Community Meeting and Potluck Brunch Tomorrow Sunday 11:00-12:30

Waffle garden used for centuries by the Zuni Indians

  

Tom Watson spent a couple hours with us on Thursday, looking at our site and bringing his wise permaculture perspective to our quest to develop a model of food production that will maximize the use of rain water.  

 

The idea of terrassed beds is being explored. Every cultivated surface would be leveled (using 2 buckets and a hose for leveling) and would thus capture as much rain water as possible, as well as prevent run-offs and erosion.  We are also exploring a variety of irrigation techniques as there are benefits to watering an entire garden vs just irrigating plants via a drip system.  When beds and paths are being watered, the entire garden becomes a sponge and reservoir of humidity.

As we are now at this phase of designing our fields and getting them ready for direct seeding and transplanting, we are inviting a variety of perspectives.  In creating this urban farm, we are seeking to model water conservation and water re-use practices.  To the extend that we grow a lot of food with as little water as possible (we intend to meter our consumption), we may be able to inspire other people to take on the creation of urban farms around Santa Fe.

As the instigator of this project, I have no pretense to know anything about (urban) agriculture.  My experience with gardening and farming only spans a meager two seasons.  So I am asking a lot of people for input and I am deeply appreciative for the guidance that we are receiving.  Richard Bernard recently made a great suggestion as far as designing our beds in relationship to the reach and shape of each sprinkler location where we use overhead watering.  Thank you Richard!

In six weeks time, we've accomplished a lot in terms of staging the beginning of a small farm.  10,000 sq' of soil have been amended, a compost yard, greenhouse, water lines and camping area for interns are now in place.  A fair amount of organizations have been visiting the farms or participated in meetings about the farm (Earth Care, Youth Shelters, Community Options, HomeGrown New Mexico).

Our immediate next steps are to shape our beds and paths in the main growing area, and plant a lot of seeds in the greenhouse (we already have 3,000 plants going).

Another area of focus is to clarify our mission, create a governing council and reach out to the neighborhood and enroll their support (as in donating their food waste). (Please feel free to attend our community meetings/potluck brunches on Sundays 11:00-12:30)

Kaylyn and Tiel sifting soil for our planting trays

Will Atkinson, back-filling the water trenches

Jay delivering horse manure for our compost yard

Adam (82), one of the residents on the property visiting our compost area

Building-up the compost pile with straw, manure and coffee grounds

3' high so far...

John playing the wheelbarrow...

and Miss Tiel on the shovel...

Rowan, our youngest farm hand

Jennie, demonstrating fruit tree pruning

Thank you Will for your tremendous help in preparing the farm with your equipment!

Jay and Will (post breakfast burrito)

The new camp fire area.  Benches donated by Will and fireplace by Pat, one of the residents on the property.  Modeling by Dominique.

Our regular FARM DAYS for volunteers are held every Thursday and Sunday from 2:00-5:00pm

COMMUNITY MEETINGS and POTLUCK BRUNCH are held EVERY SUNDAY 12:00am-1:30pm

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  If you wish to support this project, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.   See our Wish List

Tom Watson, Pyramid of Gaia and Irrigation Lines

Tomorrow, Thursday March 29 at 9:00am, permaculture teacher Tom Watson will be visiting Gaia Gardens to talk to us about erosion control, swells and other age-old water catchment techniques.

Our Earth Moving champion Will Atkinson was back on Monday to create trenches for our irrigation water lines and remove more rocks from the fence line and lower field.

A parking area was created for our interns and wwoofers 

as well as an area for a fire pit and dance floor.

The fruits that we salvaged a few weeks ago and planted last week are....blooming!

Kaylyn, one of our interns, demonstrating the proper bib-stretching technique...

























Another demonstration by Tiel, our other hard working intern...

350 feet of 3/4" PVC water line were buried around the lower field, servicing 4 spigot locations for irrigation purpose.  A power line was also installed in the trench to power our compost tea operation and...sound system when we get one...

An ant hill was turned into a pyramid by master builder Kaylyn near the camping area.

Our regular FARM DAYS for volunteers are held every Thursday and Sunday from 1:00-4:00pm (winter schedule)

 COMMUNITY MEETINGS and POTLUCK BRUNCH are held EVERY SUNDAY 11:00am-12:30pm (meeting location)

Sign-up on the right of blog (Follow this Blog by Email) to receive announcements posted on this blog.

