{"id":16376,"date":"2025-09-25T03:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T09:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/produce-grown-at-bayfield-farm-goes-to-upper-pine-firefighters\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:57:15","slug":"produce-grown-at-bayfield-farm-goes-to-upper-pine-firefighters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/produce-grown-at-bayfield-farm-goes-to-upper-pine-firefighters\/","title":{"rendered":"Produce grown at Bayfield farm goes to Upper Pine firefighters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A salad prepared with vegetables from Homegrown Farms in Bayfield for the Upper Pine River Fire Protection District's firefighters. (Courtesy of Upper Pine Fire Protection District)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Emily and Mike Jensen, owners of Homegrown Farms in Bayfield, have been growing organic, chemical- and fertilizer-free products for the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

And for the past seven of those, the Jensens\u2019 carrots, beets, turnips, tomatoes, radishes and salad greens have been feeding firefighters at the Upper Pine River Fire Protection District\u2019s three staffed stations, said Emily Jensen. The idea came from Fire Chief Bruce Evans, who wanted his firefighters to eat healthier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been growing food here for about 20 years, and one of the ways that we distribute it is through a CSA (community supported agriculture program),\u201d Jensen said. \u201cWe support about 50 families in Bayfield that way. And one year, Chief Evans just reached out and asked if he could do that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans said he encourages his firefighters to eat foods without refined sugars, saturated fats and artificial flavors in an effort to reduce their risk of cancers. To achieve that, the fire department buys three CSA shares \u2012 each consisting of a box of produce with enough food to feed a family.<\/p>\n

\"Homegrown
Homegrown Farms in Bayfield produces organic produce and distributes it through the community as part of a Community Supported Agriculture program, including to Upper Pine River Fire Protection District. (Courtesy of Upper Pine Fire Protection District)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIf you eat a diet that is low in chemicals or refined sugars or highly saturated fats, which frequently cause inflammation, you can stave off a lot of these issues in the future,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n

According to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network\u2019s<\/a> fact sheet, firefighters are at a 9% higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer and a 14% higher risk of dying from cancer than the general U.S. population. Additionally, the network found that cancer accounted for 66% of firefighter deaths from 2002 through 2019.<\/p>\n

\"Berman
Berman Abdallah-Boehm, who graduated from Bayfield High School in 2019 and worked in several local restaurants before joining Upper Pine River Fire Protection District, prepares a salad with ingredients from Homegrown Farms. (Courtesy of Upper Pine Fire Protection District)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The National Cancer Institute<\/a> found that chronic inflammation leads to a heightened risk of cancers. A study published in the National Library of Medicine<\/a> found that increased exposure to particulates, heightened stress and poor diet were all factors that contributed chronic inflammation \u2012 all things firefighters commonly experience, Evans said. That is why Evans wanted to start feeding his firefighters healthy, locally grown veggies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nutrition piece \u2012 what you put in your body \u2012 is just one piece of a larger program to try to keep firefighters safe,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n

The department already does what it can to keep the array of toxic chemicals released during a structure fire to a minimum \u2012 like investing in special cleaning equipment for sanitizing firefighter turnout gear, wearing protective hoods during a fire, and equipping fire trucks with benzene and particulate scrubbers, Evans said. Making sure firefighters are eating healthy food is just another line of defense.<\/p>\n

Evans, who helped spearhead the International Association of Firefighters Wellness Fitness Initiative<\/a>, believes firefighters having a low-inflammation diet is important, because healthy firefighters and paramedics are better equipped to serve the public, according to a news release from Upper Pine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe district also conducts a National Fire Protection Association 1582 physical to assess fitness for duty; the process is also designed to catch cancer and heart disease early,\u201d the release said. \u201cIt is all part of a comprehensive effort and just one more step to keeping our firefighters and paramedics healthy to serve the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Emily
Emily Jensen with carrots she grew at Homegrown Farms. The carrots, along with a plethora of other ingredients, are sold to local families and the Upper Pine River Fire Protection District. (Courtesy of Upper Pine Fire Protection District)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The release said veggies from Homegrown Farms are payed for through a small portion of the department\u2019s budget. It\u2019s enough for one meal per week, Evans said, and the veggies are usually used in a vibrant, seasonal salad prepared by firefighters.<\/p>\n

For Jensen, feeding the firefighters is a great way to give back to the people who keep her community safe, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud of him in our fire district out here, and just glad to be part of it in this way,\u201d Jensen said.<\/p>\n

sedmondson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

says healthy meals keep his staff safe on the job<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[281,28,1370],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-agriculture","tag-headlines","tag-upper-pine-river-fire-protection-district"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16376"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20167,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16376\/revisions\/20167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16376"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}