The Farm Stand, The Kitchen Table Santa Fe, High Point Grill & Taproom, Mighty Mike's Meats, and Heidi's Jam Factory
EDIBLE DISPATCH
A New Mexican in Paris by Candolin Cook
CHEF'S TABLE In the Flow by Lynn Cline
Skillet Sausages and Apples with Pecan Vinaigrette COOKING
Landing Softly in the Valley by Mariko O. Thomas LAST BITE
Eggplant with Hot Honey and Basil
ACEQUIAS AND THE ART OF GROWING VEGETABLES WITHOUT PLASTIC by Willy Carleton
ACEQUIA CITY
Turning Back to the Hydrologic Spines of Albuquerque by Emily Vogler
ACEQUIA CASE STUDIES
The Atrisco Acequia Madre Project by Briana Olson
The Tradition of Acequias in Corrales by Jacob White
Story Riders by Ungelbah Dávila
Prototypes by Emily Vogler
Apple Splash, photo by Stephanie Cameron.
Acequias
Acequias
Fall is the most glorious of seasons in New Mexico. The sun more gently kisses the fruit that remains on the trees, chile reddens on the vine, and aspens and oaks and cottonwoods put on a parade of color that has been known to surprise newcomers. Fall is also when the traditional irrigation season approaches its end. The flow of water through our community acequias—some three centuries old and narrow as veins, some as young as eighty and broad as mountain creeks—slows, then stops. The fields they’ve fed begin to dry.
This issue celebrates these waterways, the ditches familiar as breath to many who’ve grown up here. In one feature, exploring how acequias might support plastic-free agriculture, Willy Carleton reflects not only on the risks but on the rhythms, the mentorship, the elegance of irrigating with acequias. In another, Emily Vogler traces the Rio Grande through Albuquerque’s extensive network of ditches and makes a case that they are integral to the city’s health and character. Following her story is a handful of “acequia case studies” where we share the work of stewards and teachers working to sustain connections between urban communities and these vital lifeways.
Writing of his time as a mayordomo (ditch boss), the late Stanley Crawford, who arrived fifty-five years ago as an outsider and quickly made himself useful, asserted: “The thousand acequias of New Mexico form a cultural web of almost microscopic strands and filaments that have held a culture and a landscape in place for hundreds of years.”
Traveling north with Mariko O. Thomas, we find some of these filaments illuminated in the humblest of settings: an acequia workshop at an orchard owned and tended by members of a family whose ancestry is a map to early Spanish settlement in New Mexico. Turning to the kitchen, Lynn Cline visits with a chef who draws on his own rich heritage and commitment to community. We also include, in honor of local orchards and the season, an ode to the apple, along with a few recipes with which to celebrate local growers of the fruit.
In sharing these stories in the season’s shifting light, we hope to offer a window into the cultural web supported by acequias, a glimpse from a place of wonder, care, and possibility into the future of our desert lands.
Briana Olson, Editor
Robin Babb, Associate Editor
Stephanie and Walt Cameron, Publishers
PUBLISHERS
Bite Size Media, LLC
Stephanie and Walt Cameron
EDITOR
Briana Olson
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Robin Babb
COPY EDITORS
Marie Landau and Margaret Marti
DESIGN AND LAYOUT
Stephanie Cameron
PHOTO EDITOR
Stephanie Cameron
EVENT COORDINATOR
Natalie Donnelly
SALES AND MARKETING
Kate Collins, Melinda Esquibel
PUBLISHING ASSISTANT
Cristina Grumblatt
CONTACT US info@ediblenm.com ediblenm.com
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We welcome your letters. Write to us at info@ediblenm.com
Bite Size Media, LLC publishes edible New Mexico six times a year. We distribute throughout New Mexico and nationally by subscription.
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No part of this publication may be used without the written permission of the publisher.
ROBIN BABB is the associate editor of edible New Mexico and The Bite. Previously, she was the food editor at the Weekly Alibi (RIP). She’s an MFA student in creative writing at the University of New Mexico and lives in Albuquerque with a cat named Chicken and a dog named Birdie.
STEPHANIE CAMERON was raised in Albuquerque and earned a degree in fine arts at the University of New Mexico. She is the art director, head photographer, recipe tester, marketing guru, publisher, and owner of edible New Mexico and The Bite.
WILLY CARLETON is the author of Fruit, Fiber, and Fire: A History of Modern Agriculture in New Mexico and a former editor of edible New Mexico. You can follow his current ruminations on growing food in the drylands at desertgarden.substack.com
LYNN CLINE is the award-winning author of The Maverick Cookbook: Iconic Recipes & Tales from New Mexico. She’s written for Bon Appétit, the New York Times, New Mexico Magazine, and many other publications. She also hosts Cline’s Corner, a weekly talk show on public radio’s KSFR 101.1 FM.
CANDOLIN COOK Candolin Cook is an Albuquerque-based historian and writer, and currently works for New Mexico Magazine as a contributing editor.
UNGELBAH DÁVILA lives in Valencia County with her daughter, animals, and flowers. She is a writer, photographer, and Indigenous digital storyteller.
ROSEMARY DIAZ is a freelance writer based in Santa Fe. She studied literature and its respective arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Naropa University, and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
BRIANA OLSON is a writer and the editor of edible New Mexico and The Bite. She lives in Albuquerque and has spent many an hour running and walking along the city’s ditches.
MARIKO O. THOMAS is an independent scholar, instructor, and writer who moves between Arroyo Seco and Whidbey Island. She has a PhD in environmental communication from the University of New Mexico and researches plant-human relationships, environmental justice, and storytelling. She is also cofounder of an arts and ecology collaborative called Submergence Collective, associate editor for the academic journal Plant Perspectives, faculty at Skagit Valley College, and fairly decent at reciting fairy tales.
EMILY VOGLER grew up along the Duranes Acequia in Albuquerque. She is a landscape architect, environmental planner, and educator. She splits her time between New Mexico and Rhode Island.
JACOB WHITE is an undergraduate student at the University of New Mexico and works as an ecological restoration practitioner for the nonprofit Rio Grande Return. He is driven by his passion for the outdoors, collective community transformation, environmental justice, and trying to foster a more sustainable environment. One of his favorite childhood memories is going for walks with his grandparents along the acequias in Corrales. He now often runs along the Corrales acequias. White continues to steward land in Corrales as his family has in the past.
Apple tree at the orchard of Trinidad and David Arguello, photo by Stephanie Cameron.
Local ingredients, served locally. We seek out the eshest, seasonal organic produce, meats, and fish. Then we serve it up with flair and attentive service right in your neighborhood.
LOCAL HEROES
introducing 5-Minute Fridays
An edible Local Hero is an exceptional individual, business, or organization making a positive impact on New Mexico’s food systems. These honorees nurture our communities through food, service, and socially and environmentally sustainable business practices. Edible New Mexico readers nominate and vote for their favorite local chefs, growers, artisans, advocates, and other food professionals in two dozen categories. Winners of the Olla and Spotlight Awards are nominated by readers and selected by the edible team. Starting in fall 2024, for each issue of edible we will feature a handful of the winners in our new podcast:
5-Minute Fridays. Each issue will include a taste of our conversations with Local Heroes and links to the episodes. We’re launching this podcast to get fresh perspectives on the people doing good food work in New Mexico.
5-Minute Fridays is a podcast that highlights edible New Mexico’s Local Heroes. Every Friday, we share food stories served up with a side of levity—and no, no episode is actually five minutes. We have a blast while discovering new ways to think about and understand the food and drink that lands on our tables and getting to know the people who put it there. Episodes drop every Friday beginning September 20.
Episode 1
5-Minute FRIDAYS PODCAST
This week, we are talking with the kings of comfort food and getting into the good, the bad, and the ugly (and yes, maybe we even shed some tears). Featuring Mike Mondragon of Mighty Mike’s Meats and Mike White of High Point Grill & Taproom and 505 Food Fights.
Episode 2
We get the scoop on all the delightful flavors being whipped up at an ice cream shop in midtown Albuquerque. Featuring Dimitri Eleftheriou of Heidi’s Jam Factory.
Episode 3
A farmer, a vintner, and a coffee roaster dish on what makes The Farm Stand a little slice of heaven in Corrales. Featuring Rick Hobson of Milagro Vineyards, Zach Smith of Candlestick Coffee Roasters, and Elan Silverblatt-Buser of Silver Leaf Farms.
Episode 4
These rock stars empower food entrepreneurs to innovate, grow, and support the local food economy. Featuring Hilary Kilpatric and Andrea Abedi, the founders of The Kitchen Table Santa Fe.
photos: Gabriella Marks
FARM SHOP: The Farm Stand
A Conversation with Rick Hobson, Zach Smith, and Elan Silverblatt-Buser
“E
verything that we do here is focused on creating a great experience for the customer that comes in. Everything is very intentional, and everything is built around the agriculture and history of Corrales.”
Photo by Stephanie Cameron.
Environmentally Packaged Fresh and Nutritious Food ALBUQUERQUE
La Montañita Co-op–Nob Hill & Rio Grande Lowe’s Market on Lomas
Moses Kountry Natural Foods • Silver Street Market
Triangle Market in Sandia Crest Sandia National Labs
UPC at UNM • UNM Hospital in Cafe Ristra Presbyterian Rust Hospital • Presbyterian Cooper Center INTEL- Rio Rancho • Nusenda Corporate Office Skarsgard Farms • Fancies Modern Market in Corrales
Books on the Bosque
UNM Campus - Mercado, SRC, Cafe Lobo
SANTA FE
La Montañita Co-op Kaunes Market
Eldorado Supermart at the Agora Christus St Vincent Hospital
Pojoaque SuperMarket • Santa Fe Food King
Ohori’s Coffee Roasters • Ten Thousand Waves
LOS ALAMOS
Los Alamos Cooperative Market
Los Alamos National Laboratory
ESPAÑOLA
Center Market Presbyterian Hospital
Espanola Food King
ANGEL FIRE
LOWES
TAOS
Cid’s Market
GALLUP
La Montañita Co-op
VEGETARIAN KITCHEN
Fine International Vegetarian and Vegan grab and go including ready to serve complete meals.
CATERING
Corporate Catering Available
Delivery Statewide
Call for Menu: 505-266-6374
Dine on our patio in Nob Hill 116 Amherst Dr SE, Albuquerque, 505-266-6374
INNOVATOR: EDUCATON the kitchen table santa fe
A Conversation with Hilary Kilpatric and Andrea Abedi, Founders
“We want to build a collaborative community among farmers and producers and create a food economy that puts Santa Fe on the map. The community we have built was unexpected and is very special. We love seeing the members collaborate with each other.”
Photo by Stephanie Cameron.
“I
RESTAURANT, ALBUQUERQUE
High point grill & Taproom
A Conversation with Mike White, Owner and Chef
am very competitive by nature, as are most chefs, and I wanted to be better than I was yesterday, every single day. I was hungry for knowledge; I studied food every night.”
Photo by Stephanie Cameron.
‘Chimayó
Tradition Salsa’: Your Secret Ingredient to Mastering New Mexico Cuisine
Imagine unlocking the secrets of centuries-old culinary traditions with a single jar. That’s what you get with Chimayó Tradition Salsa, a taste so rich and authentic, it transforms every meal into an exploration of New Mexico’s most cherished flavors.
Our salsa isn’t just another ingredient; it’s a journey into the centuries-old tradition of our infamous chiles.
These chiles, harvested in the heart of New Mexico, bring not just heat but a depth of taste that takes your dishes from good to unforgettable.
Here’s what Sarah, one of our valued customers, had to say: “Discovering Chimayó Tradition Salsa was a revelation. The depth of flavor is incredible—you can taste the sun-soaked chile with every bite. It’s not just a salsa; It’s a piece of New Mexico.”
With Chimayó Tradition Salsa, each jar celebrates our dedication to real, down-to-earth flavors and the art of traditional salsa making. It’s about getting friends and family together, sharing meals that are not just served but truly savored.
Find us at your favorite grocery store in the 'local products' section or visit us online at CiboloJunctionSalsa.com.
FOOD TRUCK: mighty mike's meats
A Conversation with Mike Mondragon, Owner and Chef
“I
know just about every chef in Albuquerque, and they have all helped me in one way or another. I’ve asked for advice, and they have given me places to set up. Creating Mighty Mike’s wasn’t just my hard work, it was the community. If you dip into this local food community, it is insane.”
Photo by Stephanie Cameron.
87547
In-house dining, patio dining or carryout available Open Monday - Saturday 7am - 7pm
Sunday ’ s Come visit us! 1789 Central Ave #1, Los Alamos, NM 87544
“WFOOD ARTISAN: Heidi's Ice Cream Shop
A Conversation with Dimitri Eleftheriou, Co-owner
e hand select every ingredient we use for our ice cream because we want the best quality. We prioritize quality over quantity, and that has always been Heidi’s driving philosophy since the beginning—and that is passed on to the ice cream shop.”
Photo by Stephanie Cameron.
An
autumn escape in the Rio Grande Valley.
