News & Views
from the
S u s t ai n ab l e S o u t h w e s t
L inda P edro
R eflections
2015
on a
( 1946-2015 )
R Ăo A rriba W ise W oman
Santa Fe Energy Summit
Pathway to a More Vital Local Food System September 2015
Northern New Mexico’s Largest Distribution Newspaper
Vol. 7 No. 9
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
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El Rito Studio Tour October 3rd & 4th 10 am – 5 pm
Between Abiquiu and Ojo Caliente on scenic Highway 554 www.elritostudiotour.org (575) 581-4679
The El Rito Studio Tour is funded in part by the County of Rio Arriba Lodgers’ Tax and is fiscally sponsored by Luciente, Inc., a 501c3.
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
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Vol. 7, No. 9 • September 2015 Issue No. 77 Publisher Green Fire Publishing, LLC
Skip Whitson
News & Views
Associate Publisher
Barbara E. Brown
Editor-in-chief
Seth Roffman
Art Director
Anna C. Hansen, Dakini Design Copy Editors Stephen Klinger Susan Clair Webmaster: Karen Shepherd Contributing Writers
Dick Brown, J. Michael Combs, Mary Frei, José Griego, Suzanne Jamison, Alejandro López, Judith K. Moore, Jim Parker, B.J. Pheiffer, Seth Roffman, Hilario E. Romero, Camilla Trujillo
Contributing Photographers Evalyn Bemis, Anna C. Hansen, Lisa Law, Alejandro López, Seth Roffman, Hilario E. Romero, Tony Vinella
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c/o The Sun Companies P.O. Box 5588, SF, NM 87502-5588 505.471.5177 • info@greenfiretimes.com © 2015 Green Fire Publishing, LLC Green Fire Times provides useful information for community members, business people, students and visitors—anyone interested in discovering the wealth of opportunities and resources in the Southwest. In support of a more sustainable planet, topics covered range from green businesses, jobs, products, services, entrepreneurship, investing, design, building and energy—to native perspectives on history, arts & culture, ecotourism, education, sustainable agriculture, regional cuisine, water issues and the healing arts. To our publisher, a more sustainable planet also means maximizing environmental as well as personal health by minimizing consumption of meat and alcohol. Green Fire Times is widely distributed throughout north-central New Mexico. Feedback, announcements, event listings, advertising and article submissions to be considered for publication are welcome.
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Contents
2015 Santa Fe Energy Summit. . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 7 New Mexico Renewable Energy Newsbites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Earth USA 2015 International Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Pathway to a More Vital Local Food System . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 10 End of the Long Journey on El Camino Real . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .12 Linda Pedro: Warrior for the Disabled . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .16 From Independence to Interdependence: Coming Home Connection. . . . . . . . . .16 When Linda Pedro Ran for the New Mexico State Senate . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 17 Linda Martínez de Pedro Interview Excerpts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Linda and Peyote . . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 21 Linda and the American Church of God . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 21 A Tribute to Linda Pedro. . . . . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 24 Linda Pedro Is Alive in my Memory . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .24 Linda Pedro and the Historic March Against Drugs and Violence . . .. . .. . .. 25 New Mexico Land Conservancy Awarded National Accreditation. . . . . . . . . . . 29 Newsbites . . .. . .. . .. . .. . ... . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 10, 11, 15, 37 What’s Going On:. . .. . .. . ... . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 38
Linda Pedro: A Remembrance by Camilla Trujillo
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inda Martínez de Pedro was the only child of Ramona Martínez and James Allander, and the adopted daughter of Bertha and Vincent Groves. Her mind and heart were engaged in life, on life’s terms. On Good Fridays, she opened her home to the walkers headed to El Santuario, complementing the special day of fasting and prayer with a meatless meal that all could take part in. She blessed those heading out for the remaining three miles and asked them carry her prayers with them. In retrospect, one could say that Linda was born with a special assignment: improve the quality of life for those perceived as the “weak link” of society—those who were disabled, like herself. With her keen mind and courageous heart, Linda challenged the federal legal system, creating a standard of care that enabled everyone to pursue life, liberty and happiness in the safety and comfort of their own home. Linda knew there was prejudice toward disabled people. She countered this by greeting everyone with a warm smile and a genuine curiosity. Because Linda cultivated a habit of saying “yes” to life, she insisted that those of us around her do the same. Good food, stimulating conversation, critical thinking and an appreciation of our traditional New Mexican lifestyle were the norm. Because of the severity of Linda’s injuries, she worked hard to maintain a comfort level. In order to avoid the side-effects that came with the use of prescription painkillers, Linda became a champion of meditation, massage and molecular healing practices. She was proud that, through her diligence, she had never developed bedsores in over 50 years of being disabled. Linda set the bar high, and while it was not always easy being her relative, friend, or assistant, it was certainly interesting. She was the consummate teacher. Linda died on Jan. 13, 2015. In this year of remembrance, we invite you to join us as we pause to appreciate this amazing woman and the life she lived. i Camilla Trujillo is from the Española Valley. She is a potter, herb-crafter and author of the book, Española (Arcadia Publishing, 2011)
COVER: Linda Pedro (1992). Photo by Alejandro López • Chimayó weaving by Rita Padilla Haufmann Green Fire Times • September 2015
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State Fair Public Portrait Project Photographers: Brian K. Edwards, Anna C. Hansen, Carrie McCarthy, Alan Myers, Roberta Price & others
© Anna C. Hansen
September 9 – October 16, 2015 Opening Reception Friday, September 11th, 5 – 8 pm.
Meet Me at the Fair
NM STATE FAIR September 10-20, 2015
“Under the Tuscan Sun” exposition
July through September Featuring an art tower of Italian Landscapes by European artist, Raquel Sarangello 2874 HWY 14 N MADRID, NM
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
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2015 Santa Fe Energy Summit Seth Roffman
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n Aug. 12, Santa Fe Community College hosted the 2015 Santa Fe Energy Summit. Federal, state, tribal and local public officials gathered to share ideas about the changing face of energy generation and New Mexico’s potentially pivotal role in determining the course of the United States’ energy future. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Deputy Secretary Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, who happens to be a Santa Fe resident, gave the keynote speech and participated in a Q&A with U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), moderated by Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales.
“In Washington there are a lot of people who don’t understand how quickly clean energy is becoming the industry standard.” – Sen. Martin Heinrich Sherwood-Randall said, “With 19,000 full-time employees at the [Los Alamos and Sandia National] laboratories, New Mexico is at the center of much of what the DOE does. …Climate change is shifting the playing field on how we make decisions. Since President Obama took office, solar prices have come down 75 percent, and solar jobs have grown 20 times more than the economy as a whole. The president’s Clean Power Plan will provide technical assistance to help states set their own energy paths. The plan also helps those laid off from coal power plants.” “It’s a challenging time right now,” Heinrich said. “In Washington there are a lot of people who don’t understand how quickly clean energy is becoming the industry standard, both in terms of new generation, as well as the most cost-competitive power sources that we’re now seeing being brought online around the country. “It’s important to bring New Mexico’s ranking in exploitation of our renewable resources more in line with their availability,” Heinrich added. “We have this huge potential, and we need to make our reality and our potential come together, and that’s what this conference is all about. We should be producing distributed, clean energy for our own consumers here in the state. And we should also be producing clean energy for our neighbors because we have some of the best wind potential in the entire nation, but that currently is stranded because we don’t have adequate transmission. That’s something we are working to change. Only Arizona has better solar potential than we do. As we employ those things, what we’ve seen is that they are creating great jobs. There are now 1,600 people working on distributed solar here in the state. Those are people who go to work every day excited about what they are doing for their neighbors. “It’s hard to reconcile that kind of potential with the fact that we see our governor veto solar tax incentives when this is, right now, the job creator in our state; or that she vetoed funding the Legislature approved for the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority. RETA is an entity that allows us to leverage billions in investment from other places in the transmission, so we can take our clean energy and share it as well as produce it and consume it right here. “We look to cities for leadership,” Heinrich went on. “Santa Fe is able to lead on its own. They’re doing that because the mayor is making it a priority, the City Council is making it a priority; the community has said, ‘We want to see progress on this.’ ” Heinrich has introduced a bill to extend the Residential Solar Tax Credit by five years to help families pay for residential clean-energy equipment, such as solar photovoltaics, solar hot water heaters, geothermal heat pumps and small wind turbines.
