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.
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