Homestead on the range
Talk about tapping into the zeitgeist: Buckley's Homestead Supply (1501 W. Colorado Ave., buckleyshomesteadsupply.com) opened in late June under owners Allison and Ed Buckley, a D-11 science teacher and Sinton Dairy employee, respectively.
With the rise in urban gardening and husbandry of all sorts, the timing couldn't be better for a small community shop offering basic homesteading supplies. Buckley's inventory includes traditional and organic feed for goats, rabbits and chickens; beekeeping items; cheese-, soap- and yogurt-making supplies; canning and fermenting necessities; butter churns and vintage-style kitchen items; educational books; and even old-fashioned laundry washboards.
"We've been on this journey ourselves," says Allison in allusion to her urban farm, to which she added chickens last year. "I joined the Colorado Springs Urban Homesteaders Meetup [group] and quickly got frustrated that there were no places in town to get supplies. ... We wanted a place to build all these skills."
Shugas gets wheels
Three years ago, Alexius Weston and husband Kurt Bunch of Shugas (702 S. Cascade Ave., shugas.com) purchased an old food truck at Ross Auction. It sat around, getting periodic battery jumps and engine starts as the couple "played around with ideas forever," in Weston's words.
Business at their brick-and-mortar institution has been great, she says, weakening their motivation to get serious about an extension on wheels. But with a recent artistic paint job by Douglas and Mallori Rouse, the vision is finally jelling.
Hopefully by late August or a little later, a mobile version of the cool café will shuttle its spicy Brazilian coconut shrimp soup and other popular items like the tomato, goat cheese and pesto Phellini sandwich to yet-to-be-determined destinations.
"We're going to keep it minimal," says Weston, considering expansion into empanada-like "hand pies" to be served alongside lavender lemonade in hot months and hot lemon-ginger tea in cold ones. We'll update you when the truck hits the road.
As we all know by now, the javaverse is a culinary land that fears no pun. So do what you will with Xpresso Yourself Coffee Shop (2103 Templeton Gap Road, xpressoyourselfcoffeeshop.com), which opened June 18.
Regardless, you may want to stop by the tiny kiosk for Serranos coffees, Olde World Bagels and gluten-free goodies from Tabor Mountain Bakehouse. Owner David Parker, an active-duty military man stationed at Fort Carson, plans soon to offer breakfast and lunch pocket sandwiches made at Gotta Love It! Kitchen, official commissary for Xpresso Yourself.
The former Daily Grind location, mostly operated by Parker's wife Peg, is open Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.