Grant Family Farms hosts painting party Sept. 24 to erase hate speech vandalism

From today's Denver Post:

Mobile chicken coops on the Grant Family Farm in Wellington were vandalized with messages of hate last week. Swastikas and anti-gay messages were scrawled on the sides of three buses the farm uses as mobile chicken coops. Sometime between Sept. 7 at 9 p.m. and Sept. 11 at 11 a.m. vandals entered the farm passing clearly marked private land and defaced the buses, said Angela Simon, chef for Grant Family Farms and representative of Boulder Community Supported Agriculture.

"It's a blunt reminder there are individuals who think that way and want to promote their message," Simon said.

The all-organic farm fosters an open community with a diverse staff, she said. The colorful buses add an element of mobile art with messages of peace and love to the utility as a chicken coop.

The buses are taken to different areas on the more than 2,000 acre farm to allow the chickens to roam free and help with fertilizing and weed control.

The Larimer County Sheriff's office is investigating the vandalism and trespassing as a hate crime, Simon said.

The chicken buses are decorated at painting parties hosted at the farm.

Sept. 24, there will be a painting party open to the public to cover up the vandalism and to paint two new coops.

Simon said she hopes they will have a gracious donor provide paint for the party. which will start at 9 a.m.

"It will take some work to cover it up," Simon said."We will do the best we can."

In July, Hummingbirdminds wrote about the 30th anniversary of the Grant Family Farms store here in Cheyenne. It's been a real boost to locavores and gardeners in southeast Wyoming. And my daughter had a summer job there two years ago. I'll be at a literary conference in Casper for the Sept. 24 (9 a.m.-noon) painting party. But if you're around, get down to Wellington and support Grant Farms. Activities will be happening at the field near Cuca's Kitchen, just to the west of the farm offices at 1020 WCR near Wellington. Wear your painting clothes, bring water for drinking and any extra house paint suitable for covering swastikas and anti-gay slogans.

Here's a better photo courtesy of towleroad at http://www.towleroad.com/2011/09/peace-loving-colorado-farm-hit-by-anti-gay-neo-nazi-vandal.html