Cool, crisp mornings and abundant harvests mark the arrival of autumn in the Rio Grande Valley. The golden foliage of cottonwoods, bright blue skies and migratory birds overhead create the perfect backdrop for a restorative escape.
Experience the best of New Mexico with a luxurious stay at our historic inn. Relax into the season at the Hacienda Spa with botanically-based treatments. Taste the abundance of the harvest with Campo’s award-winning Rio Grande Valley Cuisine or plan a special celebration surrounded by the grandeur of La Quinta. There are countless ways to enjoy this beautiful season at Los Poblanos.
“The dreamy Albuquerque farm that might make you rethink your life.”
Visit lospoblanos.com
—Vogue
A New Mexican in Paris
Words and Photos by Candolin Cook
THE THREE BEST THINGS I ATE IN THE CITY OF LIGHTS
Last fall, under the pretext of celebrating my fortieth birthday, I went to Paris for the first time and ate like I wouldn’t see forty-one. My husband and I rolled through the arrondissements like cartoon snowballs gathering size and steam with each boulangerie, pâtisserie, and corner bistro we passed. We tried all the French culinary clichés: elegant escargot and rustic boeuf bourguignon; a simple jambon beurre and an intricate tarte tatin; delicate chocolate crepes and flaky croissants. There were strolls through farmers markets, sojourns to très hip wine bars, and even a Michelin-star dinner cruise down the Seine—from which we still haven’t recovered financially. With so much incredible food, it was difficult narrowing down the following list, but these are the bites beckoning this desert girl back.
Fresh figs, Marché Bastille. To me, there’s nothing better than a plump, ripe fig, and the pint of Black Missions I picked up at the Marché Bastille, an open-air market in the Marais district, were truly the best I’ve ever had. Their vibrant magenta interiors tasted of sweet jam—the texture juicier and the flavor more concentrated than any I’ve found in the States. At the nearby Place des Vosges, I ripped the fruits in half and piled them onto a fresh baguette slathered with triple-cream brie, also purchased at the marché, for the perfect Parisian picnic.
Small plates, Bouche. Nestled on the outskirts of the 11th arrondissement, this under-the-radar (to American tourists) spot feels like a cool natural wine bar in Brooklyn. Bouche offers an everchanging menu of creative small plates, such as tuna tartare with trout roe and gim bugak (seaweed chip), and artichoke leaves sprinkled with dukkah. Each dish tasted fresh and balanced with ample acid—a nice change of pace after all the butter and rich sauces we’d been consuming.
Grand Marnier soufflé, Joséphine Chez Dumonet. No trip to Paris would be complete without a classic bistro experience. Joséphine Chez Dumonet in the Montparnasse neighborhood has the perfect old-school vibe, with yellow walls, warm wood accents, and grumpy waiters. Signature dishes like the duck confit and terrine de foie gras taste exactly like you’d hope and imagine. But their Grand Marnier soufflé is a showstopper. The ethereal pillow pops out of its baking dish as high as it can stretch without toppling over. Its cap is golden brown and its custard-meets-air interior tastes faintly of citrus. A small glass of Grand Marnier comes on the side for pouring or sipping. (Be sure to order it at the beginning of your meal so that it’s ready by the end.) Bon appétit!
In the Flow
WITH A PASSION FOR PEOPLE AND A REVERENCE FOR HIS CRAFT, CHEF CRISTIAN PONTIGGIA NURTURES HIS COMMUNITY
By Lynn Cline · Photos by Douglas Merriam
Chef Cristian Pontiggia’s love of food flows from his heart to his community, whether he’s in the kitchen of the acclaimed Santa Fe restaurant Sassella, in a classroom inspiring elementary schoolkids to eat healthy food, or mentoring young chefs. Like an acequia, Pontiggia has the ability to nourish everyone he meets, changing lives along the way.
“For me, it’s important to see about the next generation,” he says, sitting in his compact office tucked into the back of the Deli at Sassella. The small shop full of Italian imports sits behind the downtown restaurant, where he is co-owner and executive chef. “It’s important to focus on young people. Nowadays, kids want to be chefs and to be a chef you have to learn how to cook.”
Growing up in Sondrio, a tiny village in northern Italy’s Lombardy region, Pontiggia was surrounded by the winding Adda River and the terraced vineyards, at the base of alpine slopes, that produce nebbiolo grapes for Sassella wines. (The restaurant is named for this significant wine region.) His love for the region’s cuisine is deeply rooted. “The main ingredients are potatoes, cabbage, apples, and buckwheat flour,” he says, jumping up to grab a well-thumbed cookbook to share Lombardy recipes with mouthwatering photos.
“At fourteen, I chose a career in food, because of the food there and the combination of ingredients.”
From this tiny hamlet on the north side of Lake Como, Pontiggia has sailed his way to a brilliant culinary career. He was working
Left: Cristian Pontiggia. Right: Lobster Risotto with Carnaroli rice, Maine lobster, asparagus, and pistachio arugula pesto.
at Vineria San Giovanni in the town of Morbegno, not far from Sondrio, when the restaurant earned a Michelin star. He’s received numerous awards from La Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, a prestigious international gastronomic society. He also holds a doctorate in oenogastronomy (the art of connecting wine with food), and the Italian government has officially recognized him as a Master Chef.
A vacation in America brought Pontiggia to Taos, where he was offered a job at what was then the Stakeout Grill and Bar after the owner tasted his risotto. Executive chef positions followed at Osteria d’Assisi in Santa Fe, El Nido in Tesuque, and Sassella. He’s celebrated for his imaginative approach to classic Italian cuisine. For instance, risotto, a specialty of the Lombardy region, is one of his favorite foods, and Pontiggia offers an elegant version made with lobster and swirled with pistachio arugula pesto and fontina, a cheese that also hails from his home region. In another artful spin on a traditional favorite, he serves portobello and ricotta ravioli in porcini cream sauce with dried blueberries and wild arugula.
Despite the demands of running a venerated restaurant, Pontiggia makes time to connect with students of all ages, and his exuberant personality is well suited for them. With his impish grin and tattoosplashed arms full of colorful flowers, feathers, and other imagery, his youthful spirit shines. Since 2012, he’s been a Superchef for Cooking with Kids, volunteering to make healthy foods with kids in school classrooms. The Santa Fe–based nonprofit brings hands-on nutrition
education to seven thousand kids in thirty-one public schools, from Española to Las Vegas.
“Cooking with Kids is amazing work,” says the forty-five-year-old chef in his lilting Italian accent. “Being so stressed in the restaurant, collaborating with kids takes away all the stress. It’s just fun. One time we had to make pizza and we made the sauce with fresh tomatoes. The kids asked, ‘What is the red stuff on the pizza, ketchup?’ I said, ‘No, this is how we make the sauce.’ It’s amazing how you can change the mind of a kid about healthy food.”
Cooking with Kids’ executive director Anna Farrier appreciates Pontiggia’s ease with children. “He has such joy in food and that’s contagious,” she says. “He makes food more exciting, because kids are already excited about food in the classroom, but when someone like Cristian comes in and has such a delightful personality, it’s playful.”
Pontiggia also mentors young chefs, including nineteen-year-old Santiago Tafoya, a line cook at Sassella. Tafoya first met Pontiggia as a first-grade student in Taos, when Pontiggia’s wife, Nicole Deez, was his teacher. (She’s now a kindergarten teacher at Turquoise Trail Charter School in Santa Fe.) At Taos High School, Tafoya got involved with ProStart, a national culinary arts and restaurant management program for high school students. During a New Mexico ProStart competition held in Santa Fe, Pontiggia was so impressed with Tafoya’s culinary skills that he invited the young man to compete in distinguished Chaîne des Rôtisseurs competitions for young chefs.
Left: Caesar a Modo Mio with romaine, Parmesan crisp, focaccia crostini, white anchovies, capers, and tonnato dressing. Right: Ravioli stuffed with portobello and ricotta, served with porcini cream sauce, dried blueberries, wild arugula, and Parmesan.
“I started working with young chefs five years ago to compete in Chaîne,” says Pontiggia, whose office walls display the many beribboned medals he’s received from the society over the years. “It’s my goal for New Mexico to finally win the national competition and I’m sure Santiago is going to take the gold.”
Working with Pontiggia has elevated Tafoya’s skills and culinary aspirations. “I was already thinking about being a chef and Cristian inspired me even more,” he says. “I knew how prestigious Cristian and his restaurant are, so I figured I must be doing something right if someone like him invited me to join him. Since working at Sassella, I’ve learned a lot about what and what not to do. The attention he has to all the plating, the way he handles food, it shows me how great I could be if I want to.”
In Sassella’s bar hangs a large photograph of Pontiggia and another young person he spends a lot of time with: his son, Leo. Dressed in white chef coats and holding long ropes of fresh pasta dough, the two are grinning like fools. It's part of a series of photographs of local chefs with adorable kids, created by Cooking with Kids in 2020 to inspire big people to invite little people into the kitchen. “That was my idea,” Pontiggia says. “I’m really proud of the BIG Little Project.” And with good reason: the project has expanded into an online resource platform with lessons, videos, and recipes for educators and families.
Today, Leo is nine and following in his dad’s wake. Well, sort of. “We have this deal on Sundays that we can make whatever he wants to eat,” Pontiggia says with a wide smile. “He’s into cooking, but he’s more into eating. He says, ‘I want to be a food critic.’”
225 Johnson, Santa Fe, 505-982-6734, sassellasantafe.com
Cristian Pontiggia and Santiago Tafoya on the line.
Santiago Tafoya, line cook at Sassella.
Chef Jonathan Perno
We’re thrilled to welcome Chef Perno who brings his experience and passion to Santa Fe.
Balloon Skylines & Philanthropy
OBSERVATION DECK
VIP DINE & VIEW DURING BALLOON FIESTA
OCTOBER 5-13, 2024 on THE OBSERVATION DECK
Enjoy the views of the iconic Balloon Fiesta from above the crowds at the Balloon Museum. With breathtaking and panoramic views, delicious food & drink, VIP parking, museum elegance and amenities, THE OBSERVATION DECK is a one-of-a-kind experience and a fundraiser for the Balloon Museum.
Advance purchase tickets required.
Tickets available online balloonmuseum.com
ANDERSON ABRUZZO ALBUQUERQUE
INTERNATIONAL BALLOON MUSEUM
9201 Balloon Museum Dr NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113 (505) 768-6020, abqballoonmuseum@cabq.gov, cabq.gov/balloon
The mission of the museum is to inspire a spirit of exploration, discovery, and achievement through experiences that engage our visitors in the history, science, sport, and art of ballooning.
Nan Masland
Balloon Museum Manager
Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum Board of Trustees
• Permanent and Special Exhibitions
• Educational Programming
• Balloon Fiesta Season Programming and Events
• Preserving History through Permanent Collections
• Admission Tickets
PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta® Aerco Balloon Albuquerque.com
Ambitions Mobile Media
Anderson Family
Dr. Karen Brown
Ruth Burstrom & Niels Chapman
Shirley Clark
Carol Crawford Real Estate
Clear Channel Outdoor
Convention Services SW
Cumulus Media
Peter Cuneo & Barbara Fricke
Daniels Insurance, Inc
Digital Reach Solutions
edible New Mexico
Fogo de Chão
Gerald & Barbara Landraf
High Noon Sun SipsTM
KRQE
ANDERSON ABRUZZO INTERNATIONAL BALLOON MUSEUM FOUNDATION
9201 Balloon Museum Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113 (505) 880-0500, contact@balloonmuseum.com, www.BalloonMuseum.com
The Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum Foundation believes in sharing the joy and wonder of balloon flight by honoring past innovators and supporting future explorers.
The Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum Foundation uplifts the Balloon Museum by cultivating relationships, promoting involvement and raising funds.
Laurie Magovern
Executive Director
Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum Foundation Board of Directors
• Business Sponsorships
• Foundation Events
• Museum Membership
Legacy Development & Management
Lescombes Family Vineyards
Lowe’s
Nancy Abruzzo
New Mexico Bank & Trust
New Mexico Mutual
New Mexico Rail Runner Express
NM Department of Tourism
PNC
Presbyterian Healthcare Services
Stephanie Pugash
Rainbow Ryders
Red Door Brewing
Rio Grande Down Syndrome Network
Sandia Peak Tram
Siarza
Ski Santa Fe
Slate Street Cafe
The Garrity Group
The Printer’s Press
• Balloon Museum Shoppe
• Balloon Fiesta Dine & View at the Observation Deck
The Rutherford Group
Total Wine & More
Additional support provided by Balloon Museum Members, Foundation Board of Directors, Museum Trustees, Patrons and Volunteers. The Balloon Museum is part of the Department of Arts & Culture of the City of Albuquerque.
museum EXHIBITS
HISTORY OF BALLOON FIESTA
Since its first flight of 13 balloons in 1972, Albuquerque’s Balloon Fiesta has grown immensely. The Balloon Museum’s exhibition celebrates its history, highlights ballooning culture, and showcases hot air and gas balloons. Visitors can view objects, videos, and photos, touch balloon fabrics, and step inside a reimagined balloon basket.
