In The NoCo

When we see weeds start to pop up in the yard or the garden, the first instinct for many of us is to figure out how to get rid of them. 

But here's the thing: Many plants we might regard as ugly or invasive are, in fact, edible. 

Orion Aon learned this in his early years growing up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He would go on camping trips with family and friends – who gave him some of his first lessons in finding food in the wild. 

Today, he is the owner of Forage Colorado. He began the business in 2015, initially as a way to create a community with fellow foragers to share stories and knowledge. 

"It turns out that there weren't that many people doing that, at least online, and sharing about it at the time," Aon says. "So it quickly turned into me teaching other people what I knew."

Now, he shows clients how to connect with nature by finding and and preparing wild foods like dandelions, tumble mustard, and curly dock. 

Here at In The NoCo, we like to talk to folks with unique businesses. Orion was kind enough to take host Erin O'Toole out on a foraging lesson along a trail in her neighborhood.

You can read Orion's tips on harvesting and preparing lambsquarters; aka wild spinach. In 2023, he spoke with KUNC about the potential harm from AI-written foraging guide books, which you can read here.

There is a deeper link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease than doctors may have previously understood.

New research at the University of Colorado could point the way to changing how, and when, doctors screen for Alzheimers. Dr Allison Shapiro, assistant professor of Pediatric Endocrinology at CU’s Anschutz Medical Campus, led a study that looked for biomarkers that are typically found in older adults with Alzheimer's, in young people with diabetes - specifically people in their teens and twenties. 

The results were surprising, but also confirmed the deep connection between brain and body.

The sugar beet industry began in Colorado right around 1900. Today it's only a small part of the state's economy, but through the early part of the 20th century, beets were the most significant agricultural product grown here. They were so important to the economy that people  referred to sugar beets as 'white gold.' During this time, thousands of Hispanic and Mexican people came to Northern Colorado to work in the beet fields. Many of them eventually settled in Fort Collins - predominantly in what would come to be called the Tres Colonias – three neighborhoods that surrounded the Great Western Sugar Company.

Betty Aragon-Mitotes is something of an expert on the legacy of the families who settled in this area. She has been a longtime community leader, advocating for Hispanic and Latino communities. She co-founded a cultural center spotlighting the Tres Colonias neighborhoods, and is the founder and president of the nonprofit Mujeres de Colores, which educates and provides support to working-class and low-income families. 

Last October, she was awarded the 2023 Polly Baca Raíces Fuertes Community Leader Award from Rep. Joe Neguse in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.

She sat down with host Erin O'Toole to share more about the people who settled in the Tres Colonias – and their indelible contributions to Northern Colorado history. We're listening back to that episode, which originally aired Dec. 1, 2023.

Betty's foundation runs several charitable events every year in the Tres Colonias, including The Backpack Program which helps provide school supplies to students from working-class and low-income families. This event takes place the first Tuesday in August.

It was a shocking crime.

In January, thieves in Wichita, Kansas allegedly stole and destroyed a bronze statue of Jackie Robinson, the trailblazing baseball player and civil rights hero. Only the statue's bronze shoes were left behind. The statue had stood near ballfields used by League 42 – a youth baseball league named after the number on Robinson’s uniform. 

News of the crime generated an outpouring of support, including more than half a million dollars in donations to replace the statue. And the work to create the new statue is happening in Loveland. 

Art Castings of Colorado, which was started in 1972, specializes in bronze sculptures. The company worked on the original Jackie Robinson statue. Now, the staff at the foundry is creating the replacement, which League 42 plans to dedicate later this year..  

Art Castings owner Tony Workman joined host Erin O'Toole to share what makes the statue so special.

A tiny parasite is an emerging threat to honeybees globally. And a scientist at the University of Colorado is sounding the alarm. 

Dr. Samuel Ramsey is an entomologist, someone who studies insects. Dr. Sammy, as he is also known, is assistant professor of entomology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado Boulder and talks about science on his YouTube channel.

The tropilaelops mite -- or as Ramsey likes to call them, tropi-mites -- have devastated bees in Asia and are spreading to Europe. Ramsey is studying how we might prevent this species from spreading to North America and becoming a honeybee pandemic. 

