viva verde

we've just returned from Silver City, a stay at our wonderful friends' home full of great energy, and the 'viva verde' expo where we learned many incredible things but especially loved the rainwater harvesting talk given by brad lancaster. we can't wait to purchase his books and put his greenfrastructure ideas into practice! i learned a lot and david got to play with a chainsaw. this link is really great and where we will get our info for a home-made grain mill and 'how to' on using the mesquite beans for pancakes and other things! they are everywhere.

www.desertharvesters.org

thanks to my good friend at jumbleberry jam for teaching me how to make a link from afar!

brad lancaster's 8 points for harvesting the rain go something like this:

1. long and thoughtful observation
2. start at top of watershed and work down
3. start small and simple
4. slow it, spread it, and sink it
5. overflow
6. mulch as 'the sponge'
7. maximize through 'stacking functions'
8. evolve your system - long and thoughtful observation

he is a very dynamic speaker and plays with words to get his audience excited. my favorite was the difference between scarcity, scared to live in the city, and abundance, where he really turned around and showed us his happy bun dance. so, rain barrels on the way and lot's of new information (new to me ;-) ) we are ready!

can you have ducks without a pond?

a poem to my father based on the events of June 24th, 2009

between worlds

a sly and silent shape, the in-between
one spirit's cause to leave a human place
and one brought in to share what we have seen
perhaps the moments crossed their paths in space

between worlds

when life itself can enter and escape
clear lines are blurred and mysteries are shown
when seams between our worlds appear agape
our palpitating presence shows we've known

between worlds

a moment's masterpiece of raw abandon
rushing from the fingers and the tongue
a supplication of the sometimes random
a heart, once beating, resurrects the young

between worlds

you never guessed my final moment's figure
played out as beats of time upon the rungs
an ancient call to wisdom's final measure
and sips of breath all taken until done

between worlds

from my autonomy to my creations
i fly with Virgen eyes into the sun
electric sparks that drove our obligations
can slip through all the fingers that have clung

between worlds

you held the soul-dust skipping on your palm
you met the eyes and flesh of time's parade
you stood the in-between where logic calms
to guide the leaving gently through the fade

solstice in the gila wilderness

with our intentions focused upon self-reflection, it was with introspection that we loaded the intrepid (it's really the best way to describe the mini-van who successfully saw us through jackass benches in utah) and headed away from the city to realign our planetary belts and dip our toes in the healing waters of the gila river. plunging the deep, clear, and smooth-bottomed pools along the jutting edges of the canyons, we felt reinvigorated and alive and filled with gratitude toward all of the abundance in our lives. our current 'city life' predicament is precarious and difficult as we keep our faith and focus on the move to the farm, so this short escape through caves and wildlife and campire was well deserved and served a special purpose in the 'present.' to being present. list of animals we encountered and directly held back-country conversations with:

eagle
blue heron
wild turkey (and her babies)
irridescent frog
gila trout (giant)

we did not come upon a single snake, but friends we met about 5 miles up trail 155 beyond turkey creek said they had seen several vipers and a 3 1/2 foot long rattler. huila, our hairy companion, was covered in burrs and chased lizards endlessly. we lay under the stars and dreamed all of our impossible dreams. we dove and splashed and let rapids run over our tired bodies. we are sore, scratched up, and bitten, but grateful, thankful, and so happy to be alive. every moment more ideas emerged as though this farm is meant to be. blessed solstice. blessed back country.

chicken coops, chicken tractors, and chicken-o-rama?

i learned about the magic of comfrey tea, too!

Mesquite Beans

as i ponder how to use the extremely prolific mesquite bean on our land i came across some recipes to share... still configuring the blog and trying to figure out how to make these links - any help is appreciated!

http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2006/01/05/velvet-mesquite-beans-and-recipes/

personal thoughts in the middle of the night

i am out of options for sleeping through the night, although now that i mention it, i definitely have forgotten about the herbal nighty-night blend on the ledge above my kitchen sink. i believe i will try a dropper-ful immediately and see if i can get to the place where my partner is, sleeping soundly as ever, breathing deeply and evenly almost as testimony to my inability to quiet the restlessness. my lovely daughter is off at her 'other' family's place on the east coast for a month. i'm dreaming up ways, in the sleep and in the waking, to help her with her anxiety. we've just seen her trying to deal with it alone and it's finally hit us that we need to help her with tools to get through tough times. i'm not exactly sure why her little body tenses up and she freaks out, but if we gently acknowledge it somehow and we breathe and we talk about how the world will not end in any case... she was recounting how she couldn't relax on the little boat she road the canals of corpus christi in with my mother. we said nothing at the time, but discussed later, as it impacted david significantly, that we should use tools to deflate anxiety now while she is young, and possibly she won't carry that with her into adulthood. she carries the weight of the world and is so strong and smart and so attached to her mother that she picks up my own anxiety, certainly. this is the focus of the now - learn to live this life and love every minute of this round. all philosophy aside, i waste my days with the stress of producing for an academic life that is not mine. david finished the farm logo today. it's breathtaking to me. my anxiety today arose from talking with my dad and skirting the issue of how my 'research' is going. i can only focus on how much i've received from academia, how much i've grown, and how much i don't want to be part of that scene, ever. this coming from the woman who is supposed to be presenting at a pretty importance conference next month...

