Tonight on studio 12, from a crocheted world of inner monsters to a flower farm rooted in lavender and love to keeping the legacy of Molly Brown alive through her great granddaughter and the growing impact of peer recovery support across Colorado.

All of that, plus a performance from Defog right now on studio 12.

From the Five Points Media Center in the heart of Denver, Colorado.

This is studio 12.

Hi, I'm Bazzi Kanani, and I'm Ryan here.

Welcome to studio 12.

We start our show tonight with a heart of the West story.

Meet Colorado artist Sadie Young, a multimedia and crochet creator who has transformed the Denver Art Museum into this vibrant and emotional playground.

Her latest exhibit, The Tangled Self, created with spectra Art space, invites visitors to literally step inside the mouth of monsters through color, texture, and fiber.

Sadie explores why we sometimes see the negative parts of ourselves more clearly than the good and at the heart of her art.

It's a very personal thread, a connection to her grandmother, who taught her how to crochet for the first time.

This is bad.

Yeah.

The biggest part of the mess.

It's, like, hard not to smile when you're doing it.

It's such a funny thing to do with yarn, but.

And then I do the edges where I always do the edges.

Last hand is so cool.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You tend to get fast at crocheting when it's all you do for six months.

Yeah.

Crocheting in and of itself is it's like a puzzle trying to figure out, like, how to make the exact shape.

My name is Sadie Young.

My grandma.

Very young.

She taught me how to crochet.

I am Sadie's, Sadie Young's grandmother.

Where you crochet fast, Sadie.

See me?

Oh, yeah.

I always tell people this little story.

She was probably, I don't know, 7 or 8 years old or maybe younger.

She wanted to learn how to crochet.

I was like, maybe four.

And she taught me how to do just like a simple, like, base chain.

So I taught her how to chain.

I don't know if you a chain is just one stitch after the other and it just makes a long rope.

Tommy had a chain, and then I was convinced that I was going to make the longest chain in the world and, like, break a record at, like, four years old.

So she was going to break the record.

So we lived in a three story, three level with the basement house.

I just like made chains nonstop up and down her four story house.

So she made that chain long enough to go all the way, all down the stairs and all over.

Yeah, that was the start of it.

That's how she started.

And that was the only thing I taught her.

The rest is on her.

Right now it's just one, one, two, three, 4 or 5.

Over and over is the part that I'm at.

Yeah.

At first she would do like crochet beanies, caps and just little animals.

She made me a little animal and she made up the pattern.

She didn't.

Yeah.

She just does it.

I like the idea of making stuff that is accessible, like affordable.

So then that just evolved into this.

Well, we're inside of my, new installation called The Tangled Self at the Denver Art Museum.

It's giant, crazy, super colorful fiber art installation.

And that represents our inner monsters as well as the positive aspects of ourselves.

She just went way beyond any of my capabilities in I think it was 2021.

I did my first really big yarn installation, at spectral Art Artspace.

Picture Arts Space is a gallery and an immersive experience in Denver on South Broadway.

One of the staff members at the Art museum had actually visited spectra, and it was not one.

That installation was up.

They just kind of came and saw one of our immersive and then reach out to me and interviewed me just to kind of like, I don't know, kind of vibe, check it with me and like, all that.

And they kind of told me about all these like different opportunities that they had here for artists and specifically told me about the Precor area and how they wanted something that was interactive and immersive and, how much they loved the immersive that spectra.

And then they said I could do it.

I was like trying to think of like, different things to do.

And then I was like, you need to follow your heart.

You want to do fiber art.

So it was kind of like the first time in ten years where I did my art just for my art.

That wasn't a part of spectra.

Almost a year ago today is when I kind of, like, really started.

We met in this phase, and then it really took off from there.

And I did the full plan and.

I started crocheting, and I was so delighted that she asked me to make the little leaves for the vines.

It was like an average of like 12 hours a day, I would say, of either crocheting or, tufting.

So pretty much nonstop.

When I'm crocheting, it's not my hands or like my wrist.

Like most people think it's my back and like my neck.

It's like spinal stuff.

I didn't realize, like, crocheting that much and like that often and consistently, like daily.

What a toll it actually takes on your body.

It's actually like a very physically.

I don't I don't know if demanding is the right word, but, yeah, I went through some like, chronic pain just because of, like, sitting and like just the position that I was in.

So I think that was like the hardest part was just getting through the, the pain and figuring out how to say, I actually bought like four new chairs during this project to try and figure out, like, the best way to sit, because I wasn't used to sitting that much, especially when I was like working in spectra.

It would be like two three days in the studio if I was lucky.

And then I'm standing all day at spectra.

When I first started college, I was a psych major, so I did three years of psychology in college before I switched to art.

That is really what inspired the concept behind this and then personal experience to I Crochet monsters, because there's a lot of freedom in crocheting a monster, because it doesn't have to look like anything specifically.

And it's fun and it can be silly, and it's a silly way to represent something that can be dark.

Like they're named after what I was dealing with at the time, in a way.

So, like when I was making Defeated the Dragon, I think there was like, I can't remember exactly, but I remember feeling defeated and then being like, okay, I'm going to make a dragon.

But I just remember feeling that feeling, and it's like a very human thing to, like, kill these feelings and you're not alone if you feel them.

