Connecting People with Food Production!

Below are excerpts from Carol Kennis Lopez's outstanding research article: An Agricultural Legacy: Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site, published in July of 2017.  These four paragraphs highlight some of the key moments in the history of agriculture at Rock Ledge Ranch and help illustrate why we are raising funds this year to re-construct a greenhouse on the historic site in Colorado Springs.  

1. The first decade at Rock Ledge Ranch was exceedingly busy for the family. Robert was working to extend the acreage under irrigation with his neighboring farmers Fleming Neff and Mr. 

   Hardwick, plant a fruit orchard, and operate a green house and nursery on Kiowa street in Colorado Springs. Elsie was raising children and operating a boarding house, as well as conducting the typical farm labor of raising chickens and milking cows. As if this was not enough of a challenge, they suffered through a several--year locust plague that occurred from about 1875-1877.

2. Throughout their time at the ranch the Chambers complimented their farming income through a variety of means and Elsie participated fully in these ventures. In 1877, possibly while their crops were recovering from grasshoppers, the family placed an ad in the Colorado Springs Gazette advertising dinner from noon to two o’clock p.m. for 50 cents and lunch of crackers and milk for 15 cents. In the same ad, they promoted their boarding opportunity for $1.50 a day or $6.00 a week, as well as “cheap plants—roses and flowering shrubs that will endure our winters. Also, green-house and bedding plants, at Rock Ledge Ranch."

3.  For some years the family also owned a greenhouse on Kiowa street near downtown Colorado Springs. They advertised bedding plants, flowers and trees. The Chambers identified closely with their gardening pursuits because the 1880 census lists Robert as gardener, instead of farmer, and Elsie as florist. Young Benjamin Chambers worked and contributed to the operations as well. He became a skilled plumber and is thought to have helped construct the steam-heated greenhouses that were erected on the south side of the house.

4. While visitation to historic houses across the nation is declining, public support for local agriculture, backyard farming, and permaculture is growing.  For instance one search on the U. S. Department of Agriculture website for “Urban Farming” resulted in twenty articles about this trend. This popularity can work in favor of the RLRHS and the city of Colorado Springs. The site can be used to help citizens of all ages reconnect with the soil beneath them, where their food originates, and how we can all participate in the process of producing and sharing food.  Further, living historical farms and urban farms are discovering new ways to help citizens connect with each other and their community through the experience of local agriculture. Fields that once supported hay, asparagus, fruit orchards, and livestock grazing can now be used to study and teach insect control, invasive weed identification and control, and small animal care for critters such as chickens, goats, sheep and swine. Since its beginning as a living history site the RLRHS has focused on education and preservation.

So, we have set before us a challenging goal: to fund the greenhouse construction without incurring any debt!  Our community will benefit, our children and grandchildren will benefit, from a teaching greenhouse built on the historic Rock Ledge Ranch site.  

Please join us by investing in the future of our children!

Thank you so very much,

Warren Wright, President