Nurture: A Wellcare Marketplace Meets Needs From Mind, Body, Spirit And Food

Photography by Nurture: A Wellcare Marketplace

Self-care means different things to different people.

Kelly Campbell considered this as she and a business partner worked to create a community space that would meet individual needs in all areas: body, mind and spirit. In 2020, Nurture: A Wellcare Marketplace, combining a variety of Eastern and Western modalities of care, was born. About 70 businesses—from acupuncture to massage therapy to toxic-free beauty services to mental and behavioral health specialists—offer services at Nurture.

“They are all anchored around food, because I believe that across any culture from the beginning of time, food is a beautiful way to connect with ourselves and each other,” says Campbell. “Not to mention, the things we put into our bodies impact us and each other and the land it comes from.”

Among the businesses: Nest Café, a fast-casual daytime dining area featuring breakfast and lunch items, including bakery goods. Rewild, which opened last June, is the more formal dining experience. Menus from both eateries feature simple, clean ingredients that are locally sourced in Colorado, including from Hazel Dell Mushrooms, Haystack Goat Cheese, Rock River Bison and leafy greens and squash from Tasty Acres.

“We serve honest, transparent food where we are not hiding a bunch of salt or sugar or things that won’t help you,” says Campbell. “Our job is to pack in the nutrition” and make it delicious.

For example, at Nest, a dish called the Eggy Mess features a soft egg scramble, arugula, roasted garlic tomato aioli and micro greens served open-faced on sourdough. Strawberry Fields boasts mixed greens, frisee, quinoa, almond ricotta, pistachio, red onion and agrodolce dressing.

Chef Juan Tapia oversees the kitchen at Rewild. He grew up in a small farm town in southern Ecuador where he learned to cook with fresh ingredients. His philosophy is to “let the ingredients speak for themselves,” adding things like fat, citrus and a bit of sweetness to coax out the flavors.

The cuisine at Rewild “has a touch of Latino mixed with (flavors from) around the world,” Tapia says. “In every dish, you have layers (of tastes). It is a fusion.” Roasted delicata squash, which he used to cook with his grandmother, is a prime example. The Rewild Squash Plate is made with muhammara (a roasted red pepper sauce), Camembert, sauteed kale, walnut and crispy quinoa. Quilla Chipotle Salmon is served with roasted root vegetables, vadouvan yogurt, orange vinaigrette and crispy sage. The Bison Burger is topped with fennel-cranberry slaw, arugula and mushroom gravy.

Menu ingredients change over the months, depending on what is available during Colorado’s growing season and beyond. Organics are used whenever they are available. Dishes are a collaboration between chef and staff. “Working in a kitchen where the environment is really good” boosts the creative process, which is necessary when you are not sure which ingredients will be available from week to week, Tapia says. The concept always remains the same: Use proteins and vegetables that provide vitamins and antioxidants and other things that are beneficial to the body, Tapia explains.

The kitchen also modifies dishes for customers with restrictive diets.

Cocktails are focused on savory flavors, says Campbell. The Rockette, made with CapRock Gin distilled in Colorado, Tasty Acres wild arugula and lime, has been the signature drink since Nurture was established.

Nest offers cleanse programs and immunity and detox shots. The menu also includes a variety of smoothies that boost immunity, detoxify or improve gut health.

Another smoothie purports to aid in recovery after a workout, something you might need after a class at Empower Boxing, one of the businesses at Nurture. Owner Amberle Zuerlein began boxing to relieve stress from her job in the corporate tech world.

“I fell in love with it and started teaching and decided to open a gym where we would remove the intimidation factor and teach the proper technique and mechanics,” says Zuerlein, an amateur boxer who won the Colorado Golden Gloves in 2022.

She and three other coaches, all with ring experience, teach group classes and one-on-one sessions. Forty-five-minute classes usually
convene at 6 a.m., noon and 5:30 p.m. every day.

“Boxing is like physical chess to me. It is very strategic,” she says. Drills are choreographed, but classes also teach self-defensive moves in reaction to an opponent.

When participants leave class, says Zuerlein, they have burned 800 calories or more, released anger or stress and have become more confident. “You aren’t just hitting things; you are using your brain.”

Cynthia Pasquale is a Denver writer.