THE ART OF ANNULARITY
In 2023, an annular solar eclipse passed over Albuquerque during the Balloon Fiesta.® In response, Albuquerque Public Art called for art inspired by the eclipse, focusing on science, flight, exploration, and astronomy. Selected works, judged by local and NASA, NOAA, and New Mexico Tech representatives, are featured in a temporary public art display at the Balloon Museum.
ED YOST: FOREVER PUSHING THE ENVELOPE
Considered the “Father of Modern Hot Air Ballooning,” Ed Yost designed the modern hot air balloon system. Events like the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta® may not be possible without the innovations of Ed Yost. Discover his pioneering designs, including an early single-seat gondola and original balloon deflation device.
museum EVENTS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 11 AM
PNC LITERACY LAUNCH EVENT
Free
Supported by PNC, Stories and Music in the Sky, an award-winning early childhood program meets every Wednesday. Join on 9/4 for the unveiling the new PNC Stories in the Sky Book Nook.
EVENTS DURING BALLOON FIESTA SEASON
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4
HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY AND RECEPTION Invitation Only
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) inducts two contributors to Aérostation into the Hall of Fame, Neil Robertson (UK) and Aleš Kubíček (Czech Republic), at a private ceremony and in the Sport Ballooning exhibition.
OCTOBER 4–OCTOBER 13, 9 AM–4 PM
VIRTUAL REALITY (VR)
BALLOON EXPERIENCE
Included with admission
Experience a 10-minute balloon ride via Virtual Reality.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 7 AM–5 PM
NEW MEXICO DAY AT THE BALLOON MUSEUM
NM residents can present a photo ID or utility bill with a New Mexico address at the ticket booth for free museum entry.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 7-8 AM
BALLOONS IN THE SKY
Early Chilhood Event
Included with admission
A morning of hands-on ballooning activities and music for young children. Presented in partnership with Explora.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 5:30–7:30 PM
S.T.E.A.M. NIGHT: FLOATING WITH BUOYANCY
Tickets available at cabq.gov/balloon
An all ages evening of hands-on activities exploring ‘how balloons fly.’ Live music and food trucks. Presented in partnership with Be Greater than Average.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 4–9 PM
CRAFT COCKTAIL FESTIVAL
Lift Your Spirits Craft Cocktail Festival
Enjoy live music and a craft cocktail while admiring the sunset at our annual Lift Your Spirits Craft Cocktail Festival presented by the New Mexico Distillers Guild. cabq.gov/artsculture/special-events-festivals/lift-your-spirits
LECTURE SERIES Included with admission
Sunday, October 6, 9:30 AM–10:30 AM
Petr Kubicek discusses the rich history of his company, Kubicek Balloons
Monday, October 7, 11 AM–Noon
Bryce Risely reveals Zozobra the Balloon: History and a Merging
Wednesday, October 9, 9:30–10:30 AM
Becky Wigeland, Curator at the National Balloon Museum in Indianola, Iowa, explores the History of Ballooning in
Friday, October 11, 9:30–10:30 AM
The Fractal Foundation shares how a passion for natural patterns, fractals and hot air ballooning led to the stunning Flying Fractals balloon designs.
gifts GEAR FOR BALLOON FIESTA SEASON
Whether watching a Mass Ascension at Balloon Fiesta, making your way through a corn maze, bagging your fresh roasted chiles, or enjoying a beautiful New Mexico afternoon, you’ll be stylish from head to toe!
Museum Sweatshirt
Soon to be your most comfy go-to for fall.
New for 2024! Balloon Museum Hat
Embroidered trucker hat shows you’re a supporter of the Balloon Museum.
Stylish, high-quality canvas bag features a watercolor of the field at ascension.
A simple sun design combined with earthy colors, these products show your love for New Mexico.
Origin Jewelry
These lightweight leather bracelets are super wearable and feature a magnetic clasp.
Balloon
Balloon Bag from Cott N Curls
Balloon Museum Jacket — Perfect for layering!
New Mexico Product Line
gifts FOR YOUR HOME, YARD OR ON THE GO
The Balloon Museum Shoppe, run by the non-profit Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum Foundation, offers traditional and unique balloon-themed items. Proceeds support education, exhibitions, and the Foundation.
Acoma Windchime – Beautiful and unique windchimes handmade by Shirley Chino of Acoma Pueblo.
Water Bottles and Stickers
Tailgaiting items – A PolarboxTM cooler will keep your snacks and drinks cool in style. Acrylic glasses are perfect for your tailgate party, or enjoy your beverages in unbreakable silicone!
This Mosaic Solar Balloon is a great addition to your patio. Powered by the sun, it features a flickering flame, just like a real hot air balloon!
Merritt Acrylic Glassware – These rainbow glasses are made from sturdy acrylic and are dishwasher safe. Perfect for your next tailgate!
Candles – Available in two scents, these long-lasting coconut wax candles are sure to remind you of your time on the field at Balloon Fiesta.
INTERACTIVE ALL AGES FUN
ELEVATION STATION
This hands-on exhibition engages the young and young at heart in the joy of science, culture, and art of ballooning. Through interactive games with projection mapping and touch tables, hands-on activities, and immersive experiences, visitors will learn more than they expected about the exhilarating sport of ballooning.
BECOME A MEMBER
Exclusive Access. Awesome Discounts. Amazing Experiences. Members Help Us Push The Envelope Our members believe in the power of the Museum to inspire people to do amazing things. A Foundation membership is your ticket to fun and learning adventures for the entire family. Available at balloonmuseum.com or Museum Shoppe.
museum HOURS
BALLOON MUSEUM & SHOPPE HOURS Tuesdays–Sundays • 9 AM–5 PM
BALLOON MUSEUM HOURS
DURING BALLOON FIESTA
GIFT SHOPPE HOURS
DURING BALLOON FIESTA
New Mexico
Monday,Day!October 7
FALL 2024 AND SPRING 2025 FIELD TRIPS
Field trips, scheduled year-round include activities, demonstrations, tours and discovery.
Free Museum Admission for NM Residents.
MILESTONE CELEBRATION FOREVER TILES
Available for purchase, a beautiful handcrafted tile can celebrate a life, a milestone, a company, a family or a balloon crew. Permanently displayed in front of the museum, a blue background spotlights your balloon and names. Purchase at balloonmuseum.com.
EDIBLE INGREDIENT
Photo by Stephanie Cameron.
Apples
SKILLET SAUSAGES AND APPLES WITH PECAN VINAIGRETTE
This one-skillet dish combines spicy sausages, tender sweet apples, crisp bitter greens, and toasted pecan vinaigrette to make a simple weeknight meal or dinner to impress. You can use any link sausage for this recipe, but we suggest Talus Wind Ranch green chile sausages, which pair perfectly with Honeycrisp, Fuji, or Gala apples.
Pecan vinaigrette
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons pecan oil (or substitute with grapeseed oil)
3 tablespoons toasted pecans, finely chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
Sausages and apples
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil, divided
4 small apples (about 1 pound), halved through the stems
6–8 link sausages (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 head radicchio leaves, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 cup baby arugula
Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, for garnish
Flaky sea salt, for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper, for garnish
Preheat oven to 400°F. Soak radicchio leaves in a bowl filled with ice water for at least 30 minutes; this tames the bitterness and gives lettuce a crisp texture.
Pecan
vinaigrette
In a small bowl, whisk vinegar and mustard until smooth. While whisking constantly, gradually stream in both oils until emulsified. Stir in pecans, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Sausages and apples
In a large cast-iron skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Add apples and cook, cut side down, over moderately low heat, turning once, until golden brown, 7–10 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
Prick sausages with the tip of a small knife. In the skillet, heat remaining tablespoon of oil. Add sausages and cook over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, until browned all over, 3–5 minutes. Arrange apples, cut side up, around sausages and pour wine into the skillet. Bring the liquid to a boil, transfer the skillet to the oven, and roast until the sausages are 160–165°F and the apples are tender, 8–12 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Arrange radicchio and arugula on top of the sausages and apples. Spoon some of the pecan vinaigrette over the greens. Garnish with shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately.
*Sourcing note: La Montañita Co-op carries carries locally grown apples and Talus Wind sausage links at all their locations.
Cooking with Tea
Words and Photos by Stephanie Cameron
Whether black, green, or oolong, all teas are different varieties or treatments of the same plant, Camellia sinensis. Like wine, a tea’s growing conditions and soil makeup affect how it tastes. Herbal teas (tisane) consist of herbs like mint and flowers such as hibiscus and chamomile. Camellia sinensis tea, herbal tea, and blends of both can amp up your cooking and bring new depths of flavor to your repertoire.
The flavor of each tea is affected by brewing times and temperatures. Green and white teas are barely oxidized, oolong tea is partially oxidized, and black tea is fully oxidized. Less oxidized tea tastes like the pure leaf: crisp, fresh, and green. More oxidized tea leaves develop rich, dark, and malty notes. Brewing time and temperature matter, and recommendations vary for green (less time and heat) and black tea leaves (longer steep and boiling water).
Lapsang souchong tea leaves are smoke-dried over a pinewood fire. In this recipe, I am using Forest Floor, a tea.o.graphy blend made with pu-erh, Lapsang souchong, organic cedar tips, Sichuan peppercorn, kukicha, blue cornflowers, and cypress oil. The smoky tea adds complex umami notes to this coriander-forward soup.
4 teaspoons Forest Floor tea from tea.o.graphy (or any Lapsang souchong tea)
4 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon whole coriander, finely ground
1 pound carrots, chopped
1 medium-sized starchy potato (Yukon Gold or russet), peeled and chopped
Croutons, for garnish
Cilantro, for garnish
Steep the tea in 4 1/4 cups water for 4 minutes. Strain out the tea leaves.
Heat oil in a stock pot. Add onion and salt, and cook for 5 minutes or until softened. Add coriander and cook for 1 minute. Add carrots, potato, and salt. Pour in the tea stock, bring to a simmer, and cook uncovered for 25–30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Use a stick blender or pour into a blender and blend until smooth. Season to taste. Serve warm, topped with croutons and cilantro.
You can steep tea directly into milk, heavy cream, broth, or sauces. You can also steep tea separately and add it to the mix afterward—infusing a cake or cookie batter with tea as a liquid component, for example. Or simply steep a few tea bags directly in your broth as it cooks. Follow the same rules for making a cup of tea—set a timer to avoid over-steeping, and steep in steaming hot (but not boiling) water. Toss finely ground tea leaves into beans or baked goods. The possibilities are endless, so next time you brew a cup of tea, don’t be afraid to dream of another use for it. In this Cooking Fresh edition, I use loose-leaf teas sourced and blended from local tea companies to hit both sweet and savory notes.
DIGITAL BONUS: Find additional Cooking with Tea recipes at ediblenm.com/tea Earl Grey Tea Cake and Gunpowder Smoked Beets and Tea Vinaigrette
Burmese Lahpet thoke
The key ingredient in lahpet thoke (Burmese tea leaf salad) is the fermented tea leaves, or lahpet, which give the dish a slightly tangy and earthy flavor. The salad is typically prepared by mixing lahpet with salty and savory ingredients of various textures, including shredded cabbage, tomatoes, roasted peanuts, dried shrimp, toasted sesame seeds, fried garlic chips, and chile peppers. To serve, the fermented tea leaves are usually piled in the center of the plate, with the other ingredients arranged around them, then tossed with fish sauce and lime juice (or another dressing) at the table.
In Burma, they reserve the best and use fresh tea leaves for their lahpet, but in our part of the world, we have to use dried sencha leaves. Japanese sencha comes from handpicked tea leaves immediately steamed to retain their vibrant green color and lively green flavor, making them a good substitute for fresh tea leaves.
LAHPET
Adapted from Sandor Katz
Makes 2 cups
Level: Easy; Prep time: 15 minutes; Cook time: 10 minutes; Total time: 2 days
2 1/2 ounces sencha tea leaves (I use New Mexico Tea Compay)
8 cups water, divided
1 lime, juiced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon red chile flakes
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Infuse the dried green tea leaves in 1 1/2 cups hot water (180°F) for 10 minutes. Discard liquid and cover tea leaves with 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water and drain again. Press
leaves thoroughly to remove bitter juices. Repeat this step 2 more times. After discarding the liquid and pressing the leaves again, add cold water (enough to cover the leaves, about 2 cups) and let the leaves soak for at least 2 hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator.
Drain the tea leaves, add them to a food processor with the remaining ingredients, and pulse until the mixture is the consistency of pesto. Pl ace the mixture in a sterile glass jar and cover tightly. Let the mixture ferment at room temperature for 2 days. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks, where it will continue to ferment at a slower pace.
5–6 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce or cabbage (green or napa)
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 cup diced tomatoes (Roma or cherry)
1 large chile or 2–3 small chiles, seeded and chopped (approximately 1/4 cup; use a moderately hot chile such as jalapeño)
1/2 cup unsalted roasted peanuts, finely chopped
1/4 cup roasted chickpeas or fried yellow split peas
1/4 cup roasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons dried shrimp powder (optional)
1 lime, quartered
Lahpet from above recipe
Heat oil in a medium-sized saucepan. When the oil is hot, lower the heat to medium and add garlic slices. Watch it closely, and remove from heat the moment the garlic begins to brown. Place the fried garlic on an absorbent paper towel and set aside.
