The Urbavore's Dilemma: Getting down and dirty with Denver's backyard farmers

As you may have noticed, Denver is getting into the urban homesteading movement in a big way. Homeowners are replacing sod with vegetable beds and building chicken coops by their garages. Power players are turning prime downtown real estate into miniature farms and citizens are fighting for their right to raise honey bees, hens, dwarf goats and pot-bellied pigs. It's all about re-imagining, yard by yard and meal by meal, what it's like to live in Denver -- not just to save money, but to help the environment and enrich the country's food-production system.

From May to September, I'm going along for the ride as part of an ongoing Westword web series titled the Urbavore's Dilemma. So far, I've perused a super-secret Platt Park farm called La Ferme du Beau à Manger, learned about a high-tech rebirth of the Victory Garden concept and uncovered a growing population of renegade chicken owners. This week's entry details an ambitious plan to build multi-story greenhouses, fronted by farmers' markets, all over town. Check out the full series, including relevant links and news of upcoming events, here.