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The Cresset Center

The Cresset Center for Agriculture, Ecology & the Arts is a partnership between the nonprofit CFDI and the Historic Henry H. Uhrich Farm. The Cresset Center’s Mission is to inspire the ecological and social imagination of the people of the Northern Front Range and beyond by creating a sanctuary for bio-diverse agriculture, wildlife habitat, community education and the arts. The Cresset Center promotes, preserves and educates folks on the ethics of long-term conservation and stewardship of unique farmlands and cultural landmarks like the Uhrich Farm, while working to create a dynamic, sustainable agricultural enterprise using the holistic and mindful concepts of organic and biodynamic farming. By using the historic farmstead as a practical laboratory for eco-friendly building, landscape design, and wildlife habitat conservation, while also providing a community center and educational resources for alternative approaches to farming, ecology, spirituality and the arts, our hope is that the center will endure far into the future and present a model for a more natural, organic and humane modern farm.

The historic Henry H. Uhrich Farm is located in eastern Larimer County, Colorado, near the town of Johnstown, and features 120 acres of mixed topography that rests atop a ridge with extraordinary views of the Front Range, and beautiful, native prairie grasslands in the valley along the banks of the Big Thompson River. With 60 acres of tillable, productive soil and 60 acres of mixed pasture, wetlands and bluffs, the land has been farmed biodynamically or organically for the last twenty-two years, producing rye, barley, corn, alfalfa, hemp and vegetables. The farm also raises chickens and has a small flock of sheep. This landmark farmstead is a potent symbol of both our traditional farm heritage and the endless opportunities of a re-imagined future for conservation and sustainable agriculture.

For people increasingly alarmed at the overwhelming encroachment and economic pressures of sprawling suburban development, loss of rural open space, farms, farmers, and their culture of self-reliance, Colorado’s Front Range is a prime example of the negative incentives and destructive forces at work in the modern economy. Combined with the domination of industrialized, chemically based agricultural practices, spiraling congestion, traffic and pollution on an unprecedented scale, and the expanding effects of climate change on the weather and seasons, we’re at a crossroads of the past and the future, and we must act now to create the most livable and ethical future we can imagine, for ourselves, our children, and their children. Initiatives like the Cresset Center present the most positive and creative kind of action plan to align us with the spiritual forces and natural systems that unify the planet, while bringing forward new ideas and people, and working together to build fellowship and community. Please consider joining us in this very special work!