Week on the Community Farm
Sante Fe, NM - May 7-13, 2006

It was a wonderful week in Sante Fe, New Mexico.  The community farm is a privately owned farm which donates its entire harvest to the homeless, hungry and disabled.  John Stephenson the owner, age 92 lives on the property and still is as active as he can be.  In 1984 when John started working with New Vistas, an organization which serves the developmentally disabled in Santa Fe, his objective was to help the developmentally disabled learn about farming.  As the project grew John began delivering his food to shelters and organizations around Sante Fe.  Friends and members of the First Presbyterian Church began helping him with some of the work.  The project grew and over the years the farm has been served by the helping hands of over 580 volunteers from the community and other areas of the US.   

The farm started larger but today consists of 3 acres in garden and two acres in orchard.  It produces sweet corn, chile bell peppers, cabbage, broccoli, summer and winter squash and onions.  The orchard has more than 60 trees, mostly apple, along with pear, peach, apricot, cherry and plum.  The farm is irrigated with a drip system similar to that used in Israel.  Drip irrigation is considered the best water saving system (a hose delivers one gallon of water, per hour which runs along a row of plants) and is proven to increase production in produce.   

We planted two gardens and a greenhouse during the week we were there.  We visited a Vegan organic farm and met Don Bustos who explained to us his operation.  We also had a native American farmer Clayton Brascoup talk with us about his methods of farming in the high desert.  He works with Indian youths who are troubled and combines their efforts into planting a garden.  He believes working together in a project gives the kids a purpose and keeps them from getting into trouble. It was wonderful to meet such dedicated people.  We also visit the local Food Depot distribution center and filled about 800 bags of groceries for the needy.  Every Thursday morning the food is distributed to those who come by and we were there to help.  That was a pretty moving experience to see those families.  In addition to a walking tour of Sante Fe and a free afternoon to shop and go to the local art galleries, we watched a few videos in the evening. One was about the homeless in New Mexico, which is the second state in America with the most homeless and people living below the poverty level.  We saw another interesting video about an ancient irrigation system using “acequias”   

We stayed at Ghost Ranch, Sante Fe and education and retreat center.  It was in the heart of town and easy walking distance to the main square.  Ghost Ranch Abiquiu is further out on 21,700 acres with the most beautiful scenery you can imagine.  The artist Georgia O”Keefe had her home on the property.  Both places have wonderful programs of all sorts you can go to throughout the year. The Sante Fe Ghost Ranch is located in the heart of Sante Fe and walking distance to the city square and loads of art galleries which we got to enjoy one afternoon.   

As always the places we go are interesting but the people we meet make it so much more meaningful.  Our group was wonderful, friendly and hard working.  We all worked well together.  We wanted to share part of our experience with you and welcome any of your questions.  I’ve provided the links that you may want to copy and paste into your internet browser to look further into some of the people and things we learned while we were there. Life is full of new adventures and rewarding experiences and this was certainly one of them.     

http://www.ghostranch.org/

http://www.organicvolunteers.com/...

http://www.embracedbythelight.com/...

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/...

http://www.biotech-info.net/...
 

Lynn Pakulla

May 17, 2006