It helped me, like, deal with it so much, just like making it.

And I was like, oh, that wasn't so bad.

I'm like, I'm not defeated.

I I'm resilient.

I can make it through this, you know?

A lot of them were kind of like what I was dealing with at the time that I was making them, and that's where their names came from.

My group from where I live all went, and they were just all amazed.

When I build immersive experiences, whether it's this one or the ones at spectra, I really want them to be accessible and I really want them to be inclusive.

I don't build these things for adults, for kids, for rich people, or middle class or poor people or like, I don't build them for specific people.

I build them so that they can be interacted with or enjoyed by everybody.

Her tangled self is very just.

It's just good.

Makes people think.

But in high school, I had this mindset that art wasn't like what you go to school for?

I'm selling my art for a living.

I'm doing pop up art shows like I'm literally doing this.

Why wouldn't I go to school for it?

So I think the signs are always there, but I think it took me taking that 3D art class and that art history class to realize like, oh dude, you're doing this, like, and this is everything that you love in school.

Art history is psychology, sociology, anatomy, theology.

It's like all these things and history.

I loved all of it.

And and philosophy, it's like all in one.

This is what you want to do.

You're already doing it.

She's my idol.

Really she is.

I'm very proud of her.

If people like come in, then they're like, oh, I'm so inspired by like, you're immersive.

Like I'm going to go home and like, do something in my art or like the art here.

Just made me want to go home and paint.

It's like, that's amazing.

So if we can inspire you to create in any capacity because it is a very healing thing if you let it be.

That that's amazing.

Conceptual.

I hope that people come in and know that if they are feeling some of these like negative feelings, that they're not alone, and then maybe like icing on the cake, they feel like they are worthy or enough or resilient or any of that, or loved or any of those things that can just like maybe they needed to hear that, and then they leave feeling like they did.

When you can do something you love and hopefully make living at it, that's success.

I can't wait to see this one in person.

The textures and colors alone make me want to go to the Denver Art Museum.

Phenomenal.

Just looks so incredible.

And I love especially that connection to her grandmother.

Absolutely.

So sweet.

The Tangled Self exhibit is open right now at the Denver Art Museum and it runs through September 9th.

For more information, visit Denver Art museum.org and for more information on Sadie and her work, you can go to her website at spectra or Space.com.

Now we go inside the life and legacy of Margaret Molly Brown in our viewfinder segment with PBS Twelve's photojournalist Rico Romero.

Molly Brown survived the Titanic and ran for Congress before women even had the right to vote.

Rico sat down with her great granddaughter and the head of the Molly Brown House Museum to mark what would have been her 158th birthday.

So we are at the Molly Brown House Museum.

Home to the woman who is most famous for having survived the sinking of the Titanic.

I am her great granddaughter, one of, four.

I just adore.

How could you not?

Today is Margaret's 158th birthday.

So one of those tremendous milestones that we we mark every year just to honor this amazing woman, who, along with a cadre of other amazing women, accomplished so many great things 100 years ago.

And every year we have a celebration here at the house.

We have two, not one, but two great granddaughters in the house today.

Helen and Lynn.

So it's an extra special day for us at the Molly Brown house this year.

My sister Llyr here.

We were lucky enough to come join the festivities.

They are both living treasures because as descendants of Margaret Brown, their stories are up.

How?

We know what we know about Mrs. Brown.

They enrich her story.

They.

They remind us that not only did she do things like run for Senate, help people in the aftermath of the disaster, but that she was a mother and she was a grandmother, and that she has this tremendous family lineage that still exists today.

She, first of all, was my great grandmother.

She was just an example to everybody of compassion, strength, resilience.

Determination.

She's originally from Hannibal, Missouri.

She left there to go to Leadville to be with her brother Dan, and that's where she met Jim Brown, who was a day miner at the time and went down into the mines, did what everybody did.

He asked her to go out about three times to go out with him, and she refused him because she did know there had to be somebody richer than this guy.

About the fourth time she said, all right, I'll do it.

And he drove up in a carriage like thing with two black horses, matching horses.

And she came out and she looked at it and she said this.

I can do.

So she married.

Well, Mr. JJ Brown was a miner in Leadville.

And quietly through the early 1890s, they started finding tremendous amounts of gold.

When they became wealthy, they bought this house and moved here.

And so that gave them the privilege instantly to say, we're moving to Denver.

So they purchased the house in 1894, and it was in her her ownership until 1932 when she passed away.

So the My Brown House Museum is her Denver home, where her and her husband raised two kids.

They lived here for over two decades.

So it's their beautiful Capitol Hill home that's been preserved to look like it did when they lived here at the turn of the last century.

We've been a museum since 1971, when we threw open the doors and had a line around the block.

I volunteered here, and I worked in the carriage shop, and I did tours.

And, you know, it was so much fun.

I loved it.

The story that I love is that when she was on Titanic, it's, spring of 1912, she had been traveling all over Europe and then Egypt.

She gets a telegram from her son, Larry, and some correspondence with letters that possibly her first grandbaby is not doing well.

So she decides to come back to America a little earlier than she had planned.

She books passage on this amazing brand new ship making its maiden voyage.

It is the Who's Who of 1912.

