Rio Grande Community Farm
Do you have a favorite spot on your farm and why is it important to you?
"One of my favorite spots is our pollinator garden. It's near the arch orchard, the reason I like that spot is because there's bees, birds, and color. It reminds me of why we farm to, sustain biodiversity and not just crops. This space captures everything the Rio Grande Community Farm stands for, things like regeneration, balance, and the connection between the people and the land, I just love the pollinator garden."
Can you share what motivated you to start your farm and the story behind it?
"I'll go way back, I took a summer food shed class with Bruce Milling. He was the sustainability studies director while back. What we did is we ran around the state of New Mexico and we looked at different farms and different practices and food systems and food sheds. That had been my interest, I was not a sustainability student, but I was geography undergrad. And my senior honors project was writing about CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operations). I did a GIS map on that, so I've always been into food and food systems. And then for the food shed class, I did a poster on the different farms around the state, that were run by New Mexico State and showing how there is a food desert and there's all this food that we grow on extension farms, but we're not getting it out to folks. After I graduated, Bruce looked me up because he said, hey, there's this organization, the Rio Grande Community Farm, the board is getting older and they want to retire. Would you like to join the board with me? And I said, yeah, that sounds great. So he invited me to join the board and I've been hooked ever since. It keeps me locked into what I was really interested in. So that's how I got involved"
What are key practices you use to farm this land?
"Regenerative farming, that's one of the things that the farm does really well. We've been pesticide free for many, many years. We do cover cropping, composting and crop rotation. And we also have to have enough biodiversity, so that when the cranes and the geese fly here from the north and overwinter, they'll have somewhere to eat and hang out. So that's mandated by the city (Because the farm land is owned by the city and leased out to the Rio Grande Farm). It's a beautiful open space and the cranes love it... It's to keep open space open and not have every single section of the city paved over and developed and turned into parking lot. Which is good for the community and good for wildlife, and the Biodiversity. So, the city had a long range version"
What perspective do you want the next generation of farmers to gain from your farm?
"I want the next generation to see farming as a stewardship, not just an extraction. As I get older, I think about holistic things, it's not just about the crops that reap fruits. It's about soil health, biodiversity, and creating a space that people care about, understanding that, it's all connected, the sky, the sun, the wind, the ground. I think that's what I like the next generation of farmers to understand."
In what ways is the community involved in your farm? If not, what would that community involvement look like to you?
"I feel like the farm is a shared space. People learn, people connect, they get to participate in a food system. I'm talking about the farm, but I'm also talking just the open space in general, you need to see people gravitating toward that area, they're walking their dogs or they're walking with their kids. They're running, they're biking, they're looking at the trees. So the community farm and the board, we manage it (the open space) for the city, the city's letting us do that, and one of the things that we have to make sure is that we have community events, that people can attend, educational pieces that teach youngsters and older folks too, about regenerative farming and crop rotation, things like that."
"We have a micro farmers program where if you want to commit to trying to figure out how to farm. It's not a large area, but enough that you could grow enough to show your goods at a grower's market. We help supply all the education, tools, you name it. "