To assemble the salad, make a bed of lettuce on a rimmed serving platter. Drizzle on the fish sauce. Atop the lettuce, arrange piles of tomatoes, chile, fried garlic, peanuts, roasted chickpeas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and shrimp powder. Pile the lahpet into the center. At the table, squeeze two lime wedges over the salad and toss. For more tartness, add extra lime juice to taste.
Baked Jasmine Pearl Custard
Adapted from Neil Perry of the Sydney Morning Herald
Serves 4; Special equipment: 1/2 cup–sized ramekins
Level: Easy; Prep time: 5 minutes; Cook time: 1 hour, 10 minutes; Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes, plus cooling time
Jasmine pearls are delicate green tea leaves blended with unopened night-blooming jasmine flowers and hand rolled into tight pearls. As the jasmine tea leaves steep in the cream mixture, the pearls unfurl and infuse their floral essence into every luscious bite of this bainmarie-style custard.
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons jasmine tea leaves (I use tea.o.graphy)
1/2 cup sugar
5 egg yolks
Combine cream and milk in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add jasmine tea leaves and turn off the heat. Cover with a lid and leave to infuse for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 300°F. Place 4 ramekins in a roasting pan or baking dish.
Whisk sugar and egg yolks in a medium bowl until thick and pale yellow, approximately 1 minute. Strain jasmineinfused cream through a sieve. Whisking constantly, gradually add cream to egg mixture until well combined.
Pour mixture into the ramekins, filling them to about 3/4 full.
Place the tray in the oven; pour enough water into the pan to come about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 40–45 minutes, until the custard is just set. Remove from the water bath and allow to cool completely.
Refrigerate the custard for 3–4 hours (overnight is best) before serving.
Matcha Doughnuts
Makes 12 doughnuts; Special equipment: doughnut pan
Level: Intermediate; Prep time: 20 minutes; Cook time: 8 minutes; Total time: 30 minutes, plus cooling time
Matcha is stone ground from the bright, young, emerald leaves of shade-grown tea plants. It is rich not only in its bold color but also in its fresh, grassy, sweet flavor. The tea artisans at tea.o.graphy add a twist to the classic with their biscochito matcha tea, a blend of matcha, cinnamon, anise, and whole cane sugar. I made a dozen with pure matcha and a dozen with biscochito matcha.
Doughnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 tablespoons matcha
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs at room temperature, beaten
1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
1/2 cup full-fat sour cream, room temperature
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray for coating pan
Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon matcha powder
2 tablespoons milk
Rose petals for garnish (optional)
Doughnuts
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly coat doughnut pan with cooking spray.
Add all dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk together. Add remaining ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until just incorporated.
Use a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip (or a large ziplock bag with one corner snipped off) to pipe the batter into doughnut pan molds. Fill each mold about 3/4 full.
Bake doughnuts for 10–12 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean and the doughnuts spring back when lightly pressing your finger into them. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Let cool completely before glazing.
Glaze
Whisk together powdered sugar and matcha powder in a small bowl (similar to the size of a doughnut). Add milk and whisk until smooth. Dip each doughnut in the glaze and let the excess glaze drip off. Garnish with rose petals.
Apple and Formosa Oolong
Syrup and Mocktail
Level: Easy; Prep time: 15 minutes; Cook time: 25 minutes; Total time: 40 minutes, plus cooling time
This recipe makes use of the inevitable apple waste from making pies, or any other apple recipe for that matter. Simply toss cores in a bag and freeze until ready to use. There is no need to worry about the seeds; cooking the cores eliminates the arsenic toxins.
Formosa oolong is semi-oxidized and falls somewhere between green and black tea. It is an excellent brew for mocktails. Double the sugar in this recipe, and you will have a syrup thick enough for your pancakes and waffles.
Apple oolong syrup (makes 1 cup)
6 assorted apple cores (8 ounces)
5 black cardamom pods, lightly crushed
4 teaspoons Formosa oolong tea leaves (I use tea.o.graphy)
2 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar
Mocktail (serves 1)
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1 1/2 ounces apple oolong syrup
3 ounces sparkling water
1 thyme sprig, for garnish
Syrup
Put apple cores, cardamom pods, tea leaves, and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then continue to boil, uncovered, until the liquid reduces by about half, about 20 minutes.
Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a medium bowl, pressing on the softened apple cores with a wooden spoon to release additional liquid.
Pour 1 cup of apple liquid into the saucepan. Add sugar and return the pan to the stove over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves and the liquid gets slightly thicker but still quite pourable, about 5 minutes. Cool and strain into a bottle for storing. Keeps in refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.
Mocktail
Pour lemon juice and syrup into a shaker and shake. Then pour evenly into a rocks glass with ice. Top with sparkling water and stir gently. Garnish with a sprig of thyme.
LOOSE-LEAF TEAS CAN BE SOURCED from these New Mexico businesses:
tea.o.graphy in Taos (tea-o-graphy.com)
ArtfulTea in Santa Fe (artfultea.com)
New Mexico Tea Company in Albuquerque (nmteaco.com)
Old Barrel Tea Co. in Las Cruces, Ruidoso, Cloudcroft, and Albuquerque (oldbarreltea.com)
Figments Tea Shop & Gallery (figmentsteashop.com)
The Teahouse in Santa Fe (teahousesantafe.com)
WAO Tea in Taos (waotea.com)
TEMPERATURE AND TIME MATTER WHEN BREWING
Following the general guidelines below when cooking with tea will garner better results. Brewing tea for too long can extract undesirable bitterness from the leaves, so steeping time matters. A stronger brew doesn’t mean steeping longer; use more tea.
Temperature guidelines
Black, pu-erh, and herbal: 212°F, full rolling boil
Oolong: 195°F, the first bubbles begin to rise
Green and white: 170–180°F, bubbles form on the bottom of the pot
Time guidelines
Green and white: 2–3 minutes
Black and pu-erh: 3–5 minutes
Oolong: 4–7 minutes
Herbal, fruit, and other tisanes: 5–7 minutes
out and about WITH The Bite
FIELD NOTES ON A FEW PLACES TO EAT AND DRINK
Monica’s El Portal operated in a sweet little building on the edge of Old Town Albuquerque from 1978 to 2024. That adds up to more than forty years that Monica Baca was on her feet for fifteen hours a day, prepping sopapillas and huevos rancheros in the kitchen. We hope someone else swoops in to serve food there soon.
The sign was up for months before Fan Tang’s new Northeast Heights location in Albuquerque finally opened this summer. Fans have been ordering coffee chicken, fried rice, and crab wontons from the pan-Asian menu at Fan Tang’s Nob Hill location for years; the grand opening of the new spot was marked with lion dancers and firecrackers.
The Kitchen Sink 505—truck, brand, social media handle, and upcoming gigs included—is for sale. We’re not going to post all the specs, but the truck comes with the requisite fire suppression system and all the rest, and the price is $55,000.
The still pretty new Pi Thesis slings pizzas and pepperoni mozzarella rolls every day
but Sunday at Ironwood Kitchen, across from Marble’s Westside Albuquerque taproom on Night Whisper Road.
Heatwave Coffee opened in June, jumping into the already bustling third-wave coffee scene in Albuquerque. We’re cool with it, though; we always need more coffee shops to write and ruminate in. And that iced coconut matcha latte looks pretty lovely.
Knead Dough Bar in downtown Albuquerque is revamping their concept: ditching the full breakfast/brunch menu and focusing exclusively on the bakery and café side. While we’re sad to see those biscuits and gravy go, we’re stoked to see what new confections they’ll start making with the renewed time and focus.
A different sort of shift is afoot at Es Que Market: The locally sourcing sandwich, salad, and taco shop is now open for dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings. That also means no breakfast or lunch those days, so those who want their chilaquiles and breakfast burritos at breakfast time will have to plan their visits for Tuesday through Thursday.
Uptown, Volare Rooftop Bar is very soon to open on the seventh floor of the Element by Westin on Louisiana. Think cocktails, pizza, beers, and views across Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights to the Sandias.
Just a month behind schedule, Ex Novo Brewing Company opened their new downtown Albuquerque taproom, which looks about as chic as any place called a taproom could feasibly pull off. If you’re the indecisive type, we suggest perusing their novella-esque food menu online in advance.
After a week off in August to make some renovations (including a much-needed shade structure) and celebrate their victory in the New Mexico IPA Challenge,
Gravity Bound Brewing Company is back up and running. The majority of that renovation involved completely redoing their draft system for a better and more efficient pour. Now you can head by their downtown spot for a new-andimproved pint of Monic Hazy IPA, the one that brought home the gold.
Los Poblanos Western Dry Gin was recently awarded a Double Gold at the Bartender Spirits Award, ranking it as the number-one craft gin in America and number two in the world. One of the judge’s tasting notes read: “Like walking along the forest floor or going on a hike.”
The New Mexico Prickly Pear Festival takes place September 27–28 at Gutierrez Hubbell House in Albuquerque’s South Valley. Friday evening, you’ll find music with a side of prickly pear–infused food and drink; Saturday during the day, it’s cooking demos, dye workshops, and prickly pears galore, with the Hubbell House converted into a sort of prickly pear and native plant revival tent.
Gravity Bound.
Los Poblanos gin.
In late June, Santa Fe distillery As Above, So Below released a new limited-edition rye bourbon, aged in Stag’s Leap cabernet barrels. It’s the inaugural in what they’re saying will be a full line of “unique limited-release experimental whiskey projects” called Astrologist—this one is the Pluto in Aquarius edition, named after the astrological transit happening during the bourbon’s maturation.
Also in June, Wolf and Roadrunner opened at the space formerly inhabited by Market Steer at Santa Fe’s Hotel St. Francis. Helming the spot is Chef Gilbert Aragon, who was behind the erstwhile Roti N.M. at Sawmill Market in Albuquerque.
In July, Market Steer Steakhouse at last opened in their new location in downtown Santa Fe, and among other gifts, they’ve created a happy hour menu with ten-dollar bar snacks and ten-dollar drinks. They also have a nice range of options for steakambivalent diners. Especially on the weekend, reservations for dinner are advised.
Mid-August, the also much-anticipated Escondido finally opened their doors in Santa Fe. Chef Ruiz’s famed chiles en nogada are on the menu, of course, along with mole enchiladas and a Ghost Ranch Negroni.
Fusion Delicias Cafe has moved in next door to Sassella near the convention center in Santa Fe, and word is they’re doing chilaquiles, avocado toast, and dragon fruit smoothies in the spot formerly home to Santarepa.
We mentioned that Bite Me Bakery & Cafe was coming to La Tienda at Eldorado, and now they have. Scones, bagels, pies, and pretty good-looking muffalettas are among the items on the menu. We recommend checking Facebook before making the trip, because this looks to be a one-woman shop, and emergencies happen.
First-time Taos visitors who stop into the newly opened Legacy Café might be tricked into thinking it’s been around forever, what with all the memorabilia adorning the space. We haven’t yet sampled their flatbreads or Frito pies, but we can suggest taking a relaxed approach to the construction detours in Taos and plotting your parking game in advance.
In praise of parsley: The Earth Oven opened in late June at 106 Des Georges Place in Taos, most recently home to Taos Cafe. The restaurant’s name is literal—its centerpiece is an underground oven—but we’re equally enthused by owner John Sinon’s Lebanese roots and his past practice of participating in annual tabbouleh competitions wherein participants put to shame the American practice of abusing and wasting the flavorful (and flavonoidand antioxidant-rich) leaves of parsley.
Saltos is up and running in the erstwhile Sabrosos space in Arroyo Seco. Their New Mexico–inspired tapas menu includes bison empanadas and honey garlic chicken lollipops with local preserves, which both sound quite fine. We’re just hoping the tart cherry tarts don’t run out before we get up there.
In Red River, Vine (formerly Vine + Dine) has moved from 402 West Main Street to 601 West Main, the former home to T-Bucks. In addition to carrying forth T-Bucks’s doughnut tradition, their comfort food–forward breakfast and brunch menu features Southern fried steak, potato hash, mountains of home fries, and breakfast potpies.
Laura Crucet, the chef behind Pig + Fig Cafe in White Rock and Sugar & Cream Cafe in downtown Los Alamos, recently opened Beef & Leaf Cafe. Fans of her other ventures won’t be surprised by the upscale comfort food or the thoughtful selection of beer and wine.
Sure, you can line up at the Allsup’s in Mora for your fried food fix, but next time we’re passing through, we’ll be aiming to sample the huevos rancheros or brisket sandwich at Lolita’s Diner (formerly known as Rene’s).
Roswell’s B’wiches Sandwich Shoppe is closed for good. People, the proprietor included, are extremely bummed about this fact.
Down in Las Cruces, Kind Bread Company has also closed permanently. Sometimes life is hard, and, though we’re not wont to admit it, there are problems that beautiful bread cannot solve.