She boards in Cherbourg, then.

And of course, as we know, several nights later, in the middle of the Atlantic, the ship hits the iceberg.

Women didn't want to get in the boats because they didn't want to leave their husbands.

Everything.

That home was on the boat.

She herself, wanted to help as many people as possible.

So she was convincing them to get in.

And she got to lifeboat number six, and she started to do the same thing.

And two crew members came up behind her, lifted her up, turned her, and dropped her six feet into lifeboat number six.

Later, she said she never would have left the ship.

Helen tells this great story about how you know, she wanted the families to stay together and absolutely, she was seeing families torn apart in front of her eyes as the men and the and the younger, older boys were being told, no, you have to stay behind.

And she, and other survivors are picked up by the Carpathia, which is the rescue ship, in the wee hours of the morning, rather than sort of just hiding out with the other first class passengers.

She said, you know what?

We're all lucky to be here.

But the third class of steerage class passengers, the families that just lost their husbands, maybe their sons.

We need to do something.

So she went to work comforting people, using her language skills to translate.

And within, you know, them getting to New York City, she'd raised over $10,000 and and cash and pledges from her fellow passengers, to help all of those in need.

So that when they got to New York City, they weren't completely devastated.

The Titanic really became this international platform for Mrs. Brown to really, elevate the causes that she and other progressive ERA women reformers were working on.

She believed that if women wanted the same rights as men, they'd better darn well step up and, fight that.

She turned that into a political campaign and a bid for U.S. Senate in the summer of 1914, which tied in beautifully to this whole notion that, if we punish this party in power, the Democrats at the time who did not support women's suffrage by taking away their Senate seats, we put pro suffrage people in those seats.

Mrs. Brown being a great candidate.

Ultimately, Senator Thomas of Colorado decided to keep his Senate seat, and he was very pro suffrage.

So she, suspended her bid, but was actively involved nationwide in politics, women's suffrage.

She was that kind of a woman.

She would be amazed that people still remembered her and followed her live so closely.

Here in the West.

We have, you know, our strong independent streak.

We like our heroes.

And she's one of those great people that we can look to with pride here in Denver and in Colorado.

As someone who stood up to do the right thing.

I just admire her so much.

So because of the families sort of trust and honoring us with this story, we have these wonderful artifacts that give you a sense of Margaret's life.

For over 55 years, we've been protecting this little bit of Denver and Colorado's history.

I grew up here in Colorado, and I remember as an elementary student learning about The Unsinkable Molly Brown in Colorado history class, a fascinating chapter that probably captivated you.

Fifth, sixth grade, something like that.

I still remember her can-do spirit.

Absolutely.

Very inspiring.

Thanks to Molly Brown's family and the Molly Brown House Museum, her legacy lives on in Denver's Capitol Hill.

For more information about visiting the Molly Brown Museum, you can go to Molly Brown Dawg.

Now we shift to a leader who's redefining recovery services in Colorado.

Raquel Garcia runs one of the state's largest peer organizations, staffed by individuals whose lived experience helps them do some really important work.

Her team works in hospitals, provides reentry support, and offers maternal peer coaching, reaching communities from the Front Range to Alamosa and the Rio Grande.

We spoke with Raquel at the recent Behavioral Health panel at See You and Shoots.

We talked about her organization's impact and her mission to build a more inclusive, sustainable peer workforce.

So I run one of the largest peer organizations in the state of Colorado.

We were first funded as a virtual peer recovery organization.

We serve 53% of the state of Colorado.

Peer support services are provided by people with lived experience.

So I employ 36 people across the state of Colorado.

We all, including myself, have lived experience first and foremost.

I want everyone to know here that I'm a woman in active and sustained recovery.

And what that means for me is I have not had a drink or misused a prescription in 15 years.

And the reason we're going to start with that, it is my most crowning moment.

Right.

And because of that is why I get to do the work that my team and I get to do all across Colorado.

And so it's something I'm really proud of and lead with, and that's what my organization does all over the state.

And we do quite a few partnerships with the VHA.

So I get to do a bunch of amazing things in the state.

You know, I am the chairwoman to the advisory council.

That's only one role that I play.

I also have an appointment by the attorney general's office.

Phil Weiser has me appointed to the state Opioid Abatement Council.

So I get to oversee the $800 million coming into the state.

I also run peer recovery support services.

Right.

So I have this great lens, and I'm someone who needed services.

Right.

So I am the family member I employ.

I, provide behavioral health services across the state.

And I think here today was to share all of those layers of my experience.

I'm here to be very honest in my experiences, but also help them build help to build the, statewide and behavioral health services that they want for the state.

We have a peer response program that actually responds to 15 hospitals across the state of Colorado.

Where we respond to mommas and families who may be struggling with substance use.

And let me tell you the results of that.

We have been bedside to 163 mamas in acute settings.

We have ten employed, not contracted, employed maternal peer coaches.

We have intervened 22 times on CPS, which means 22 families stay together.

And we're putting a system and we serve nine cities in 15 hospitals.

We have seen of 50 babies being brought into this world, all because of this program.

And a collaboration with the BJA.

You know, I think right now, for me, the biggest fear is my workforce.

So I am a peer recovery support specialist.

