Boulder Colorado is known for its holistic attitude, healthy lifestyle, physical activity and organic food, including farm-to-table organic concept. It supports all of it.
Boulder is home to a number of organic and vegan restaurants, as well as vegetarian-friendly options throughout the greater Boulder area including one of the most well known, Leaf Restaurant on 16th Street, Tiffins on Arapahoe and Julia’s Kitchen on Broadway, also mentioned further below.
I was fortune to arrive there on my most recent trip to partake in their Wednesday afternoon/evening outdoor farmers market. They also hold the market on Saturday which is apparently much busier than Wednesday nights.
The Boulder Farmers’ Market began in 1987 and the Longmont Farmer’s Market in 1990, both started as a small gathering of a few farmers and have grown over the years to become a well-organized “family” of approximately 150 participants.
They include professional farmers with hundreds of acres, weekend farmers with small acreage, backyard gardeners or hobbyists, and teenagers working small plots to earn extra money.
In addition to the traditional vegetables that you might expect to find at the Market, many unique items are also offered, such as golden beets, white eggplant, purple beans, seedless yellow watermelon, and European lettuces. Farmers from Western Slope orchards make the trip each week to share their beautiful tree-ripened fruits. In addition to high-quality produce, you can also find fresh and dried flowers, bedding plants, corn stalks and Indian corn for fall decorating, homemade scented soaps, pot-pourri, wreaths, and other farm-oriented crafts.
Join me on a visual journey of my Wednesday night…
Yummy food from Taaza Gourmet; this gentleman thought so too….
Vietnamese Food.
Sister’s Pantry
Julia’s Kitchen, organic and gluten-free. No, this isn’t actually a massive sized cookie contrary to what it looks like. It’s yummy focaccia. Located on 4457 Broadway, their menu is 100%plant-based. Their meals and products are made from amazing, organic whole foods, only healthy oils; and none contain gluten. Their prepare their food for optimal taste and digestion, including soaking and sprouting grains, beans, and nuts.
Augustina’s Winery, a one woman-owned winery, known as the oldest in Boulder. Located in North Boulder, it is dedicated to making wines that go with backpacking adventures, raucous poker parties, family barbecues, good mystery novels and gingersnaps. Love it. Their website has a cool name too – Winechick.biz.
Sawhill Ranch based in Boulder CO. The kids were doing a great job selling their meat….natural beef from their ranch since 1873. How cool is that? His favorite is obviously the one he’s pointing to. I had to agree. It’s family run: Gene and Pat Sawhill.
Organilicious has a line of organic ethnically diverse vegan dips and spreads. All of their dips and spreads are 100% plant based, organic and Non GMO.
Mediterranean Med Restaurant and Bakery. The bread was out of this world.
Street Fare is the Boulder Shelter supportive employment bakery, run out of the Shelter’s kitchen, that specializes in miniature cupcakes. They bake gourmet mini-cupcakes and sell them at several Farmer’s Markets throughout Boulder County including this Wednesday night one I was stopped by.
The Museum of Natural History showed up and were there with fossils among fruit, vegetables, cheese, bread, pies and coffee. It was wonderful to see and hear their stories. Both scientists, they are holding an American mastodon. Apparently they recently discovered about 100 of them somewhere near Aspen, a location that they’re planning to build a parking lot on top of. Sad. Feels so wrong.
Flower baskets from Blue Ribbon Farm.
Udi’s Artisan Bread.
Ezsprout.com aka Altan Alma Farm (fresh and organic and locally grown). Go Colorado!
Haystack Mountain, who has a number of hard and soft yummy goat cheese selections. My favorite: garlic as always. They also do a Camembert, a Green Chile Jack, the Red Cloud which is aged for 60 days, the Chevre in Marinade, their Feta, a cold smoked chevre with applewood and more. They were all oh so good!! I tend to stay away from cow cheese and milk, so didn’t try the cheese by MovCo Cheese Company, although their cheese looked wonderful. Its run by husband wife team Robert Poland and Birgit Halbreiter, who started making their cheese in Fort Collins Colorado in 2000. Try their MouCo Truffello, their Camembert or their Colorouge (creamy, smooth and buttery).
Silver Canyon Coffee.
Oxford Gardens…
And, let’s not forget the Olomomo Nut Company, which has an incredibly delicious assortment of nuts: cinnamon cayenne almonds, chai bliss almonds, mango chipotle zinger almonds, and cherry vanilla dream almonds. The latter tastes a whole lot like Cherry Garcia ice cream. Justin Perkins, who is the founder, believes in making nuts that are healthy, organic, vegan and gluten free. They also don’t coat their nuts on oils, salts or batters.
And alas, MUSIC. Kids play instruments and sing for the eating and lounging crowd. They were inspiring.
For more blog posts on the Boulder/Denver area, go here.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