wednesday's child...

wishing and planning from afar are a little daunting today as i ponder my life choices so wrapped up in a just and equitable life on this planet. spreading possibility and illumination through action is always better than through the mere word... although, if that were totally true academia sure would look a lot different, i suppose. i have too many options and kind of liked the feeling of desperation brought on by being 'down and out' in our society, fired from a job, applying for government benefits like food stamps, wondering if unemployment will ever call for an adjudication, and then mocking those same services in each breath that forms the spaces where i dream of living a self-sufficient livelihood capturing the earth's gifts for use in taking a personal stand for voluntary simplicity when so many rely on the tired and broken fundamentalist illusion that this place was miraculously placed here to use. and to use up. i am not jaded and mislead by some liberal environmentalist framework, more i am struggling with whether to stay societally legitimate or get off the grid. tough choice. all wrapped up in other people's politics. this farm represents freedom and autonomy for me, it represents a self-determination that might bastardize its popular meaning to mean simply what it means. as i work on the declaration of independence from the corporate, global economy i think of all of the reasons that i need society vs. community. or that i live in this one, anyway, and can do my part to make change, but at what level? still this question removes me from the present.

Wish List

Here's a list of things we're wishing for:

1. A greenhouse, or pieces that might go together creatively to make a greenhouse
2. PVC pipe for hoops, different lengths
3. Rebar, and posts of any kind
4. Barrels, huge things for water Catchment experimentation
5. Compost. this is a high-karma-points item
6. Seed. we offer to grow and save any heirloom or native seed and lovingly nurture any donated seed
7. Drip line, or creative alternative. also, suggestions on different experimental watering ways.
8. Building materials of any kind, even things that might not traditionally be considered building items. we plan to construct creatively through radical recycling!
9. An old fashioned printing press. seriously. there's an underground paper brewing.
10. Ideas. we exchange food for ideas, work, passion, creativity, spiritual destruction, art, music... pretty unlimited and negotiable

companion planting list

Plant	Companion(s) and Effects
Asparagus	Tomatoes, parsley, basil
Basil	Tomatoes (improves growth & flavor); said to dislike rue; repels flies & mosquitoes
Bean	Potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower, cabbage, summer savory, most other veggies & herbs
Bean (bush)	Sunflowers (beans like partial shade, unless you live up north, sunflowers attract birds & bees for pollination), cucumbers (combination of heavy and light feeders), potatoes, corn, celery, summer savory
Bee Balm	Tomatoes (improves growth & flavor).
Beet	Onions, kohlrabi
Borage	Tomatoes (attracts bees, deters tomato worm, improves growth & flavor), squash, strawberries
Cabbage Family (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi)	Potatoes, celery, dill, chamomile, sage, thyme, mint, pennyroyal, rosemary, lavender, beets, onions; aromatic plants deter cabbage worms
Caraway	Loosens soil; plant here and there
Carrot	Peas, lettuce, chives, onions, leeks, rosemary, sage, tomatoes
Catnip	Plant in borders; protects against flea beetles
Celery	Leeks, tomatoes, bush beans, cauliflower, cabbage
Chamomile	Cabbage, onions
Chervil	Radishes (improves growth & flavor).
Chive	Carrots; plant around base of fruit trees to discourage insects from climbing trunk
Corn	Potatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, pumpkin, squash
Cucumber	Beans, corn, peas, radishes, sunflowers
Dead Nettle	Potatoes (deters potato bugs)
Dill	Cabbage (improves growth & health), carrots
Eggplant	Beans
Fennel	Most plants are supposed to dislike it.
Flax	Carrots, potatoes
Garlic	Roses & raspberries (deters Japanese beetle); with herbs to enhance their production of essential oils; plant liberally throughout garden to deter pests
Horseradish	Potatoes (deters potato beetle); around plum trees to discourage curculios
Hyssop	Cabbage (deters cabbage moths), grapes; keep away from radishes
Lamb's Quarters	Nutritious edible weeds; allow to grow in modest amounts in the corn
Leek	Onions, celery, carrots
Lemon Balm	Here and there in the garden
Marigold	The workhorse of pest deterrents; keeps soil free of nematodes; discourages many insects; plant freely throughout the garden.
Marjoram	Here and there in the garden
Mint	Cabbage family; tomatoes; deters cabbage moth
Nasturtium	Tomatoes, radish, cabbage, cucumbers; plant under fruit trees; deters aphids & pests of curcurbits
Onion	Beets, strawberries, tomato, lettuce (protects against slugs), beans (protects against ants), summer savory
Parsley	Tomato, asparagus
Pea	Squash (when squash follows peas up trellis), plus grows well with almost any vegetable; adds nitrogen to the soil
Petunia	Protects beans; beneficial throughout garden
Potato	Horseradish, beans, corn, cabbage, marigold, limas, eggplant (as a trap crop for potato beetle)
Pot Marigold	Helps tomato, but plant throughout garden as deterrent to asparagus beetle, tomato worm & many other garden pests
Pumpkin	Corn
Radish	Peas, nasturtium, lettuce, cucumbers; a general aid in repelling insects
Rosemary	Carrots, beans, cabbage, sage; deters cabbage moth, bean beetles & carrot fly
Rue	Roses & raspberries; deters Japanese beetle; keep away from basil
Sage	Rosemary, carrots, cabbage, peas, beans; deters some insects
Soybean	Grows with anything; helps everything
Spinach	Strawberries
Squash	Nasturtium, corn
Strawberry	Bush beans, spinach, borage, lettuce (as a border)
Summer Savory	Beans, onions; deters bean beetles
Sunflower	Cucumber
Tansy	Plant under fruit trees; deters pests of roses & raspberries; deters flying insects, also Japanese beetles, striped cucumber beetles, squash bugs; deters ants
Tarragon	Good throughout garden
Thyme	Here and there in garden; deters cabbage worm
Tomato	Chives, onion, parsley, asparagus, marigold, nasturtium, carrot, limas
Valerian	Good anywhere in garden
Wormwood	As a border, keeps animals from the garden
Yarrow	Plant along borders, near paths, near aromatic herbs; enhances essential oil production of herbs