Our workforce is probably the first on the chopping block with grants and funding in Medicaid.

So it's really important that I'm here speaking on behalf of the workforce.

Tend to be someone who does that not just in Denver.

But I actually got sober in a town of 2200 people.

So when it comes to, like, getting a rural perspective, I have that feel like it is my responsibility as a peer workforce leader for the state to not only get my access, but to get other access to other people, especially rural communities, to get access to those tables so that their voices heard.

Alamosa, 49% of the population of Alamosa actually is Medicaid.

They receive Medicaid.

Imagine what it will do, not only to the people that get those services, but the workforce that provide those services or the systems that support those services.

Right.

They are really lacking.

For example, one of the grants that we were on through the VHA, which was a partnership on the impact grant was getting from the federal government for termination.

And that work is so important, we do perinatal navigation for women and families who are active in substance use.

Right.

And so we offer a very unique service and a unique perspective, because we are those mamas that help that on the Western Slope Grand Junction, where we just we have a gap in services from Salt Lake City to the Denver line.

You know, I always like to say like, I think it's a great perspective is that, you know, in my old life, right before I started on a path of recovery, I was a hustler.

Hustler?

Things not so well today.

I use that same skill set, applied very differently, allows me to provide behavioral health services across the state.

Right.

And bringing communities up and teaching them what skill sets they had before.

And how can I help is one of my passions right now.

I'm partnering with Alamosa to help build up that workforce because I came from a town of 2200.

Nobody was coming to develop me into a leader.

I had to go forage for that myself.

And it's really challenging in small communities where there's not access to that, especially culturally.

And Alamosa, my, my, my community's Hispanic, both of my staff are mostly people they have to work for in their community, are not of color.

That's their options.

And so they want to choose.

You know, I have I have everything and nothing to lose.

Right.

Which can be a blessing and a challenge.

But I'm here to be a voice as I'm a biracial woman to.

Right.

So communities of color are really important to me.

And I do believe I've been given this opportunity to open the doors for others, not just sit there by myself, but allow them access.

And I think that's really important because we don't have to be a monopoly.

We don't have to put houses in every corner.

Maybe we need to culturally go into a community and ask, what do you need and how can I support you?

So that's what we do.

Not only do I do moms work, but I do a lot of work inside Denver Women's Correctional Facility.

I also work in LA Vista.

We're doing, in Douglas County.

We're going to be the first peer organization that's funded to go inside Douglas County.

And if you think about that, Douglas County, 75% of the population inside Douglas County doesn't even live in the county of inside the jail.

They have to be put that they're going elsewhere.

And what I guarantee you, most of the officers in Douglas County are not of color.

My first exposure to someone like me was a black woman that I went in my treatment center, and I had never seen someone share her story and be a professional at the same time.

It changed my whole life, and I've been doing it ever since.

So I'm a peer recovery support specialist.

90% of the peer organizations in the state actually contract, meaning they're their own employer, and all of us are not ready for that.

And so priority funding should go to organizations that employ peers, meaning do you provide health care and health insurance and an advancement opportunity, you know, often were snuffed for that because like, were too much, but it takes too much to do this work, even for the for the staff.

You know, my staff, the in recovery.

I need them to go to the doctor and take care of themselves.

I need them to be able to choose their own health care.

And most of them actually can't qualify for Medicaid.

So now we're going to have a huge issue where our workforce who was actually being held isn't.

And they can't afford health care.

So we'll see a big change in that.

I think upcoming through here, because I see the vision that Dannette Smith wants to put out and I want to help her achieve that.

It is a far difference from what people would look at before where I wasn't cohesive, what the changes that were happening and something that I'm willing to speak up on.

I'm okay again, right?

I have nothing and everything to lose.

And so I'll continue to be a voice, but I see what the VHA wants to do and I want to help them achieve that.

Raquel's organization operates in nine cities and reaches more than half the state, providing culturally responsive support where it's needed the most.

Very impressive.

For more information on Raquel Garcia, you can go to her website, Hard beauty Dot Life Next in our Business of Colorado segment, Gina Sly's path from corporate life to flower farmer is much more than a career change.

It's a tribute to her mom, whom she lost as a toddler, and it's a journey rooted in healing, gardening and family.

What started as a backyard garden bloomed into a business with a three acre farm in Arvada.

Here's more with Barbara Brooks for PBS, 12.

I am more thrilled to have you here today because you are one of Colorado's top flower farmers.

My gosh.

So let's talk about this.

Gina, how did you what's your background?

What's your where did you start?

I did that.

Starting farming for one.

I just started as a home gardener.

You know, I grew up in gardens in Ohio.

Always gardens.

And then it's just kind of came back into my life in my 40s.

So it was like, in my blood, I think.

But I didn't have a background.

I didn't go to school for AG.

Nothing like that.

So what was your previous career because you made the switch later in life to leave in corporate America?

Tell us about that.

You were in corporate doing what?

So I used to work for Owens Corning.

I was selling fiberglass insulation to builders architects.

Like, totally different.

I was in marketing and sales for them in Ohio.

They transferred me out here and I loved doing that.

Like, I loved traveling and talking to people and marketing and sales.

But it wasn't until I started to have children that I kind of changed route.

Yeah.

