Articles from Vol 24 No. 10 - October 5, 2024

October Library Events – Discussion group, book clubs, fall book sale, scrap exchange

October 5, 2024

By Harriet Halbig

Every Tuesday from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Monument Library, join Socrates Café, an adult discussion group which discusses such subjects as philosophy, religion, politics, morality, and the common threads among humanity. All are welcome to attend this well-moderated group.

The Monumental Bookworms, an evening book club sponsored by the Tri-Lakes Friends of Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD), will meet from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 8 to discuss When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain. All are welcome to attend.

Oct. 12 and 13 will feature the East Library Friends of the Library Fall Book Sale. The library, at 5550 N. Union Blvd. in Colorado Springs, will offer boxes or bags full of books for affordable prices. Friday evening from 4 to 7 is for members only with membership available at the door. Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. is open to all. Sunday from 11 to 3 is bag day where books are priced by the bag, open to all. Sales tax will be charged. If you are tax-exempt, please bring your certificate to avoid paying sales tax on your purchase. Also included in the sale are DVDs and CDs.

Tuesday, Oct. 15 from 2 to 5 at the Monument Library will be Community Resources open hours with a Community Resources specialist to familiarize you with resources you might need in El Paso County. Resources offered can be used to address food insecurity, shelter, housing, education, and workforce development.

The Monumental Readers morning book club, sponsored by the Tri-Lakes Friends of the Library, will meet from 10:30 to 12:30 on Friday, Oct. 18. The October selection is Once Upon Another Time by Diane Sawatzki.

Friday’s children’s program on Oct. 18 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. is Idea Lab: Lego Build: Engineering. Your best LEGO creation, completing LEGO challenges, and producing LEGO art are only some of the possibilities at this open-ended program using PPLD’s LEGO resources. Join us for the fun! Open to ages 5 to 12.

Come to the Scrap Exchange with Who Gives a Scrap on Saturday, Oct. 19 from 1 to 4 p.m. In collaboration with Who Gives a Scrap Creative Reuse Center, we are holding an arts, craft, and hobby material exchange. Bring in your new, clean/gently used, and unwanted craft materials and exchange them for “tickets” to purchase/exchange new-to-you craft supplies. Please refrain from bringing items that can be recycled, bedding, and building waste. For a list of acceptable items, go to whogivesascrapcolorado.com/donations/.

Harriet Halbig may be reached at harriethalbig@ocn.me.

Palmer Lake Historical Society, Sep. 19 – Author focuses on Old West

October 5, 2024

By Marlene Brown

The Palmer Lake Historical Society (PLHS) monthly membership meeting at the Palmer Lake Town Hall on Sept. 19 featured guest speaker Mike Torreano, presenting an author’s talk titled Cowboy Stories. Torreano has a military background, and his focus is on American history and the Old West. His most recent book, Fireflies at Dusk, was released in November 2023 and is set during the Civil War era—a time when the Old West did not have any laws, just the Code of the West.

Torreano has won two Firebird Book awards for Western fiction and historical fiction. He has taught journalism and English at the Air Force Academy and the University of Colorado.

His traditional Western style is inspired by Zane Grey’s books that he began reading in the fifth grade. He said he has always loved the cowboy life. He tries to write his stories with the Code of the West in mind. Some of the code values are:

Doing what’s right.
Taking responsibility for one’s actions.
Working hard.
Showing respect.

The Old West is a culture. As Tom Mix, a silent-film actor from the early 1900s, said, “The Old West is not a certain place, in a certain time, it’s a state of mind. It’s whatever you want it to be.” Learning to live a life according to the Code of the West can surely help many learn that there are consequences to one’s actions.

There was a lively discussion of the TV shows, films, books, and songs that have come from the Old West with a question at the end: What can you do to keep the values of the Old West alive?

**Above:** Mike Torreano, winner of two Firebird Book awards for Western fiction and historical fiction , gives a talk at a Palmer Lake Historical Society meeting. He has taught English and journalism at the Air Force Academy and the University of Colorado. Photo by Marlene Brown.

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The Palmer Lake Historical Society is a nonprofit 501C3 and holds regular meetings on the third Thursday of the month. Membership information and future presentations can be found at palmerdividehistory.org

Marlene Brown can be reached at marlenebrown@ocn.me.