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To p : U. S . S e n . Martin Heinrich and U.S. DOE Deputy Secretary Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall; Above: SF Mayor Javier Gonzales
© Seth Roffman
A Microgrid Panel discussed emerging options such as community solar initiatives and decentralized microgrids to manage energy use, as well as energy storage advancements that can cut renewables’ costs and allow time-shifting of electricity to when it is most needed. An Energy-Water Nexus Panel discussed hydropower, long-term strategies for groundwater, wastewater and what it would take to achieve sustainable water use. Heinrich participated in a Tribal Energy Panel that examined renewable energy options. “Many tribal leaders have come to me and said, ‘This is power that we believe is consistent with our values, and it’s what our young people want to see.’ Let’s get together and find some projects we can move forward on,’’ Heinrich said.
“This legislation puts solar energy within reach for more Americans,” Heinrich said. “Families with solar panels on their rooftops already know firsthand how solar can reduce energy costs at home. With more than 300 days of sun in New Mexico, this tremendous resource should continue to be harnessed as an economic engine for our state. Extending the solar tax credit for families is a great way to achieve that.” Heinrich also has introduced a bill to encourage community solar projects, similar to New Mexico’s first community-owned solar garden at Taos Charter School. The Promote Renewable Energy Shared Solar (PRESS) Act would require states to consider adopting new standards that allow community solar projects to be connected to the grid and allow electricity produced by shared solar facilities to be credited to consumers, offsetting their electricity bills. Currently, 12 states and the District of Columbia have shared renewableenergy policies in place. “Shared solar projects have the potential to allow more Americans who lack sunny roof space or startup capital to truly benefit from solar energy and take personal ownership over their own energy use and carbon footprint.” Heinrich said. Santa Fe Community College, a school committed to delivering a green workforce, was an appropriate site for the summit. “Green jobs, as they relate to energy, pay more because of the special and technical skills that are needed,” said Mayor Gonzales. “As the senator and others continue to push for our potential to meet reality, we’re training people, getting them ready to go out and retrofit homes, install solar panels, learn about micro-grid technology, which will allow us to truly talk about how we secure an energy future that is independent from some of the traditional sources of energy, like coal, that heavily rely on big transmission systems that ratepayers pay quite a bit of money for.” i Seth Roffman is editor-in-chief of Green Fire Times.
Strengthening Our Energy Infrastructure Sen. Heinrich has also been working to advance other legislation, including: • The Energy Storage Promotion and Deployment Act would set national targets for energy storage in order to meet the growing demand on the electrical grid and encourage integration of solar and wind energy. Increased use of energy storage can improve reliability, lower costs and defer or reduce the need to invest in infrastructure, such as new power lines. Additionally, energy storage is instrumental for energy preparedness because of its ability to provide backup power. • The Renewable Energy Standard (RES) would allow utilities to generate 30 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030. • T he Tribal Tax Incentive for Renewable Energy Act would allow tribal governments to take advantage of existing federal renewable-energy investment tax credits the same way any private developer already does.
Green Fire Times • September 2015
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N e w M e x i c o Re n e wa b l e E n e rg y N e w s b i te s Wind Power in New Mexico
According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s new Wind Technologies Market Report, New Mexico is 13th among states for wind-power generation capacity installed in 2014 (35 megawatts) and 18th for total wind power installed through last year. Texas led the pack for new wind power installed in 2014 (1,811 MW) and also leads for total wind power installed through that year. Seven percent of New Mexico’s power is generated by wind, the report says.
New Mexico Solar Financing Guide for Homeowners
Due, in part, to the price of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems having come down dramatically in recent years, the number of New Mexicans installing solar on their homes is the highest ever. At the same time, the increased number of solar vendors can make the decision-making process seem more complicated for homeowners. Thanks to the recent release of a free solar financing guide from the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD), choosing the right solar PV financing option just became a bit easier. The new guide, “A New Mexico Homeowner’s Guide to Solar Financing: Leases, Loans and PPAs,” was developed by the EMNRD in collaboration with the Clean Energy States Alliance and the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative. It is available as a download from the EMNRD website (www.emnrd.state.nm.us/ ECMD/RenewableEnergy/solar.html). The guide compares advantages and disadvantages of each option, as well as how they compare to a cash purchase. It also features a set of questions for homeowners to ask during the decision-making process and clarifies key financing terms homeowners should be familiar with. The state of New Mexico offers a Solar Market Development Tax Credit, which pays up to 10 percent (up to $9,000) of a solar PV or solar thermal system, on top of the 30 percent federal tax credit.
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
New Mexico on Track to Surpass 2022 Clean Power Plan Goal
In August, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its final Clean Power Plan—a rule requiring states to reduce carbon emissions from power plants leading to a 32 percent reduction below 2005 levels by 2030 nationwide. Also in August, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released a national analysis titled “States of Progress,” showing that through actions already taken, New Mexico is well-positioned to surpass its 2022 emissions-reduction benchmark and will be 63 percent of the way toward meeting its 2030 target under the Clean Power Plan. New Mexico is one of 21 states on track to surpass their 2022 Clean Power Plan benchmarks and one of 20 states that will be more than halfway toward meeting their 2030 Clean Power Plan target.
Albuquerque’s Remote Energy Invited to the White House
The only company from New Mexico invited to attend the first White House Demo Day was Remote Energy of Albuquerque. The event hosted by President Obama was designed to promote diversity and provide innovative startup founders from across the country an opportunity to showcase their innovations in front of other entrepreneurs and leading businesspeople. Remote Energy’s president/co-owner Patrick Murphy (Navajo) received the invitation just weeks before he was at the White House on Aug. 4 explaining his company’s solar systems, which were designed for remote areas of the Navajo Nation and other areas where people commonly use generators for electricity and propane for cooking. Murphy says that Remote Energy’s solar system can save a typical Navajo family about $600 a month. A family can lease the ground-based system, with the company acting like a utility. Backup batteries provide nighttime power for homes. The company has installed prototypes and is seeking investors for commercial-scale production.
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Earth USA 2015 • Intl. Conference Oct. 2–4 in Santa Fe Architecture and Construction with Earthen Materials
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dobe bricks, made from the most basic elements—earth and water— can be produced in abundance and then used to build locally where they are needed most. It has been demonstrated by indigenous populations throughout the southwestern United States that communities working together can build efficient and sustainable housing. Many pueblos in New Mexico are a testament to a synergy between community and sustainability, and adobe exists there as a time-tested and trusted glue.
A three-day conference pass costs $300. A three-day student pass is $150. One-day passes are $150/$75. For more information and registration, visit www. earthusa.org, www.adobeinaction.org The conference is organized by Adobe in Action (AiA), a Santa Fe–based nonprofit organization that provides live and Internet-based instruction in adobe construction. AiA courses are aligned with existing academic and professional earthbuilding institutions to contribute to nationally recognized certification in adobe construction. AiA Education Director Ku r t G a rd e l l a a l s o teaches college-level adobe courses at Santa Fe Community College and is offering an adobe wall workshop there from Oct. 8–11.
With volunteer labor, Adobe in Action makes Horno-Build, Tucson, Arizona adobe bricks available Adobe in Action student Jeremy Weiss and instructor Kurt Gardella work on the base wall and banco of an horno oven free of charge to lowto moderate-income at a recent workshop. individuals and families Passive-solar adobe structures combine that wish to build their own homes the natural power of the sun with the and to other nonprofits working on great thermal storage capacity of adobe community development projects.i to reduce heating and cooling costs. The three major passive-solar adobe systems are direct-gain, Trombe wall and greenhouse.
Adobe Vault—Abiquiú, New Mexico The side walls of José Gerónimo Márquez’s vaulted adobe chapel were built with standard New Mexico adobe bricks. The roof was constructed with special adobe bricks using a Nubian vault technique. The space was closed by a vaulted roof, one arch at a time. Márquez will be presenting his project as a podium speaker at the Earth USA 2015 Conference.
Swan House, Presidio, Texas Adobe Alliance instructor Stevan de la Rosa prepares a group of students for construction of a new adobe brick vaulted roof. The Nubian vault leans on end walls that are also constructed of adobe bricks. Guide strings are used to keep the vault straight as it encloses the space below, one arch at a time. No form-work is used to construct the vault; it goes up in mid-air. Simone Swan will be presenting on the topic: Hassan Fathy, the Prophet of Mud Architecture at Earth USA 2015.