You changed directions, changed directions.

And why did you decide to change directions?

But what came to you was, did you have an moment or something?

Well, you know, I was a I'm like a poster child for latchkey kid.

I grew up in the 80s.

My mother passed away when I was really young, so I grew up with a single dad and my brother.

And so I was always at home by myself.

And so once I started to have children, I just realized, like I wanted to I didn't want them to come home to an empty house.

And so I wanted to be there and do that.

So it was hard to leave my job, you know, my career, because I loved it and felt really independent, making my own money and all of those things, which is really, really great, you know?

But then you have children and it's like I had to make this change.

I tried to do it part time, but traveling on the road, nursing, like all of those things, just did not work well together.

So I chose to stay at home, raise my kids, and that's when really my gardening kind of love took off as an adult and got me to where I am today.

But that was the first catalyst was like wanting this at home, doing them.

And then I realized I wanted my kids to be outside, not in front of a TV or computer, you know, video games and all that.

So gardening is something that you can do outside when you have young kids or, you know, it's just it's really interactive.

I just love doing that.

And it turned into starting the community gardens, starting a school farm, doing all of those things for free, and then realizing, like, I'm kind of good at this.

Like, I think I could do this for a career.

And then that's when I decided to give it a go.

You mentioned something and that was about your mother.

How old were you when you lost your mother?

And do you feel that the gardening just somehow came through her to you at whatever age it is that you had this experience?

Yes.

My.

So my mother, Barbara.

Pretty miss Barbara.

Yes.

Her name was Barbara, but she died of cervical cancer when I was two years old, and so.

But before she died, she planted a garden.

And so I feel like I grew up in her garden.

And I definitely feel like I connected with her through that because so many of my neighbors would tell me stories of my mom in the garden.

And so I kind of knew my guard or knew my mom through all of these stories.

And so I loved going to the garden.

I loved, you know, I was too young to remember any goodbyes that she had with me, but I'm pretty sure she probably would have said, I'll be with you in the garden.

And so I started just talking a lot, talking to my neighbors, talking to whoever I could that liked gardening.

And we had the idea to propose a community garden to the city in this, like, empty lot.

And so we went in and they said yes, like it was amazing.

So they went.

And the garden is now 12 years old, I think.

And so it was.

Now it's 100 plots.

So that community garden has 115 by 15 plots.

And everyone, you know, the water is there, the tools there.

People know how to garden so you can learn from people.

And so I mean, it was definitely the three year process of like calling the city council member, telling the my idea, doing community surveys, the whole nine yards.

Also work with Denver Urban Gardens.

So they were kind of my they gave me some, tools.

Tools?

Yes, tools to use with the city.

Feel like.

Okay, let's go into the city.

I have this Denver Urban Gardens.

Who's going to back me up?

And like, they know how to do this because I didn't know how to do it.

And they came in and really taught me how to design a community garden, how to run it.

They have programs, all sorts of things.

So they were instrumental.

Let's talk about the flower farm.

You are then moved from that home where the community garden in Arvada.

You just moved pretty much a few a few streets over.

Yeah, a few miles away.

Yeah, yeah.

And we rented a home while we were looking for land.

So we always knew that we we sold our house, one house we rented so we could be positioned well when the right property came up, we looked for literally like seven and a half years, looked and looked and looked and looked.

And this is when we were filming Urban Conversion and doing all of that.

And then we decided that, like, it's just was not going to happen.

Like, we can't land is too expensive.

We just can't find the right property.

And then one day, Ron and I got an argument and he went for a long walk and literally saw the For Sale sign, like go in the lot of this house that had three acres right in the middle of Arvada, you would never find it because suburbs have one up around it, but it was just perfect for us because it wasn't too big, you know?

And it was still in Arvada, close in Denver.

Our kids could stay in the same school and all just fell into place.

And so then we we grabbed it.

My question is originally, what kind of flowers did you want to grow, which is now become something that seems to be a lot more.

Yeah, a lot more than I had originally.

The original thought.

Yes.

So I originally wanted to do all lavender.

Because I've always loved natural skincare, I've always made my own products, and we actually went on an RV trip around Washington state, and we just randomly stayed on a lavender farm, and it was like their lavender festival.

And all of these lavender farms had big, like retail shops, little gift shops filled with lavender products, and they all just grew one type of plant, just lavender.

And then just dawned on me that I could do that in Colorado because lavender loves dry, arid, sunny conditions, grows great in Colorado.

And so that's how I started.

I want to just be lavender, but lavender takes a while to get going.

And you know, when you slow growing it's a perennial.

Yeah.

When you say slow going, how long are we talking for lavender.

I mean, three years.

Oh.

Where you get your first big flush that you can harvest.

So in the meantime, I started I took a flower farming workshop online and started to learn cut flowers.

And I love cut flowers because you can design for weddings.

I have an art background in college, so I love just the beauty of cut flowers and being able to create beautiful things for events.

So I started doing all the cut flowers and so now I do both.

So now I have flowers from April all the way through October, we're going to talk about France.

Oh yes, we are talking about France.

Talk about France.

My goodness, you were there for two weeks.

Just recently.

You were there to do what?

So I was on Aromatherapy Retreat.

And so it was really about learning lavender.