Resource: The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, J.I. Rodale (editor)

Radically Recycled Homes?

i'm getting ideas for a trash house...

can you hear it? that whispering sound...

i am experiencing many sleepless nights lately as we have decided to put the land we own against the Organ Mountains into production. it is very early in the process that i lay awake at night dreaming and planning and mapping and building, and i can't wait to get our little emergent farm into the loop.

for too many years i have felt an 'outsider' as i studied CSA's and sustainable agriculture production and wondered how i would ever get to dig holes in the dirt from the ivory tower. i have officially decided to shift from academia and grant-writing to full time agriculture and sustainable building. i have learned so much about it. i can take what i want from all of the work i've done, no? we have so many incredible ideas and southern New Mexico just needs more growers. it is with all of my heart and soul that we take the first steps toward what really can be the educational demonstration facility i have always dreamed about. we will start slowly to ensure we consider all impacts and inputs. it's important to me that we make decisions deliberately and do everything intentionally. it's so hard to wait.

i've spoken to so many interested people around Las Cruces and will continue to network with everyone here. we are hoping to find someone (a landscaper or developer or nursery) who will take the native plants that we need to move around as we want to make sure we take every step and make every decision with care. it would be incredible to trade native plants for compost. we hope to start building the soil in August/September and turn it under in the spring. if i do starters inside until i get that greenhouse that i know will fall on us from the sky we can transplant everything to rich, beautiful soil spaces for next year's crops. i can start selling the shares by december. hallelujah.

so here is my official and initial not saying there will soon be another southern NM farm certifying organic. we'll need all of the support and resources we can get! co-op extension, look out.

speaking truth to power: reimagining our collective relationship to food

talking with my colleague today at work, just before our HUD audit, i really began to consider the divergent threads within the ever-expanding narrative of “food justice.” i made the case for the emergence of the theoretical framework for food justice deriving from the nexus of theoritical interfacing together with praxis research and lived experience during my dissertation coursework at university of washington in seattle. but i remember that other initiatives, especially in NYC, note how food justice starts from the premise that access is the central issue that goes beyond a human rights framework and advocacy to consider systemic gaps in equitable distribution, consumption, and “just” spaces. food justice calls for a community organized response to access inequities - responses that are locally driven and owned. so what is the collective relationship to food and food systems in our communities along the border? is the label ‘food desert’ indicative of how the issues are framed FOR us? are we still determined and delegated and decided upon? how do we own and drive and mobilize our own local food networks, our own culturally, historically, and ecologically appropriate value chains?a dominant reality is one of small, corner stores selling cheetos and coca-cola to marginally intersted youth who beg for healthy spaces to move around in. despite of, or maybe because of, the landscape of fear cultivated along the border, vandalism and gangs aren’t as prevalent as they are in major urban centers that aren’t surrounded by such ambiguous rural communities spread through vast desert ecological zones where collective action of any sort is impeded if not derailed by sheer distance needed to travel in order to “gang up” on anything - to tag or to change policy.

i would like to take this time to reimagine our collective relationship to food in meaningful ways that go beyond anecdote, rhetoric, generalization, liberal politics, to see what is really happening on the ground. goddess bless our community gardens and our sustainable farming initiatives and our food justice promotora training curricula. light a candle for us.

more forthcoming…

Energy

i am energized as we just visited the land again, watching, observing, listening to her speak to us about how to plant in a desert way. the vibe is right, the time is right...

Beginnings

excitement as we plan, as we begin, as i test to see what this blog will look like! testing...