re-imagining the state...

wine and cable television

2010-07-15T06:50:00.003-06:00

i begin again, though you may have neither noticed nor considered that i had not continued my beginning, but, quite oppositely, stopped; because i turned to numbing my so overly alert and sensitive nerve endings with cable television and red wine. what a combination. with every sense, a truly conducive combined agent for getting to bed early and not caring. and i could justify a lot by waking at the crack of dawn, a pot of really strong coffee down before the others stir, and a fist full of determination to do much better today... what comes on tonight? i haven't been pent up inside so much as i have been pent up inside a much oblique and obligated world where my word was ultimately silenced, so i silenced all my inner voices just the same and came upon my pent up-ness knowing no more than i could have known inside their own ideas, had they been accessible. awareness and consciousness are funny things, i tell you. and if my experiment were purposeful, then the results determinedly find the same path's end - you cannot find enlightenment with reality cooking shows and Toucan market's 3 for $10 deal.

i should be asleep

2009-09-08T03:40:00.003-06:00

get your hands dirty and join the secret society of baling wire. that's what her blog said and i loved it. my first and only purchase for a long time was baling wire. i want to be part of that secret society. so in my insomnia i did a little research on the fancy web and realized i had to fill out a form to homeschool in new mexico. oops. also, i need a sewing machine. also, i have this terrible problem where i want to do everything at once and each time i try and then realize it is truly impossible i want to hit the bottle. okay, rough and tumble sentiments aside, just how do i slow this down to a reasonable pace? and why can't i figure out how to put a roof on the greenhouse? i'm leaving for seattle and a much needed break from the 'stead and so will be away but while i'm gone - pray, light a candle, lay in a field for me, whatever you do to bend the universe to your will, do it now and send some love.

grandmother moon

2009-09-06T10:41:00.002-06:00

after another long day of hiking and farm work, the full moon rose from behind the mountains as we sat, relaxed, and drank a glass of wine on the deck. my cousin, the apprentice, and i talked about family and regretted somewhat, all the while celebrating, that she must return to her home on tuesday. the seed is here, the drip line set-up is on its way, and i used the handy claw-tool i found at the Re-store to tear up and aerate the very first bed. the only bummer in all of this is that i will be in seattle for a week (where i get to visit my 2 best girl friends and my sister) and cannot plant the seeds until i return. this will seriously change my plans, but i am needed elsewhere... i hope all of my friends, new and old, enjoyed the moon.

fine, fine cast-away wood

2009-09-02T06:49:00.006-06:00

one of my early morning rituals, especially when i cannot sleep, is to 'surf' the internet, how else do you find ecorazzi?, random sites i find that i've been meaning to return to, there are so many worth mentioning like the Ranting Jamaican who is currently pissed at american airlines, and so i scoured craigslist for local materials, as usual, and found what can only be described as a giant mound of good lumber, cast away by a dweller of 'the pueblos', our newest green subdivision that looked like it had eaten up a bit of desert habitat from my vantage, poor homeless little whipsnake said sustainable my ass, but i happily loaded up the studs and strips and 8 and 12 foot long boards that he was giving away as firewood... ah! and now to my point, the point, is, that now it is my greenhouse! ta-dah!

the only purchased items so far include wood screws and some metal joiners, and of course the 6 mil plastic i bought because i couldn't find it used anywhere though i asked everyone i knew, and found a post somewhere in michigan or north carolina giving away some greenhouse plastic, but i broke down and went to town and got it and now i'm in about 60 bucks in all, a number that will grow as i learn to put a roof on that measures my liking, something slanted for rainwater catchment that has a vent... stay tuned.

the apprentice

2009-08-28T10:12:00.011-06:00

double rainbow

the beautiful mountains - is this a postcard?

fencing the beds

working in the sun

happy chickens

erin the apprentice

i dig the holes. happy.

finally, my cousin erin arrives from Houston to take on the task of "assistant" on our tiny farm. the past few days have held events phenomenal and tragic for our family and our loved-ones. the rain falls as thunder cracks throughout the nights. the weather cools and wets and then heats up again to inferno levels. beds are being built, seed catalogs filled with circles and dog-ears, and wonderful new stranger friends sign up for a share. the greenhouse is finally laid out thanks to our desert subdivision friends giving away piles of free scrap lumber as they build and remodel. photos galore.

does it rain?