If you wish to support this project, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.   See our Wish List

Springing into Action

Our community meeting attendees this morning (from left to right): Jennie, Judith, Alex, Jay, Claire and Tiel.




In the afternoon, we picked rocks 

planted 9 fruit trees,

continued the building of shelves in the lean-to greenhouse,

and took care of our young seedlings.

Our regular farm days for volunteers are held every Thursday and Sunday from 1:00-4:00pm (winter schedule)

Sign-up on the right of blog (Follow this Blog by Email) to receive announcements posted on this blog.

If you wish to support this project, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.   See our Wish List

Our New Pioneers

Kaylyn (front) and Tiel arrived last Tuesday from California.  Kaylyn was an intern at Synergia Ranch where I worked last farming season.  Kaylyn and I worked the Albuquerque Farmers Market and had many opportunities to discuss the concept of communal farming.  Tiel worked as a woofer in a couple farms in Hungary.  They are from the same town in CA, went to the same high school and were both raised around horses.

They will be the first farmers at Gaia Gardens, hopefully staying through the planting season, before they hop on a steamliner to Europe.

It did not take them long to jump in the flow as Tuesday is our compost day. 

Pretty fancy compost we are making with flower donations from Food Depot via Trader Joes!

The girls and I picked several hundred pounds of rocks from the field on Thursday.  These two have some stamina...

Our first batch of seeds were planted in Black Gold organic seed planting mix.  I wasn't very impressed by the results, so yesterday, Kaylyn and I mixed 1/3 black gold, 1/3 composted steer/horse manure and 1/3 local soil.  Bobbe and John stopped by and helped plant another 5 trays of lettuce and flowers.  We'll post the germination result in a few days...

On Monday March 26 (all day) Will Atkinson, our Earth Moving Champion, will be back at Gaia Gardens with his wondrous machinery.  He will use his rock hopper to pick most rocks off the field (we removed the big ones!), his ditch witch to create the trenches for the irrigation lines, and remove some bushes to clear the area that has been allocated for our ceremonial fire pit and dance floor...  Any extra hands on Monday would be greatly appreciated.  We'll be there from 8:00-6:00.



We are now holding a regular community meeting every Sunday  11:00am-12:30pm at the farm (look for signs in parking lot to find the meeting place)

All are welcome!

 (Click on Image for larger view)

Our regular farm days for volunteers are held every Thursday and Sunday from 1:00-4:00pm (winter schedule)

Sign-up on the right of blog (Follow this Blog by Email) to receive announcements posted on this blog.

If you wish to support this project, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.   See our Wish List

Reflection on a Stormy Day

Last Sunday was the first Community Meeting at Gaia Gardens.  Five of us met (Jay, Cia, Jennie, Judith and Poki) to begin a conversation about the future of Gaia Gardens and what is needed to get there.

As the instigator of this project, I have purposefully left the definition of this "urban farm" wide open in order for more of a community mind/heart to define its mission and goals.  You are therefore all invited to participate in the definition of this new place.

In one month time, a handful of volunteers have staged a large compost area, recycled a lot of equipment and raw material from a defunct greenhouse operation, built a 20'X8' lean-to greenhouse for our plant starts, planted fruit trees, started seeds indoors, and begun to prepare 7,000sq' for cultivation.  A blog has been created, attracting over 500 visitors so far, an application for fiscal sponsorship has been submitted to the NM Community Foundation and a grant has been submitted to RSF Social Finance.

Starting a farm is no small undertaking.  Especially with no money! Especially in Santa Fe where soil is poor and water scarce.  However, my heart tells me that we ought to demonstrate that with the proper soil preparation, wind protection, water harvesting, choice of plants and a little bit of community magic, fertility and abundance can be restored to our land, and delicious food produced within our city limit (do you know that in Havana, Cuba, 50% of their fresh food is grown in the city? see more)

Beginning a farm can be a bit overwhelming.  The rototilling of the 7,000sq' area surfaced several tons of rocks that must now be removed.  Picking rocks is what our ancestors had to do by hand each time they started a new farm plot.  Reconnecting with the patience and devotion that it takes to prepare a plot of land is bringing us closer to the indigenous mind.  What if each rock was picked with a prayer and an expression of gratitude for the opportunity to create another oasis in the city...

