One Month in The Land of Enchantment

When we first arrived in New Mexico several weeks ahead of schedule, I must admit I was disappointed. In my mind before arriving, the entire state appeared at its political border, a simple black outline filled with dry hostile landscape. After spending over a month of my life there, it has become one of the richest and most beautiful places in my memory.

Phil and Nazca, with their little toddler Everett, were the first to welcome us to New Mexico (and rescue us from the false aquaponics farm in Arizona). We stayed with them for two weeks, eating delicious vegan food, building adobe structures out of the soil we walked on, and rambling over the hills behind the house after work. For more background, read my previous post Lost in a Search for Spring. They had more of a 'homestead lifestyle' rather than an actual 'farm operation' since they did not sell or market their produce, but it was still a valuable learning experience because they were experimenting with hugelkultur beds, water catchment, building adobe structures, growing mushroom cultures, vermiculture (cultivating worms!), and growing drought-resistant grains small scale for personal milling. They also had a lovely greenhouse attached to the front portion of their home, which helped with solar heating in the winter- and was conveniently located to grab a handful of greens or herbs for dinner. When our time in the tiny town of Ribera was up, we traveled west to explore Chaco Culture National Historic Park and Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument.

Front entryway greenhouse

Azul the family dog

Mixing adobe building material: equal parts native soil, straw, and water.


Filling the form with adobe mixture


Digging hugelkultur beds


Add logs which will eventually rot, adding organic material and retain moisture in the soil


Fill with half manure, and half native soil (filter out the rocks!) and water. Then you're done!


We climbed to the top of that peak in the distance!


Backcountry hike through an arroyo, Reilly is scouting the best way to the top

We made it!

National Parks

View of Tent Rocks

 Persistent evergreen

Carved out dwelling in Tent Rocks

Great Kiva at Chaco Canyon

View overlooking Chaco Canyon

Bodhi Farms

"Red" Greenhouse; pea shoots in foreground, Reilly harvesting in background

Bodhi Farms in Sheridan, NM (close to our previous hosts in Ribera, NM) was the most productive farm we have visited so far. It was so refreshing to see living green plants and get our hands into the soil! They have 3 large functioning greenhouses, two of them with running hydroponics systems. They also have many outdoor rows, three goats, and ducks and chickens for eggs. They sell weekly year-round at the Santa Fe farmers market. For an example of what they sell at the market, one week we brought head lettuce, spinach, mustard greens, tatsoi, chard, arugula, kale, pea shoots, several types of herbs, and dozens of eggs (and this was in February!) We nearly sold out of all we had brought.

Reilly and I lived in an extra bedroom in the house, with our own bathroom (YES!). The "Isopod" (pictured below), built by our host Brian, is a detached cabin on the property and is occupied by his apprentice Molly. She was a WWOOFer this past summer, and is joining Brian and Roxane again for a full year to help with the farm. It was so wonderful to have another worker our age to spend time with. After work we could hang out together in the isopod and on the weekends go hiking, play frisbee, have picnics, and visit the local hot springs. She really made our time at Bodhi Farms the best it could be!

Our host Brian was an excellent teacher, and had a lot of innovative techniques employed across the farm. In addition to a hydroponics system we learned about the use of compost tea, coconut fiber as a growing medium, no-till practices, crop rotation/nitrogen fixation, and many other useful agricultural tidbits. For those of you who are interested, compost tea is what they use as their fertilizer in their hydroponics system. It is a liquid solution of several types of beneficial fungi, bacteria, and micro-nutrients which inoculate the plants and boost their growth. To see how Brian makes his compost tea, click on this link. Coconut fiber was used as growing medium for plants in the hydro, it's more sustainable than peat moss (renewable and a byproduct) and has increased water holding ability. Brian would also plant large dense mats of pea shoots periodically in his crop rows to fixate nitrogen, and I thought this was a great idea since it allows the farmer to still harvest a crop while giving the soil a rest.

We were expected to work around 6 hours a day, 5 days a week (we also volunteered to work an optional extra day to see the Santa Fe's Farmers Market!) and our tasks included feeding and watering the animals, collecting and washing eggs, weeding, planting seeds and transplants, harvesting, and other tasks as needed. My favorite tasks were planting a small orchard of native plum trees and black locust trees (which fixate nitrogen), feeding all our weeds to the chickens and watching them get super excited, and harvest days every Friday for the Saturday market. Harvest nights were always homemade pizza nights, usually with toppings we picked that day.