Ramsey is a gay, Christian, Black scientist who attributes much of his research success to his unique perspective. We talked with him about what tropilaelops could mean for honeybees, as well as how a diversity of viewpoints makes for better scientific research.  

Each spring, the Front Range endures miller moth season. Even in relatively mild years like this one, the tiny winged visitors enter our homes, annoy us and even frighten us. 

But they’re also fascinating.

So we asked Karim Gharbi – an insect expert and horticulture specialist with Colorado State University Extension – to help us unpack the mysteries of the miller moths. 

Where do they come from? Where do they go when they leave? Are they dangerous? And why does Erin’s dog seem to love the taste of them? 

The answers may surprise you – just like a miller moth darting out of your medicine cabinet first thing in the morning.

For many of us, Memorial Day is the first day of the year we get to fire up the grill. We make hamburgers, hot dogs, steaks - all foods that taste good with a bit of a char and that added smoky flavor. 

They’re also all meats. 

So what if you want a plant-based Memorial Day cookout, but you don’t want that frozen veggie patty from the grocery store? Today on the show: some easy ideas for a meat-free or vegetarian-friendly barbecue. 

To help with those plans we spoke with Justice Marcellus, owner and manager of The Mighty Vegans - a food truck serving all plant-based options. The Mighty Vegans just had their grand opening in Longmont this week. 

You can see Justice’s recipe for her Smokin’ Herb Burger on our website at KUNC.org.

The phrase "gardening season" may bring a few images to mind: large beds of colorful wildflowers… rows of neatly staked tomato plants… big bags of mulch stacked up against the side of the house. Or perhaps your mental image of gardening looks a little more modest. As in, potted herbs growing on a windowsill. 

That's the case for KUNC digital producer Natalie Skowlund. She recently decided to research and write an introduction to gardening for novices. And she lives in an apartment, so she wanted to focus on the benefits of starting small as you work on your green thumb. 

She joined In The NoCo host Erin O'Toole to commiserate over all the basil plants they've allowed to die over the years... and to share some of the tips she's learned – including why it's important to branch out when choosing drought-tolerant plants. 

Adjusting street lamps and other exterior lights to allow the stars to shine more brilliantly – that's part of the process for becoming a certified Dark Sky community. More than 200 places in 22 countries around the world have this designation. 

Advocates say limiting light pollution helps preserve expansive views of the night sky, and helps nocturnal creatures thrive. And the Colorado Tourism Office believes the Dark Sky designation helps attract visitors.

Town leaders in Grand Lake recently took the first steps toward becoming an official Dark Sky community. They would join five other towns in Colorado that already have that designation. About two dozen more Dark Sky places are in the pipeline, including communities and parks across the state.

Aaron Watson is with the group DarkSky Colorado. He joined host Erin O'Toole to discuss the problem with light pollution, and why a growing number of Colorado towns are taking the idea of dark skies so seriously.

Read more about the overview effect that Watson mentions near the end of the conversation.

Danielle SeeWalker is a Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta artist living and working in Denver. Her work incorporates traditional Native American materials and themes. 

This past January, SeeWalker was approached and offered a residency by the town of Vail. The residency would have included SeeWalker creating a public mural. However, on May 9, town officials backed out on that plan. They stated a concern about the politicization of their public art program. 

Vail officials pointed to SeeWalker’s recent  social media posts sharing a painting she had created, called "G is for Genocide." The piece is a statement on the conflict in Gaza. The painting depicts a person wearing a keffiyeh – a traditional Palestinian scarf – as well as a braid, a feather and other traditional Native American imagery.

The rescinded offer became a social media firestorm for both SeeWalker and the town. Vail released another statement on May 14. They apologized for inconveniencing SeeWalker. But they also defended their decision, saying they could not “support messaging that targets one group of residents or guests over another.”

SeeWalker spoke with host Erin O’Toole about why she painted “G is for Genocide,” her ideas for the mural she had planned for Vail and whether this experience will change her approach to art.