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Beyond Telluride

Poster Part two of Elisabeth Gick's  three-part series on Tibet at Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library is a pause to refresh from the country's challenges: a screening of the award-winning documentary, "The Saltmen of Tibet."

According to Eilsabeth, the film offers a loving look at an ancient way of
life in one of the harshest, yet gorgeous regions of the world, the
Tibetan plateau. The story follows the daily rituals of a Tibetan nomadic community,
transporting us into a realm untainted by the tides of foreign invasion or
encroaching modernity. Step by step we experience the unforgettable, annual
three-month pilgrimage to the holy salt lakes of northern Tibet.

"Tibet is the roof of the world, a place where we feel we are in the
sky just as much as you are on the earth. The intense blueness of space
contrasts sharply with the deep green of Eastern Tibet's rolling grasslands
and the mineral colors of the west with its expanse of barren rock. For over
a thousand years Buddhist culture has been at the heart of Tibetan society,
and anyone who has travelled across these high plateaux will understand how
this contemplative civilization flourished in a landscape of such vastness," explained physical scientist/Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard.

09 February, 2009 /

KCTS9, a TV station in Seattle, interviewed Kimm Viebrock about coaching people looking for new jobs in the current economy. It's satisfying to show the ways TIO people are making a difference. To watch the televised segment, click on http://bit.ly/12oirmWay to go, Kimm! ...

07 February, 2009 /

[Click "Play" button to hear Susan's interview with Barclay Daranyi about eating locally]

The New Community Coaltion has asked "Telluride Inside...and Out" to function as its primary mouthpiece for dynamic information about its many initiatives as Kris Holstrom and her team develop programs for the greening of the region.

Kris is a farmer, the owner of Tomtem Farms and the organizer of the Farmer's Market that begins in town in mid-June and lasts into the early fall. For our town's Earth Mother, food plays a major role in her overall strategy for regional resilience.  And in that world, locally Indian Ridge Farm and Bakery is a major player.

Indian Ridge Farm and Bakery was born in 1999 when Tony and Barclay Daranyi purchased 100 acres of land in Norwood, Colorado from Loey Ringquist. The land was sold to them below market value because Loey believed in the vision of sustainable agriculture and community supported farms.  Since then, the farm has grown into a CSA that feeds over 60 families, a pastured poultry operation, including a state inspected processing plant, and a thriving bakery.  The farm also raises pastured pork, several layer hen flocks, some beef and dairy goats. Every summer the farm welcomes 3-4 interns who learn hands-on the joys and challenges of small farming.

06 February, 2009 /

[click to hear Susan's interview with Andrew Currie of E2]

  Robert F Kennedy Jr on carpet
Robert F. Kennedy, jr.

Environmental Entrepreneurs or E2 is a national community of business professionals who work towards developing economically beneficial solutions to top priority environmental issues. Specifically E2's diverse membership of about 850 nationally works in tandem with the Natural Resources Defense Council, lending the voices of experience needed to advance sound environmental policy based on the economic merits.

E2's bottom line: It is not business versus the environment. It is business and the environment.

The synergies between E2 and our region's The New Community Coalition are obvious: both organizations recognize that quality interactions among members of a community are key to identifying, coordinating, and implementing sustainable projects that secure our future locally, regionally, and nationally.

01 February, 2009 /

[click to hear Elisabeth Gick on Tibet]

Nt 438 Elisabeth Gick first came to Telluride in September of 1979, like so many of us, an "accidental tourist.”

“The beauty of the valley sucked me right in and has not let go yet.”

Gick’s children, now adults, went through school here, and she started a very satisfying landscaping business, Outer Spaces, while also becoming deeply involved in a number of non-profits, including Mountainfilm and the Out Loud lecture series.

“I consider myself incredibly lucky to be living here.”

A few years ago, Elisabeth caught the travel bug, visiting interested Nepal in 1999, Vietnam and Cambodia in 2002, India for three months in 2005, India again for three months in 2006-2007.

12 January, 2009 /

Leslie and the girls #F3FB4 In October 2008, Telluride local Elisabeth Gick and daughter Leslie were spending one last afternoon in the town of Ganzi in upper Kham, eastern Tibet, enjoying the sunshine after many snowy, cold days, when they spotted a sign over a door that read “Tibetan Hospital.” A young man spotted the two women and asked in fluent English if he could help.

Then magic unfolded.

The young man, whose name is Lobsang, explained that the abbot of Ganzi nunnery was in charge of the hospital as well as an orphanage for girls. He took Elisabeth and Lesley to meet the man, who was 75 and dressed from head to toe in leather, not red robes.

11 January, 2009 /

Driving home from a day in Telluride, I happened to catch the magnificent winter solstice Sun setting on the wild, west-end horizon of San Miguel County. Open spaces, magic places and the official season of ice and snow begins. Merry Christmas and may the grace of...

25 December, 2008 /

  IMGP2126
Birthday Cakes for Vivien and Clint

The Residencia Historica is located just a few kilometers from the toy town of Marchihue and 40 minutes from the much larger Santa Cruz in Chile’s Colchagua Valley. Colchagua is one of the centers of the country’s rapidly growing wine industry and the Chilean outpost of blue chip labels such as Domaines Barons de Rothschild-Lafite. We first visited the place in 2005, when it was still a work- in- progress.

When Vivien Jones and her partner Silvio Castelli discovered what has become the hotel six years ago, the sprawling 18th-century home had seen better days. The bones remained, but they were buried in a tangle of old eucalyptus trees. Dead fruit trees and the thorns of roses tortured the grounds like a hair suit. Undaunted, the couple pursued a vision that can only be described as a labor of love: the promising wreck received the makeover it deserved. The result is a fabulous boutique hotel, where old and new artfully co-exist. To celebrate, on November 8 Vivien threw a joint birthday bash, a traditional Chilean BBQ or asada, for herself and Clint.

01 December, 2008 /

Take a left turn out of Telluride and people wind up some place wonderful in the great wide world, where they do wonderful things in a state of wonderment. That’s part of what we mean by the “Out” in the name of our blog: we will be documenting Telluriders when they are out and about having fun, making a difference.  

Local landscape designer Elisabeth Gick and Judge Sharon Shuteran both recently traveled to the Far East, as tourists and ambassadors of goodwill.

30 November, 2008 /