Kori Stanton

The 9th Annual Western Colorado Food and Farm Forum was held virtually on January 23nd - 23rd. This year's Keynote Speaker was Zimbabwean Ecologist Allan Savory of the Savory Institute.

As we face one of the worst droughts in modern history, trees can help us fight the challenges of heat, dryness, dust and mental fatigue. Street trees offer immense benefits and we need to do as much as we can to care for them! With trees, bigger is better as many of the positive attributes they offer exponentially increase with the tree’s size.

100% of the state of Colorado is in drought. It’s the middle of winter and this kind of thing is extraordinarily unusual. The southwestern areas are in extreme drought, the worst category. These areas are reporting between 39-1% of normal snowpack. This is a serious condition because water is something we all (humans and every other form of life) rely on. It's also something we can all do something about.

North Fork Valley musician Jon Hickam talks with KVNF about his debut solo album "Pickin' and Grinnin' with Willis Pickem." The new album features background vocals by Jon's father, Robert Hickam, cajon by his son Elliott Hickam and shakers by David Alderdice.

KVNF’s Kori Stanton speaks to The Learning Council's Executive Director Alicia Michaelson and Delta County School District superintendent Caryn Gibson about the donation of over 150 books for "diversity library."   

Ghost Tapes is a modern soul, funk and R&B band out of Denver, CO. On their second full album, FIG, the band explores themes of stuggle, death, rebirth and growth. KVNF's Kori Stanton talks with all five members via Zoom just before the album release. This program features the debut of Ghost Tapes' song "Spilled Milk" which was written by the band's lead singer Ishka B. Phoenix about the late Denver musician and artist Colin Ward.

Water is life. It makes up 71% of Earth’s body and 60% of ours. An essential element it is often characterized by being in motion: flowing, ebbing, falling, freezing, melting, vaporizing, condensensing. Water is ever cycling through its different states of being, as a gas (vapor), a liquid (water), and a solid (ice).

Denver based folk/hip-hop/electronic duo Grim & Darling talk with KVNF about their recent album release "Three." After a little break Colorado musicians Jessa Love and Jordan Polovina found themselves back in the studio during the 2020 pandemic.

2020 was a challenging year for musicians but that didn't stop new music from coming out. 'Talkin Music' Host and Producer, Kori Stanton and News Director and Morning Edition Host, Gavin Dahl share some of their favorite songs from Colorado musicians in 2020. 

This week there was a grand conjunction between the planets Saturn and Jupiter on the winter solstice. The ancient festival of Saturnalia was traditionally celebrated this time of year. Considered the most popular, jolly and raucous of the Roman Holidays, it serves as the basis for our modern celebration of Christmas.

Happy Winter Solstice on Dec 21st, 2020! As we snuggle down into the deepest nights of the year KVNF’s Calla Rose Ostrander explores the ways in which human society is already oriented around the workings of the Earth, the heavens and how the planet and its many forms of life and relationships interweave with and shape our own. 

Jessica Hanson is a multi-instrumentalist, looping violinist, and composer based out of Omaha, Nebraska. Hanson recently released a Christmas inspired EP called 'Noel Noctis' which includes non-traditional renditions of holiday classics like "O Come, O Come Immanuel", "What Child Is This", and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." All four songs and pieces are featured in this Talkin Music as well as an original song called 'Kaleidoscope' which Hanson released in the middle of 2020.

When people think about what compost is, a few things tend to come to mind: first pretty much everyone, republican or democrat, city dweller or rural resident, thinks its good, I haven't met a farmer who didn't like it and people in cities tend to think of it in connection with beautiful things like community gardens or their grandparents backyards and old farms.  

Durango musician Cody Tinnin talks with KVNF about his upcoming solo album "Perennial" and shares several unreleased songs on this Talkin Music. Tinnin is one third of the bluegrass trio Stillhouse Junkies which is also based out of Durango, CO.

