Category Archives: Garden Tours

Mer-Girls Garden Tour this Sunday, Aug 11

The Mer-Girl Garden Tour will be this Sunday from noon to 3 pm in La Villita north of Espanola by Alcade.

We are really looking forward to this field trip tour. If anyone wants to carpool, we will meet in the La Montanita Co-Op parking lot on the far east side (by the Womens Health Center) to join together and follow Alessandra and Steve up to the property. I will be there in the parking lot 10:45 and we will leave at 11:15 sharp. So don’t be late!

BRING WATER AND A HAT!

If you want to go on your own, be up there at the Mer-Girl Gardens in La Villita by noon.

Here are the DIRECTIONS to get there. 
directions to Mer-Girl Gardens

 

It is not too late to sign up below:

Sunday, Aug 11th
12 noon to 4 pm

Mer-Girl Gardens Tour
This is going to be a special field trip this year just north of Espanola in La Villita. This tour will be well worth the drive.  They practice sustainable and bio-dynamic farming with a focus on open-pollinated varieties. Ron Boyd and his wife Debora started Mer-Girl Gardens on about 6 acres and have expanded it. They have developed it into a beautiful farm with Certified Organic orchards, vineyard, culinary herbs, seasonal vegetables, fruits and flowers.

 

Debora has an image of a water bearer who brings water to their oasis in the drylands. Everything they’ve done started in 2001 from pretty much bare, lifeless, overused conventionally farmed fields. The old orchard was about 1 acre with 15 old apple trees.

In the last 20 years they’ve added 350 or so fruit trees, about 100 different varieties of apples 20 varieties of peaches 15 varieties of pears 15 varieties of cherries and plums and a few other curious additions. Around the same time they had restored the old fields, they added another acre, plus a bunch of berries and vegetables.  Debora and Ron did the Taos farmers market for about 10 years with piles of berries, 70 or so varieties of tomatoes, greens, garlic, and fruit when they were lucky. About five years ago the interest and focus has been about producing seed contracted by retail sellers, Baker Creek heirloom Seeds in particular.  Inspired by grain school in 2018 and the grain team, they are beginning to educate themselves and learn about old time varieties of small grain, wheat, rye, barley. They currently run and irrigate in the neighborhood about 12 acres.  They have a large focus on how to feed themselves with minimal fossil fuel and off-farm amendments. They’ve explored small farm tools and techniques. They welcome visitors and include school classes regularly in the spring and fall.

Instructor: Ron Boyd and Debora
Location: La Villita, NM (between Alcalde and Los Luceros) (directions given to participants)
Fee: Free to members/$10 for non-members

Please sign up through Eventbrite below:

Eventbrite - Mer-Girls Farm Tour

 

 

Fall Harvest Potluck-2017

Last year we had a fabulous fall potluck where everyone shared a dish made from their garden and listened to Deborah Madison talk about her garden. Of course maybe you didn’t have a garden this year, so this would be the time to come and find out what Home Grown NM is about and learn from other gardeners. So please show up-we would love to see you all!

potluck-01

Sunday, October 1st—4 pm to 6 pm
Fall Harvest Potluck
Come to our Fall Harvest Potluck. Share some food from your gardens with like-minded gardeners and listen to The Tomato Lady’s inspirational talk about her veggie gardening in Santa Fe and what worked and didn’t work. Also come see Paul Drumright’s fabulous gardens! Paul was the host last year as well.

Location: Paul Drumright’s house
6 Cuesta Road • Santa Fe (Eldorado), NM
Fee: FREE for everyone!
Guest Speaker: Jannine Cabossel, The Tomato Lady
BRING A DISH!

 

2017 Home Grown New Mexico class schedule is up

announcement logoThe class schedule is up! We are ready to rock and roll. You can go to the CLASSES/EVENTS AT THE TOP OF THIS WEBSITE and see all the classes and events we are offering in 2017.  CHECK OUT OUR MARCH EVENTS!