The food at Bodhi farms was always plentiful and tasty. We had a constant rotation of homemade desserts; double chocolate pie, chocolate and raspberry pie, lemon meringue pie, apple streusel, pear streusel, chocolate mint pie... not to mention cookies, and homemade ice cream. Yum! Brian also made homemade breads, homemade breakfast granola, all with a selection of homemade jams and local honey. I was in heaven. Oh, and the fresh vegetables were great, too!

We accomplished a lot during our time at Bodhi farms, and I could feel that our help was appreciated. Reilly and I learned new agricultural techniques, made new friends, climbed a mountain, and spent some beautiful days working under the warm New Mexican sun. We will miss Bodhi Farms!

 

Reilly washing head lettuce

 

Outdoor row crops (mostly spinach and other cold-hardy greens)

 

 Brian, our farm host, manning the washing station on harvest day

 
Molly and Roxane harvesting in the "Blue" greenhouse. Hydro system in center

 

 Planting the hydro (Photocredit Molly)

  

Planting the hydro (Photocredit Molly)

  

 All done!

 

 Spreading peas for pea shoots in "White" greenhouse (Photocredit Molly)

 Me spreading peas, inoculated with compost tea (Photocredit Molly)

Molly and I in the Las Vegas hot springs :)


Friday Night Harvest day pizza! (with fresh pea shoots)







 

 Molly's Isopod

Hermit's Peak (10,000ft)

Reilly and Molly on the hike up

 

Reilly and I (Photocredit Molly)

Deep snow at the peak, don't fall through the crust!


View at the top (Photocredit Molly)


Reilly and I trying to call ravens to land on our arms (Photocredit Molly)

The Land of Enchantment

 

There is a strong magic in New Mexico pulsing underneath the "urban sprawl" that blankets the entire country. I have not been disappointed by this area in the way I have been with California or Arizona. Yes, there are still McDonalds and Walmarts in the Land of Enchantment, but there is also a stronghold of pure human energy and ancient culture that has outlasted homogenization. It's as if the people have inherited the work ethic of their industrious, creative, and persevering ancestors. Self-subsistence is a way of life, a mark of pride. At first glance the landscape seems hostile and unforgiving, but it is actually a cornucopia of nourishment for those who know how to look. I admire the people for their closeness to the earth, for their ability to thrive in an environment that most would consider useless for anything except mining.

The earth will provide for those who know how to utilize its gifts. It is not uncommon to use the native soil here to build homes, the pinyon and juniper trees provide perfumed heat in the winter, water catchment cisterns collect rainfall, and trading with your neighbor can supply items you can't produce yourself. I loved the balance of independence and community.

Thank you, Land of Enchantment, for the magical month.

Next stop is The Lone Star State...
Until then,

Love to all
Haley

Lost in a Search for Spring

Starting out on the second leg of our trip has taught me two things; eternal spring is elusive and nearly impossible to find, and carefully plotted plans can derail with almost no ceremony. I left Minnesota thinking that no matter where I was, as long as it was warmer, would be better. There might be more sunshine down south, but it is not the verdant paradise my imagination created. Maybe a true spring must be one that has been patiently anticipated throughout the dead of winter, no cheating allowed.

It's been three weeks since Reilly and I left Iowa for part two of our WWOOFing adventure, and a chain of unforeseen events has landed us in a very different place than we had originally planned. After slowly couchsurfing and camping southward through Fort Collins, Albuquerque, El Paso, and a short stay with my parents in Sedona, we arrived at our farm near Tuscon, AZ.

Excited to learn about the aquaponics system, our optimism helped us to ignore some really big red flags; the filthy unheated trailer (they told us to heat the space using the stove burners, which leaked propane), no meals provided (only past-prime donated pastries and produce from Safeway), no restroom (only a 5 gallon bucket), and a host who carried a pistol loaded with hollow-point bullets on his hip at all times (he had an 'accident' in the summer where he blew off part of his leg while cleaning it, leaving him handicapped).