As Above, So Below.
Escondido.
APPLES TO APPLES
A CULTURAL HISTORY OF AN ARCHETYPAL FRUIT
By RoseMary Diaz
From vitamin-rich lunch-box staple to simple, saucy dinner accompaniment or from homey tarts and empanadas to elegant pommes bonne femme, the apple is one of our most loved and versatile culinary go-tos. With more than two hundred varieties of the fruit grown in the United States today—Roxbury Russet is the oldest—the apple is as quintessentially American as, what else, apple pie.
Save for a few species of crab apple that are native to North America, the modern apple originated much farther from home, when its first seeds took root in the rich earth of the Tien Shan mountains of Kazakhstan, east of the Caspian Sea. Not so incidentally, Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, derives its name from the Kazakh word almatau, meaning “apple mountain,” and while under Russian rule was known as Alma Ata, which translates to “father of apples.” Later, apples were cultivated by the Etruscans, then by the ancient Greeks and Romans, whose aqueduct systems ensured plentiful harvests of the Firiki and Decio varieties. By 1500 BCE, varieties
of the fruit were grown in Armenia, Anatolia, Georgia, Persia, and Assyria, where a clay tablet records the sale of an apple orchard. By way of the Silk Road, the fruit found its way into Europe, blossoming into numerous, still-grown varieties like Boskoop, Braeburn, Cox’s Orange, Kamzi, and Morgenduft. Megafauna also helped to disperse the apple’s seeds, as did some migrating birds who assured the fruit’s intercontinental success.
Like the ancient Greek and Roman orchards, whose fruiting depended on man-made aqueducts, many of the apple harvests in northern New Mexico have long been beholden to diligent water management practices, specifically those dictated by our centuries-old network of acequias. Historical records note that Santa Fe’s Acequia Madre was in use at the time of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and was likely built following the Spanish settlement of the city in 1610. A 1926 survey by the Manzano Forest Reserve identified a tree that is believed to have been planted prior to 1676, which makes New Mex-
Envy, Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith, and Red Delicious apples, photo by RoseMary Diaz.
ico home to the oldest apple orchard in the United States. Apple production in the state peaked in the 1960s, in the heydey of the Red Delicious. This century, local orchardists and hobbyists grow heritage varieties such as Arkansas Black, McIntosh, Jonathan, and Brown Snout as well as modern cultivars like Ginger Gold, Gala, and Evercrisp.
Of more than seventeen thousand apple varieties once cultivated in North America, only about 25 percent remain, and as of May 2021, the Lost Apple Project (yes, there is such a thing) listed twenty-nine varieties that are now extinct. But with an estimated thirty thousand unique varieties worldwide, all descended from the wild Malus sieversii of Central Asia, production remains undaunted, and the apple is perhaps the most universal of fruits. In 2024, global production is expected to exceed eighty million metric tons, with China, the United States, and Italy being the leading exporters. From Japan’s northern Aomori prefecture comes the world’s rarest and most expensive apple—the thin-skinned, mild-flavored Sekai Ichi, or “world’s number one,” a hybrid of Red Delicious and Golden Delicious that can retail for more than twenty dollars per fruit.
Given the apple’s far-flung origins, why is it so enshrined in our history? From its dubious role in the Garden of Eden to its legendary status as the crucial prop in Sir Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity, tales of the apple tend toward the allegorical. Consider the familiar image of Johnny Appleseed spreading infinite pockets of apple seeds across the Midwest. The Massachusetts-born orchardist and conser-
vationist did indeed sow thousands of seeds, but most of the resulting apples, like those planted by homesteaders in New Mexico, were likely pressed into cider. “One bad apple spoils the whole barrel,” “You are the apple of my eye,” “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”—more than any other, the fruit is embedded in our social lexicon.
The answer may lie partly in the apple’s impressive nutrient profile (the skin of Red Delicious contains the highest concentration of vitamin C, polyphenolic compounds, and anthocyanidins among all apple varieties), partly in the multitude of delectable possibilities it brings to the recipe book, and partly in its storied past, wherein its perseverance and proliferation through the ages have endowed it with spiritual qualities. For many, the hardiness of the fruit and its durability represent strength, growth, and the hope for prosperity.
At Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, apples dipped in honey are eaten in hopes of a sweet year to come. The Osage have a ritual of filling a loved one’s casket with enough food to last the three days it takes to reach the afterlife, with apples being among the journey’s provisions. Throughout history, they have also signified beauty, luxury, pleasure, fertility, and love, as epitomized in the wedding gift of golden apples given to Hera in the Garden of Hesperides before her marriage to Zeus.
Whatever the reason, the apple will undoubtedly remain one of our most endeared fruits—at once offering flavors familiar and comforting, rare and unusual, and keeping us looking forward to new and interesting varieties to come.
Apples growing at Montoya Orchard in Velarde, photo by Stephanie Cameron.
Apples Bonne Femme
Serves 6
First appearing in Auguste Escoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire, pommes bonne femme showcases the apple with the simplest of French methods. This version is adapted from Jacques Pépin’s recipe in Essential Pépin. The baguette adds another layer of deliciousness as the bread soaks up the juices of the apples while cooking; omit, if preferred. Choose apples that can hold up during baking; dense, thicker-skinned varieties such as Gala, Fuji, Red Delicious, and Golden Delicious work well.
6 large apples (2 pounds)
1/2 cup apricot jam or preserves
1/2 cup light maple syrup
6 teaspoons unsalted butter
6 teaspoons light brown sugar
6 tablespoons chopped nuts (optional)
6 1-inch-thick slices dry (day-old) baguette
Cinnamon or nutmeg
Mint, for garnish
Preheat oven to 375°F. Rinse and dry apples. Core apples, taking care to remove all pith and seeds. Cut about 1/4 inch off the bottom of each apple so it can stand upright on the baguette slice while cooking.
Score apples about one-third of the way down, cutting through skin (no more than 1/4 inch deep) and drawing the incision all the way around. As the apples cook, the flesh will expand and the part above this cut will rise, almost like the cap of a mushroom.
Arrange baguette slices in a gratin dish or baking dish that can second as a tabletop serving dish. Place an apple on top of each baguette slice.
Place one teaspoon butter and one teaspoon brown sugar in the cored hole of each apple. Mix together apricot jam and maple syrup and pour into cored hole, allowing mixture to spill over and coat the apples. Sprinkle one tablespoon chopped nuts and a pinch of cinnamon or freshly grated nutmeg over each apple.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Baste apples and cook for another 30 minutes.
Spoon some of the juice from the baking dish over the apples and let cool to lukewarm before serving. Garnish with a sprig of mint.
Serve as is, or celebrate your apple creation by adding whipped cream, crème fraîche, or ice cream.
Photo by RoseMary Diaz.
ACEQUIA WORKSHOPS FOR NEWCOMERS AND OLD HANDS
By Mariko O. Thomas
On the evening of Acequia Irrigation for Orchards, a workshop organized by De La Tierra a La Cosecha Coalition, I turn onto NM 230 and head into the deep canyon cut where the farms of Valdez line the magnificent Rio Hondo. I’m so distracted by the apricot trees heavy with yellow and magenta fruit sweeping over the road that I miss the inconspicuous turnoff to the orchard hosting the workshop and have to do an awkward, million-point turn to right my course. The air is hot and heavy with the potential of summer rain as my
tires finally crunch down the dirt road lined with shockingly pink sweet peas, where Gillian Joyce, the executive director of Alianza AgriCultura de Taos, is directing parking at the ancestral home and terraced orchard of Trinidad and David Arguello.
The cars are packed deeply, and I wander past a painted turquoise wagon wheel and a ceramic cherub, somehow made more charming by its missing arms, to where the workshop is starting. Understanding acequias is one of the most important bodies of knowledge that
Acequias at the terraced orchard of Trinidad and David Arguello, photos by Stephanie Cameron.
anyone can grab on to when learning how to live in northern New Mexico, whether or not the person has their own acequia rights. The waterways are not only utilitarian but also spiritual, and their systems of governance are deeply imbued with practices that simultaneously protect the waterways’ health and healthy community relations. One cannot speak much about acequias without also involving history, sense of place, plants, cultural norms, and geology, nor can one keep an acequia flowing without the community help of many people knee deep in muck during the spring limpias.
Under the generous shade of a cottonwood tree, surely older than my grandmother, waits a circle of workshop participants. They are old and young. A handful wear cowboy boots—some fashionably, others occupationally. There are work pants streaked with mud and hipster tattoos, severe hair buns and tie-dyed shirts; the smells of essential oils, gasoline, hay, smoke, and more roll off them. Acequia management techniques for orchards, it seems, is a skill set that's deeply desirable across demographics. As we wait, there is the murmur of conversation, talk of everything from how the beavers have scaffolded tiny stairs for themselves in the Rio Hondo streambed to which old apple trees had the bears going wild last fall.
David and Carlos Arguello, sons of Sabinita Argüello Córdova and grandsons of Francisquita Cordoba Prando Barela, move to start speaking. They are magnetic, so much so that I can’t recall even a throat clearing before the workshop attendees know it is time to listen. Opening with a broad, warm smile, Carlos says, “If you’re walking around here, you’re walking the steps of our ancestors.” The thunder grumbles and most of us look up nervously. His words seem like they’ve been approved by the skies. Carlos, who is commissioner on the Acequia del Monte del Rio Chiquito and a board member of the Taos Valley
Acequia Association, tells us that everything started for their family in the mid-1800s, when they settled the east third of the valley of Valdez. He explains that this area survived the Great Depression, wars, and more because of the rich knowledge of the landscape that people like his family held. Additionally, he notes that a flourishing barter system made this valley self-sufficient—and the abundance of the San Antonio acequia, estimated to have been formed in 1790, made the resilient foodways of the valley possible.
By now, the wind is starting to whip around, and David, wearing a straw hat with a bandanna wrapped underneath, takes over, privileging us with stories of how he sleeps twenty feet from the place where he was birthed and making fun of Carlos for being born “all the way in Embudo.” The brothers pass around a framed picture of the two of them bottle-feeding an orphaned lamb, and Carlos utters a word that I think encapsulates why so many people are standing around at the edge of a monsoon trying to learn about acequias. He says this place is his querencia, meaning the place where he draws strength, a deeply rooted knowledge of place. Querencia, I think, is what a lot of people arrive in New Mexico hoping to find.
At that point, the rain starts to fall in an enormous release, big fat droplets that kerplink, kerplunk, kerplonk off the nearby roof of the Arguello house, and we all speed-walk to the cover of their porch, hopping over a shallow carved waterway and basking in the heady green aroma that only a summer monsoon brings. Trinidad, David’s partner, takes up the storytelling, unspooling a narrative that stretches from growing up on 119th Street in Spanish Harlem to her move to Santa Fe in the 1970s, when the roads were still dirt, to her first sighting of David (a very funny story, but hers to tell) to showing up in Taos and committing her energy to this place. That’s when Will
Left: Acequia Irrigation for Orchards workshop organized by De La Tierra a La Cosecha Coalition. Right: Taos County extension agent Will Jaremko-Wright. Photos courtesy of Alianza Agri-Cultura de Taos.
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Jaremko-Wright from the Taos County Cooperative Extension Office politely interrupts to say that they might need to hurry and start the workshop. I am sad for the storytelling to end, as the generous sharing of these experiences of their lives helps give context to how what we’re about to learn fits into the history and heart of this place. Trinidad closes her narrative, and with heartbreaking seriousness, standing in this ancient valley on the porch of her home, she says, “All I ask is that you take care of the land, and take care of the water.”
Taking over, Will is friendly and innately trustable. He has a flair for breaking down complicated scientific concepts into the kind of digestible tidbits that participants at this workshop can use. On top of this, he is deeply entrenched in living what he teaches; after the workshop, he tells us, he will be rushing home to help his wife irrigate their land. Speaking about orchard-specific acequia irrigation, he explains how the traditional, unlined acequias increase overall infiltration of water and muses that multiple routes of water flow is not only excellent for tree roots but also crucial for overall watershed health. These earthen acequias help refill aquifers, he says, and support every living thing in the water’s path on the way to where it’s being directed. We crowd around a gnarled tree and Will shows us how water should be concentrated around the dripline of a canopy, where the roots are reaching, as opposed to the inner core, which helps us imagine the span of the roots stretching out below us.
Much of what Will has to teach brings in how practices around water are inextricable from other aspects of the landscape, from insects to drought to geology. He details how established orchards can withstand drought for a few years but will hit a point of no or low return when “xylem cavitation” occurs. With this process comes the emission of a “snap” that reduces the tree’s ability to transport water from soil to leaves. Bark beetles, it seems, are especially attuned
to hear this snap and have even been reported copying the sound of those snaps when mating. To conserve water and protect the soil, he recommends various cover crops, along with a “chop and drop” trimming technique that helps nurture and restore the soil around the tree. Planting small flowered plants like yarrow is beneficial, he says, as they attract wasps that are harmless to humans but lethal to the worms that love apples. As the discussion turns to ways of directing water, Carlos demonstrates the quick, efficient scraping motion best used to direct water through a terraced space, as well as how to make tiny dams from overturned patches of earth when one needs the water to branch off in a different direction.