2009-08-23T14:20:00.004-06:00

it began with the loudest CRACK i've experienced, at least the most jarring of my adulthood, the gray sky opening as though the weight of the watered-down clouds was simply too much for the sky to bear. huila and i ran outside and i pounded several nails into a 10 ft rain gutter ($3 at the Restore) across the 2X4 below the tin roof overhang on the shed with a 50 gallon drum positioned under each end. soaked, i stared at my work smiling, with hammer in hand as the rain fell first upon the roof, then into my gutter, and down into the drums, my sopping hair clinging to my head, my t-shirt clinging to my back. what a sensation, what simple pleasure, how overjoyed i was to watch a diverted spout of rainwater pouring deliberately into an intentional destination to save for later use. and now as the rain still pours the south side barrel is nearly halfway full and i will run out into the rain again to dance around my collected water as i watch the level slowly rise. the system is flawed, there is no outlet, there are no pipes, there is no gravity feed, there is no drip line.... as an aside, chez poulet is water tight, not a leak in the down-pour, and the babies safely tucked away inside. thanks to everyone who helped us pray for rain.

chez poulet, or... the hen house

2009-08-21T17:04:00.005-06:00

they busted out the power tools on the club house turned chicken house today to seal it up for the little pullets. they're 3 weeks old today and starting to feather out in funny ways. we are really looking forward to moving the girls outside. check out the sky!

school

2009-08-11T14:04:00.004-06:00

grace began her routine today. we are going to carefully document our own version of school this time around. i mean, in Mexico we certainly followed a curriculum of sorts, a deliberate method of opening our senses and learning new things, even in traditional school settings at times, and grace became fluent in Spanish because of it, but this time we will have a printable version of "the 5th grade school year" by way of computer. i think the schedule is well-rounded, leaving room for flexibility and interpretation, but still bounded by a set of disciplining principles... okay, so that's questionable, but with grace it can't just be a free-for-all. she has no self-discipline in the sense that she will sit down to a project, goddess-help-us ALONE, and work on it for more than about 5 minutes before exhibiting her 'kinesthetic' ways and jumping up to twirl or chew on her tank top hem. even a canvas with the perfect 'tooth' and expensive acrylics, she will stand in front of the easel with her pallet for 10 minutes before abandoning it for a good prance about the house. yes, i jest a bit, but focusing 'American style' is just no good for grace. so here's the preliminary schedule, and because she began today, we will patiently observe...

8-11: wake up (that's a pretty natural hour for her these days, so we went with natural. she used to wake up loads earlier, but now i have a couple of hours alone in the morning) eat breakfast, relax, help with animals or outside with farm, reading time, maybe a "learning" creative computer game, but i really limit these, interaction with something stimulating, something intentional, carefully guided, so it's "her" time, but she's being constructive with it.

11 am: "school" subject - we often critique this notion of Westernized schooling, and i'm still not completely on board with "un-schooling" and it's baggage, so we use this hour to sit and focus on something of an "academic" nature. by the end of the hour i peeked in to where david was giving an artful lesson on WWI (it's relevant to grace's questioning of late) and she was rolling on the carpet with her pencil between her teeth. yeah. positively (and conversely), grace has a really high level of respect for david, and because he's such a great teacher, it's a good fit.

12-1: healthy lunch hour, time to relax, today they played battleship during lunch as an extension of WWI lesson and something about King Ferdinand and a torpedo?

1-2: Quiet time, room time (meaning her bedroom to organize, put things away, clean up if she chooses this to break up the day), art time, reading time, helping time (to help out with a project on the farm-stead) or reflection time, where she blogs what she reflected on/learned that day

2-3: "school subject" - we like to tie everything together and david's forte, aside from medical stuff and anatomy, is literature and art, so "lessons" will revolve around a person, an era, an historical event, etc. but this hour they are beginning the periodic chart, one element at a time. science is grace's self-proclaimed "favorite" and as i peek in she is sitting at a desk, asking questions, drawing hydrogen and really focusing. hmmm?