The Eighth International Conference on Architecture and Construction with Earthen Materials will take place Oct. 2–4 in the St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. The biennial conference will feature podium presentations and poster sessions related to the current state of architecture and construction with earthen materials. This will include adobe, rammed earth, compressed earth block (CEB), monolithic adobe (cob) and other materials and methods that utilize clay as a binder. October 5 and 6 will be dedicated to tours of local and regional earthbuilding sites. There will also be pre- and post-conference earthbuilding workshops in Santa Fe, Las Cruces and online. Continuing Education credits are available through the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
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Pathway to a More Vital Local Food System
The Natural Evolution of New Mexico’s Acequia Culture B.J. Pheiffer
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s most New Mexicans know, acequias—centuries-old cooperative irrigation systems found throughout New Mexico’s Hispanic communities—refer to both irrigation ditches and the community of farmers organized around them. Acequias, farm cooperatives and rural electric co-ops have long populated New Mexico’s landscape for many reasons. Cooperatives help small agricultural producers solve numerous challenges related to their remoteness, lack of access to pricing information for inputs and food in national and international markets, access to loans, lack of transport and other infrastructure. Agricultural cooperatives can help farmers by offering group purchasing and by helping them innovate and adapt to changing markets. Importantly, cooperatives facilitate farmers’ participation in decision-making processes and help small producers increase their negotiating power to influence policy-making. New Mexico’s agricultural sector is an important employment creator. The Cooperative Development Center of New Mexico (CODECE) works closely with communities “to form business cooperatives that provide long-term economic security and increase quality of life,” specifically in Indigenous, Mexicano and Chicano communities.
Collaborative, economically interdependent enterprises that interweave consumers, producers and services As evidenced with the recent successes of sustainable agriculture in Virginia and Tennessee, a strong growers’ network can strengthen profitability, increase local food security and build community. An increased number of farmers’ cooperatives in New Mexico, accompanied by an increase in rural and urban cooperative markets, would provide strength and resilience to New Mexico farmers. Shared resources—farm equipment, refrigerated trucks, cold storage, processing facilities and labor—could leverage resources, facilitate the cross-pollination of business and agricultural skills and provide a boon to farmers’ efficiency. Marketing cooperatives, supply cooperatives, construction cooperatives and others could provide additional, much needed resources.
Cooperative Culture Worldwide
Cooperatives emerged as a historic response by ordinary people to meet their own basic needs. In the wake of industrialization, cooperative principles were codified in the Rochdale Principles in 1844. In addition to the oft-quoted Seven Cooperative Principles, cooperatives share values that give them their distinctive character. In the tradition of their founders, cooperatives believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. Co-ops were, and continue to be, sustainable social and financial institutions. People join because being with others in community, staying active and, above all, having a sense of one’s value in society, are important to them. For many, cooperatives are an extension of the responsibilities of citizenship. Globally, cooperative culture has been one of collaborative, economically interdependent enterprises that interweave consumers, producers and services. Guided by an earnest solidarity for members and fellow organizations, cooperative regions create prosperity during good times and resilience during difficult ones. Governed by binding democratic values for management, ownership and operations, cooperatives and their members are philosophically attuned to working together. Often heard among the more than 300 cooperative groceries in the U.S is the motto, “Stronger Together.”
Competing with these giants was vital to family farm survival. Many corporations had created buying and selling combines, with arms-length transactions among their own holdings, to eliminate competition, corner and depress markets for raw materials and maintain high prices for manufactured and processed products. President Theodore Roosevelt described this era in his autobiography: “A riot for individualistic freedom for the individual… turned out in practice to mean perfect freedom for the strong to wrong the weak.” Laws to control the power of the giant corporations were archaic and impotent to help the agricultural producer.
Rocky Mountain Farmers’ Union
In this historical setting, Farmers’ Union leaders began creating strong working relationships. That cooperative spirit remains a cornerstone of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union today. Rocky Mountain Farmers Union is a cooperative that helps organize Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico cooperatives to support family farms. Cooperatives allowed independent farms to gain equity in the marketplace. They enhanced farm bargaining power with the giants of industry, helped reduce exploitation of farm producers and prevented price-gouging. The Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Cooperative and Development Center’s Co-op Center has worked with and facilitated the growth of over 80 cooperatives, LLCs, and other associations and partnerships. Their successes include the Colorado Farm and Art Market, Family Farmers Seed Cooperative, Organic Seed Alliance, Mountain States Lamb Cooperative, La Montañita Food Cooperative and the High Plains Food Cooperative.
The SW Cooperative Development Center
Yet another regional institution, The Southwest Cooperative Development Center, works to improve economic conditions for New Mexico’s rural communities through cooperative and mutually owned businesses, particularly related to healthy food access, and local and regional food systems.
Santa Fe’s New Democratic Food Cooperative
Greenhouse Grocery, a traditional food cooperative about to take root on Rufina Street in mid-Santa Fe, is inspired by successful historical examples that provide a useful continued on page 26
Greenhouse Grocery Inks Land Purchase Agreement
Greenhouse Grocery and Salman Enterprises have signed an agreement allowing the grocery to purchase four acres of the former Santa Fe Greenhouses at 2904 Rufina Street, off Siler Road. Slated to open July 2016, the site is to be home to a new, mid-city cooperative grocery whose mission is to serve the entire community, providing healthy, nutritious food at affordable prices. In so doing, the grocery’s founders are aiming for food equity and security, economic resilience and community empowerment. For more information, visit greenhousegrocery.coop
The Rise of the Farmers’ Cooperatives
At the turn of the 20th century, facing the growth of corporate agribusiness and increasing monopolization of agricultural markets, family farmers and ranchers recognized cooperatives as an effective tool to help them remain economically viable. During the decades following the Civil War, corporate interests established sometimes ruthless control over large segments of American commerce: banking interests, the railroads, the meat trust, the sugar trust, giant urban life insurance companies.
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2015 Taos Fall Arts Festival • Sept. 25 – Oct. 4
The 2015 Taos Fall Arts Festival includes several distinct art shows held at six locations along a 0.7-mile walking tour through Taos’ central core. The Chile Line bus will offer free rides for those not willing or able to walk. Events include: The Taos Select, an independently juried competition featuring over 200 works from Taos County artists in a range of media; The Taos Open at the Guadalupe Gym behind Our Lady of Guadalupe Church showcasing emerging as well as established artists and including youth art, fashion and wearable art and jewelry, along with other visual arts. September 25 and 26, 1 p.m.to 10 p.m., is The Paseo (www.paseotaos.org). Forty-eight international artists and artist collectives will transform Taos’ historic district with 25 experimental, ephemeral, interactive, “unhangable” artworks/performances. On Oct. 1 and 2 at 7 p.m., the free Taos Environmental Film Festival, dedicated to the Río Grande del Norte National Monument and Columbine-Hondo Wilderness campaigns, will take place at the Taos Center for the Arts. Thirteen short films from the Wild & Scenic Film Festivals will celebrate the beauty of the oceans, mountains, rivers and wildlife around the world while shining a spotlight on the fragility of our planet. The Taos Arts Festival also includes guided tours at public art collections, satellite theater presentations and additional satellite art shows throughout Taos. The opening weekend also features Trade Fair Days at the Martínez Hacienda. The closing weekend coincides with the Taos Wool Festival in Kit Carson Park. For more information, visit http://www.taosfallarts.com
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
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p. 259. (Emphasis in original article) End of the Long Journey on El Camino Real La Merced de La Majada y La Caja del Río Part 2
Hilario E. Romero
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art One of this article, in the July issue of Green Fire Times, covered the history of La Ciénega and La Cieneguilla pueblos and land grants along “El Camino Real.” I explained how these pueblos and Spanish land-grant villages were connected through family and trade with villages on the east side moving toward La Villa Real de San Francisco de La Santa Fe. To the west of La Ciénega and La Cieneguilla, there were two other land-grant communities: La Caja del Río and La Majada. They too were connected by family and trade. La Majada was granted shortly after the Entrada and subsequent reconquest of New Mexico by Governor and Capitán General Diego de Vargas in 1693–96. The King of Spain gave these grants of land to groups of settlers that promised to establish communities and to soldiers for their service to the Spanish Militia.
This connected history is a history of Santa Fe because many of these families resided first in Santa Fe, raised their children and moved away, but not far. They needed a sustainable environment in which to raise their own stock and agricultural products and not depend on others. As a result, much of the land that sustained them has continued to be used today or is still viable for agriculture.