We have a great SEED EXCHANGE coming up on March 3 working with the Seed Summit organization that is having a workshop here in Santa Fe. The event is free and we will be over at the Santa Fe Farmers Market Pavilion building.

A Sourdough Bread Making’ class on March 5, Evolution Gardening/Revisiting the Victory Garden in the 21st Century’ class on March 19 and a Spring Fling Potluck will feature Avery Aguilar from Santo Domingo Pueblo. He will give a presentation on Native American Pueblo gardening techniques.

And that’s just the March line up! To see the whole schedule go here:
2017-hgnm-class_event-schedule

Once again we need you to sign up at the ‘Eventbrite’ badge so we know who is coming and prepare for them. Also if there needs to be any changes, we can contact you. The sign up is same as last year and worked well.

Most of the classes (cheese classes excepted) are free to members and don’t forget with your membership, the Kitchen Garden & Coop Tour is free to members too, so join soon so you don’t miss out on any of these great classes and events. Those of you who joined last year will get a renewal notice via email when your membership is due.

Welcome to 2017 -a New Gardening Year

 

Hello everyone and welcome to a new gardening year! By now hopefully you are receiving you seed catalogs in the mail and deciding on your seeds for your 2017 gardens.

We here at Home Grown New Mexico have woken from our slumber and are now planning this year’s events. January is an exciting month where we are planning many NEW workshop/classes as well as some of the favorites like cheesemaking will be returning.

t-emojiWe can’t let the cat out of the bag yet but as soon as they are firmed up, we will tell you. It’s going to be a great year!

2016 Kitchen Garden & Coop tour!

THIS IS WHAT WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR! ALMOST HERE!

HG TOUR LOGO

The 6th Annual
Kitchen Garden and Coop Tour
Sunday, August 7, 2016
9 am to 3 pm

Home Grown New Mexico’s – Main Fundraising Event! Come support us so we can continue to provide all of our great classes! (We are a 501c-3 Non-Profit Corporation run solely by volunteers, so your ticket may be tax-deductible)

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2016 KITCHEN GARDEN & COOP TOUR

Date: August 7, 2016

Time: 9 am-3 pm

Location: Various locations around Santa Fe, NM (see MAP below)
Fee: FREE to members/ $25 per person for non-members

Prepaid tickets are over but you can still come and pay on day of tour at one of the houses. Check, cash or credit card accepted on day of tour.

See five kitchen gardens in Santa Fe. Pick up ideas that you can use at your place or just enjoy these beautiful, edible and functional landscapes. COME GET INSPIRED FOR YOUR GARDEN!

The properties this year feature many gardening ideas—beautiful vegetable gardens, herb gardens, potagers, fruit and nut trees, backyard chicken coops, goats, beehives, backyard composting, green house, a neighborhood community garden with goats, edible landscapes and rainwater harvesting systems.  They range from small properties to large properties in town in Santa Fe. The owners will be at each location with Master Gardeners to answer gardening questions and support the event.

Get Map Here: 2016 Kitchen Garden Tour map-revised (Please note this was revised as of Aug 3)

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HERE ARE THE 5 PROPERTIES ON THE 2016 TOUR!!

1—Tres Placitas del Rio Community Garden
1710 West Alameda

Tres Placitas del Rio is a co-housing community established in 1994 on 2.7acres overlooking the Santa FE River. There are currently 17 adults & 7 children/teenagers living in 11 households. The Garden was established in 1998 and has grown and been tending by many different individuals over the years. The soil has been enriched over the last 16 years with compost, primarily derived from the goat yard. This year 6 individuals (some are from Tres Placitas and other are friends of the community) lovingly worked together to create a “community garden” featuring a variety of vegetables and some perennials. The grounds of Tres Placitas boasts many native plants and lots of mature fruit trees.

The 3 resident goats: Itsy, Souflee & Dee are cared for cooperatively by a group of individuals from the greater Santa Fe community who milk them twice every day.  This year, Souflee gave birth to 3 healthy baby goats called ‘kids’. They are now in new homes giving joy to their new owners but all 3 adult goats still live there. The Tres Placitas goat co-op are often seeking new members—if interested pick up a flyer at the barn by the garden.

