(Update: new screenings announced) Our Snow Rangers film is in the Backcountry Film Festival!

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Update: screening dates have been announced in Colorado and beyond!

All proceeds benefit conservation and the outdoor recreation resources of non-profits around the country!

In-Person Colorado Screenings - Buy Tickets Today (click on the town where you’d like to attend below)!

Salida, CO - January 22, 2022
Denver, CO – January 26, 2022 (Outdoor Retailer Snow Show
Room MR400s 6 pm, trade show badge required)
Leadville, CO - January 28, 2022
Golden, CO - February 4, 2022
Golden, CO - February 5, 2022
Ridgeway, CO – February 8, 2022
Grand Junction, CO - February 11, 2022
Colorado Springs, CO - February 18, 2022
Fort Collins, CO - February 19, 2022

Screenings outside of Colorado:

Sandpoint, ID – January 7, 2022
Los Alamos, NM – January 21-23, 2022 (virtual)
Cedar Rapids, IA – January 28, 2022
Cedar Rapids, IA – January 29, 2022

We’ll be sure to update this as we become aware of more screenings.

Watch virtually:
in the meantime, you can also watch the entire festival online for a donation via Winter Wildlands Alliance’s Vimeo page by clicking here.

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For our new film, Snow Rangers, a skilled team and myself followed the new and intrepid snow rangers of the GMUG District (Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests) through the elements, up mountain sides, and into some truly beautiful places in southwest Colorado. Following in their (uphill) “skin tracks”, we learned a lot about how the Colorado Mountain Club, the U.S. Forest Service, and other sponsors like the Colorado Department of Transportation and Black Diamond are helping to manage the influx of winter recreation in places like Red Mountain Pass in the San Juan Mountains. 

It’s through the education, observations, and contagious dedication of these rangers that this program is changing how we approach winter recreation management in Colorado forever.

Please be sure to check out a screening near you https://winterwildlands.org/tourschedule!

Here’s a sneak peak:

See you out there this winter!

Regards,

Phil Hüffeldt

The Farm is (Almost) Saved!

We couldn’t be happier for Tim and Kerry of Dharma’s Garden as they are now officially under contract to purchase their land outright and save the farm!

This regenerative agricultural non-profit raised millions of dollars to enshrine a beautiful community haven and a priceless force for good in the world. The film I helped create for them was a big part of that!

After closing, they will ensure that the land is protected forever from development as a CSA, a community hub, a wildlife corridor, and a homestead.

If you pledged to help be sure to fulfill your pledge ASAP!!! 🤞🙏🏼

Learn more, pledge/donate, and see the video we created at www.savedthisfarm.org.

A call for COVID Stories and Portraits

A message from our founder:

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Hi my Wooly Hatted friends,

A questions for you: will you share how this pandemic has affected you or someone you know, maybe a COVID hero?

These are such wild and intense times and so many are going through things we never imagined: funny things, annoying things, devastating things, growth, loss, pain, unexpected compassion, moments of relief, you name it.

Many of us are documenting these stories on our phones or cameras, in videos or pictures, and we're logging these memories in our brain like time capsules for an uncertain future. I would like to consolidate those stories, either the content you already have or the stories in your head, and share them with the world.

Please click here to provide us with your story or story lead. Also, feel free to just reply to this email with an idea.

With these stories and portraits, I will be creating videos and content on our website to document these times, connect us, inspire us, and let our future selves and future generations know what happened here.

Here’s what I envision:

1. A Video of Heroes – a story about people on the front lines of keeping us alive, fed, housed, etc. Are you or someone you know heroically doing things like, but not limited to, working in an ICU, keeping their store open, serving food, delivering the mail, or looking after at risk people such as the elderly, or more? Please let us know and we're open to what constitutes a hero!

2. A Video of Quarantine Life – a story about the strange, terrible, and unique time this is. What does quarantine look like for you or someone you know? How has it been being trapped at home, homeschooling the kiddos, living alone, getting furloughed or laid off, still having to work, having a sick friend or family member, losing someone, realizing you have too many pets, or too few pets, getting a garden going, etc? Please let us know! Again, we're open to ideas.

3. A few vignettes on social media and our blog highlighting especially interesting stories. 
    

It’s so important to put these stories out there to remind us of our shared humanity and to stay connected. 

So please send your story or story lead by filling out this form!


Thank you and stay safe,
Phil

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Phil Hüffeldt, Founder
Wool Hat Creative

Who is Dharma's Garden? and Happy Earth Day You Crazy Humans

During a worldwide pandemic, one might have a hard time wishing anyone a happy anything.

I mean, it’s hard to really see too far ahead while we are sobbing into our soggy corn flakes each morning and having hour-long heart-to-hearts with our genuinely concerned dogs, or hamsters, or plants. However, we are human, we persevere, we find the silver linings, we will get through this as trite as that might sound, we are tenacious as…well, you get the picture. 

So, in the tradition of being a crazy human, I’d like to wish all of you a Happy Earth Day, because, now more than ever we need this wild planet. We need the only biosphere, the only provider, the only Mother Earth that we have to be healthy. The alternative might actually lead to more outbreaks like COVID. (1)

And I can’t think of a better way to appreciate Mother Earth than to introduce you to a non-profit, a farm, that is, even now, doing an utterly fantastic job in celebrating, cultivating, and stewarding the Earth below their feet. That is, the aptly named, Dharma’s Garden. 

(This is the shorter version of the video I made for them this past winter in their efforts to save their farm. To view the longer version and learn how you can support their efforts, please visit www.savethisfarm.org.

“Pictured: an interview with Tim and Kerry Francis, founders and caretakers of Dharma’s Garden.”

To say more, Dharma’s Garden, founded in 2014, is a working farm and a pillar of their urban community in North Boulder and one of the last intact parcels of land left amidst a sea of ever-encroaching development. The historical plot of land was once a sheep farm in the early 1900's and to this day remains a last vestige of an area with a rich agricultural past.

The founders and caretakers of the farm, Tim and Kerry Francis, two of the most industrious and gregarious people you’ll ever meet, are working hard to protect this land as a nonprofit working educational farm, for the benefit of their community, and future generations to come.

Even during COVID-19, their work continues (socially distantly and within accordance of local laws, of course). On the farm, you’ll find a booming CSA (community supported agriculture) program, educational programs, regenerative agriculture, and community events. On top of that, while I was filming there, I experienced a passionate community cultivated around this farm hellbent on saving it.

So, please watch the video, learn about the farm, escape from your couch, or your bed, virtually at least, and consider joining that passionate community, either on the farm or with your wallet.

Then, I invite you to join me today in being socially distant outside and enjoying nature from your window, your backyard, or your local secret spot. Take a moment to reflect on what amazing thing is crawling, buzzing, flapping, or growing near you.

Ask yourself, what you are grateful for from Mother Earth and what deserves protecting, especially amidst the COVID madness. And let’s all continue to always be better stewards of this one and only home we have. 

Thank you so much. Stay safe and have a peaceful Earth Day you crazy humans.


-Phil Hüffeldt
Founder, Wool Hat Creative

References:
(1) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/25/coronavirus-nature-is-sending-us-a-message-says-un-environment-chief