© Hilario Romero
Competing land claims, contested over centuries of different controlling entities
La Tetilla Peak, Santa Fe County 2015
This is the last of the four articles that connects the ancient pueblos and six land grants with the end of “El Camino Real” to “La Villa Real.” These articles show that without these connected pueblos and grants, Santa Fe would not have been able to grow to become the capital of “La Provincia de Nuevo México.” This forgotten history adds a deeper understanding of the evolution of the capital of New Mexico.
La Merced de La Majada/La Majada Land Grant, 1695
El Ojito Land Grant was originally conferred on Feb. 10, 1695 by Governor and Capitán General Diego de Vargas and subsequently, as a grant called La Majada, granted to Jacinto Pelaéz as compensation for services rendered as a soldier during “La Reconquista” de Nuevo México. Its original boundaries overlapped two pueblo grants. The boundaries were as follows: “On the north, by a line running east to west one league north of the spring on said tract known as the Ojito de la Laguna de Tío Mes, on the east, by the Bocas de Senetu; on the south, on the north boundary lines, the Indian Pueblo of Santo Domingo, and on the west, by the Río Grande.” Royal possession of the land was never delivered to Pelaéz by Gov. Vargas. (Source: Bowden, J.J., Private Land Claims of the Southwest, Master’s Thesis, 1969, Southern Methodist University, Vol. II Santa Fe Co. Land Grants) Three years later, Jacinto Pelaéz had to petition Gov. Pedro Rodríguez Cubero for a revalidation of the original land grant. On Dec. 13, 1698, Cubero revalidated the grant and ordered the alcalde of Bernalillo to place Pelaéz in possession of the property. Pelaéz died shortly thereafter, before possession had been formally delivered to him. Portions of this grant were given to Jacinto Sánchez and Nicolás Ortiz. On Jan. 10, 1710, Ensign Ygnacio de Roibal, guardian of Pelaéz’s minor daughter, María, petitioned Gov. José Chacón, asking that the concessions which had been made to Sánchez and Ortiz be set aside and La Majada Grant be revalidated in favor of María Pelaéz. (Source: The Majada Grant, No. F-224 Miscellaneous Records of the Surveyor General of New Mexico) Eighteen years later, Juan Fernández de la Pedrera, husband of María Pelaéz, filed a protest on Aug. 17, 1728 for his daughter María Fernández de la Pedrera, a minor heir of María Pelaéz, and complained that the Indians of the Pueblo of Cochiti were trespassing on the grant. On the same day, Gov. Juan Domingo de Bustamante directed Alcalde Andrés Montoya to place María Fernández in possession of the grant. On July 17, 1744, Gov. Joaquín Codallos y Rabal granted a request from Bartolomé Fernández, who claimed that his father, Juan Fernández de la Pedrera, had given him possession of the grant, and he wanted permission to sell his interest in it. His request was granted by the governor and he sold his interest to Pauline Montoya. These transactions on La Majada land grant were most likely instigated by the constant raiding by Faraón Apachis, Apachis de Nabajú, Yutas, and the new enemy, the Comanches. These tribes had adopted horse warfare like that of the Spanish.
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Land Grant Legend
Green: La Caja del Rio Grant Yellow: Pueblo of Cochiti Grant Blue: La Majada Grant Red: Pueblo of Santo Domingo Grant Turquoise: Río Santa Fe Santa Fe National Forest Map, 1924
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The tribes had captured horses left behind by the Spanish during and after the Pueblo Revolt. (Source: Linda Tigges, “The Pastures of the Royal Horse Herd of the Santa Fe Presidio, 1692-1740” All Trails Lead to Santa Fe, Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 2010) It is possible that these tribes were also attracted to this particular area because La Majada land grant, along with La Caja del Río Grant, were designated areas for grazing the presidio’s large herd.
Pueblos and Spanish villages were connected through family and trade.
On Nov. 28, 1785, Bartolomé Fernández Jr. conveyed to Manuel Ortiz his interest in the grant. By the next year, Juan de Abrege, husband of Juana Fernández, daughter of Bartolomé Fernández Jr., conveyed her interest in the grant, also to Manuel Ortiz. Francisco Montoya, on behalf of his mother, Pauline Montoya, petitioned for a judicial partition of La Majada Grant on Feb. 10, 1804, which was approved on Feb. 17, 1805 by Gov. Fernando Chacón. As a result, the grant was divided into four tracts, each owned by Pauline Montoya, Miguel Otero, Pedro Gonzales and Juan José Silva. Ortiz claimed interest in the grant, which he estimated to contain 20,000 acres, because he was one of the legal representatives of the original grantee. Six years after the conquest of New Mexico by the United States of North America in 1854, the Surveyor General’s Office of the United States conducted surveys on all of the land grants in the new territory of New Mexico. However, this grant was not surveyed until after it was validated by the U.S. Court of Private Land Claims on Sept. 24, 1894. Deputy Surveyor Albert J. Easley surveyed the grant in October 1895 for 54,404.10 acres. A patent covering lands embraced within the grant was finally issued on Oct. 26, 1908. (Sources: Journal 231 misc. records of the Court of Private Land Claims and La Majada Grant, No F-224, Miscellaneous records of the Surveyor General of New Mexico) La Majada Grant was overlapped by the Caja del Río back in1742, and the Cochiti and Santo Domingo grants were overlapped by both the Majada and Caja del Río grants. A suit was brought to the Santa Fe District Court in 1903 by the owners of the Caja del Río Grant in order to clear their title. Cochiti Pueblo promptly intervened to protect its land. The court upheld the claims of the Caja del Río Grant owners but ruled against them on their western boundary where they overlapped into the Cochiti Pueblo Land Grant. The Majada Grant owners were successful before the Pueblo Land Board in 1927 with the overlapping land on the northern border of the Santo Domingo Pueblo Land Grant. Later, in 1930, before the same Pueblo Land Board, the Majada Grant owners entered a disclaimer, and the Indians’ title to almost all the lands under their grant that were involved in the conflict. As was the case in the Spanish Colonial period, many cases of encroachment on Pueblo lands were ruled in favor of the Pueblos. (Sources: District Court Records, No. 1430, U.S. District Court Records, No 2133 and Report to the Pueblo Land Board by Santo Domingo Pueblo)
La Merced Del Caja Del Río La Caja Del Río Land Grant, 1742
Capitán Nicolás Ortiz (Niño Ladrón de Guevara) petitioned Gov. Gaspar Domingo de Mendoza for a grant covering a tract of land called La Caja del Río, which he described as being bounded:
Three Trails Conference Sept. 17–20 in Santa Fe
Three national historic trail associations, along with scholars, trail enthusiasts and the general public, are gathering at the Santa Fe Convention Center to celebrate and learn about the three historic trade routes that opened the American West to settlement and commerce. El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro connected Santa Fe and México City from 1589 to the late 1800s; the Santa Fe Trail in 1821 connected the Southwest and México with the eastern United States; the Old Spanish Trail opened in 1829, connecting Santa Fe to Los Angeles. There will be field trips to nearby sites. The Backcountry Horseman of America, having traveled 600 miles from Utah, will arrive in front of the Palace of the Governors at about 3 p.m. on Sept. 16 to kick off the event. 505.920.4970, 3TrailsConferenceSantaFe.org
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Overhead view of Cañón or Caja del Río Santa Fe. Google Earth, 2013
On the north, by a large tableland standing in front of the cultivated lands of San Ildefonso, on the east, by the Cañada Ancha; on the south, by the source of the Ojito Santa Cruz and on the west, by the Río Grande. Nicolás Ortiz petitioned for the grant as a reward for services he had performed, monies he had expended in the reconquista de Nuevo México, and the pacification of the Indians. He informed the governor that he was among the settlers sent to recolonize New Mexico by Viceroy Galve in 1693, and that the colonists had been promised a liberal grant upon which to settle, but he had not received his grant because he spent the previous 49 years campaigning against the Indians. He was careful to point out that during his long military service he had always furnished his own arms, horses, and on one occasion had even paid for a load of powder. This grant, bounded on the west by the Río Grande and the south by the Río Santa Fe, would become an ideal area for a rancho and for grazing stock. (Sources: Ortiz Family Papers, NMSRCA and Twitchell, Ralph Emerson, The Leading Facts of New Mexican History, Vol. I pages 470-472) After examining the contents of the petition, Gov. Mendoza, on May 30, 1742, granted the tract to Ortiz, subject to the condition that “pasturage and watering places be in common. Ortiz began to move sheep and cattle to the upper pastures near La Tetilla. As a former capitán of the Royal Militia, there is a high probability that he helped graze the horse herd of the Santa Fe presidio on the south and west borders of his land grant, as had been done in the past. For the remaining years of his life, Ortiz built up his casa del rancho, pastured his animals and irrigated crops along the Río Grande and the Río Santa Fe. Because of frequent raids by semi-nomadic tribes, few settlers considered building near Ortiz and he did not encourage settlement. His descendants continued his rancho, pasturing their herds and irrigating crops for the next 114 years after his death. continued on page 33
Out Where the West Begins
Profiles, Visions & Strategies of Early Western Business Leaders By: Philip F. Anschutz With: William J. Convery, Thomas J. Noel
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
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15
Linda Pedro (1946-2015): Reflections
on a
Río Arriba Wise Woman
Warrior for the Disabled
Jim Parker
—Linda Pedro
I
met Linda in the early 1990s. We both had been appointed to a Home- and Community-Based Services Task Force by then-Gov. Bruce King. Our mission was to make recommendations for improving in-home services for New Mexicans with disabilities. Linda had a lot at stake in the fight for community- and home-based services. In 1979, the state of New Mexico attempted to force her, a vibrant young woman with a disability, into a nursing home. On top of that, the state was seeking custody of her son, and to have him placed in foster care.
