Cherishing Mother Earth

"To cherish what remains of the Earth

and to foster its renewal 

is our only legitimate hope of survival."

Wendell Berry

Pink Wild Snapdragon (P. palmeri)

This stunning flowering plant

caught my eye on one of

our early walks along the 

Santa Fe River from

Frenchie's Field.

As once again we plan for relocation I reflect on the

transformation of the property we presently inhabit. As those of you who have followed this blog since it's inception, you are aware of how important restoring abused land is to me. Healing Mother Earth supports my well BEing: the process is one of such basic interaction and gives rise to a whole greater than the sum of its parts as the ole familiar

saying goes.  

"Let (us) respect and maintain

the purity of air, water, land and subsoil.

Let (us) cooperate to restore 

the ecological soundness of Mother Earth. 

. . . .

Let trees grow up by the billions

around the world. 

Let green life invade the deserts.

. . . . 

Let us survive

in peace and harmony with Mother Earth."

Hagen Hasselbalch

We downsized, in land and in house, considerably when we moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We chose to live in the city of Santa Fe rather than out in the country. After much looking at houses throughout the city, our search narrowed to Stamm homes, built in the 1950’s in the territorial or pueblo style. The house we originally had under contract was in need of much upgrading. After withdrawing from that contract we spent time sitting in a newly renovated Stamm home just down the “circle” on a corner lot. “Too modern,”  was Dwight’s comment. And now he says, “this is one of the two best houses I have ever lived in.”

Santa Fe is in the midst of a Pinon Pine/Junipter forest, albeit midget trees related to the low rainfall per year (typically around 6 inches/ year). So I focused on what grows natively in this drought tolerant forest as a template for the transformation. Once these natives are established they need minimal watering which is so crucial here in the high mountainous desert.

This photo the front yard recently landscaped.
And the below picture portrays the beginning
of what I call the side garden.

When we bought the property, the landscaping had been done by the “professional” landscaper who was one of the three individuals who bought this house and property to “rehab”  and flip. The front and side yards were covered with landscape cloth then 11.5 tons of Santa Fe gravel was laid atop of this. The plants were non native including three aspen trees. An irrigation system was installed beneath the landscaping cloth in the “front” yard. 

The side yard was essentially empty of plants and at the very edge of the property was a HUGE pile of Santa Fe dirt (filled with all sizes of rocks) next to a very steep driveway which opens into the backyard through iron double gate.

The first Winter I planted a few native prickly plants in the side yard. I did not want the native prickly plants near where people would enter our house since they are not welcoming, in fact deter humans just by their prickly nature.

Claret Cup (Echinocereus triglochidiatus)

PRIORITY

This is  photo is of the backyard . . . before.
In the lower right is an ornamental plum tree
that I cut down and created a compost pile in its place.

Once the weather warmed, heralding Spring, the priority was to deal with the backyard. Goats’ heads, which I had never heard of, littered the backyard so whenever Shasta went out these brutal stickers got into the pads of her feet. These plants were pulled out as much as possible. A multitude of miniature Siberian elm trees and a mass of small Tree of Heaven were dug out.

At one time the backyard had been covered with rocks for low maintenance. These were raked to form pathways, and large rocks from the “dirt” pile outside the double gate line these paths. 

The sheet mulching began around the perimeter using our cardboard moving boxes covered with eight to ten inches of compost delivered by Reunity Resources. This was expensive compared to wood chips but it was necessary to speedily make the backyard hospitable to Shasta. 

If any of you are considering sheet mulching, “Steps in sheet mulching” appear on page 105 of Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison with Rey Mia Slay. I mulch all of our natural fiber clothing and any household goods made from natural fibers, like sheets and towels, etc. that have “worn out”. As these feed the soil . . . no need to throw them into the “landfill”!

1. Mulching with 8 to 12" of compostable ingredients 
2. Controls weeds, no need to weed before mulching! 
3. As these materials break down, micro organisms thrive, 
4. Soil nutrients increase 
5. AND, most importantly sequestering of carbon, one of the green house gases causing our climate catastrophe.

