Meet the owner of North Valley Organics, Matthew Draper, as he dives into the practices and story behind the farm.

Do you have a favorite spot on your farm and why is it important to you?

"As I mentioned, we have three farm plots, different locations here in the North Valley. I like a lot of different spots, but what's coming to mind right now is our blackberry rose over at Rancho. This is another plot that we farm over here on 4th Street. We planted one row of blackberries, I want to say five years ago, they did really well, and so we've kept planting blackberries. So now we have three, about 400-foot rows and the plants have just really taken over the whole area. There's this really nice sense of abundance. It's shady in the afternoons over there, so that's kind of nice. It captures the essence of what we do."

Can you share what motivated you to start your farm and the story behind it?

"My farm is called North Valley Organics, and North Valley Organics started with Minor Morgan, who owns this parcel. It was his market garden probably thirty years ago. About twelve years ago, I was just finishing up a master's at UNM in Community and Regional Planning. I was focusing on natural resources, land use, and resource management. I did my thesis regarding local agriculture here in the Rio Grande Valley and during that time, I met Minor. Then about a year later, I was still poking around, looking for a planning job, and, it was funny I had a conversation with one of my professors at UNM. I was expecting that he would give me advice about good planning jobs, but at the end of the conversation, he's like, ‘My friend has a farm up in Taos, has a sheep farm. You should go work for her.’ That got me thinking about how what I really wanted to do was to be running a farm and actively farming, not just observing what was going on in agriculture. At that point, I reached out to different people that I knew, just to see if I could kind of get my toes wet in the farming world. Minor needed help so I started working part-time for him the next year. He had just left his job at Rio Grande Community Farms. He was the executive director for a number of years over there. He was kind of retiring from that and looking to farm this piece. That year we put in a drip system. I don't remember if that was when we put up the hoop house, but we started everything that you see now. We started building it and we did seven rows that year. It was a big market garden, and we sold a few tomatoes to Albuquerque Public Schools, and it worked out really well. Each year after that, I feel like I have kept doubling the amount of land that I've farmed. The farm started as this little market garden, and it's just kept growing to the point where now we've got probably four to five acres of fruit and vegetables. We have perennials, peaches, cherries, blackberries, and then a bunch of annual vegetables. What I've learned about the benefits of having multiple plots is that sometimes, especially in the summer, weather events can be pretty limited in their geographical area. What I've learned is to do similar things on all three plots, and then if a hailstorm hits at some point during the growing season, hopefully it won't hit all three of them. There's a lot of the same things that we do at each plot. There are a few differences. So over here at Minor’s, we have our peach orchard and over there at Rancho, we have the blackberry patch. Our 3rd plot is called Chispas (North), and that's a bigger space. We're focusing more on wholesale crops over there. At these two farms, we do more crops and more different crops, whereas at Chispas (North), we're really focusing on four crops that we can do at a larger scale and wholesale. "

What are key practices you use to farm this land?

"One of the most important things that we've always focused on is being a farm that really takes care of its soil and takes care of its people as well. From the very beginning, we've been certified organic. That's something that's really important to Minor. He was the 4th person in New Mexico to get an organic certification, so he goes way back with that. Part of our guiding philosophy is that we're really trying to steward the land and make it a healthy ecosystem for all the living things here, not just for the humans. We grow cover crops, we use flood irrigation, and we grow cover crops between all of our roads. That helps build our soil health. You'll see it in all of our fields. You'll see this living mulch in between where we grow our crops, which are grown on raised beds, and then we keep the soil covered. There's either straw mulch or landscaping cloth that helps keep the soil covered and provides a great environment for microbes. Then you can see from here the trellising that we use. We also do a lot of vertical growing. There are flat trellises and then we also have tomato cages for the tomatoes. We're really trying to take advantage of what little space we have so there's a lot of vertical growing. Soil health is the basis of most of the nutrition that's in your plants. So, if you have healthy soil, you're going to grow healthier plants. Those plants are going to be more nutrient dense for your customers. Here in New Mexico circumstances really kind of push us to take care of the soil in ways that the larger operations in other climates can get away with not doing. In this climate, it's really hard. If your soil's not very healthy, it's going to be hard to grow enough food to pay your bills. Soil health is kind of at a premium. As a farmer, it's a prerequisite to being able to make a living, in the way that we're doing it, in the place that we're doing it. In more gentle climates, larger scale operations are able to mistreat the soil because they can get away with it. However, around here, we really can't. That's why you see such a focus on soil health. "

What perspective do you want the next generation of farmers to gain from your farm?

"I find the farm as a place of hope in an uncertain and ever-changing world. It teaches us self-reliance. It teaches us that we can grow things for ourselves, grow food. It provides some food that is grown locally. It can be a place of gathering and it's like farming is also a very hopeful act. Like every spring, no matter how crazy the weather seems, you have to put the seeds in the ground and do your best to take care of them. That's really what I'm going for, what I'd like the next generation to take away. That sense that we can do something about all the different things that are challenging us in the world. That if you work hard, you take care of the people around you, and the place around you that you'll get back from it in equal measure. That's what initially drew me to this type of project. I feel like a lot of times when people think of farming, they don't realize the community behind it, the sanctuary, and happiness it provides people. I figured it was very important to highlight that and how important farming and being involved with your local agriculture can really bring together a community. Farming is a communal act. I'm the owner of this operation, but I can't do it by myself. The whole time I've done this; I've had just amazing people that helped me out. It really is this communal project that includes not only my employees, but the landowners of the parcels that we farm. Then there's the whole community that we provide food to, the people who help us, the people who buy our food, and the people who often make that connection with the final customer. The whole thing is communal by nature. That's one of the draws of it for me."

In what ways is the community involved in your farm? If not, what would that community involvement look like to you?