Her victory led the way for thousands across the country to live normal family lives.
Linda enlisted a couple of young lawyers from Legal Services to file the first Section 504 lawsuit in New Mexico. Section 504 is a federal civil-rights law that provides protection against discrimination for individuals with disabilities. Linda was seeking the right to live in her home and in her community, despite her disability. No one, including her lawyers, thought she had much chance to prevail. But Linda carried a force that projected well beyond her physical self. With her lawsuit, Linda demanded that no one was going to take her son Daniel away from her! On the day that the court ruled in her favor, Linda broke through the barrier of forced institutionalization. That freed her to continue living on her land in Chimayó, where she raised her son. Her victory led the way for thousands of others across New Mexico and across the country to live normal family lives, without the fear of institutionalization. As her national profile rose, Linda had many opportunities to work across the country but, instead, she chose to remain anchored in her beloved Chimayó home.
From Independence to Interdependence Coming Home Connection Alejandro López
When it came time for Cathy Aitken to speak at a recent gathering to honor Coming Home Connection (CHC), Santa Fe’s only volunteer hospice and long-term care service, she had to be transported by wheelchair to the microphone. During the long but pleasant afternoon, during which we had occupied the same general space in the chambers of the imposing Scottish Rite Temple, I had seen her only from afar and was struck by her statuesque figure and regal bearing as she sat around a table with friends. Never for a moment did I imagine that with her first sentence she would dash my first impressions of her, as well as certain notions I so stubbornly held onto about myself and my own invincibility. “I am here to tell you that you are not whom you think you are,” she said with the first breath that she took at the microphone. “It has taken a rather dramatic personal collapse involving my health to recognize that I am not an island unto myself but, instead, a part of the main.” She added that, as an artist totally dedicated to the discipline of sculpture, she had chosen to live alone and to capably carry out all that life had demanded. In fact, for the greater part of her career, she had successfully tackled all of the tasks commonly associated with both female and male genders—cooking, building, sewing, repairs, decorating, lifting, cleaning, transporting and more. “I felt,” she said, “that I could carry on like this endlessly and not really have to depend on anyone else for what I needed. After all, in this country, culture and society, we have
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I always viewed Linda as a rebel with a cause, fighting in her own way for justice and human dignity, running against the wind, flying into the storm. I recall watching the 1984 Democratic National Convention and being astounded as I listened to a young woman in a wheelchair, whom I had never heard of. I found myself entranced by her presence and her words. Little did I know that we would meet and eventually become friends and allies. I consider myself fortunate to have provided some assistance in our never-ending battles with the state for disabled people to be able to live at home with appropriate services and support.
© Seth Roffman (
My home is important to me. It’s my anchor in the storm. It means my very life, my spirit and light in my life. I love my home, family and community.
Linda with her son Daniel (1974) During our long friendship, Linda and I talked about things that needed improvement, many of which we knew we would not be around to experience and enjoy. But we knew that our children and grandchildren would. The level at which she and I were most deeply connected always came back to Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS). For it was HCBS that allowed Linda to live in her beloved home with her beloved family and friends and the community she deeply cared for. She lived life to the fullest, until her strong spirit had another place it needed to be. When I see her picture, hear her words, see her artwork or think of her smile and laughter, I remember what I always told her when I left, “I’ll see you, dear one.” i Linda with her painting The Corn Grinder (2005) Jim Parker is director-emeritus of the New Mexico Governor’s Commission on Disability and a long-time disability-rights advocate.
all been taught that, more than anything, we must be independent. Consequently, we are the most independent, most individualistic society on Earth, and I was living proof of how this was so.” She went on to describe that, one day, she began to lose her ability to use her hands and could not even cut vegetables, let alone produce monumental sculptures. It was not Cathy Aitken (l) greets guest long after this that she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a progressively degenerative disease that involves damage to sheaths of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms may include numbness, impairment of speech and muscular coordination, blurred vision and severe fatigue. Sometime later, when her legs stopped working, she had to use a wheelchair. “The evidence of all of this,” she went on to say, “made me keenly aware that I was crashing and that there was no one in my life who could help soften the blow of the fall; that is, until I met Glenys Carl, the founder and director of Coming Home Connection, Santa Fe’s hospice service. Unbelievably, this petite lady, more spirit than flesh, went shopping for me, prepared meals, cleaned my house and kept my life going. “As a hospice nurse who knows health and illness intimately, she provided me not only continued on page 23
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When Linda Pedro Ran for the New Mexico State Senate Mary Frei
There is a saying in Spanish, “La lucha es la vida” — struggle is life. I would say it’s the truth. — Linda Pedro
I
t was the summer of 1980, and Linda was 34. She had been a quadriplegic for 14 years, at a time when Medicaid did not provide home attendant care. She was the single mother of an 8-year-old, living on the edge in Chimayó, New Mexico. Within the disabled community she was a national hero because, two years earlier, when she faced institutionalization for herself and foster care for her son, she successfully sued the New Mexico Department of Human Services. In a landmark decision, a federal judge ordered the department to create a program that offered paid attendant care for Linda and parents like her, so that they could live at home. Inspired by her legal victory, Linda took on a mission to be useful to others. She traveled to Berkeley, California, to the Center for Independent Living, and took an intensive course in civil-rights law for people with disabilities. When she returned, she created the Río Arriba Committee on Concerns of the Handicapped. She contacted parents of children in Special Education programs, organized a luncheon and sent invitations to every service organization in the county. Many showed up, she remembered, “but some folks from La Raza Unida Party (LRUP) were the only ones who took me seriously.” That led to Linda’s involvement with LRUP.
LRUP was fundamentally about land and water rights. But they learned from Linda Linda Pedro with Jessie Jackson at Española rally (1984) that the rights of disabled people were important and being ignored, and that was a battle that needed to be fought, as well. Linda realized that for significant change to occur in Río Arriba County, she had to help LRUP go against the county’s most powerful politician, Emilio Naranjo.
The rights of disabled people were important and being ignored.