3-4: art time, reading time, project time, helping time, outside time, exercise, etc.

then she's off the hook as far as my watching over and guiding her time by the clock. if we can add in a musical instrument i'll be thrilled, but she's a "designer" so much more inclined to put outfits together, fashion show, cut out and glue collages, draw and sketch. this will be new and exciting for us and grace is much more anxiety-free not having to face the dreaded public school classroom. finally, i am open to suggestions.

chilly crocodile drops

2009-08-10T15:25:00.000-06:00

our rain prayers were answered today, if only briefly. giant, slow, heavy, cold drops fell for a few minutes. we ran out in it and praised it probably more than was necessary. we'll increase our "rain dance."

early morning arrival

2009-08-07T11:53:00.008-06:00

our friend at the post office across the highway called around 7:15 this morning and said, "your babies are in." i rushed over and pushed open the heavy, glass post office door and heard faint but beautifully uplifting "pi pi pio pi pio pi's" coming from a cardboard box with slats. i gently brought them home and david, having read my reaction and consequent actions, was readying the brooding box, our oversized, oblong (plastic) bathtub in the master bathroom where they'll live for the next month, i think. i'm still researching these marvelous creatures that uplift the soul. oh my goodness, 25 perfect, chirping, fluffy, baby chicks jumping into your hand and your heart... oh! seriously it's that magnificent. magic. the stuff i try to surround myself with. we purchased the mixed special, and at that it even came with one "rare" they threw in for excitement. just like babies, they emerged from their enclosed home each already filled with a very distinct personality, displaying different and unique behaviors, exhibiting their quirks. we gathered around the bathtub (grace in complete awe and talking nonstop and asking nonstop questions) and, naturally, many babies were named. we have giselle (the super model with long, almond-shaped eyes that look like they're engulfed in dark makeup), rosa, martin, and malcolm, the three black chickens with completely distinct personalities... hey. hey! it's funny. (especially because they're all female). sage woman (she looks wise), carmen (heavy red makeup and poofy hair), marilyn (platinum blonde with black diamonds), rebel (tall and daring), tiger (cause she looks like a tiger), comet (totally different from the others, a brown ball that shoots across the tub) and i think that's all for now. some are kind of less distinct, but i'm sure will become their own strong chick women. the low lighting in the bathroom does them no justice, so i will try for more pictures when i knock the shower out and open a door to the back porch, for shizzle, because the bathroom currently sucks.

soil building

2009-08-05T09:13:00.006-06:00

delilah helping out

i can't remember whether or not it rains here. seriously. i lived here from 2001 to 2003 and have been gone until very recently. someone asked me yesterday if i remembered how the rain fell... i have to admit that i do not. this past week it has rained in a perfect circumference all around us, but not upon us, and it makes me wonder. as i practice my quiet watchfulness, observing the land and her patterns, the wildlife, the many natural swales, i wonder...

and as i wonder i make soil. this morning, early because of the heat, i completed the pallet compost bins and finally moved the kitchen scrap to one, building upon free horse manure and weathered yard pilings in another. i chuckled to myself as i was working - to date i've only purchased a roll of bailing wire. i love bailing wire. but the point is that everything else has been "free" or radically recycled as i am fond of saying. the wood pallets, the manure, my trusty red wagon (all terrain vehicle), fencing, posts, rain barrels... the list goes on and on. and on my budget i've spent $5 on bailing wire, $35 on baby chicks that should arrive any day now... but that's about it. i am grateful for the gifts of the cast-away. they make for beautiful, and cost effective, farm infrastructure.

grace decorated the all-terrain-vehicle

cardboard, composted leaves and manure, topped with straw

only the beginning

and sow it begins...