The SCAT (Santa Fe Master Gardeners Compost Action Team) will be on hand to answer your questions about home composting.

**Please be aware that access to this garden requires walking up or down a hill/or stairs (for a total of 660 feet from the nearest parking)**

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2—Mrs. Bobbs Compound
630 E Alameda

Mrs. Bobb is a legend around Santa Fe. Her compound is called La Querencia meaning ‘a place where one feels at home’. She has had tours in the past but not so many now that she is 96, so this is a special treat for us at Home Grown New Mexico and we are honored to display her gardens this year. She is still actively involved in all her gardens!

She and her family have lived in their current compound since 1967 and over that time have created a fantasy landscape on their 4 acres littered with memories of their past and present lives. They have graciously opened their entire compound to the Kitchen Garden & Coop Tour this year.
They have a large enclosed vegetable and fruit garden with traditional and raised beds surrounded by magnificent roses and a small potager – combining vegetables, herbs and flowers in a wonderful design. All the garden and green waste is composted in the corner compost area making the soil incredibly rich.

One hundred year old fruit trees tower above meandering paths leading to many “themed” gardens including: the Zodiac Garden, the English Cottage Garden, an English Knot Garden and the Espaliered Fruit Garden. Whimsical Sculptures sit among the Dragon Garden, the Wind in the Willows Garden and the Fairy Garden (hidden beneath a weeping crab apple tree). Not to be missed is the “Evolutionary Labyrinth”, the “Fractional Geometry and Poetry Sculpture” and much much more. There are _ gardens on the property. This magnificent Eastside property is located across from the Santa Fe River on the dirt road that parallels East Alameda. (See map for directions)

Members of the Santa Fe Native Plant Project (of Santa Fe Master Gardeners) will be on hand to answer questions about native plantings.

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3—Bob Zimmerman and Jerry silverstein
2233 Calle Cacique

Bob and Jerry have been gardening at their current home for 8 years. Their garden was on the Home Grown Kitchen Garden & Coop Tour 5 years ago but much has changed since then with the addition of many new gardens and lots of garden art. Bob seeks to share “what can be grown” in Santa Fe with some work and determination.

The landscaping starts at the entrance to his long driveway with a perennial garden w/ many native plantings and continues into his backyard which features more perennials interspersed with vegetables, grapes and berries. Two huge cherry trees shade much of the backyard and other newer fruit trees are in the bee yard area out front. Espaliered pear and apple trees near the house overlook more native plantings. A newly built raised vegetable bed beautifully forms a “natural” fence with the neighboring yard.

Bob’s chickens are Santa Fe famous having their own adobe casita while they preside over the covered raised beds that serve as the “fall and winter garden” with many vegetables. Throughout the property, beautiful art glass sculptures compliment the plantings.

The giant cherry trees over 30 years old produced 55 lbs of cherries this year! Bob will display the fruits of his labor—eggs, honey and jam and veggies that are all harvested off the property.  Grapes, Asparagus, tomatoes, peppers and chard and other veggies are all grown on the property and are intregrated with the art. Art is a big part of their lives with Jerry being an avid glass collector and Bob a very artistic Master Gardener. Bob see their yards as different outside exterior rooms of their house. Mrs. Bobb was a great inspiration for Bob when he first visited her compound years ago. This is another inspiring garden on a medium size lot.

The Sangre de Cristo Beekeepers will be on hand to answer your questions about backyard beekeeping.

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4—Robert Godreau and Michelle Demers
2178 Candelero Street

Robert and Michelle have been gardening in their current location for 8 years. They “have it all” with extensive multi-leveled vegetable gardens (including heirloom corn and squashes), a greenhouse, a chicken yard, a bee yard and many fruit trees and berries.

They strive on being more sustainable. All their electricity comes from the sun. They passively harvest rainwater into a large strawberry bed and channel grey water from sinks/showers to the landscape as well to a dry creek bed that wanders through the gardens. Vegetable and flower plantings are everywhere. They compost in a “double barreled” tumbler composter.