Naranjo—“El Patrón”—was a state senator and long-time Democratic Party chairman. He was also the Río Arriba county manager and, prior to that, county sheriff. His reign was one of nepotism, police brutality and frame-ups of his opponents. Although he had been forced to resign his position as state senator the year before, along with chairmanship of the county’s Democratic Party, Naranjo’s downfall was only temporary. In November 1979, the state Court of Appeals reversed his perjury conviction, citing “insufficient evidence.” Naranjo had been convicted of perjury in a case stemming from the 1975 arrest of LRUP activist Moises Morales (present-day Río Arriba county clerk). Morales claimed that Naranjo—then county sheriff—and two deputies had arrested him on false charges and then planted more than two pounds of marijuana in the back of his truck. Morales passed a lie-detector test and beat the charges. Naranjo’s attacks on LRUP had made it a tight-knit, insular organization. But it was not closed to Linda. “I was amazed that they were so open to me,” she said when she joined the party in 1979. In fact, she didn’t say a word during the first six months she attended central committee meetings. Linda bonded with the party’s activists including the founder, Antonio “Ike” DeVargas, and chairman, Wilfredo Vigil. They shared a common desire to spring Río Arriba loose from a stifling political system. A year later, in 1980, Linda decided to challenge Naranjo in the state senate race. “We were all stoked because Linda was such a dynamic person,” DeVargas recalled. But running for office was something she couldn’t do without an enormous amount of assistance. Every morning, Linda needed to rise early and, with the help of her attendant, get dressed and groomed, a process that took hours and was a far more difficult task for her than for an abled person. When Linda filed her candidacy that May, she had to be carried in her wheelchair up the stairs of the county courthouse in Tierra Amarilla. This was 10 years before Congress would pass the Americans with Disabilities Act, which required public buildings to be accessible. She was driven around the campaign trail in her old Dodge Dart, adapted with a hydraulic jack so she could get in and out of the passenger seat while wrapped in a harness. I remember a campaign rally when Linda said to the crowd, “Somebody asked me the other day why I was running for state senator,” she said, smiling. “I told him it was because I can do more in four years on a wheelchair than Emilio Naranjo’s done in 25 on two feet.” On Nov. 4, 1980, Linda Pedro received 990 votes for state senator. She trailed Naranjo, who had 5,953 votes, and the Republican candidate, Sam Zeigler, who had 2,631. But it was a time to be proud. Linda Pedro had run on courage, character and integrity. She showed that a quadriplegic and impoverished single mother could take control of her own life. This was the trail that Linda Pedro blazed. i
Linda Pedro addresses rally in front of Tierra Amarilla courthouse (1980)
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Mary Frei met Linda Pedro while reporting on the New Mexico Senate race for the Río Grande Sun in 1980. Frei has reported for the Albuquerque Journal North, Santa Fe New Mexican, High Country News and other New Mexico publications.
Green Fire Times • September 2015
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
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19
Linda Martínez de Pedro
An interview conducted by Rita González-Mahoney for New America: “Women Artists and Writers of the Southwest,” (1982)
A
Linda Pedro began painting as a child, influenced by her mother, who was from an old Spanish ranch family, and her father, who was from a Scottish coal-mining family. As a painter of retablos—paintings of saints in tempura colors on pine panels previously coated with one or more layers of gesso, a stabilizer—she has been fighting a one-woman war in New Mexico for the preservation of native, original retablos. A quadraplegic since 1966, Ms. Pedro has consistently fought for the legal rights of the disabled. She recently completed an unsuccessful campaign for the New Mexico state Senate from Río Arriba County for La Raza Unida Party. Ms. Pedro lives in Chimayó, where she is hoping to establish a Hispanic Cultural Center. In her own words, she describes her art, dreams and disability, as well as the politics and challenges she has encountered: “When the Spanish first came to New Mexico, there were no Catholic churches. And when the first churches were built, the priests were not able to import art and decorations for the churches from Europe and México, so they appealed to people in the village to make the churches look nice. The people used what they had. In some cases, they didn’t use egg yolk and water but used piñón pitch and water to bind the pigment to the wood. Later, when the churches imported printed images and plaster of Paris statues, replacing the need for folk art, there was only a small group of people who maintained the art of carving santos, bultos and retablos. Today, retablo painters are the scarcest of them all. “Retablo painting is a pretty traditional art. If you have to categorize it, it is Hispanic, religious folk art. I love folk art from all over the world. I guess it is my peasant soul. One of my favorites is any kind of straw work because I love expression that is motivated by images. I don’t care if it is embroidery or painting, it is really rich. It is real. “Painting is a real inner reflection. I have been giving a lot outward lately, and I think it is really time to go back in and see where the growth has gone and what is inside that needs to be worked on. My work is known only in certain circles, though. It is very interesting that the people who control the Santa Fe art markets have never asked me to exhibit. I have heard that they do not consider my work traditional. Why? That means that I am not making museum replicas of the old retablos. You have people from someplace else deciding who you are, what your culture is, and what your traditions are. Santa Fe has rapidly become a place that the native people can’t even enjoy or live in. They can’t afford the lifestyle. And that offends me to the core. “My real dream is to have a Hispanic Cultural Center in Chimayó that brings in Hispanic theater, that teaches the children of the area. We’d like to have a Spanish bakery, a center, a real center, and really do it up. One of my other dreams is to rejuvenate the old plaza and make it a place where people can stroll and go to see traditional art. It is going to be done. I don’t know if it is going to take me 10 or 20 years, but I’m not going to quit. This is one of my greatest dreams. I began to realize that there was such a need for instruction in the arts, and there were so many talented young Chicanos who could teach poetry, carving and painting that we could make a place where kids could go learn. But imagine if there was a cultural center where talented young Hispanos could “My real dream is to have a Hispanic go and say, ‘Listen, it really turns me on to write Cultural Center in Chimayó.” poetry.’ That is my dream.
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
© Seth Roffman
s Hispanics and as artists, these women represent the political, social and cultural revolution that has taken place over the past 15 years throughout the Southwest in Spanish-speaking communities. Each sees her art as part of the ongoing struggle of La Raza for self-determination and cultural integrity.
Linda at home in Chimayó with retablos she painted (1974) “You cannot separate the political feeling of people, who grew up in the barrios, from their art. How are you going to separate their emotions from a very strong political statement? It is impossible. …The problem in today’s society for any artist is how to live off of your art. Where does the artist belong in today’s economy? That is the hard part. And it is even harder to be a woman artist in today’s society, even though it is easier now than it ever has been. I look around, and I know what I went through in my own personal struggle and self-development—that thing of allowing yourself to be oppressed by your family, a man, society—so readily accepting the role of not being good enough.
“I know what I went through in my own personal struggle and self-development.”
“I think women are a very vital part of art. It wouldn’t be art without them. As far as the woman’s role has changed through time, so has her place in the arts. Even in the last century, women who wrote had to write under a man’s name in order to get printed. Along with everything else that busted open in the 20th century, so did women in art. Women are by nature creative and passionate. That is what art is about—creating and being passionately caring enough to create. “Being disabled is the minority of minorities because it can happen to anyone. You could be black or white, young or old, rich or poor, man or woman, or either through injury or disease or old age—anyone can become handicapped. You can get brain damage or spine damage or wake up with MS, and there you are. It excludes nobody. Yet it is the one minority in our society that has been ignored. All the other civil rights movements have taken their stride when, in fact, it is just now that the disabled movement has pulled itself up by its bootstraps. “At least the disabled movement has brought about the consciousness that, because you have a disability, you don’t stop being human. You still have all the problems everyone else does, physically, emotionally, sexually, spiritually. I always say that one of the problems disabled people have is that they begin to think they are different than other people, when, in fact, they are not. “After my injury, of course, I couldn’t move from the neck down—no way—and for a long time, part of my therapy was to begin to paint again. I broke my neck in 1966, and the first retablo I painted was in 1968. So, it took me that long to get strong enough, physically, let alone mentally, to believe I could do something like that again. “But sometimes I think I’m absolutely mad to have taken on such an old art and to sit around with these little tiny boards and paint. I paint with a hand brace because my hand is partially disabled. I put this strap, this brace, on my hand, which allows me to pick up the brush. And then I paint.” i
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Interview Excerpts
Linda and Peyote
Interview Conducted by Jack Loeffler (2008)
M
y name is Linda Martínez de Pedro, and I’ve lived for 37 years here in Chimayó. I call myself a hearth-keeper. I would say, first and foremost, that I feel my spiritual journey with peyote created a most incredible life for me, way beyond anything I ever imagined. When I was a senior in high school, 17 years old, I was hanging out where the beatniks hung out at the Denver Folklore Center. This man came down the street and, all of a sudden, it looked like he was making a beeline for me, and it alarmed me. I tried to identify him, as he got closer. I didn’t know him, had never met him. I was talking with this friend, and he came up to me and put three things in my hand, three dried, strange-looking little things. And I said “What?” And he said, “These are for you,” and just kept walking. “Okay,” I said, and I looked at them. “What is this?” The guy next to me said, “Ah, I think that’s peyote cactus, dried peyote.” “What’s that?” I asked. He said, “Well, go ask that guy who’s a silversmith right off of 17th. He knows about peyote. They eat it with the Indians in a ceremony.” I went down the street, and I said to this guy, Thane, “Hey, Thane, is this peyote?” He said, “Where did you get that?” I said, “Some guy just came walking up to me on the street and gave it to me.” “Oh,” he said, “that’s sacred medicine to the Native Americans. They have a ceremony that heals your mind and body and spirit.” “Wow. I wonder why he gave it to me,” I said.
