ONCE UPON A PAIGE
FARM
Neil and I bought land in Llano in 2009, because in a crazy world we wanted to know how to grow food with water the mountains made for us. Correction -- to quote Peter Vigil from the Taos Soil & Water Conservation District -- we didn’t buy the land, we married it. He meant that we should take the relationship that seriously, spend the time to know what the land needed.
Given Neil’s engineering background and mine in hydrology, we began by conserving and making the best possible use of the water we were allotted from the acequia, the irrigation ditch dug by the first Spanish settlers in the valley in the late 18th century. Meanwhile we learned what the rich dirt would grow for us, and what just couldn’t make it in our short summers at 8000 feet. Neil built us a barn for drying and storing our produce and stashing our tools, as well as the accumulated furniture and memorabilia of two families and five kids. A greenhouse grew onto the south side of the barn for warm-season vegetables and starts for the field.
Given Neil’s engineering background and mine in hydrology, we began by conserving and making the best possible use of the water we were allotted from the acequia, the irrigation ditch dug by the first Spanish settlers in the valley in the late 18th century. Meanwhile we learned what the rich dirt would grow for us, and what just couldn’t make it in our short summers at 8000 feet. Neil built us a barn for drying and storing our produce and stashing our tools, as well as the accumulated furniture and memorabilia of two families and five kids. A greenhouse grew onto the south side of the barn for warm-season vegetables and starts for the field.
Paige irrigates, Molly supervises.
Neil picks raspberries, barn in background.