Michelle’s unique relationship with the plants keeps her tuned into the best time for harvest, drying and canning. Robert is a builder and has utilized his many skills as well as materials “left over” from his projects. Together, in a perfect synergy of effort, they have created a model of sustainability. Come be inspired.

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5—Cande and Russ Toner
4475 Contenta Ridge

Cande and Russ Toner are sharing our newest garden. They started working on it only 3 short years ago and have created a lovely and very productive landscape. Cande is a Master Gardener and an artist (in real life) and her aesthetic sense pervades the entire garden. Together they have built 18 small raised beds. They also have numerous decorative pots in the back yard with a variety of vegetables and flowers in them including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, melons, squashes, beans and many more. Their fruit consists of apple trees, peach trees, raspberries, strawberries and grapes. In addition to to the vegetables and fruit, there is a separate herb garden.

Ask Cande about her seed saving – many of her plants were grown from seeds she saved or collected from friends.  They have utilized the front and side yard as well-landscaping w/asparagus and Saskatoon blueberries and more pots with vegetables.

She designed and Russ built copper tubing hoop houses that morphed into tomato cages. You will be inspired by this compact edible landscape on a smaller lot.

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Happy 2016 everyone!!

Dog.in.sleep

 

So while winter is here and the gardens are sleeping, we at Home Grown New Mexico are not sleeping. With the new year here, we are busy planning classes and events that we on think will be interesting to you in 2016. We plan on having a meeting later this month to firm things up and will then share with you all the good news as it unfolds.

We also will have some changes in how the membership works this year that we know you will like. Our membership doubled last year and hope you will all join again!

Last year we know we were on the right track as every class filled up and we got some great feedback. We learned that Sundays seems to be good for everyone and you all will even travel on a field trip like the one we had up at Gordon Tooley’s Tree Farm in Truchas.

Some other highlights last year included the cheese classes (we plan to have more this year), the Permaculture classes, the Seed Exchange, the Early Spring Planting Class, the Microgreens Class, and actually every class was great! I know cause I went to every one of them and learned so much from all the great teachers.

Then we had a great Kitchen Garden and Coop Tour last summer with every home on the tour having fantastic gardens that gave us all some great ideas for our own gardens.

We had a potluck in the fall with Deborah Madison as our guest speaker and had a fantastic turnout. It was held at Paul and Christine Drumright’s beautiful home.  It seemed like this was the perfect time for everyone to catch up, share some great harvest food, enjoy Paul’s gardens and house and listen to a wonderful speaker.

So let this be a tickler before we unfold what 2016 reveals!

Happy 2016 everyone!!

Jannine Cabossel
Chairperson, Home Grown New Mexico

Native Bee Walk in the Railyard Park

native bee_NM

Native New Mexico bee. Photo courtesy ofhttp://www.pollinatorparadise.com/nm.htm

Hey ya all-This might be of interest to you this weekend if you are interested in native bees! Want to learn more about identifying and how to attract native bees to your garden? Read on!

Saturday, September 19
NATIVE BEE WALK in the RAILYARD PARK

Time: 10:00 – 11:30 AM
Cost: Free and Open to the Public
Where: Meet at the Railyard Park’s Community Room located directly behind SITE Santa Fe

Join the Railyard Stewards and Dr. Olivia Carril for a Native Bee Pollinator Walk in the 13-acre Railyard Park. In addition to identifying the bees we discover, Olivia will discuss the importance of bee habitats and pollen to the lives of native bees and how you can draw native bees to your garden, in addition to identifying the plants that attract bees to this rich, diverse urban landscape right in the middle of Santa Fe.

Kitchen Garden & Coop Tour-Big success!!