I mean, it was we went during full bloom lavender season.

France is still the primary grower of lavender.

So you just see fields and fields of lavender.

And most of that lavender is grown for soaps and things like that.

And then there is the what I learned there is that they have a whole high altitude lavender that's grown up in the mountains in France, and it's a finer it gives a finer oil.

And this is actually what we can grow really well because, you know, Denver, we're high altitude.

So between like 20 506,000ft, they consider this high altitude lavender.

And it's because water boils at a different temperature here the chemicals are released differently.

And so the lavender that we grow is this fine lavender.

And so yeah, I just started distilling all of our own essential oil making products out of it.

And now our lavender is producing a lot.

So it's really fun.

Okay.

You're going to laugh at me.

Is this lavender?

Yes.

Good job Barbara.

Yeah I get it.

Yes.

You're going to A+.

Go.

Sorry.

That is lavender.

So this is lavender.

Yes.

And because I it's just so beautiful how you brought some of the plants from your flower farm.

Can you tell us what we're looking at?

Yeah.

And you said this one has seeds in it.

It's kind of creepy looking to me, but.

Nigella pod, this is a beautiful look.

It wants to eat me.

I know it's a little scary, but.

So all of these are actually herbs, so they're all.

Or I can smell them.

Can you smell them?

They are very fragrant for the middle of the summer when it's so hot.

Right.

And we as humans are like, dying of the heat.

Right?

We're just overwhelmed.

And it's a beautiful thing.

The herbs come at this moment when we need them the most.

So.

Lavender, Yarrow, this is Minard.

Dara.

Sage.

Mint in there.

I can kanisha.

So all of these are herbs that can be used for medicinal purposes from whether it's distilling, drying, drinking tea, lots of different things that you can use them making the transition or transformation in that sense, from corporate to being an entrepreneur, because women in particular, over a certain age are starting more companies today.

But it's a big fear.

It's it's a oh my goodness, I'm going from, you know, corporate America to doing my own thing.

Can you share with us about that that decision you made knowing you have a family, you've got mouths to feed the whole bit.

Tell us more about that decision between yourself and your family.

Yes.

So it's a hard decision.

You know, the corporate America gives so many securities, right?

It's like you just have the security that's consistent income.

And when you go out on your own, it's so risky and you don't have that consistent income.

And so it's scary and it's hard to do.

And I didn't do it like directing.

It was like a slow process for me.

But I feel like everything that I learned doing my corporate job, I'm doing it now, but I have so much more passion and purpose because there's something that I love to do.

So it's like all those skills that I gained, I'm not wasting those skills.

I'm just using the marketing, the sales, the distribution, the pricing, the all of the stuff that goes into that.

I learned from doing that for someone else's business.

Now I do it for my own business, you know, and I'm so invested in it.

And I think what gave me the push was knowing that I and the biggest model for my children, like, if I want my kids to go after their dreams, I have to go after mine because they're watching me like a hawk.

I know it and it's like I can feel it.

I just know that I have to live so authentically, and I'm hoping that that will rub off on my own kids.

And I can just live my life to the fullest and have no regrets, you know?

But it's not easy, you know, it's I didn't make money for a long time, you know?

So it's like we had two incomes in our homes.

That was helpful.

And it was just like bare bones for a while.

And even now, I mean, it's hard to make money in farming.

And so you have to be creative.

You have to do other things like online classes or products or all of these.

You think that you're just going to be gardening and selling flowers.

That is like so far from the truth.

You know, it's it's like any business, you have multiple distribution channels, so many things that you have to do.

You never really get to rest because you're always thinking about your business.

So it's different.

It's like, I probably work more hours now, but I love doing it.

So it's like it doesn't feel like work.

It's like I'm constantly be I'm able to be creative, whether it's on the marketing side or the design side or the business and finance side.

I see it all.

What advice would you give a human who decides, especially in this time of life, this is adolescence to go for it.

Gosh, that's a lightweight.

It's a hard one.

But life is short, you know?

I mean, especially when you hit 40s, like we're talking about like in my 40s.

This is when all of this happens, right?

Like my 40s.

But I feel like I had this new shift of energy that I had all this experience from my corporate life, you know, career to then being a mother and, like, balancing all of these different balls and just multitasking, too.

Now.

So my children were a little bit older.

I had this new wave of energy and I felt, you know, even my friends, I feel like every single one of my friends hits 40 and they want to run a marathon.

I don't know what it is about women, but it's like something there's this energy that we get.

And I feel like that is, so beneficial to put that into your next phase.

Whether it's running a new business or whatever it is.

But we have so much, so much to give and so many life experiences to pull from.

So don't think that your corporate experience is like to waste.

You just use all of those things and just shift it into a new perspective.

And it just like takes off.

Oh gosh, thank you so much for today.

This has been so wonderful.

I can't wait for people to experience your flower farm.

Can you tell us the name of it?

By the way, the flower farm is called She Grows.

So it's all about, you know, helping women grow.

Personally, but then also growing lot of flowers.

Love it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Barbara.

I loved being here with you.

I learned something new there.

Herbs are at their peak right now in the middle of the summer.

And I was just thinking, with the heat, it's probably bringing out all of the fragrances.

Probably smells wonderful out there.