About a week later, a friend showed up at the Denver Folklore Center. Mana Pardiathan had his studio right around the corner. He took me over to Mana’s, who was making pottery. “Hey, I want to give you something,” Mana said, and handed me this bowl that had a bird in it with a peyote on its chest and the initials NAC. “Wow, there’s peyote again,” I thought. I’d never made an altar or gone to a [peyote] meeting, but somehow it so impressed me that I went home and made a little altar in my room. I’d never done anything like that. I put the medicine and bowl on the altar.
“My spiritual journey with peyote created a most incredible life for me.”
I was an art student and was really close to my main art teacher.Two weeks later,I went into class early one morning, and she said,“Linda, I have a book for you.You must read it: Frank Waters’ The Man Who Killed the Deer. It’s the story of how peyote comes to Taos Pueblo.” So I read it. About a month later, I was getting ready to graduate from high school. My dad let me come to Santa Fe, to stay with my aunt Jean out in Arroyo Hondo for spring break. My friend, Jim Hopper, and I drove into town and went up Canyon Road. Patrick Sky was singing at Three Cities of Spain. After we listened to him, we went up to talk to him. We didn’t know who he was. He was a folksinger, that’s all we knew. “Oh, you guys must have heard of my girlfriend, Buffy Saint Marie,” he said. And I had, of course. We start talking and, pretty soon, he reveals that he’s been using peyote for years, and I thought, “Oh my God, here comes peyote again,” because this was all in continued on page 22
Linda emerges from a tipi after an all-night ceremony.
Linda and the American Church of God
I
n 1962, I was working at Three Cities of Spain, a bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was afterhours one night when two men and a woman whom I had never seen before walked in. They looked interesting, so I engaged them in conversation. Their names were Jimmy Hopper, Randy Allen and Jonnie Baynor. They said they’d been down in México and were passing through Santa Fe, hitchhiking their way up to Seattle to the World’s Fair. I asked them, “Do you have a place to sleep?” I invited them to my place on Canyon Road. They had some peyote and, when we got to my house, they shared it with me. That was my first experience with peyote.
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Right about that time, the Cuban Missile Crisis was happening. It was a high-anxiety moment. We thought perhaps this was “it”—the end of the world was nigh. What to do? Well, Jimmy remembered how “real” peyote meetings went, so we built an altar and tied a drum, sang songs and prayed the best we knew how. Jimmy Hopper and Randy Allen had gone farther afield in their peyote quest—to Iowa and to Pyramid Lake, Nevada, where they found other non-Indians using peyote. I went to San Francisco for a couple of years. When I returned, in 1964, I rejoined our little group, which now included an anthropologist,
Soon, other Indians began to educate us in the proper way to conduct prayer meetings.
Beth Dickey. Around this time, Beth looked into state laws pertaining to peyote and found out that it was legal if you were part of a bona fide religious organization. So we decided, let’s organize one; let’s write a charter. Linda Pedro’s Tía Jeanne, who worked at the New Mexico Supreme Court library, helped us do the research. We called it the American Church of God (ACG), and on Oct. 7, 1965, we filed papers with the state of New Mexico. That was the birth of the ACG, and it still exists today. Original charter signers included Jimmy, Beth, John Kimmey and Linda Pedro, age 19. continued on page 22
© Tony Vinella
Dick Brown
Little Joe Gomez of Taos Pueblo (1977)
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Linda and Peyote
continued from page 21
a series of months. About an hour later, Patrick, some other people and I walked over to his friend Beth’s house. There was peyote drying, hanging from the ceiling, peyote in pots, and she opened a drawer to show Pat gourd rattles and feather fans. I thought, “Wow.”
“I knew that I’d waited my whole life to be where I was at that moment.”
The following spring, I went back to Santa Fe. When I got there, I was taken to my first [peyote] meeting. There I was—this young girl just out of high school, going to college, dropped out—within a year of that, and medicine was being given to me in my first peyote ceremony. I knew at that moment why that medicine had been following me, as young as I was, for a whole year. Although I didn’t know much of anything, I knew that I’d waited my whole life to be where I was at that moment. That was really clear to me. And here I am, 43 years later, still using that medicine. I have a tipi grounds, which I consider a miracle because a little after a year when I started using medicine, I was in a catastrophic accident that paralyzed me from my neck down. The doctors predicted that I had three to nine years to live—nine if I was lucky.
Henry Gomez of Taos Pueblo (1976)
That’s a whole story in itself, after the accident, when Little Joe [Gomez] and John Gomez from Taos Pueblo and John Kimmey came to Denver. I was past
The American Church of God
Not long afterwards, Beth made the acquaintance of Little Joe Gomez, an elder from Taos Pueblo. She brought him to Santa Fe to an ACG [peyote] meeting. We asked him: would you run this meeting? He said, “No, I’ll just sit on the side.” He liked our sincerity and became our friend. I believe he was the first Indian to take part in what we were doing. Soon, other Indians
Sand moon from ACG ceremony
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John Kimmey and Telles Reyna Goodmorning (Taos Pueblo) (1976)
super-critical condition, in a neck brace and another brace because I couldn’t breathe. They told the doctor that they wanted to take me out of the hospital to a peyote ceremony. I said to Little Joe, “They’re not going to let you take me out, you know.” And he said, “Wait.” I introduced him to the head doctor, and he said, “I want to talk to you.” The doctor was very gracious to Joe. He sat him down, and Joe said, “We want to take her and pray for her. We’ll bring her back, OK?” I mean, I couldn’t even sit up. They had to lift me up. But the doctor said yes! The funny part about that story was they brought a drum to the hospital. I said, “I think we better not play it out here in the hall. Let’s go to my room.” So we went into my room, shut the door and Little Joe, John and Kim started singing. Later, the head nurse told me, “One of the nurses came about an hour ago and said, ‘You know what? It sounds like real Indians in Linda’s room.’” The head nurse said, “It is real Indians. I don’t know where they came from. They came to see her.” But I think of that, and the way John and Joe prayed for me, and Kim bringing them, at a time when the doctors gave me very little time to live. John and Joe’s instructions repeatedly to me were about trusting the medicine. “We’re going to pray for you, and it’s going to take you a long way,” they said. And I know how far their prayers took me. I got to live to see my grandchildren and have an incredible life.” i
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including Joe’s brother, John, found out about us. Little Joe, John Gomez, Henry Gomez, an elder by the name of Telles Reyna Goodmorning and others began to teach us the intricate songs and educate us in the proper way to conduct the night-long prayer ceremony. They helped guide ACG’s development during its formative years. To Linda, the ACG complemented the Catholic ritual she had been raised with. She appreciated how the female presence was honored within the peyote ceremony. This includes a drum made from a woman’s cooking kettle and water that is ritually shared by a female water bearer at the end of a full night’s invocation. The woman then addresses the assembly with a final prayer smoke.
Green Fire Times • September 2015
© Seth Roffman (2)
So, long story short, back to Denver, graduated from high school, spent the summer in New York, went to the Newport Folk Festival in ’64. I got to hear Bobby Dylan. Came back, went to college, met Randy [Allen], and I was miserable in school. He said, “Well, if you’re that unhappy, why don’t you just quit? I’ll help you. He was going to New York and thought maybe I should go with him, but I didn’t think I should. So when I put him on a bus to New York, he handed me a bible with the same initials that Mana had painted in the bowl, “NAC [Native American Church].”
On a curve past Taos, in 1966, the car in which Linda was traveling went into a skid and rolled over. Linda injured her spinal cord. She was airlifted to St. Vincent’s Hospital, in Santa Fe.
Linda appreciated how the female presence was honored within the ceremony. At that time, for all but the wealthiest, there was no in-home nursing care, no 24-hour assistance, no devices to improve mobility and maintain health for quadriplegics—basically nothing but the physical strength of people to lift, carry, transport and attend to all daily needs. The ACG community
rallied to provide these services and help maintain Linda’s tenuous hold on life. Groups of caretakers were organized; and undergirding these efforts, church members prayed and tribal elders accompanied her on every step of the journey. i Dick Brown has l i ve d i n Ne w Mexico most of his life. He worked for the New Mexico Archaeology Department doing site analysis prior to road construction projects and is a UNM graduate in nursing. Suzanne Jamison and Camilla Trujillo contributed to this article.
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Coming home continued from page
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with the moral and physical support I needed but, just as importantly, with medical knowledge of my condition and of what I could to do to stave off the worst of its effects. Unbelievably, in the last several years, since I came under the care and protection of Coming Home Connection, I have been able not only to maintain my dignity but also to rebuild my life in the context of a new awareness. I now know, without a hint of doubt, that I am not so much independent as interdependent, as indeed we all are or one day will be. And I have discovered that I like myself much better as part of a web of people who love and care for each other rather than as the lone wolf I used to be.