 

The tour was a big success this year and over 200 people came to it. Hope you all enjoyed it as the tour participants really worked hard in their gardens before the tour to make their gardens beautiful. There were as many different styles of gardens as there were people which is great as everyone has different ideas and we all picked up a few ideas to apply to our gardens next year. It is Home Grown New Mexico’s main fundraiser for the year and planning actually started last September for this year’s tour. Lots of time and effort went into it and a great big thank you to the Home Grown crew, the Master Gardeners who helped out and answered questions at the sites, to Roland of Joe’s Diner for providing food for volunteers, to Osuna Nursery who helped underwrite the event and to edible magazine for putting out the word on their email blasts.

As far as myself goes,  I’m starting to recover from the big garden tour in 2 ways. First I was heavily involved in pulling the tour off and second, I was also on the tour (mine was the 5th house) so I’m double tired and now the tomatoes are starting to come in-so soon I will put on another hat as the Tomato Lady at the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market on Saturdays (when I have enough tomatoes) which should be mid-August.

Hope you all enjoyed the tour and thanks for supporting us!

Jannine Cabossel
Home Grown New Mexico, Chairperson

 

5TH ANNUAL KITCHEN GARDEN & COOP TOUR – JULY 26

IT’s ALMOST HERE! OUR BIGGEST FUNDRAISER AND BIGGEST EVENT OF THE YEAR! PRE-BUY YOUR TICKET AT THE EVENT BRITE BUTTON BELOW OR PAY AT EVENT AT FIRST HOUSE YOU GO TO.

2015 HGNM KItchen Garden Tour_ad _green

Sunday, July 26—OUR MAJOR FUNDRAISING EVENT!
Kitchen Garden & Coop Tour
Time: 9 am-3 pm
Cost: $25. children under 12 free. You can pre-pay below or pay at the tour at any of the homes. Cash, Check or credit cards accepted.
Locations: see below

The 5th Annual
Kitchen Garden and Coop Tour
Sunday, July 26, 2015 from 9 am to 3 pm

See five kitchen gardens in Santa Fe. Pick up ideas that you can use at your place or just enjoy these beautiful, edible and functional landscapes.

The properties on the tour this year will feature many gardening ideas—beautiful vegetable gardens, herb gardens, fruit and nut trees, backyard chicken coops, goats, beehives, composting,  green houses, a neighborhood community garden, edible landscapes and rainwater harvesting systems.  Master Gardeners will be at each location to answer gardening questions and support the event. Pre-purchase tickets here on the eventbrite button or buy them at the tour at whatever house you first go to.

Eventbrite - 5th Annual Kitchen Garden and Coop Tour

5 Properties on tour-get the Home Grown tour_map (revised Jul 18)
#1 • Lisa Sarenduc, Suitable Digs
712 Chicoma Vista
Santa Fe, NM

#2 • Amelia Moody
1951 Osage Dr
Santa Fe, NM

#3 • Deb Farson
2215 Paseo de los Chamisos
Santa Fe, NM

#4 • Bert & Mari Tallant
2389 Camino Pintores
Santa Fe, NM

#5 • Jannine Cabossel, ‘The Tomato Lady’
56 Coyote Crossing
Santa Fe, NM

Garden Tour Bios
Lisa Sarenduc-owner of
Suitable Digs. This property has unique green vacation lodgings on her sustainable property where she lives. Her property features a greenhouse, fruit and nut trees, raised vegetable and berry garden, greywater system, a dome greenhouse with fig trees, another greenhouse with olive trees, a large rainwater catchment system, 1.5 acres of native grasses and flowers lining her driveway using key line design, a swimming pond and is completely powered by solar energy.

Amelia Moody has been gardening at her home in Santa Fe for 10 years. Her lovely garden is continually evolving, as she acquires “gift plants” from her friends. She has mature fruit trees and bed with mixed plantings of vegetables, flowers, medicinal plants and cacti, keeping a constant supply of flowers pollinated by her own honeybees. A giant Saguaro Cactus skeleton dominates her back yard. She also catches water from her roof, storing it underground in a 1000gal tank. Chickens will supply her with eggs through the year. A well tended compost pile rounds out her very balanced landscape.