We could all use some lavender lemonade today, I think.

So for sure.

It wouldn't be so bad.

For more information on Gina's business you can go to.

She grows.com.

on Colorado inside out Kyle Dyer and her dynamic lineup of panelists bring to the table real issues that affect Colorado and our lives.

Here's Kyle with more from this week's stories making headlines.

Hi, Ryan and Basie.

Great to see you two together again in studio 12.

Have you heard Denver Mayor Mike Johnson's calls for making Denver the capital of the New West?

But for that to happen, a lot has to happen.

Yes, investment is important, but at the same time, city employees are losing their jobs.

August will be a telling month for sure.

Let's listen in to our conversation from Colorado inside Out.

One week from today is August 1st, and August is a month when Denver will start laying off employees to help with the bottom line.

Because the city is facing a $250 million deficit.

And then on August the 4th, the following week, the full city council will decide if Mayor Johnson's now $935 million bond package should go before voters.

It's a plan to repair and improve infrastructure and community spaces that was originally estimated to cost around $800 million, and that was the price tag.

Now, I should remind everyone, this is an investment package.

It will not raise taxes, but it's still a lot of money.

And earlier this week, Patty Mayor Johnson gave his state of the city address and talked about his accomplishments and what he wants to do.

But there wasn't really talk about this budget deficit or the layoffs, but he used every symbol you that you could imagine in this speech, like hoping people would catch on to the analogy about the train or learn to hopefulness or welcoming city.

What he didn't do was address the elephant in the room, which was the fact that we're about to have major layoffs in the city, and even then, we will still face a huge budget deficit.

And there was slight acknowledgment of the fact that Denver is not in a great place because of that.

But I really thought it was like whistling in the dark.

You're just like nothing to see here.

Just keep moving along.

Pay no attention to what is going to be a very hard time for this city, for the employees who've been working here, for the people who may not be paying for those bonds, but are paying more for sidewalks, are paying for trash, they're paying for things they didn't have to used to pay for when their income is being cut, and when their property taxes really haven't dropped.

So I think it's a tough time ahead for Colorado and the vibrant Denver bonds.

I think we're going to see some challenges there, too, especially as you look at 130 million of it will be helpful to, oh, if the Broncos go to Birnam yards, but they're not going to do much for most people.

Okay.

All right.

Chris, I saw you kind of going like this, agreeing with Patty.

You know, the mayor is very sunny.

He's just he's an optimistic guy.

He's a nice guy, and I appreciate that.

But he also tends to kind of gloss over or ignore the bad news.

And, you know, that's what politicians do.

I don't blame him for that.

But between the, the the money issues and the crime issue, I think these things need to be addressed.

So crime, you know, I'm happy.

He's happy.

We're all happy.

The homicide rate has gone down that that's great.

But it's no different than other major cities where homicide has gone down over the last couple of years.

All good news, obviously, but crime itself is still an issue.

If you look at Denver, Denver's crime rates are higher than the national average and higher than comparable cities.

And a Common Sense Institute report that just came out said, if you look at the first half of last year, in the first half of this year, crime has gone up in almost every area.

And as somebody who has friends and relatives who have been victims of those crimes, I think a lot more needs to be done to address this issues.

So rather than say, hey, look, homicides are down.

Awesome.

I appreciate that.

As someone who's alive, that's great.

I do think that the mayor does need to put more attention to the fact that we are still a city that has a disproportionate amount of crime.

Adam, there is a lot happening in this city.

I think we saw it throughout his speech, almost 40 minutes, where he touched on everything from homelessness to safety to youth programs to energy programs, all the stuff he wants to tackle.

But it also feels very scattered.

In a lot of ways.

We look at the vibrant Denver bond.

It has ballooned to almost 90 projects, including 50 counts.

15 council requested projects to get the council on board, which is critical to getting it to voters and almost $1 billion.

And there's real a reality where the state also only has so much borrowing room or borrowing limit.

And could it impact a credit rating, a Triple-A credit rating of the scope of this kind of package?

And amidst all this, as I think our, you know, frequent panelist and colleague Elaina Alvarez says there is a $250 million budget reckoning that the city has to deal with, and they feel like they're sort of taking everything all on once, but only going in a little bit.

And it makes me worried about where the focus needs to be and should be.

And maybe it's public safety, or maybe it's, simply that our roads are not what they should be.

Based on a recent, national report on road maintenance and in Colorado.

So just a little worried about where the focus is for the mayor.

Okay.

So before we even get to the $250 million deficit, right, we will recall that we had we spent the mayor spent $155 million over 18 months on homelessness, spent $79 million of city money on, the immigration issue that came through in the first year of his, of his term before we even get to.

So.

So all that money has been spent, serving those two issues.

I would say the immigration issue has is very subdued.

Now, I would say based on my experience and moving throughout the city of Denver, I'm still seeing homelessness.

I'm still seeing mental health issues.

I'm still seeing some dirty streets in the downtown area.

So it's not completely addressed.

And yet we continue to spend this money.

And now, surprise, surprise, we have a $250 million budget deficit.

The spoonful of sugar, speech felt disingenuous to me.

And I also was wondering, where's the strategic plan that we need from a leader?

And I don't mean just the city of Denver.

It should be for this region.

