Chicks Man

My brother and sister-in-law are building a chicken coup!  They live in Boulder, CO and have a darling bungalow right in town.  I am so jealous of their beautiful Boulder life and a chicken coup in the backyard is just the pies de resistance to the laid back, outdoorsy, eco-friendly lifestyle.  Mind you, this is no ugly coup with chicken wire for walls.  The design matches their house and is seriously nicer than my first apartment out of college.  My sister-in-law is a budding photographer herself and has shared these photos as the chicks wait for their home to be finished.  Perfect timing for Spring and Easter!

_______________

Introducing, the newest ladies of Boulder.  (Hopefully they are all female…no roosters are allowed in the city of Boulder.)

All photos by: Melissa Winchester

_

First up we have the blonde of the group, Buttercup.  She may look cute, but watch out if you ruffle her feathers.

_

On lead cluck-tar we have Camile

_

The sassy one of the bunch with her dramatic eyeliner, Littley

_

And the tough girl, Little Jerry.

_

I’ll have Melissa send me photos of the coup once completed.  That’s all folks.

Eco-Chic Tailgate

Leave it to my brother and the super cool town of Boulder to make even a football tailgate Eco-chic.  The other weekend we flew out to Boulder to visit my brother and his wife and to attend the Colorado vs. Georgia football game.  As far as living, Boulder has it down, the beautiful mountains, open public green spaces, every outdoor activity imaginable and a city plan where recycling and composting are available everywhere.

This approach even extended to our football tailgate.  My brother had the whole extravaganza planned to be almost waste free!  Between recyclable bottles, a returnable keg and compostable plates and cups the only waste we had were the packages in which the brats came from the store.  Here is a little breakdown of our Eco-friendly tailgate

_______________

Materials Needed:

1. Cups, plates, napkins and utensils

- the building block (aside from beer) of any tailgate.

Yes using washable plates and and glasses is ideal, but there are some occasions where you just need disposable items, and a football tailgate is definitely one of them.  My brother used Eco Products, Boulder based company specializing in single-use food service items.  They are compostable and made with Ingeo™ – a natural plastic made from renewable resources.

He purchased his at Ellie’s Eco Home Store, in Boulder who have an online store.  Eco Products also has an online store.  For those in the New England area EcoMV carries this line and Let’s Go Green in the Atlanta area carry them in their store front shops.

And they look sooooooo much cuter than those ugly red Solo cups.

_

2. Food

While we all pitched in on the food, we tried to buy local and organic. (Of course it is helpful that there is a Whole Foods on practically every corner in Boulder.) These cheese bratwurst my brother picked-up were so delicious, and good for you too…right?  I convinced myself it was okay to eat three because they were organic

 

Photos by me

_

3. Beverages

Keg beer – refillable and returnable, who knew the good old keg of beer could be so revolutionary

Wine - A must for this gluten-free girl

Bloody Mary – great way to start the tailgating day…all those veggies

Water- Where sun and alcohol are involved, so must there be a lot of water.  We also purchased gallon jugs of water to fill our cups instead of cases and cases of bottled water.  Hey, every little bit counts right?

_

4. Fun and fans

Our tailgate proved to be quite a mix of Georgia and Colorado fans.  My brother and I grew up in Georgia and lots of old friends were in town for the game, but he also attended CU Boulder for his MBA and his wife went their for her undergraduate degree.  Now I have been to many college football games in my life but I am never seen two groups of fans co-tailgate together so happily.  Maybe it was the beautiful Colorado mountains or the southern charm, but the good cheer of both sides added to festivities, and if positive energy doesn’t help with sustainable living practices I don’t know what does.

 

Georgia fans

 

_

Colorado fans

 

Rocky Mountain High

The air is clearer, the sky is bigger and you do more in one day than in a week at home.  I had grand plans of shooting photographs till I was out of memory cards, but I mostly had too much fun hiking, horseback riding and college football tailgating, all the while lusting after the darling houses and amazing lifestyle in Bolder.

_

_

_