High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – The garden as investment: gardening is like banking

October 5, 2024

By Janet Sellers

Our high-desert forest clime relies on its natural system of growth and decay to thrive. When we vandalize that system, we are the robbers of the soil and the forest, and also our gardens if we choose to have those. We have to create our garden soil for the plant life we wish to have that also tolerates our crazy weather changes and cold winters.

Gardening is like banking. If you invest in the soil, you will be able to have produce and flowers, but continual reinvestment is vital. If you’re constantly taking from the soil and not putting things back such as taking the pine needles off the soil but not putting those back for the soil for the trees, your deficit, your debt to the tree, will cause the tree and the forest to die. That is why many slash and mulch sites that support fire mitigation do not accept the pine needles. Pine needles are a proven mulch that keeps the soil healthy underneath, and even if we have prepared that soil for crops we’d like to grow, the pine needles do their job.

We planted a lot of beans last year in the Tri-Lakes Cares garden because beans fix nitrogen into the soil. Then we took the beans out and it’s ideal to leave the roots in and just cut the tops off after they finished flowering. Those wonderful bean roots will feed the worms and this year’s microbes will create rich soil that will support our plants. This is garden investing at its finest.

In October, we have sunny days and cool to cold nights. Cold weather brassicas will still do well and even overwinter, especially with frost cloth on hoops or in the greenhouse. At the Tri-Lakes Cares food garden, we are still getting tomatoes due to the protective fence and the brick building keeping things warm and deer-proof. I let several of the different plants go to seed (even one plant offers thousands of seeds) to save for next year. These seeds are acclimated to our area from this year, so the hope is they’ll make strong and viable plants next year.

Zombie vegetables

The garlic and onions release components when cut/injured to ensure animals don’t eat them. That’s why onions release the components that make you cry and taste super spicy if you cut them first at the root end. Cut them at the stem end and they stay sweeter and tastier. We can leave the bottom 1 inch of the root part and it will regrow in water or soil and make tasty green shoots. Try putting different things to root in some water about an inch or two deep in a glass or bowl. Lettuce, celery, onions, scallions, leeks, fennel, and garlic grow easily indoors in pots.

Janet Sellers is a dauntless lazy gardener letting Mother Nature lead the way for low water gardening, using our natural forests’ wisdom as the guide to success. Send your garden tips to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

Art Matters – October is Arts Month, aka Artober

October 5, 2024

By Janet Sellers

We just finished our summer-long local art festival, Art Hop, held on the last Friday of each month from May through September. Now we’re in October, which is National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM).

The White House and Congress, as well as many arts and cultural organizations, have recognized October as NAHM for more than 20 years. The month is celebrated with events, celebrations, and programming that highlight the arts and humanities in everyday life. Some activities involve making art; all involve enjoying art. It’s a delightful way to embrace the change of seasons and usher in holiday celebrations. For art makers of all kinds, it is the beginning of an arts season to share and sell their art and create relationships with others.

We can be creative and take a walk in the fall colors with family and friends, take photographs, or draw and paint at these times for pleasant memories we can revisit over and over. I recently was the guest artist at the Jefferson Studios’ new gallery space, the Chapel Gallery. Art Hop visitors came and went all throughout Downtown Monument. People came into the gallery, and we chatted about local art, nature, life, and more. It was delightful.

Amazingly, art can lift our spirits and create community just by being around the artworks, the artists, and sharing ideas. We create our art experiences together, and I feel strongly that we can make more of these to enjoy and benefit from throughout the year and be a reliable source of creative relationships.

In his book, Making it in the Art World, Brainard Carey explains how some artists have created their own art cycles and circles, and create wealth in the process. What is the secret the artists are doing? One of the big pieces is like any wealth creation: the reliability of the commerce relationships and the upward movement of the value as a sure thing. People like to invest or access relationships that are as positive as possible. It is as simple as creating a community around mutual kindness and thoughtfulness, which we feel with the arts. We need to continue to create and support the arts and artists so our area thrives. Art is like the flowers of a community: It brightens our days and helps us feel better.

In Colorado Springs, Arts Month is celebrated from Oct. 1-31, and of course our Tri-Lakes area is included in the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, which has a campaign for Arts Month that encourages people to “Open your world with the arts.” We can take part in local arts and art events in October. Just take a look at the Our Community News calendar in this issue for events to attend and enjoy. Local clubs and businesses can invite artists to speak and share their art and knowledge, too.

Janet Sellers is an artist, writer, and speaker with talks on art making and collecting and creative strategies for artists, exhibits, and funding with community businesses and other sources. Contact her for more: JanetSellers@ocn.me.