Although he mistakenly thought, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,” in his address on the battlefield at Gettysberg, Pa. some 145 years ago, Abraham Lincoln insisted that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Not only have Lincoln’s words not been forgotten, but every high school civics class, every student of American history, and every vote-seeking politician speaks nobly that the principle Lincoln so clearly laid out is still today among the critical pillars that supports our representative democracy.

While you may be unable to find anyone to disagree with Lincoln’s assertion, the question of precisely how to balance government of the people with government by the people continues to be debated. In fact, that issue sits at the heart of a thus-far gentlemanly disagreement

 

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Miller Family Farms sits quietly on 180 acres along Hwy. 66, just 15 miles northeast of Denver. With sweeping views of the snow-covered front range across its fallow fields, the farm hearkens back to a gentler time, when small-scale operations like this dotted the Colorado landscape. Owner and operator Joe Miller remembers when there were 50 or so farms along this stretch of plains near Platteville, where now fewer than a half dozen remain.

Where have all of the family farms gone, and why are their values essential to carry on? How does eating locally-produced food benefit us economically, environmentally, and physically? Why are small farms, urban gardens, and farmers’ markets vital to Denver communities? In search of these questions, I set off for Miller Farms, Wilkerson’s Produce Co. and Denver Urban Gardens – to re-trace where food actually comes from, and perhaps garner a better understanding of its indispensable niche in our lives.

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