Creating an urban farm that also encompasses art, a playground, a park, a bird sanctuary, ceremonies, classes and a variety of growing and composting techniques would be an inspiration to many.  Engaging a whole neighborhood in recycling its food waste for our compost operation would be a great example in a city so "different" that there is no green waste recycling, and less than 20% of the population recycles its glass, cans, plastic and cardboard (in contrast, San Francisco has made it mandatory to recycle all residential and commercial food waste (see more).

What kind of farm are these times and this particular location calling us to create?  What kind of farm can collective intelligence and wisdom bring forth?  The possibilities are endless yet we must also be wise and creative in looking at the economics of such an undertaking.  Where will the money come from to develop the infrastructure (large water catchment, efficient irrigation, year-round passive solar greenhouse, tools, amendment, seeds) and where will the revenues come from?  Can the farm become a place where many teachers offer classes and demonstrate a variety of methods and technologies?  Can the farm yield enough food to sell at a food stand on the property or at a local farmers market?  Can several small enterprises be created, some involving teenagers (vegetables, plant starts, worms, eggs, goat milk, compost)?

I have a lot of questions on my mind.  We have an opportunity to bring in a lot of knowledge and wisdom in creating this new farm.  I have invited several respected permaculture teachers (Joel Glanzberg, Tom Watson, Derk Loeks) to come take a look at the property.  My sense is that we ought to demonstrate that food production in the city is not only feasible, but also that it can be done in a way that nourishes the land, its animals, birds and insects, the children and the elders, while also creating ripples of joy and goodness throughout the neighborhood and beyond.

So don't be shy.  Please come visit.  Take a walk on the property and see what the land whispers to you.  Bring a prayer with you to cheer all the soil micro organisms creating the soil that our vegetable starts will soon be planted into.  Bring your food waste and make an offering to our giant compost pile (in our Mexican project, the enormous compost pile was names "Compostlan" by the tribe of sundancers living next to the community garden.  see more)

Our "farm days" are held regularly on Thursdays and Sundays from 1:00-4:00pm.  Please come at anytime during these hours.  Bring your kids or elders.  There is no obligation to do anything unless you feel inspired to do so.  If these days and hours don't work for you, I am at the farm on other days.  (Contact me to see when)

At the community meeting, we decided to begin crafting a mission statement as well as to assemble a governing council.

We will continue holding a regular 11:00am-12:30pm community meeting every Sunday at the farm.

Our regular farm days for volunteers are held every Thursday and Sunday from 1:00-4:00pm (winter schedule)

Sign-up on the right of blog (Follow this Blog by Email) to receive announcements posted on this blog.

If you wish to support this project, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.   See our Wish List

Thank you Ellen and Terry for your donation of yummy moldy straw for our compost operation!

Community Options Rock!

Yesterday, a group of adults with disabilities from Community Options came to help pick rocks from the lower field.  What a delight to have such whimsical characters bless our garden!  We will arrange to have a special plot for them so they can plant their own vegetable starts.

More fruits trees to plant

















The first seeds to germinate in the Greenhouse (Bokchoy)

 Our regular farm days for volunteers are held every Thursday and Sunday from 1:00-4:00pm (winter schedule)

REMINDER:

You are all invited to our first Community Meeting

Sunday March 18

11:00am-1:00pm

at Gaia Gardens, 2255 Paseo de los Chamisos (see directions here)

Gaia Gardens is an attempt to create an innovative urban farm model suited for Santa Fe.  We have a lot of land and could create an interesting showcase for a variety of soil preparations, as well as growing, composting and beekeeping methods. Classes, celebrations and events could also be weaved in the farm activities.  What we choose to do and how we organize ourselves to do it is entirely up to the community that will gather around this project.  Our exploration centers around how to foster sustainable food production in the city while also offering a social space to help build resilient community.

Please join us on Sunday for a casual discussion about your ideas, aspirations and interest in getting involved in this new experiment.  If you cannot attend, please email your suggestions and/or interest in contributing.

Sign-up on the right of blog (Follow this Blog by Email) to receive announcements posted on this blog.

If you wish to support this project, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.   See our Wish List