Denver metropolitan region.

Where are we going in this next century?

That is just one of the four topics we discussed this week on Colorado.

Inside Out.

You can watch our full episode on Colorado Inside Out any time at PBS, 12.org, or the PBS passport app, or on our YouTube channel.

And our show is also a podcast, which can be found on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

And we are already talking about what we'll be talking about on this week's video.

So tune in Friday night here on PBS 12 at 8:00. we close tonight with a performance from Dunc Maxwell and his band D funk, with a performance recorded live at the Skylark Lounge in Denver.

There sound blends, Motown grooves and New Orleans vibes and of course, a whole lot of funk.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of studio 12.

Follow us on social media.

Catch more stories on YouTube, and we'll see you next Tuesday night at eight right here on PBS 12.

I'm Bobby Kanani and I'm Ryan here.

Have a great week.

See you soon.

Nothing changes when it's over.

I.

Said the distance between.

Us.

Just like the signs along.

How we are.

All these messages I see.

And this is my time.

Day over.

More time wading through the mile.

And I'm not trying to drag my feet long.

I will miss.

Need to know.

I am fly.

If I want to call my name.

My new day will be to the way.

Way.

But I'll be the one I can only get.

That is what the going on.

You don't.

That is me.

I'll be playing with the band.

And everybody will be with me.

If it's only my.

And every time you watch me cry.

I'll be laughing at my myself.

For no help for me.

But I never fail.

And again I will be one day.

And one day.

How do I sleep?

I hope I to carry on in my life.

I hope it's gonna be all I can.

I hope it won't be long.

Everyone knows all the reasons it always was a little sweet.

And the way any price we have to up on the day I.

Was sad this was the end of the power.

To get.

Lavender Jones was the early version of.

So that was the first punk band that I played in.

I was full like, you know, really committed to that, to that idiom.

And it was actually where I first met Wil was we were playing on a bill with another group that he was playing with at the time, no touch.

Great pop act around here.

And we saw Will play and we were just like, hey, can we steal him?

So it was hilarious.

Yeah.

The three Maxwell brothers approached me right after the show, just like, walked up, like, hey, we really like you.

You're going to come part of a band, right?

And.

Yeah, and I was threatening.

No, no, no.

Like, it's sort of like it, you know.

No.

Right.

They didn't they weren't stand up.

I do remember being charmed and flattered, though.

Yeah.

And that was it.

That was like my beginning with them.

Yeah.

And that's when we really started getting into outsider music for the first time.

You know, we were approaching it like my favorite band of all time.

And the drummer Aiden, my brother as well as Primus.

Right.

Which is a very much an outsider like funk metal band.

They were such a huge inspiration to my playing style and just to, you know, the freedom to be weird, you know?

So, Dan, the guitar player for Lavender Jones, never taken a lesson, never been in a band before, but one of the truly most gifted musicians that you'll ever meet play any style.

He encouraged me to get outside of my box and push myself.

So without Lavender Jones, without Dan, without Will, you know, all that stuff, I wouldn't be here today.

You know I wouldn't have the I wouldn't have the chops.

I wouldn't have the confidence.

So that was really where I learned to be the musician that I am today was in that group with those guys.

What is the thematic base for y'all's band?

So I think about it in terms of time travel, right?

Where we live in an era where we with the internet and streaming on stuff, are privileged enough to be able to enjoy, even with very little means of our own, to be able to buy music, we're able to enjoy and learn from music from different eras.

So the defunct is like a time machine where we can travel from like that 60s, 70s like stage band, like Tower of Power, JB's kind of feel and travel to something that's, you know, 90s, 2000, like D'Angelo flavored and then travel to something that is something you haven't heard before.

So, for us, it was an ability to just kind of have this consistent theme that carries us to all these different, wonderful and beloved areas of music throughout the area.

So, yeah, I would say it's just our vehicle, the time travel basically.

We.

Wait for me to be, welcome.

Oh, my God, on tour, you.

To be.

Let me be with you.

Oh, here, let me come.

Stay.

Stay with me.

Oh, man.

Oh, is all that I see?

Oh.

I've been wondering what it takes to get to.

You know there is nothing.

Nothing I would rather do.

All the moments.

Wondering.

What am I to say to you.

If it's something meant to be.

I'll be with you.

Will you?

I'll be with you.

I'll be with you.

I'll be with you.

So me, me.

Show me a sign and tell me I'm too.

Oh, say that you're my.

I'll wait never to see you there.

Oh, not for me.

To be am you me?

Oh, wait for me.

Hey!

Are you.

Oh.

I'll be on my way.

Go with me.

Take me.

Oh, love my day.

Oh, I've been sitting.

Wondering what it takes to get to you.

Oh, there is nothing, nothing.

Now and then you.

Oh, those moments wondering.

What am I to say to you?

Oh, if it's something meant to be.

I'll be with you.

I'll be with you.

I'll be with you.

I'll be with you.

I'm with you.

And wondering what it takes to get to you.

Oh, there is nothing.

Nothing I would rather do.

Oh, something.

What am I saying?

You up.

If it's something that to me, I'll be with you.

May be with you.

I'll bring you.

Oh, I'll be with you.

I'll bring you.

Oh, I will find.

But.

You.