The Beaver, or Full Frost Moon is the name of this season’s luna llena. With the moonlight sparkling on a heavy frost and a beaver moving into a new bend of one of the ditches that runs by my house, I think it is well named. Our question this week was, why is the Moon bigger when it rises?

Many industries have gone through massive disruptions during the pandemic and the Arts is no exception. KVNF's Kori Stanton reports on the economic impacts and spoke with Paonia Clayworks co-founder, Karen Good about the pottery collective, their new retail space, and shopping local.

On this week's Local Motion Gavin Dahl speaks with Chalkbeat Colorado bureau chief Erica Meltzer about how school districts are managing coronavirus outbreaks statewide. Plus, Kori Stanton speaks to Paonia Experiential Leadership Academy senior Liza Eller, who wrote and directed 2020 The Musical, produced with fellow students. 

Denver based pop singer-songwriter Kaitlyn Williams talks with KVNF and shares some of her 2020 releases including a world debut of her brand new song "Freedom."

The Old Farmer's Almanac has been sharing farming and homesteading tips and offering weather predictions since the 1700’s. While it is unclear exactly how they make their weather predictions, an answer to a listener's question helps us see that what is clear is that climate change is making weather much more variable and extreme and so prediction methodologies based primarily on historical weather patterns are becoming less reliable.

It behooves those of us who live in the West to think proactively about how to fight desertification. At this point, if we are not actively making choices to do so we will become desertified. The basic thing to understand is that anything which decreases the ability of the land to retain water, or increases the rate at which water leaves the land is adding to the problem. Anything that slows water down and helps it stick around is the solution.

Colorado's Drought and Agriculture Impact Task Forces have expanded on a virtual drought tour concept to assess conditions from those most impacted by the 2020 drought and active wildfire season. The Task Forces are seeking stories from producers and communities significantly impacted by drought.

Seattle singer-songwriter Erika Lundahl talks with KVNF about her new album 'Daughter, You're a Storyteller' which dropped October 30th, 2020. Lundahl talks with 'Talkin Music' host Kori Stanton about her songwriting process, BLM protests in Seattle and the decision to release this new record in the middle of the pandemic.

KVNF discusses the impacts of continuous hot and dry weather in Western Colorado with Reagan Waskom, Director, Colorado Water Institute, Colorado State University, Harrison Topp, Topp Fruits, Kate Greenberg, Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture, and rancher, Cynthia Houseweart, Princess Beef.

Here on Rain & Shine we are looking at ways we can protect our communities from desertification in the face of a destabilizing climate by slowing down the rate at which water moves through our landscapes.

Denver rock band CITRA talks with KVNF about their newest singles from 2020 and how music has been helping the band get through the pandemic. CITRA is currently working on writing new music and plans to release a new album this winter.

The TIERRO Band with Bridget Law performed for the third week of the 'Live Music Still Soothes The Soul Series' on October 2nd, 2020. Tierro and Bridget talked with KVNF's Kori Stanton before the outdoor concert at Poulos Park in Paonia, CO. 

Here on the western slope we have been blessed with a combination of warmth from the desert combined with steady streams of water that flow down from the mountains in our rivers. This lovely combination makes our area agriculturally rich and abundant, allowing us to grow crops that cannot be grown anywhere else in the Rocky Mountain region.  But living on the edge of a desert means it's all too easy for us to become a desert too!

Indegenious cultures have historically practiced agriculture from a position that is deeply centered in a particular landscape. There was little difference between “wild” and “farmed” in cultures indegenious to the land called Turtle Island. This led to relationships which sought to understand and work within the natural cycles and patterns of the elements, plants and animals, supporting and caring for them in ways yielded the food supply needed to sustain the many people who called the land home. 

Niceness frontwoman and songwriter, Koral Delatierra and keyboardist and vocalist, David “Bassie” Christeson talk with KVNF's Kori Stanton about their upcoming album "Realize".

Nitrogen is the basis of fertility. It’s the base of the amino acids that make up our DNA and the proteins in our bodies. Nitrogen is a common limiting nutrient in nature, and agriculture, meaning that naturally it is in the shortest supply and limits growth.