Our New New Mexico Homestead

Our home in Tres Piedras, NM

Major things have happened since I last wrote.  After a series of seemingly endless delays, our Maine house and land sold at a reasonable price.  And the biggest news is: we've purchased the house we'd been renting for the past year in Tres Piedras, New Mexico. 

Winter

We're now settling in for winter.  The firewood has been delivered and stacked.  I've done some yard clean up and built wire cages to keep the cottontail rabbits from girdling and killing the bushes and trees (apricot and currant) that the prior landowner planted. 

Tree girdled by rabbits

I've just planted a few trays of greens that I'm going to attempt to grow in our sun room this winter; so far, I've got a tray each of spinach, green leaf lettuce, and basil.  I'm curious to see whether there will be enough hours of sunlight for them to reach maturity. For sure it stays warm enough in the sun room for them to have no trouble. 

I'm also thinking about starting some micro greens. 

I'd been considering building a small hydroponic system in the sun room for greens but I really am not keen on the idea because this kind of system would not make use of local waste products.  I'd need to buy chemicals created elsewhere and shipped to a store to feed the plants, instead of using of local waste resources such as decomposing straw and manure and compost.  Some people have a small fish pond as part of their hydroponic system and then use the waste of the fish to feed the plants.  Then, though, I'd have to buy manufactured food shipped to a store to feed the fish. 

Outdoor Gardening Plans

I'm also thinking about how to get started on outdoor gardening for the spring.  There are many reasons why gardening here in the high desert will be difficult:

• the soil is deficient in necessary organic matter and minerals from high solar radiation, alkalinity, and low moisture content;
• drainage is poor in this type of soil;
• the intense sun and radiation from our high elevation (8000 or so feet above sea level) are tough on plants;
• the winds are intense since we're out in the open and there are no wind breaks, 
• we get very little rain and all of our water comes from the sky and is preserved in cisterns;
• we have only solar power if we need energy for pumping water from the cisterns to the garden;
• winters are snowy, very cold, and long;
• we have to fence out cattle, jackrabbits, cotton tails, and burrowing rodents.

I need to start building soil.  To that end, I've begun to conserve organic waste matter such as all the trimmings I gathered from yard clean up this fall, bark leavings from our firewood, and our household food waste. 

I'm planning fencing.  Fence for the garden will need to be tall enough to keep out the rabbits and cattle, strong enough to resist pushing by the cattle, and deep enough underground to block burrowing by rodents.  I'm also thinking that the bottom two feet of fencing should be solid but allow light to pass through in order to reduce the wind blowing across young plants.  I may build a coyote fence some ways back from the garden (to keep the shadow from blocking the sunlight) along the southwest edge to further cut the wind.  

I'm also planning hauling in some loads of manure and some straw bales.  I've begun gathering wood pallets to form the walls of a multi-bin compost area.  We have many stray dogs and coyotes so I'll need to take care to keep the bins dog/coyote proof. 

Other Plans

My bigger plans include constructing a walipini, a greenhouse partially sunk into the ground to protect against the wind and cold and allow me to extend our growing season. 

A walipini

There are other things basic things I'd like to add, such as a few chickens and a worm bin, but I'd like to retain the flexibility to go south in our rv, and those things would require someone here to take care of them.  The last time we had chickens we couldn't leave for more than a day or so since the chickens needed to be fed and watered.  I do miss their personalities, though, as well as the fresh eggs and the lovely waste they produce for gardening.