Chickens bobbed and clucked as Annette and Patrick Archambeau walked past the coop, taking the Windsor, Colo., couple’s appearance as a signal it was time to eat. Cats looped themselves around the couple’s legs as the pair went to visit their nearly grown foals. The pigpen was usually rowdy too, but they’d just culled the pigs for the season.

After running their own nonprofit for more than two decades, they hope to teach others about how to live more sustainably.

“One of the things we teach people is to slow down,” Patrick said. “When you think you’re going slow, take your shoes off and go barefoot.”

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Annette and Patrick started Archway Wild Inc. in 1995 with a plan to rehabilitate some wild animals, such as coyotes, squirrels and rabbits. Annette helped many critters recover enough to live in the wild. They renamed their nonprofit Archway Foal Rescue and Training after a calling to work with abandoned and orphaned foals. Now that the last of the foals, which they rescued from slaughter, are almost fully grown, the two plan to adopt them out to loving homes.

Now they want to refocus their efforts on community and outdoor education, and that comes with another name change. Archway Foal Rescue and Training gave way to Archway Adventures.

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Annette and Patrick now offer three programs — Archway Horses and Donkeys, Seeds of Matka, and Archway Farm and Community Building.

With Archway Horses and Donkeys, folks can come learn to care for animals and experience them without the cost and responsibility of ownership. Some Colorado State University students plan to go in the fall to help with training, and some 4-Hers come to earn badges, Annette said.

The Seeds of Matka program teaches folks about making fire, using plants as food and medicine, animal tracking and animal awareness.

WHERE FOOD COMES FROM

Archway Farm and Community Building teaches folks about planting, gardening, harvesting, collecting eggs and meat, bartering and more. Folks also can choose to stay in a cottage on Annette and Patrick’s land offered through Airbnb.

“We’re trying to show people where their food comes from,” Patrick said.

They’ve noticed a disconnect in the world, Patrick said. Many folks don’t really know where their food comes from. Even more folks don’t know how to grow or raise their own food.

If people slow down and go back to the basics of gardening, plant identification, animal husbandry and human connection, Patrick said, people could reconnect with the earth and each other.

On the side, Annette and Patrick run a company out of Boulder called Willy’s Window Washing. They make the drive each day to keep the programs at Archway Adventures free of charge.

“We want to help people reach their full potential,” Annette said, “rather than just working to make ends meet.”

— Kelly Ragan writes features and covers health for The Greeley Tribune. Have a tip? Want to share your story? Call (970) 392-4424, email kragan@greeleytribune.com or connect on Twitter @kelly_raygun.