2009-08-03T10:15:00.004-06:00

the move was tedious, and tremendously satisfying. work has begun with important "first projects" - the compost project, the chicken coop project, the shade-making project, the soil building project... we're meeting all of our new friends - the beautiful tarantula in the peach tree well, wasps everywhere, bull snake by the water spigot, every species of lizard known to humankind, birds too numerous to identify in one day. this will be the content of postings for a while as we settle and learn the land.

the backyard

tarantula's home

one of many

Just Arrived!

2009-07-25T08:56:00.002-06:00

Mother Earth News's "111 Modern Homesteading Articles" on CD ROM. As soon as this powerful, moving, and overwhelming national conference is over (I worked 14 hours yesterday through moving speeches, tears, and laughter) I am going to devour every 111th article.

Moving day is tomorrow. Soon we will post pictures of the land in all of it's beauty. My two major concerns are the supposed locust infestation (we'll see just to what extent the locusts have damaged plants and what different people mean by infestation) and a red fungus on the cottonwood trees, which will be a really big bummer to chainsaw down. My immediate remedy? TEAS! Chamomile, comfrey, and nettles brewed into a medium to light-strengthed tea sprayed on flora can cure many ills. This is my favorite journey so far...

Community Mesquite Bean Milling

2009-07-20T07:40:00.003-06:00

i am so inspired by they way community comes together in tucson, especially around rainwater harvest and mesquite bean milling and use. i was talking to a friend at the farmer's market saturday who is also interested in somehow cooperatively purchasing a hammermill so we can grind and use all of the nutritious and delicious mesquite beans that go to waste every year in our city. check out the hammermill page to see what the community in Tuscon is doing with their cooperatively owned hammermill! we can grind, make and sell flour, and have a community mesquite pancake breakfast! who else might be interested? check out www.desertharvesters.org for ideas, and let's purchase our own hammermill!

New Book on the Way

2009-07-18T08:56:00.003-06:00

just ordered based on recommendation from tiny farm.

Ms. Widow Transplanted

2009-07-18T08:29:00.003-06:00

look who we accidentally transported. i felt really terrible uprooting her from her beautiful Gila Wilderness home, but somehow she moved into our pots and pans and wound up spinning her trademark web in our kitchen sink. my tendency is to simply work around them, but david saw her while i was out of the house, took pictures of her, and then gently moved her to the grapevine in the backyard. i am looking forward to seeing who else we run into in the days ahead. last night we sat in the backyard with friends brainstorming (still) the coming weeks - how we are going to "plot" the land for planting, positioning, what to do with the mines (i want to go spelunking) where to place the greenhouse. finally, grace is home and i will post more about her with a fresh picture later today! for the love of pachamama...

thought for the day

2009-07-15T16:08:00.000-06:00

you cannot plant the seeds until you plant the water. i will save seed planting for very last to ensure great soil, sufficient compost, and sufficient support from all of the elements including all of my friends. thank you...

master of ceremonies?

2009-07-15T08:01:00.002-06:00

i would not consider myself the obvious choice, but i found my name in the final program. that's right, you heard it here first. no warning, no pleading, just print. black and white. the program can be found at http://malcs.nmsu.edu then clicking on the 'institute schedule' on the left hand colum. in addition to my talk on saturday afernoon, i was chosen to MC the "noche de cultura" on friday night. this will be the first time, and maybe the last, i ever stand before a crowd of 300+ in an auditorium and attempt funny and articulate with fear pulsing my veins. as the boxes pile up around us and the sorting and packing continue, anticipating grace's arrival home on friday and working hard on the city council campaign, i am stunned and flabergasted... did any of this make sense?

all things beautiful

2009-07-09T07:01:00.004-06:00

my overjoyed brother and his beautiful bride after they read their vows.

her amazing silver work. the peruvian turquoise bracelet she made me.