While we were chatting, or rather while he was talking at us about bombs and changing our money to gold and Obama stealing his freedom, we were enclosed by a 6ft chain link fence topped with barbed wire and a padlocked gate. Afraid of losing freedom, they locked themselves away. A little shaken up we went to sleep in the cold trailer hoping things would look better by the fresh light of morning. A quick farm tour the next day showed us that they do not even have an aquaponics system! Unable to put up with the unsanitary conditions without the promise of new knowledge, we asked for a key to the front gate and slipped out after our chores.

Unsure of our next steps, we booked a hotel room in downtown Tuscon and decided to try and forget about the unsavory experience for the night (which happened to be our 3rd anniversary!) and treated ourselves to dinner. The next few days we spent sending numerous emails from coffee shops asking for a new farm, and finally found one in New Mexico.

Our new farm is heavenly compared to the last, we have a small casita with a wood burning stove and sleeping loft, access to a real restroom, and all meals are provided (the family is vegan). I am stunned with a realization that both of these recent farms are living "low-environmental impact" lifestyles, but the latter has an astounding amount of emotional wealth despite struggling finances. They are a young couple with a toddler and are warm, welcoming, and understanding. Being around them makes me instantly calm and at peace. Both farms are living lightly on the land, striving for self-sufficiency, yet with polar opposite results.

We have a view of red rock hills dappled with juniper and pinyon trees out of our little home, and absolutely zero cell service reception in the valley. It has been hard work collecting fire wood, constructing hugelkultur beds, and doing other off-season chores. But after a warm shower, making a cup of hot tea, and reading in front of the fire you feel the energy come back into your bones. I am so grateful that we found this farm, and for the family's graciousness. Our next step is a permaculture farm in NM (very close to our current farm) starting on Feb. 15th.

Until then,
xoxo
Haley

Casita sleeping loft


Wood burning stove


Hugelkultur beds (we dug that hole!)


Photos from the journey down south...

Horsetooth Mountain Hike near Fort Collins, CO


Gila National Forest, NM


Cliff Dwellings National Monument, NM


Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

 
Brin Mesa Hike, Sedona AZ

Farming in the high desert

Holland Ranch is a small certified organic farm in Palmdale, CA, about an hour northeast of Los Angeles. It's not an isolated rural piece of land like the name would imply, the neighbors are right next door and the gardens are bordered with chain link fences- which are lodged with tufts of tumbleweed. Joshua trees dot the fields like watchmen, complete with ravens perched on top making their eerie woodblock calls.

Since the farm is so small (and organic), most things must be done by hand rather than with machinery or chemicals. In these two weeks, Reilly and I have spent our time removing plant debris from last season, collecting potatoes and carrots that were left in the ground, cleaning garlic heads for storage, and moving compost onto new fields. Their soil here is essentially sand, and needs more plant matter and nutrients for healthier plants. Their growing season is also much much longer than in Minnesota! In the middle of December, they can plant garlic for harvest in March.

Eric and Cheri Holland are our WWOOF hosts, and are truly good-hearted people. They live on the farm and cook dinner for us each night (creamy sausage pasta with homemade tomato sauce, chicken and dumpling soup, steak with buttery mashed potatoes and broccoli...YUM) We stay in a trailer next to the house which is cozy and stocked with breakfast and lunch items. The previous farm we stayed at provided all ingredients, but we were expected to cook for ourselves each night. It has been a welcome change to have someone cook for us!

Another thing I really have loved about this farm is that we can use the guest bathroom inside the house. It has a real western flushing toilet and a glorious shower stall with plenty of hot water. We were also welcome to use their laundry! I have gotten into a ritual of taking a hot shower after working (we are expected to work 5 hours each day, with Sundays off) and then lazing about in the trailer while I wait for supper. The work load here has definitely been more demanding than the last farm, and it's not unusual to feel sore afterwards.

With our days off, we explored a section of the Pacific Crest Trail (a thru-hiking trail that runs from Mexico to Canada, along the western coast of the United States) and Death Valley National Park. They were both beautiful, and we had gorgeous weather for both visits.

It's been really nice staying here, especially when we first arrived and it was 60's and sunny every day! But as it gets colder and Christmas approaches, we are both eager to get home and spend time with our families. We will stay until a week after New Years in the Midwest- then our next stop will be a farm in Arizona (the one we had lined up just cancelled on us yesterday!... So we will need to work out a new plan). For now, let's enjoy the holidays together :)

Much love,
Haley













Death Valley National Park

Darwin Falls, a desert spring oasis

Mesquite Flat sand dunes