By now, the rain is pounding down through a sparkle of evening sun. I am fully soaked and have had to stash my notebook for fear of losing everything I’ve learned, but standing there in a centuries-old orchard with this mishmash of farmers, there is a lovely camaraderie, and it’s as if just standing here together listening, to both the old stories of this farm and the scientific explanations behind the practices of Carlos and David’s ancestors, is the great success of the workshop.
As the rain starts to slow, Carlos reemerges to the center to close down the session. He’s been moving among us the whole time, pressing fresh cherries or sprigs of mint into our palms, and he leaves us with a final reminder as we stand in the drizzle encircled by hundredyear-old apple trees: To make sure to “land softly” if we are new to the valley. To volunteer at our local acequia if we really want to learn, to attend meetings, to keep our ears open, and to take time to understand the practices around acequias. As we all tramp back to our cars, rain still running off our faces, it seems the storm itself has welcomed us into this water education. Fat drops cling to the tall grasses like jewels on a necklace, reminding us that in this valley, true wealth looks a lot like water and the know-how to work alongside it.
Trinidad and David Arguello's orchards and acequias, photos by Stephanie Cameron.
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ACEQUIAS AND THE ART OF GROWING VEGETABLES WITHOUT PLASTIC
By Willy Carleton
Cecilia Rosacker's field in Socorro, photo by Willy Carleton.
At dawn I look out past the cottonwood canopy at the silhouette of the Sandias. Venus shines in the violet blue. Along the ditch, dandelions and mustards stand tall in the morning crispness. I can feel the humidity of the water rushing below me as I stand at the checkgate of the acequia and slowly lower the wood gate to the bottom of the ditch. As the water rises and begins to make its way into the garden that I farm with my neighbor Drew Seavey, I grab the wooden trays of tomato, chile, and eggplant starts that we’ll plant just before the water reaches the row.
Drew and I grow garden vegetables on a quarter acre in Albuquerque, and this year, we decided to remove the drip tape fed from a well and instead try to grow all of this food with only acequia water. In an era of diminishing snowpack and perpetual summer water cuts to irrigation schedules, such a decision may seem confounding. But it stemmed from our reflection on plastic use in agriculture and a curiosity into whether growing a variety of garden produce with no plastic inputs, which was common just a few generations ago, was even possible at this point. It also stemmed from a recognition that acequia water recharges groundwater and community alike, and that, as precipitation becomes more precarious and as market growers increasingly opt for drip tape and wells, the art of growing a diverse garden from acequia water is well worth preserving.
As we shuffle on our knees down the row planting tomatoes, the water slowly but steadily follows us. I watch it with grateful anticipation and a subtle sense of amazement, a feeling of watching life itself make its way into the garden. For the past few years, the ditch has gone completely dry by late summer. We have gone without water for more than three weeks at a time, the type of dry spell that won’t threaten the long-term health of alfalfa or an orchard but can prove fatal for annual vegetables. Anticipating similar drought stress this year, we transplant the tomatoes beneath paper mulch, covered with burlap to keep the paper in place, to help retain soil moisture. We’ve hung a burlap shade (and wind) screen along the south side of the bed, which will also serve as trellis support. But even with these added shading and mulching measures, the staggering heat of last July is still vivid in my memory, and the question of how these plants will fare creeps into my thoughts as steadily as the floodwater creeping down the row.
After years of market farming, the idea of a plastic-free garden was a new challenge. As any gardener or farmer would know, plastic is ubiquitous in our food system—from the seedling trays to irrigation tubing, from greenhouse and high-tunnel coverings to mulches, from tools to storage materials—and to cut it out of even a portion of the garden is a daunting venture. But the more I considered it, the more it felt worthwhile. The world uses over twelve million tons of plastic annually in food production alone, and only a tiny fraction of it is recycled. A significant amount ends up in the soil as microplastic pollution, which accumulates in soils to the detriment of soil health and, possibly over time, human health. With my garden, one of my abiding goals has been to deepen my connection to the land, and to create a problem for the very land I’m trying to reconnect with felt counterproductive.
The challenge of growing food without plastic has only strengthened my appreciation of acequias, which I’ve been fortunate to be able to use to grow food both in Albuquerque and in rural northern New Mexico. My appreciation has usually focused on their history and cultural significance, the beauty of their tree-lined and nonlinear corridors, their ecological value, and the way they compel communities to engage with each other in basic and meaningful ways. On a personal level, I have developed a love for watching water attentively, shovel in hand, soaking in the sound of water moving over parched
earth. I have become enamored with seeing the moon reflected between the rows and feeling the humidity of the flooded field on my skin at night, and have learned to eagerly anticipate the dragonflies and ducks and egrets that flock to the inundation. I have even grown to appreciate that the irrigation schedule forces me to wake up before dawn on a summer’s Saturday morning. I have ruminated on the elegance of using only gravity to power irrigation and have found a meditative quality to watching water fall ever so slightly, ever so slowly, from mountain toward sea through the rows of my high-desert field.
But for all my contemplation on the beauty of acequias, I hadn’t much considered their potential as an alternative to plastic-based agriculture before this season. Most growers in the country would not have the option, but we are fortunate to live in a land shaped by the serpentine hand-dug ditches that provided the lifeblood to communities long before plastic was conceived. While the trend in small-scale organic agriculture, here in New Mexico as well as throughout the country, is to save labor costs with plastic mulch, extend growing seasons with high tunnels, and combat climatic uncertainty by installing reliable irrigation systems involving drip tape, this ancient infrastructure offers a way to reimagine a food-centered future independent of fossil fuels, chemical companies, and landfills.
To more vividly imagine, and begin to create, this future for myself, my mind turned to those with far more experience growing crops with only acequias. My thoughts turned southward, to the sprawling chile fields of Socorro.
Squash plants tended by Drew Seavey and Willy Carleton, photos by Drew Seavey.
The tree-lined fields of Socorro in June have a quiet, dreamlike quality in the late afternoon as cottonwood seeds drift in the soft, warm breeze. I’m in one such field looking out at long rows of tiny plants straddled by cracked-earth aisles. I recognize corn and beans, cucumbers and okra, peppers and onions, all interspersed with buckwheat. None of these plants have been irrigated in nearly three weeks, yet they look happy. There is an art to growing a variety of mixed vegetables with only limited acequia water, and I’ve traveled south to Socorro, or more precisely Polvadera, to glimpse that art form in action and learn how seasoned growers have been able to produce thriving crops with summer water that only comes once every three weeks.
“I grow everything,” Cecilia Rosacker explains as we walk through the rows of her one-acre market garden. “Bell peppers, eggplant, chile, beans, cucumbers, corn, turnips, beets, chard, flowers, statice, dahlias, greens, sesame, okra. You name it, I’ve grown everything.” She explains that she irrigates the field once in the spring, then harrows the field before direct seeding each crop. Planting deep enough for the seeds to retain moisture is important, and for some seed, such as chile, she may come through with a harrow to scrape the top of the beds and remove a top layer of soil just in time for the sprouts to emerge. Once the seeds emerge, she uses a cultivating tractor to form beds around the rows, and as the season progresses, these beds get slightly higher
and narrower as she cultivates closer to the plants. For newly planted seed, she waters once every two weeks for one cycle, and after that waters just once every three weeks.
Cecilia grew up with a large acequia-fed garden in her hometown of La Puebla, near Chimayó, so her education in the art of growing food with acequias started early. “When I was growing up, this [is] what everybody did. They had fields like this,” she says with a sweeping motion toward one of her cover-cropped fields, “and they irrigated off the Santa Cruz acequia, and this [is] how our parents fed us. We hand dug the ditches, from the acequia to the lower field. We didn’t use tractors.”
When it comes to growing vegetables, and especially chile, for market, Cecilia has also learned from local growers in Socorro. The late Albert Bustamante, in particular, taught her many of the techniques she still uses. “A lot of things I learned, I learned from Albert Bustamante. Plus, what we did up north growing up was only on five acres; now I have thirty.” She describes chile growers going out in April, after seeding in March, and walking the fields and sticking their fingers in the soil to see if the seeds have sprouted. Once they feel the sprouts, they come back in a week “and knock the tops of the beds off with a harrow.” There is an “art of planting deep and coming back and knocking the [soil] down,” she explains.
As our conversation continues, I reflect on the trend that, as more and more farmers and gardeners switch to wells and drip tape, the
Mixed crops in Cecilia Rosacker's field in early June, photo by Willy Carleton.
number of growers able to pass on this art form decreases. Newer growers might be incredulous that anyone could grow a chile that way at all. Cecilia nods. “A lot of people aren’t from here who are farming [and selling] at the markets. . . . They just don’t know, and they haven’t seen it. . . . And if you’ve never seen it, you’d probably be like ‘I don’t even know how you’d do it.’” To grow food well with only the acequia, you need to be able to ask old-timers how they’ve done it, she explains, and “you need to be organized and then that’s where you become part of this community, because ‘I need the water but you need it tomorrow’ . . . and we have to figure that out and we work with the mayordomo to figure that out.”
With acequia systems feeling the crunch from drought, such community organization will become both more vital and more challenging. Growing a garden even with abundant ditch water can be difficult, but the added stress of long-term drought and its strain on water delivery from acequias only makes the task tougher.
solace in knowing that growers south of here have long managed with only one irrigation every three weeks. So I place pulled weeds at their base as mulch and continue down the row.
The latest news from the ditch rider is not so great: a late-June storm caused flood damage south of Abiquiu Dam, in turn causing a reduction of water flow from the dam that may take a month to resolve. So each morning, I peer to the western horizon for clouds and any potential signs of afternoon monsoons. I wonder when the water submerging those crayfish can once again be measured in feet and not inches.
As I write this in mid-July, it’s been nearly three weeks since Drew and I were last able to irrigate our crops. We are experiencing nearrecord high temperatures, and for over a week the acequia has been almost completely dry, save for the puddles where I watch crayfish scamper about in the mud. The squash plants have begun to vine out and their large yellow-orange blossoms beckon to me in the morning as I pull weeds from the dry soil around them. But by afternoon, the squash plants’ flowers are curled and their large green leaves grow wan and limp as they try to conserve water through the scorching heat. I watch their stress like a powerless parent, fighting an urge to individually haul water to each one of them. But there are far too many plants to water that way, and my goal is to learn how to keep the garden thriving even with limited acequia water. For the time being, I find
Yesterday afternoon, Drew and I sat beneath the shade of an elm and surveyed our wilting crops. We exchanged our concerns but also an amazement at the strength of the plants to have already survived so much heat and water stress. I asked him what he’s hoping to get out of this garden, regardless of when our next opportunity to water comes. “For me, this garden was about wanting to continue these seeds and really be a link in the chain for that plant. Especially the corn. It feels really special to be included in this thousands-of-years-old tradition,” he told me, looking out over the field of corn with leaves curled in the heat. “Part of what I put out to the universe for this garden is connection, wanting to learn, wanting to find a way to live on Turtle Island in a sustainable way.” I nodded, grateful for his perspective. He added a bit later, “Whichever plants decide to give us the gift of seed this year, they’ll be going in the resilience hall of fame. It’s a good fitness test for a drier and drier outlook.”
This morning, dew once again moistens my boots as I walk the field. The corn leaves have uncurled overnight and the squash leaves have broadened, albeit temporarily given the hundred-degree forecast for today. I shift my focus to a hummingbird hovering momentarily amid the corn and listen to the chatter of morning birds and the rustle of cottonwood leaves in the wind. A bee disappears down a squash blossom. A delicate abundance surrounds me.
Corn, squash, and beans planted by Drew Seavey and Willy Carleton, photo by Drew Seavey.
ACEQUIA CITY
TURNING BACK TO THE HYDROLOGIC SPINES
OF ALBUQUERQUE
By Emily Vogler
Main gate and side gates along an acequia, photo by Emily Vogler.
Rivers link multiple scales of time and space. They are at once landscapes of constant change and landscapes of deep memory, bearing witness as the world shifts around them. From the Mississippi to the Columbia, the Pecos to the Rio Grande, rivers intertwine the complex social and ecological histories of place; they bring up issues of rights and access, of broken treaties and stolen land, of environmental justice and exploitation, and of different worldviews that have shaped and reshaped human relationships with our shared resources.
Every spring, snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains flows through the steep terrain of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. Small mountain streams merge into tributaries that join to form the Rio Grande. In the rift valley of what’s known as the Middle Rio Grande, the river widens and slows down as the water soaks into the alluvial sandy soil and meanders downstream to Juárez, where it becomes the contested international border line between the United States and Mexico. Passing through Big Bend, the river’s silty waters thread through the humid Rio Grande delta, eventually mixing with the salty water in the Gulf of Mexico. In total, the Rio Grande traverses 1,885 miles, flows (and sometimes doesn’t flow) through three states and more than twenty pueblos and tribal lands, and provides water to approximately six million people and to countless species that rely on the unique ecology that emerges when there is water present in an arid landscape.