Stone "rusting" (or night-time thievery)

2009-07-07T04:47:00.005-06:00

there is an underground, black-market, illicit stone trade. according to the Stone Wall Initiative, one must take great care in getting fresh stone and understanding where these stones originate because, and i quote, "some quarries are really yards where strip-mined stone is gathered, sorted, and sold." but while i was chuckling to myself about the seedy side of gathering rocks, i ran across a website, The Stone Foundation, in Santa Fe that i thought was really cool. because there are old mine shafts yet unexplored on the property, i am interested in experimenting with different decorative yet useful stone walls around the different sections of the farm. this will be a very nice 'extension' of the mountain and i wonder how it might help keep the fox, rattlers, deer and other wildlife on the other side of it while helping to retain moisture inside - yes, i am dreaming and designing and really hoping someone volunteers to help on this one!

Panty Hose, Hot Peppers, and Tea Bags....

2009-07-06T09:03:00.002-06:00

with my 'alternative' mind-set i normally try to avoid popular or mainstream publications that i always feel leave out options, variations, diversity, etc. etc. BUT, because we rely on hulu.com and netflix for our viewing entertainment, meaning no television, we are sometimes left with the need to hit the local video store - in this case, hastings. so yesterday, i just sort of wandered the store, something i rarely do as it's usually a get-in-and-get-out operation, and what did i stumble across? well, just a strange book after my own heart. (another note, i never buy brand-new books because COAS is so spectacular). can i use old phone books in my garden? why yes, and here is how... what do you do with a bungee cord and two plastic one gallon jugs? why, here's an idea... Got an old box fan that's beyond repair? Well, do we have a suggestion for you...

i am not one easily impressed by "1,000 Ways to Do Things" lists of any sort, but i must say, this book was written for me. the one who says, 'surely this can be used for something...' i also feel awkward in the presence of the word 'yankee' so technically this book should not have caught my eye, but i cannot put it down, and now i will know exactly, precisely how to use all of the old 'junk' laying around on the land to make my farming life way more enjoyable. lesson: yes. it's about judgment. ha!

Everybody Eats

2009-07-05T09:51:00.000-06:00

http://www.yesmagazine.org/store/images/Poster_EverybodyEats_large.jpg

hungry for piñones

2009-07-03T07:05:00.003-06:00

she told him about how
she used to sit beneath the piñon trees
throwing pieces of pottery
as common as rocks and there for us kids to find

how she did her first chew
with Shannon's Indian dad
by the truck on Indian land
on the other side of the acequia and barbed wire fence

about her loin-cloth
spear and war-paint games
on subconcious knowledge
of the savage land that created her

how she climbed the mesas
and ran with the overflowing arroyos
tracking prints and arrowheads as free as rain
peddling old bikes down dirt roads to secret destinations

she told him how she grew up
and now she misses her wild side
remembering the last time she howled like wolf
swooped and sailed like red tail hawk

eating piñones like careless exploration, shell and all

i'm feeling a bit nostalgic - i wrote this poem about my childhood growing up nestled in the Nambe reservation in northern new mexico. my grandfather's rosary was beautiful, packed with family and old friends, a wonderful time capsule video of his life, and everyone cheered and clapped at the end. my eyes stung from crying. family i hadn't seen in twenty years held my face. this morning we go back for the burial, to put my grandfather, my papi memo, in the ground. it's sprinkling outside and the mourning dove call. today i miss all of my friends.

Food Independence Day

2009-07-02T09:22:00.001-06:00

Food Independence Day

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viva verde

2009-06-29T01:37:00.006-06:00

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

2009-06-25T08:42:00.002-06:00

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

2009-06-23T04:31:00.004-06:00

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?

2009-06-19T04:33:00.001-06:00

i learned about the magic of comfrey tea, too!

Mesquite Beans

2009-06-19T03:55:00.002-06:00

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

2009-06-19T03:07:00.003-06:00

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...

2009-06-17T08:33:00.002-06:00

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

2009-06-15T14:45:00.002-06:00

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

2009-06-14T04:41:00.001-06:00

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?

2009-06-14T03:56:00.000-06:00

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

can you hear it? that whispering sound...

2009-06-14T03:24:00.002-06:00

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

2009-06-12T11:15:00.002-06:00

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

2009-06-10T11:48:00.001-06:00

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

2009-06-10T08:14:00.000-06:00

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