a birthday. Many
people in the canyon live solely off the money
the oil companies pay them to allow the companies
to drill wells on their land. Experts are unsure
how long it will take the land to recuperate
after the drilling stops.
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After learning about sustainable farming in Wet
Canyon, I moved to Trinidad to start working on
the co-op aiming to make it align with those
same principles of sustainability, but within a
business setting.
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The Trinidad Community Co-op
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When I showed up, it was an empty
building. Literally everyone told me the project
would fail.
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Lots. Of. Work.
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The co-op threw a Harvest Party at a local farm
as a fundraiser.
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We made a scarecrow.
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Harvest Party
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My position as the General Manager of the
Trinidad Community Co-op involved such tasks as
contacting the IRS to get a tax ID , reviewing
the Colorado Retail Food Establishment Health
Code, networking with local and national
environmental groups, calling co-ops across the
country, designing a website, meeting every
business owner in Trinidad, marketing and
publicizing the co-op, organizing the co-op
space, painting, scrubbing mold, managing the
finances for the business, organizing volunteers,
contacting local farmers and artisans to sell
their products at the co-op, contacting bulk food
producers, learning how to start a business from
the ground up, selling produce (pictured, right-
zucchini), hauling things with my truck
(pictured- port-a-john), and bartering with local
farmers (pictured- 1. apple pie 2. cutting down
trees and branches and loading them onto a
truck).
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Everything about this project has been a surprise
and a challenge. Luckily I enjoy both.
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Please feel free to contact me if you have any
questions
Samara 919.619.9336 samarareigh_at_gmail.com
And you can check out the co-op
blog http//trinidadcommunitycoop.blogspot.com