The fourth-longest river in the United States, the Rio Grande has been the backbone of settlement in the arid West for hundreds of years. Beginning early in the twentieth century, the needs of farmers in the Middle Rio Grande Valley and the growing city of Albuquerque led to the creation of an extensive water infrastructure network engineered to contain the river, drain the land, and strategically deliver water to crops. Although agricultural production within the region has decreased significantly within the past century, hundreds of miles of irrigation ditches (known locally as acequias) remain in the valley, weaving through the residential neighborhoods of Albuquerque, skirting the industrial zone at the base of the escarpment, and flowing alongside heavily trafficked commercial streets to deliver water to the remaining agricultural fields.
As the landscape has shifted around them, acequias have become an integral part of the region’s hydrology, ecology, and culture. Yet droughts, development pressures, and the selling of water rights threaten their survival. In Santa Fe, there were once eighty acequias; now there are four. In Las Cruces, many of the acequias have likewise been abandoned. However, in Albuquerque there are still hundreds of miles of interconnected acequias that make the city a unique place to live and that, if protected and properly managed, have the potential to help shape the future of the city.
THE ACEQUIA COMMONS
The Tewa, Tiwa, and Keres peoples have long practiced a range of irrigation and flood control techniques along the Rio Grande. When the expedition of Juan de Oñate traveled through the valley in the summer of 1598, the Spaniards recognized elements of their own water culture, which had evolved during centuries of Moorish rule on the Iberian Peninsula. Despite the colonial legacy of violence, the water cultures of the pueblos and the Spanish were compatible in fundamental respects and blended to produce an entire culture surrounding the annual cycle of agriculture.
As Spaniards settled in the region, the Spanish Crown granted tracts of land, or land grants, to groups of settlers. The first task in the founding of a community was locating and digging the main irrigation ditch, or the acequia madre. All other development fol-
Top: Men diverting water from the Rio Grande, circa 1920.
Bottom: Early work in the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy's construction of the modern irrigation and drainage system, photographic plates courtesy of MRGCD.
lowed and responded to this preparatory investment in communal water infrastructure. The acequias were dug using hand tools and relied only on gravity to move the water, so they had to follow the existing contours of the land. The final path of the acequia was a negotiation between the laws of gravity, the topography of the landscape, and the needs of the people. From the hydrologic spine of the acequias, the bottomland was subdivided laterally to ensure that each individual parcel had access to the irrigation ditch. This created a settlement pattern of long, linear lots in the valley, oriented so the short edge of each lot would abut the acequia and the long edge would abut an adjacent property. Long lots were an adaptation to local topography and water resources, allowing simple and equitable access to land and water.
Building off the Indigenous and Spanish traditions of collective water management, the community managed the acequias as
a commons. While the land that was historically held as a commons by Indigenous communities was expropriated and privatized through colonization, water was—and remains—one of few resources still held in common by the people.
The commons can be defined as something shared and protected by a community, to be kept open and protected for future generations. A commons is often described as being made up of three components: the physical landscape or resource; the community that collectively governs and shares the land or resource; and commoning, the practices and institutions that guide local stewardship of land and resources. The commons are both a physical space and a social practice. An example of these physical and social practices is the annual limpia that is still practiced in some acequia communities. The main ditch, or acequia madre, is shared physical infrastructure that the individual irrigators depend on. Every spring, all parciantes are expected to attend or to send someone to participate in the spring cleaning, or limpia, of the acequia madre. The mayordomo organizes the work crew to clean the silt, brush, and debris from the ditches. According to Sylvia Rodriguez, this act of stewardship “affirms and socializes members into a cooperative, subsistence institution.” In Mayordomo: Chronicle of an Acequia in Northern New Mexico, the late Stanley Crawford describes it as a form of ritual that helps maintain the complex social fabric and reinforces a sense of common purpose.
The subsistence lifestyle that revolved around the acequias of New Mexico continued until the start of the Mexican-American War in 1846. In the decades after the 1848 signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, court rulings regarding the legal title to the land grants resulted in 77 percent of the Hispanic and Indigenous land grant acreage in New Mexico being expropriated from the original
owners by the United States government. When New Mexico became a state in 1912, the state constitution adopted the principles of public ownership of water and the doctrines of prior appropriation and beneficial use found in the 1907 Water Code. The doctrine of prior appropriation states that when shortages occur, the right to use water is determined by the chronological order in which the water was put to beneficial use; the older the claim, the more secure the right. Tribes and acequia associations across the state have pre-1907 water rights, otherwise known as “senior water rights,” meaning they are to be served first in a water-short year. Yet while a river’s use can be appropriated, water cannot be owned.
THE MIDDLE RIO GRANDE CONSERVANCY DISTRICT
When the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad built a depot three miles east of the Rio Grande in the 1880s, creating a new town center in Albuquerque, it both symbolically and physically shifted the town from an orientation to the river and agricultural lands to a railroad town oriented to national markets and commerce.
As Albuquerque grew, flooding and drainage problems were considered the most urgent challenges to economic growth in the region. In 1925, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) was formed as a regional water planning authority to take a comprehensive approach to flooding, groundwater levels, and irrigation in the valley. Seventy-nine independent acequia systems were incorporated into the MRGCD and were required to pay taxes rather than contribute labor hours. This was a significant institutional and social shift in the valley, a movement away from a self-governing system of participatory water management to one of central control and bureaucracy.
Rainbow over the Duranes Acequia, photo by Emily Vogler.
of the multiple functions of the ditches, drawing/design by Emily Vogler.
During the first decade of the MRGCD, most of the problems arose from too much water. The MRGCD built hundreds of miles of drainage ditches and two hundred miles of levees. Later, with the assistance of the Bureau of Reclamation, 127 miles of river were channelized, and dams were constructed upstream to hold back floodwaters. Once the land was drained and flooding was controlled, development in the valley could continue uninhibited. Between 1940 and 1960, the population of Albuquerque grew from thirty-five thousand to two hundred thousand. Typical of urban development trends in America during the mid-twentieth century, the combination of increased market values of land and decreasing returns on crops resulted in farmland being converted to residential, commercial, and manufacturing uses. Between 1935 and 1990, the amount of irrigated land in the Middle Rio Grande Valley dropped from sixteen thousand acres to six thousand acres. The historic long-lot properties of the valley were either consolidated and sold to developers or subdivided into parcels that no longer had access to irrigation water.
THE IRRIGATION NETWORK
Spring flow from the Rocky Mountains runs off the slopes into the Rio Grande and its primary northern tributary, the Rio Chama. From 1935 until 2022, water flowing in the Rio Chama was contained behind El Vado Dam, where up to 196,500 acre-feet of water
could be stored in the cool northern mountains before being released down the river for irrigation. El Vado was taken out of service in 2022 for rehabilitation, and while the Bureau of Reclamation assesses alternate construction plans for the aging dam, a crucial component of the state’s irrigation network is in flux; for now, the Rio Grande’s summer flow is dependent on summer rains.
Fifty miles upstream of Albuquerque, the river is retained behind the Cochiti Dam, built on Cochiti Keres land in 1965 as a flood and sediment control structure. Once released from the Cochiti Dam, the Rio Grande flows through the lands of the Santo Domingo, San Felipe, and Santa Ana Pueblos before reaching the Angostura Diversion Dam. All the water for the irrigation network that extends from Sandia Pueblo to Isleta Pueblo is diverted at the Angostura dam.
Every spring the water level behind the Angostura dam is raised, the gates to the Albuquerque Main Canal are opened, and water begins to soak into the dry, sandy soil of the canal. Less than two thousand feet from the Angostura dam, two radial gates control the elevation of the water and fourteen slide gates split the irrigation water between the Albuquerque Main Canal and the Atrisco Feeder Canal. The Albuquerque Main Canal veers to the east and supplies water to Corrales and the entire North Valley. The Atrisco Feeder Canal (also known as the clear ditch) continues south, paralleling the river until it reaches the Atrisco Siphon, where it
Illustration
the river valley, essentially mimicking the natural floodplain without flooding homes or damaging city infrastructure. This unique, constructed ecology integrates the human, natural, and built systems within the urban environment.
In addition to recharging the aquifer and creating habitat corridors through the city, the acequias serve as an unofficial trail network that weaves through the valley. In a city dominated by oversize roads and inhospitable sidewalks, the dirt utility roads adjacent to the acequias provide a level surface for walking, biking, and meeting neighbors. Trees on outer embankments provide shade and contrast to the asphalt, gravel, and sun-exposed dirt that dominate the city. Although there are No Trespassing signs at entrances to some acequias, many are open to the public.
The MRGCD, originally tasked with the management of irrigation, now has the opportunity to work with the city and residents to manage the region’s acequias to enhance and strengthen their multiple functions. With over-allocated water resources, a changing climate, and competing ownership claims on acequia easements, many farmers and community members have concerns that ditches throughout the region will be abandoned, filled in, and developed over. If this were to occur, the integrated system that today is a continuous, multifunctioning network would become fragmented and, gradually, erased. With this, the distinct acequia culture—which remains one of the few living models of a functioning, if imperfect, commons—would be lost. In addition, the distinct valley ecology that is supported by the leaky irrigation network would be at risk of drying up.
While the initial investment in the water infrastructure in the Middle Rio Grande Valley prepared the ground for the original settlement, the ditches can now play a critical role in shaping the future of the region. Despite the unknown future of water resources in the Middle Rio Grande Valley and the potential impact of droughts on current irrigation practices, the physical easements of the ditches exist as vital corridors in the city. Unlike cities that have to enter long and costly negotiations to purchase right-of-way corridors for open space, in Albuquerque the right-of-way easements already exist. If the ditches can be protected as legal entities within the city, then they can be reimagined as armatures upon which to build a public open space network in the valley that connects existing parks and helps guide future open space land acquisition and development. While originally an example of hydrologic commons, the open space network around the corridors can also become an expanded civic commons where people come together around the unique cultural, historical, urban, and ecological identity of the valley.
Right now, the city of Albuquerque has the potential to strengthen and celebrate what makes it a truly unique place to live. It can turn to its historic water infrastructure to help guide its development into the twenty-first century. It can reimagine itself as an Acequia City.
This article was adapted from text in Acequias of the Middle Rio Grande, a field guide created by Emily and Jesse Vogler. The field guide (pictured at left) can be found at the Center for Social Sustainable System’s online storefront at cesoss.org
Come Travel in Our Circles
Next Stop: India |
Goa, Agra, Jaipur, Mumbai, Aurangabad and more.
The Circles is the premier membership program of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and offers members a wonderful mix of friendship and philanthropy. Join today and enjoy year-round benefits and unique opportunities, including exclusive access to The Circles International Travel Program. Our next destination is Northern India in the fall of 2025. Enjoy luxury accommodations and private tours of ancient ruins, palaces and museums that illuminate the art, culture, cuisine, architecture and archaeology of India.
To learn more contact Cara O’Brien, Director of The Circles, at cara@museumfoundation.org or 505.216.0848 or visit museumfoundation.org/the-circles.
ACEQUIA CASE STUDIES
Edited by Briana Olson
“That’s critical that we maintain these arteries and veins that crisscross the valley and actually make the valley great,” said Santiago Maestas of the South Valley Regional Acequia Association at a kickoff event for the Atrisco Acequia Madre Project in 2021. In a survey by students exploring the Pajarito Acequia for a Critical Cartography course at the University of New Mexico in 2022, nine of thirteen
respondents said they were concerned about a loss of historical and cultural spaces and the traditions surrounding acequias.
Here, we’re sharing reports on a few of the many ways that citizens and community leaders are working to preserve both the acequias themselves and what poet and professor Levi Romero calls “the acequia cultural ecosystem.”
By Briana Olson
To someone speeding down Central Avenue just west of the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, the site of the Atrisco Acequia’s headwaters might seem inconspicuous, another dirt lot next to a ditch in a town full of both. But the Acequia Madre de Atrisco, dug to support the Atrisco Land Grant founded in 1692, is one of the oldest irrigation canals in the United States. For some, it still provides irrigation. For others, its banks are a place to walk, a means to connect to trails in the bosque, and a link to water and a vital sense of place.
Long managed cooperatively, the Atrisco Acequia was taken over by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) in 1934. The acequia’s headgate was moved from the river to the nearby Atrisco Lateral. Nearly seventy-five years later, South Valley acequia associations reorganized, adopting acequia bylaws and committing to promote conservation and beneficial use. Since then, they've worked alongside the Center for Social Sustainable Systems to honor and steward the South Valley acequias, hosting spring limpias and summer acequia walks that have brought renewed attention to the cultural and ecological value of these historic ditches.
“The purpose is to uplift acequia culture,” says Mari Simbana, open space manager for Bernalillo County, of the Atrisco Acequia Madre Project. Grassroots partners and community members have had some opportunities to share input on the agency-led project, including at a community design workshop in January 2022 where participants advocated for better bike route connections, an education site and gathering space, and emphasis on food and water sovereignty, among other ideas. In addition to amenities like parking and shade structures, the master plan for the site near the acequia’s headwaters features improved connections to existing trails and educational signage meant to “celebrate and educate the public about acequia history, acequia culture, and irrigated agriculture in the South Valley.”