Deb Farson lives in a townhome with her cat Charley in town. She has been a master gardener for 5 years (in fact, she is the president of the Santa Fe Master Gardeners Association). She has been a Master Composter since 2002. Her property has a small footprint, but she has been able to pack in a lot of sustainability. Her perennials are xeric and include many native plants and shrubs in beds, pots and planters. She connects with the National Weather Service daily – measuring precipitation in Santa Fe. She catches rain from her roof to water her landscape – including raised vegetable beds. She fosters community – cooperating with neighbors in a truly neighborhood community garden. She crafts some of the best compost in town with the help of her neighbors, who contribute their food scraps all year round and get tomatoes in the summer in return.

Bert Tallant and his wife Mari have been gardening in Santa Fe for over 25 years. Their garden showcases many of the sustainable features that can be accomplished in an urban setting. They converted almost half of their property into a vegetable garden. In the compact garden, they grow a substantial portion of their food for the year, including tomatoes, chile, corn, squash and raspberries – lots of raspberries. Bert has experimented w/ espaliered apple trees along the walls that enclose the garden. They use water captured from their roof and piped to the garden underground. A newly captured swarm of honeybees buzz about pollinating and making honey. Eggs are gathered daily from their chickens. They make their own high quality compost gathering materials from neighbors and the city.

Jannine Cabossel-The Tomato Lady
Jannine can be found selling her heirloom tomatoes at the Santa Fe’s Farmer’s Market in the summer and features her artisan farm on the tour this year. She strives toward sustainability. Her 6.5 acre property includes 3000 sq ft of raised vegetable gardens that supply her with food year round, garden art and flowers that feed her soul, over 30 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, fruit trees, strawberries, grapes and raspberries, 2 busy beehives, many drought tolerant, bee friendly gardens, chickens that give her eggs daily, Koko the horse and her buddies-the goats, a terraced herb garden, an unheated greenhouse full of tomatoes now and greens in the winter, a cold frame for fall/spring gardening, composting systems and even a resting hut fondly called the Tea House. Be prepared to wander and get lost on this lovely property that will surely inspire gardeners.

 

JULY UPCOMING EVENTS

Sun. July 12
Kitchen Counter Gardening-CLASS FULL
Learn how to grow micro-greens in your kitchen!
Time: 12 pm-2 pm
Instructors: Alessandra Haines & Mike Warren
Location: 3229 Rodeo Road (Rodeo Grounds/Large Annex building Master Gardener classroom)

Eventbrite - Kitchen Counter Gardening

This fast-growing market has become tremendously popular with both growers and chefs. For growers, Micro Greens have a low start-up cost for year-round production, are relatively easy to grow, and most can be harvested within 2-3 weeks. For chefs, they allow for interesting colors, flavors, and textures to be creatively combined to enhance any dish. Come learn how to grow micro-greens with Allesandra and Mike!

Help keep this class free! Become a 2015 Member here for only $35 – includes all classes, potlucks and tour. TAX DEDUCTIBLE!

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 Sunday, July 26

2015 HGNM KItchen Garden Tour_ad _green

Sunday, July 26—OUR MAJOR FUNDRAISING EVENT!
Kitchen Garden & Coop Tour
Time: 9 am-3 pm
Locations: Addresses of all 5 properties and a map will be posted here by July 15.
Cost: $25. children under 12 free. You can pre-pay below or pay at the tour at any of the homes. Cash, Check or credit cards accepted.

The 5th Annual
Kitchen Garden and Coop Tour
Sunday, July 26, 2015 from 9 am to 3 pm

See five kitchen gardens in Santa Fe. Pick up ideas that you can use at your place or just enjoy these beautiful, edible and functional landscapes.

The properties on the tour this year will feature many gardening ideas—beautiful vegetable gardens, herb gardens, fruit and nut trees, backyard chicken coops, goats, beehives, composting,  green houses, a neighborhood community garden, edible landscapes and rainwater harvesting systems. For more info on each property, go here or purchase tickets below at eventbrite.

Eventbrite - 5th Annual Kitchen Garden and Coop Tour