Neighbors who saw what I was doing volunteered their stored cardboard boxes too for the massive sheet mulching project in the back, front and side yard. Some were quite curious about this unfamiliar project happening at 1832 San Felipe Circle. I had many opportunities to educate intrigued passerbys. I even had one lady knock on my front door to ask who “my landscaper” was? She seems quite surprised when I said, “you are looking at her.”

Three raised beds were created, with help from a young and strong man, with basalt blocks, aka cement blocks. The pile of dirt outside of the double wrought iron gate was sifted for rocks and dumped into the raised beds filling them about half way. Garden blend from Reunity Resources filled the beds the rest of way.  

I thought, having had a garden for over 30 years in Sonoma County AND growing up gardening with my mother and maternal grandmother, that gardening in Santa Fe would flow as it always had for me. Nope! Gardening in the high mountainous terrain of Santa Fe has taken an incredible adjustment for me. Vegetable plants died. My stepdaughter said, “how can your zucchini plants not thrive. Everyone grows zucchini successfully?” Well, the first season I planted zucchini the plants died. 

So growing our food in the raised beds at first was a challenge. After three years, in 2020 for the first time, I thought “now I am getting the hang of it.” Of course, I could not grow anywhere near as much of our food as I did at MuRefuge. What did thrive was delicious to eat and was nutrient dense since the soil had been fed as well as compost applied! It has been enormously advantageous to have 2 of the 3 raised beds protected with plastic greenhouse cover, better than shade cloth.

The 2 longest raised beds sport asparagus plants. These are quite slow growing here. 

My practice is to companion plant so that plants experience synergy and it allows for “crop rotation” as well. My go to reference is Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte. In the uncovered raised bed I repeatedly plant tomatoes. Tomato is the only seasonal edible plant, that I am aware, which likes to be planted in the same place year after year. And the tomato varieties I have planted I choose specifically for the Santa Fe climate. Since I always start my own plants, it is easy to do this. I repeatedly order most of my seeds from Turtle Tree Seed. I also use their annual biodynamic planting calendar as a guide for successful planting of both seed and plant. Lettuce, arugula and Cascadia peas thrive in the early Spring inside of these hoop houses. In fact, in the small hoop house I have grown arugula as the temperatures start to warm in the late Winter.

Around the raised beds grows
Ashworth corn (for its "old fashion" flavor I grew up with in Iowa
and the seeds can be planted very early when the soil is still cool,
squash and Minnesota Midget melons which are just perfect for one person.
The melons especially love growing between the portal cement
and the longest uncovered raised bed.
Their leaves are quite beautiful as well.

An orchard of seven fruit trees from Tooley’s Trees in Truchas was planted around the South and East perimeter inside the adobe walls. Amidst the trees have been planted flowering plants, mostly native, to attract pollinators for abundant fruit. Berries and grape vines for both human and bird consumption were planted.   

So sorry this is so dark!
The above picture was taken on September 13, 2018.
It shows the placement
of the fruit trees and pollinator plants
along the South adobe wall.
The mulching is also visible.

MULCHING

As Summer approached I advertised free Santa Fe gravel on Craigslist, “free” to anyone who wanted to come and remove the gravel from the front and side yards. A man responded. He had a very, very, very long dirt driveway on which he wanted gravel. Over 6 weeks he removed and loaded 11.5 tons into his pickup with shovel. Upon completion he commented on how much stronger he was. I was happy and he was happy!

Unfortunately the landscape cloth went into the landfill as I could not find anyone who would reuse it. The irrigation lines were removed. Before I could fully mulch the front yard dirt, we had an enormous monsoon rain. The houses across the street were flooded. Luckily as we live on higher ground the water just washed across the dirt and carried wheelbarrows of soil into the street.

Sheet mulching cannot be completed without wood chips unless if you want to use lots of straw which I found attracts rats where they build their nests and raise their young. Over the course of the sheet mulching project Coates Tree Service delivered 6 truckloads of wood chips (from trees, bushes, etc. pruned in the neighborhood) for only $60 each load of 12 cu. yards. I hand wheelbarrowed the chips to cover the cardboard and natural fiber cloth. Since there was time between truckloads, I could enjoy forays to Plants of the Southwest to choose the plants I wanted in the area completely mulched. These plants were watered with filtered water. Since we have a “whole house water filtration system” the plants did not get poisonous chlorine or fluoride.