Learn more at acequiamadreplan.org
Existing conditions near the headgate for the Atrisco Acequia, photo courtesy of MRGCD.
Conceptual plan courtesy of Sites Southwest. The project is a collaboration between Bernalillo County, the City of Albuquerque, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, and MRGCD.
Trail Work: The Atrisco Acequia Madre Project
THE TRADITION OF ACEQUIAS IN CORRALES
A Project by Jacob White
Corrales, like many other acequias in the Middle Rio Grande, once had a presa, a headgate, directly connecting these acequia systems to the river. When the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) was formed in 1923, they consolidated most of the existing headings, totaling more than 79, into one. As a result, the Corrales heading was removed, and the Corrales Siphon became the new headgate for the Corrales Main Canal. To consolidate the Corrales heading into the newly formed MRGCD system, they constructed a wooden siphon 5 feet in diameter. It was completed on August 19, 1933, and remained operational for over 90 years! The siphon transported water diverted upstream on the east side of the river at the Angostura weir via the Albuquerque Main Canal under the river, through the siphon, and into the Corrales Main Canal on the west side of the river. However, in recent years Corrales has been using pumps to pull water into the canal at Siphon Beach due to a failure of the original siphon.
The failure of the siphon hasn’t been without controversy, amplifying the impacts of an increasingly unpredictable climate and an inconsistent source of water along the Rio Grande. This in recent years has led to shorter irrigation seasons and an increase in irregular water deliveries, creating a difficult situation for parciantes and water managers alike.
Overview: The Corrales acequia system is comprised of 4 service areas and has 4 distinct laterals that serve 758 individual properties, comprising 950 acres that were irrigated in 2023. The entire service area of the Corrales Main is 4,500 acres, the majority of which is within the Village of Corrales itself. In my correspondence with Doug Strech of MRGCD, Strech cited concern about development encroaching on the remaining irrigable land in Corrales.
CORRALES MAIN CANAL SERVICE AREA
Coursework: Water, Land, Culture
Inaugural state poet laureate and Embudo Valley native Levi Romero is known for his cultural stewardship of acequias. He’s written of them, codirected two short films on acequia culture, and reflects on acequias, community, and storytelling in the 2023 film Acequias: The Legacy Lives On. In his role as a University of New Mexico professor in the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department, he also teaches about this unique irrigation system in his class Acequia: Water, Land, Culture.
In his courses, students from many disciplines examine what he calls “the acequia cultural ecosystem,” learning about its traditions and practices through readings, guest presentations, and interviews with acequieros, advocates, water managers, agrarians, and family and community members with ties to acequias.
CORRALES ACEQUIA SERVICE AREA
NICHOLS LATERAL SERVICE AREA
SANDOVAL LATERAL SERVICE AREA
Special thanks to Enrique Lamadrid, José Rivera, Doug Strech, and Yasmeen Najmi.
Illustrations and plans of the Corrales acequia system and siphon provided by MRGCD.
For their midterm, students are asked to present a poster board that is a creative expression of acequia culture. One year, students focused specifically on the Santa Cruz Acequia Association. This spring, students posed questions such as “What is the present state of acequias in the state of New Mexico? What is the future of these acequias? Why are acequias important to preserve, and how do they teach us about stewardship of land and water? How can acequias adapt to modern times?”
One student focused on climate change; another focused on the Pajarito Acequia in Albuquerque’s South Valley. A student did their poster board on irrigation practices in Questa. Another student’s poster board was based on their research on the history of acequias in East Los Angeles. Jacob White reported on the acequia infrastructure of Corrales, the homeplace of his maternal grandfather’s family:
Corrales has been home to the cultures and people of New Mexico for countless years. Before the Spanish made their imprint on the landscape in the 1700s, Indigenous peoples stewarded this very same landscape. Land use in New Mexico is often predicated first and foremost by the presence or absence of water. Over time the landscape of Corrales has been transformed into a cultural and agricultural oasis through the integration of acequias among the landscape sustaining people, the land, and the relationships that engage both. This cultural landscape has evolved to adapt to the ebbs and flows of this forever shifting physical landscape.
STORY RIDERS
By Ungelbah Dávila
In 2017, Marco Sandoval founded Story Riders through the Center of Southwest Culture (CSC), with a clear mission: to combine bicycles, the natural beauty of the bosque, and a sense of community belonging to enrich the lives of young people. As the program manager, Sandoval has seen firsthand the transformative power of this unique initiative. Also part of the core Story Riders team are program coordinator Leila Murrieta and operations coordinator (and bike mechanic and coach) Dakota Vigil; together, they work to create a nurturing environment where students can learn, grow, and connect with culture, community, and place.
When we talk in July, they’re partnering with the Center for Social Sustainable Systems to sample and analyze the Albuquerque South
Valley acequia infrastructure. “We’re going to have students actually document the soil and the water health along the acequias. We’re going to present our findings to the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District,” says Sandoval. “We’re going to have our students see if there are any kinds of contaminants that the people who are using it to irrigate their fields should be concerned with.”
The twelve-day programs, aptly named Story Riders for their focus on bike riding and oral history, are open to students ages nine through eighteen, and bikes are provided to participants.
These programs revolve around three core aspects: bikes, bosque, and belonging. The first week of each session focuses on bicycles: learning bike safety, maintenance, and basic repairs such as patching flats and
Story Riders explore the bosque on their bikes, photo courtesy of Story Riders.
adjusting brakes. Vigil emphasizes the importance of these skills for fostering students’ confidence and independence.
“Our first week is all about getting students comfortable and competent on their bikes,” she explains. “We teach them how to handle common issues that might otherwise prevent them from riding.”
Once the students are confident on their bikes, the program shifts to exploring Albuquerque’s lush river landscape. Rides in the Rio Grande bosque introduce students to the natural beauty of their environment while providing a safe space away from traffic. Community leaders and cultural practitioners join the rides to share their knowledge about medicinal plants, the water cycle, and the ecological significance of the bosque.
“We want students to see the bike not just as a recreational tool but as a means of connecting with their environment and heritage,” Sandoval says. “Learning about the plants and the history of the bosque while riding makes the experience deeply enriching.”
The third aspect, belonging, incorporates social and emotional learning. Each day begins and ends with a check-in circle where students engage in directed discussion and reflect on their experiences. “We emphasize the art of conversation and listening,” Sandoval notes. “It’s about creating a space where students feel heard and valued.”
Story Riders also invites local artists to engage with the students. From adobe makers and farmers to body movement specialists and poets, these artists help students connect with their cultural heritage and express themselves creatively. This summer, students built a small adobe bench outside the CSC bike shop near the bosque, a hands-on project that combined physical activity with cultural education.
Many students enter the program with trepidation about biking and being outdoors, but they leave feeling empowered and accomplished. “Watching students transform is incredibly rewarding,” Murrieta shares. “They gain confidence not just in their biking skills but in themselves as individuals.”
During the school year, Story Riders runs after-school programs, while summer sessions take place in the mornings. Each session accommodates twelve students, ensuring a manageable and intimate group size. The program’s inclusivity is evident in its focus on serving Latino and Indigenous populations, and its offerings are free of charge. At the culmination of the program, students receive a bicycle and helmet, all sourced through community donations.
“At the end of the day, it’s about connection,” Sandoval reflects. “Connecting students to their bodies, their culture, and their community. That’s what Story Riders is all about.” centerofsouthwestculture.org
Story Riders gathering samples to analyze the Albuquerque South Valley acequia infrastructure, photos courtesy of Story Riders.
PROTOTYPES TENDING TO THE ACEQUIAS
By Emily Vogler
Looking at an aerial view of the city of Albuquerque, you’ll see miles of green ribbons formed by the acequias that run through the valley, contrasting with the brown high-desert surroundings. Once, the Rio Grande itself meandered back and forth across the floodplain, creating oxbows and distributing water and wetlands across the valley. Now, with the river confined by levees and dams, these historic irrigation ditches, our community acequias, mimic some of that floodplain ecology. The acequias divert water from the river and distribute it across the floodplain. Since the majority of the acequias are still earthen, they act as urban streams that interact with ecological and hydrological processes. They recharge the shallow aquifer that helps support the vegetation throughout the valley, including the cottonwoods in the bosque. Along many ditch banks, cattails, reeds, and other wetland plants grow, in turn supporting diverse aquatic species.
However, every year as the water flows in the earthen channels of the acequias, it slowly erodes the clay soils along the ditch banks.
Over time, this has led to severe erosion along many ditches, especially near bridges, culverts, and irrigation gates. In some cases, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and the City have responded by either lining the ditches with concrete or dumping chunks of concrete debris along the edge. Those who narrowly define the “beneficial use” of water argue that all acequias should be lined with concrete to avoid water “loss.” But when ditches are paved, the water can no longer infiltrate, the riparian vegetation along the edges is lost, the trees along the outer banks often die, and the paths along the embankment become noticeably hotter. When chunks of debris are discarded in areas that are eroding, it communicates a lack of care and value of these spaces. Both treatments impact the hydrological, ecological, and aesthetic functions of the ditches as well and often lead to worse erosion.
For the past couple of years, I have been exploring alternative ways to address erosion that could also help support the many interconnected
A range of edge conditions along the acequias, photos by Emily Vogler.
A. Biodegradable jute geotextile secures the entire mattress together into a flexible unit while allowing for the establishment of native grasses and plants around and between the modules.
B. Wooden stakes are notched and tied to the connecting jute rope, which is cast continuously through the composite modules along with the geotextile fabric for additional strength.
functions of the ditches. One technique I’ve been experimenting with is an erosion-control mattress comprising a series of modules with an interconnected geotextile that could be used in areas prone to erosion. The modules are designed so that the voids can be planted with riparian species with the hopes that the roots can help stabilize the soil and reduce erosion. Like stabilized adobes, the modules could be made with local soil, and they would be designed to intentionally degrade as plant roots take hold. Moreover, the modular design allows it to be installed by community members.
Another technique that may be relevant to acequias is willow spilling. This bank stabilization method uses live willow whips that are woven into the water’s edge to reduce erosion and provide habitat for riparian species. Coyote willow (Salix exigua) already grows along many ditch banks in the city and could potentially be harvested and then reinstalled in banks cut along the ditches. Willow spilling merges the art of basket weaving with restoration and can also be done by community members.
While these are still early experiments and prototypes, they offer a different approach to the management and care of the acequias—one that relies on community tending the acequias with care and love because they convey the water that sustains the unique agriculture, ecology, and life of the valley. I envision a more caring, nuanced alternative to the kind of large-scale infrastructure projects that tend to discourage community input. What if we return to the idea of the acequia as a commons and build an understanding that all species, both human and nonhuman, need to be included as commoners or parcientes in this system? What if neighbors saw themselves as stewards of the ditches and were encouraged to tend the riparian gardens along their edges, coming together to weed, install erosion control, and plant native trees along the outer banks to help shade the water, reduce evapotranspiration, and support the urban streams? If water is life, as the familiar saying goes, then what if we started to treat the ditches like the sacred spaces they are?
Above: Modules for erosion-control mattress, graphic by Emily Vogler and Sophie Kaplan-Bucciarelli. Top right: Prototype for erosion-control mattress, photo by Xiao Chen. Bottom right: Prototype for willow spilling, photo by Emily Vogler.
Eggplant is a high-fiber, low-calorie food that’s rich in nutrients and abundant at farmers markets from August through October. This dish is a healthy weeknight meal for two, seasoned with pork, basil, and spicy hot honey. Use your favorite chili crisp condiment in place of the hot honey, if desired.
Hot honey sauce
2 fresh red chiles, such as cayenne, Jimmy Nardello, or jalapeño, depending on the heat level desired ($.50)
1 1/2 tablespoons honey ($0.19)
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced ($0.08)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt ($0.02)
3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar ($0.30)
1 tablespoon soy sauce ($0.11)
Eggplant
3 Japanese or Chinese eggplants, about 1 pound ($3.99)
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil, divided ($0.36)
1/4 pound ground pork ($1.50)
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced ($0.15)
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds ($0.35) 1/2 cup basil leaves, plus more for serving ($1.75)
Deseed and finely chop chiles. Toss in a small bowl with honey, ginger, and salt. Let sit until ready to use.
Slice eggplants crosswise into 3-inch-long pieces, then quarter lengthwise. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium high until shimmering. Cook eggplant, tossing occasionally, until browned, about 6–8 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the same skillet. Cook pork, breaking it into small pieces, until browned, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and sesame seeds and toss with pork until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add basil leaves and toss until wilted, 2–3 minutes.
Stir vinegar and soy sauce into the hot honey sauce. Return eggplant to the skillet and add half of the hot honey. Cook, tossing often, until the eggplant is tender, 1–2 minutes more. Season with salt, if needed.
Transfer eggplant to a plate and drizzle with remaining hot honey sauce. Top with more basil.
The Last Bite is brought to you by Rio Grande Credit Union and highlights recipes on a budget. Costs are estimated using online budget calculators or based on purchases for edible’s test kitchen.
