ReRooting: A Process

Snow, rain and hail, wind and pleasant weather seems to be Spring here in Santa Fe, New Mexico/Land of Enchantment. With the elevation above 6790' Spring is slowly arriving. The city has an abundance of flowering trees now sporting their blossoms. This is a stunning contrast to the deciduous trees with bare branches remaining.

Recently we enjoyed an excursion up into the mountains through Chimayo 

El Santuario de Chimayo;
19th century adobe shrine that now draws tens of
thousands of pilgrims during Holy Week.
Quite an amazing place to walk about,
which we did, feeling the love throughout the grounds and church.
For those of you that have visited the missions in
California, this is, to me, the most similar to the San Luis Rey mission
located outside Carlsbad, California.

and onto Truchas which in Spanish means "trout" and is mostly an artists' community 

where we visited Tooley's Trees owned by Margaret and Gordon Tooley.

There we purchased and brought back fruit trees to commence our "food forest" in our walled backyard (typical here in the Stamm developments of the 1950's):

Esopus Spitzenburg

Available as one year whip for Spring 2018

Thomas Jefferson’s favorite; dessert apple for connoisseurs. Medium to large, round conical, orangeish fruit with tough skin, russet dots and inconspicuous stripes. Crisp, fine grained, spicy, juicy, yellowish flesh. Rich, aromatic flavor. Ripens unevenly; hangs well into November. Average to good when tree ripe; radically improves in storage. Keeps until May. Tends to bear biennially. Pollinator required. Susceptible to fireblight, scab and canker. Hardy to Zone 4. Requires 800 chilling hours. Originated in Esopus, NY. Introduced in 1790.

Westfield Seek No Further

Available as one year whip for Spring 2018. Excellent for eating fresh and drying. Flavor intensifies as it dries. Fruit is streaked with red and russet over yellowish background. Crisp, juicy, high quality flesh. Rich, mild, pleasantly aromatic, mildly subacid, distinctive flavor. Beach rates Westfield as very good to best, a rare distinction in his Apples of New York. Average keeper. Medium to large tree. Flourishes in well-drained, gravelly or loamy soil. Ripens during October. Hardy to -50 F. with occasional winter injury. Originated in Westfield, Massachusetts. Introduced in 1790.

Hargrande Apricot 

RS- Myro.
Very large fruit, up to 2.5 inches diameter. Dull orange skin with a speckled blush. Firm, smooth, orange, freestone flesh. Good texture and flavor. Suitable for fresh market or processing. Productive, cold hardy tree. Tolerant to brown rot, bacterial spot and perennial canker. Ripens in late July. Zones 5-8. Developed at the Harrow Research Station, Canada, 1980.

Harogem Apricot 

RS- Myro.
Small to medium, glossy, orange fruit with a bright red blush. Very firm, orange, freestone flesh with good texture and flavor. Excellent for fresh market. Upright tree. Consistently productive. Resistant to perennial canker and brown rot. Moderately susceptible to bacterial spot. Ripens in early August. Cold hardy. Zones 4-8. Developed at the Harrow Research Station, Canada, 1979.

Chokecherry

Prunus Virginiana
20'-30', Zone 2. Small suckering tree or large shrub with oval crown. Flowers are white 3”-6” long racemes. The fruit is red, ripening to dark purple. The fruits can be used for making jams, jellies, sauces and wines. Good screening and wildlife habitat plant.

American Plum

Prunus Americana

10'-25', Zone 3. Small graceful tree or shrub. Beautiful fall color. Fragrant, white flowers bloom profusely. 1” red and yellow fruit. Excellent food for wildlife. Good for jams and jellies. Drought tolerant, and not soil specific. Excellent pollenizer. Good choice for screening and wildlife habitat.

These above descriptions are from Tooley's Trees website.

Tooley's Trees on our back cement patio, aka portal, in Santa Fe await their forever home at 6790' MuRefuge's coming soon "Food Forest."

Both of the apricot trees that had tight blossom buds in Truchas have now burst into full flower with the warmer days here in Santa Fe.

"Contemplate in the morning

Pull weeds in the afternoon

The joys and labor of a single day

Are a part of a whole journey."

365 Tao: Daily Meditations by Deng Ming-Dao

As we pull weeds or whatever activity(ies) we engage in to care for Mother Earth, may we