PLANTING

 "Be a gardener.” 

Create water catchments

 Feed the soil of Mother Earth.

Choose edible as well as indigenous plants

“. . . . water the plants in time.

Continue this labor . . . .”

 for “abundant fruits”

and vegetables”

and berries 

“to spring. . . ."

for the enjoyment of all creatures.

Julian of Norwich

and modified by

Cathie Haynes

"An addiction to gardening 

is not all bad 

when you consider 

the other choices in life."

Cora Lea Bell

As I honored my "addiction to gardening" and exhausted myself in creating a garden full of vegetation that grows in the Pinon Pine/Juniper Forest in which Santa Fe, New Mexico, is located. This area is located in a high mountainous desert. I knew almost nothing about the native plants of this area so I set out to educate myself through reading and attending some lectures. I also met a delightful employee, Bramble, at Plants of the Southwest who added his knowledge and expertise. The owner, Gail Haggard, while finding me plants I coveted to augment my native habitat, taught me lovingly about growing natives here in the desert.

Netleaf Hackberry (Celtis reticulata) 
was one of those finds.
I wanted this native tree for the berries
. . . for the birds to eat.

When I became acutely aware of the water shortage in the high desert, we had a consultation with San Isidro Permaculture about conserving water here in Santa Fe. Once we decided what we wanted they returned to give us a bid for installation of water tanks. They were very helpful in determining the flow of water from the “flat” roof to the various downspouts. So one was placed in the front of the house and another slim one resides along the North side of the house.

Once each of these 500 gallon tanks were installed I breathed easier having water available without taxing the water system of Santa Fe.

This tank is positioned 
in the front of the house.

This "skinny" tank sits along the side of the house.
This tank is quickly emptied
watering the vegetables during the growing season.

So now the permanent back garden is planted with fruit trees, flowering and berry bushes as well as pollinator friendly plants and native grasses. 

In the holes of the uncovered raised beds are many parsley plants. Parsley is one of the  host plants for Black Swallowtail caterpillars. Alas, I did not find any eggs this Summer past.

Here I might add purchased plants were in the smallest containers available. The reason for this is that the plants transplant easier and in the long run are healthier. The Agricultural School at the University of California in Davis did a study and determined the size of the pot in which plants are purchased makes a difference. So in that vein the pots for the grasses and flowering plants were 2” and the trees were in 1 gallon pots. So you see, big is not always better.

In the front and side yard some thirteen trees including a white fruiting mulberry tree have been planted. Oh my gosh, the house will have abundant shade . . . eventually. What a contrast to when we purchased this home and property . . . only a Pinon Pine, which you can see in the wintery picture opening this post, along the front sidewalk existed. Well, the professional landscaper/part owner planted three aspen trees in the West of the front yard. Aspen trees grow along stream beds naturally, not in Santa Fe, New Mexico, although one sees them driving about the city here. These along with all the plants originally planted by this professional landscaper were removed and new homes were found for them. 

There are also two different “milkweed” plants along the sidewalk that curves around the front of the house. These were planted as host food for the Monarch caterpillars. Last Summer I saw a Monarch on one of the plants but alas no eggs appeared.

Antelope Horn Milkweed (Asclepias asperula)

LEAVING

Before the renovation of our Stamm home and property, one of our neighbors who is sad to to see us leave, says this place "has not had a good life." And she has repeatedly commented on all the "hard work" I have done on the property's grounds; now providing this place with a "good life".

The wintery scene
from the front door 
looking out onto
San Felipe Circle.
that I am looking at as I write . . .

So I leave a backyard filled with food bearing vegetation that is barely evident during the wintry season depicts above. The front and side yards heralding an all native habitat with trees, bushes and flowering perennials. Hopefully the next owners of 1832 San Felipe Circle will thoroughly enjoy the results of my labor of love. Might they also continue to add to the burgeoning plant life enhancing all BEings who come to this place either seasonally or year around. Periodically adding wood chips would also help tremendously in feeding the soil and sequestering carbon. While the new owners continue "the good life" for 1832 San Felipe Circle may they enjoy the process and