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“Indeed, interdependence is a solid and magnificent bridge in which everyone does their part in upholding everyone else. When the crises in life come to pass and, indeed, sooner or later they will, you will not want to find yourself dangling from a precipice by yourself or suspended on a rickety bridge of your own making. You will want to be a part of an unshakeable bridge, the likes of Coming Home Connection and, from there, make a safe passage into another stage of your life, one you need not fear. I am so grateful to this organization, consisting of a multitude of compassionate human beings intent on serving others, and to Glenys Carl for the new life I have. She is one in a million, for few individuals who opt for a life of service stick to it!”
An unshakeable bridge
Coming Home Connection organizes and coordinates scores of paid and volunteer bedside-care providers to people with severe physical impairments, the elderly and the dying. The volunteers make it possible for these individuals to receive individualized quality care, remain within the warm circle of family and home and to live out their lives in dignity. Coming Home Connection is entirely sustained through g rants and charitable contributions. The organization may be contacted at:: 505.988.2468, info@ cominghomeconnection.org, www. cominghomeconnection.org Alejandro López is a northern New Mexico writer and photographer.
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
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A Tribute to Linda Pedro
Judith K. Moore
T
he deep bond my cousin, Linda Pedro, and I shared was through our commitment to the welfare of humanity; we both felt it ran in our blood. Our parents were human-rights activists, and throughout their lives they taught us to be committed to the causes of justice and freedom. Jim Allander, Linda’s father, smuggled money into France during World War II to help Jewish people escape Hitler. Our grandparents emigrated from Scotland and were union organizers in the coal mines. Our Grandma Genie was a midwife in the coal-mining camps of southern Colorado. They were people who had courage to stand up for what is right and to not be afraid to face oppressive organizations, doing so with sheer courage and pure spirit. Linda’s life speaks to that legacy. Her own legacy inspires all of us who desire to make a difference in the world with our lives. Memories flood into my heart as I write this. We are sitting at the sacred grounds of a tipi, and Linda is rolling a prayer smoke. She has called me to pray with her because she is concerned for her son and grandson. Her love for her family shows in the depth of her being as she prays. Another memory surfaces. We are in a peace march in Chimayó, led by the carriers of a peace torch. There, at the sacred sanctuary of Chimayó, at the river, we share bread with a spiritual gathering of many religions and then proceed to Los Alamos, bringing the torches of peace to the little pond in the city. The speakers’ inspiring talks fill me with the power of Linda’s promise to serve peace with her life.
A retablo by Linda Pedro
Thoughts of Linda flow like a river as my heart feels the love she gave every moment of her
life. One day, the phone rang and Linda was on the other end. She had been at an anti-nuclear demonstration in Los Alamos and dared the police to arrest her when she crossed the line they set for protesters. They wisely refused. I wonder how many times she faced injustice with such resolve, daring authorities to arrest her and, in doing so, bringing publicity to the righteousness of the protest. When she spoke at the Democratic National Convention, in 1984, she was more than a symbol of freedom; she was an icon of Altar at Linda Pedro’s home in Chimayó hope for all who listened. The sacred force that is the power of the Great Mother we call the Virgin of Guadalupe guided Linda every step of the way. I recall a pilgrimage for La Virgen to a holy mountain near Las Cruces. We were brought up to the top and, there, she prayed with the pilgrims. In the early morning light, the gift of faith for the people, given by Guadalupe, flowed through Linda. I felt a miraculous power moving us the day we went to the St. Francis Cathedral to visit the relic of her patron saint, Little Theresa of the Roses. Another time, we were embraced by the beloved Blessed Mother, Amma, whose love surrounded us. There is no way to really comprehend the miracle of Linda’s life or the power of the gift she gave us through her vision. I know that her legacy of love, eternal and blessed, lives. i Judith K. Moore served for 20 years as a child advocate and educator for adoptive parents. She is the former chairman of the Citizens Review Board in New Mexico.
Linda Pedro Is Alive in My Memory
J. Michael Combs
T
he first time I met Linda Pedro was at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market. This woman in a wheelchair with a powerful, beautiful smile came up to me and requested una ranchera, a Mexican song. After I complied and asked her name, I told her, “I always knew that someday we’d meet.” That was because I’d been hearing her name around the valleys of el norte for probably 30 years, always spoken in a way that denoted a woman of power. Once Linda and I finally met, we made up for lost time. I visited her often in her home in Chimayó. Or we’d get together and share a meal while we were both in town at the food co-op. She would show up when I performed at senior centers or nursing homes, at farms or at the college, or at friends’ homes. And she had me come and play music at her house for a birthday, a summer party or a winter gathering. Linda loved to gather her loved ones close to her, to feed them, sing together, share food, warmth and stories.
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I saw how Linda cherished her Scottish, Mexicano and Native American roots. Musically, she wanted all of it: the rousing political anthems of the ’60s folk revival, corridos y rancheras, and the tender, sweet Scottish love songs and ballads she always called for at evening’s end, for which I’d have to enlist our versatile musical friend, Peter Malmgren.
Linda’s physical limitations were dwarfed by her personal power.
She was also very proud of her father’s activism for workers’ and families’ rights in the coal fields of Colorado, near Walsenburg.Through the years, we shared the loss of friends such as Susana Valdez, of Tierra Amarilla and Alamosa, whose father’s activism in the San Luís Valley in the ’50s had gotten him blacklisted, requiring that he relocate his family to Denver.
Green Fire Times • September 2015
At Linda’s gatherings, her world came together to rejoice and celebrate. Sometimes, a hundred people would dance, laugh, sing, share stories, work and eat. Her face would light up like the sun or mirror her quiet contentment as she watched the people she loved enjoy Linda Pedro sings with David García, Chris Abeyta the powerful glow of love that she worked so hard to share. the needed power would always be there if her motives were right and her aims To do this, she used her home, which were unselfish. She had no reluctance to she raised out of the ground while in call upon help, from both the visible and her wheelchair, to create a shelter and the invisible realms of this world, to help a sanctuary for her relatives, especially her build and protect what her immense the young ones. Her concept of familia heart loved. owed much to the indigenous cultures she cherished and was nurtured by. It was I will always cherish the vision of her neither brittle nor exclusive but, rather, broad forehead, round cheeks, intense, expansive. penetrating eyes and her smile, which could be either subtle or immense, like Linda’s physical limitations, while an her laugh. She was for me a fierce, true enormous challenge, were dwarfed by her warrior of love and justice. i personal power. She knew that a woman Musician/grandfather J. Michael Combs in service to her family and community studies history and has dedicated his life to is a force to be reckoned with, and that love, justice and service.
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Linda Pedro and the Historic March against Drugs and Violence
Dr. José Griego, Ph.D.
—Chellis Glendinning, Chimayó resident and author of Chiva, a Village takes on the Global Heroin Trade
L
inda Pedro called me, one day in 1998, to a meeting. She was serious about addressing the issues of violence and drug abuse in Chimayó and Española. Linda was living between two notorious heroin dealers. There had been incidents of gunshots near and through her property for months. A rock had come sailing through her kitchen window, knocking over a large plaster statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe that looked out over the property. One night, her neighbor awakened Linda and her assistant, yelling that someone was shooting into his home, and please call the cops. The Río Arriba County sheriff patrolled past Linda’s house on a regular basis, and she knew she could call him anytime, day or night. Linda wouldn’t accept the conditions of living next to a drug lord and had been pondering a strategy for herself and the community for months. Recent drug-related deaths of three young people from Chimayó and another young man from Española had everyone on edge. One of Linda’s neighbors from the village, Melaquias Trujillo, had been training Linda’s Cheyenne nephew, Craig Magpie, for the Matachines dance. He gave her some advice. “In the old days,” Melaquias said, “a person in the community could approach the Penitente brotherhood for assistance in troubled times.” Linda took this to heart and began her efforts by putting up the tipi for a prayer meeting at her home. Later, we shared a prayer smoke and decided to proceed with her plan to invite the Penitentes, as well as the local Catholic church and various other congregations from the Valley, to participate in what she saw as an old-fashioned “limpia,” a cleansing of the community. I assisted by reaching out to the Hermanos. The Penitentes take an oath of secrecy about the inner workings of the Fraternidad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesús, their formal name. With a long history in New Mexico, dating back to 1598, and before that to Spain going back to the Middle Ages, the Penitentes of New Mexico have preserved their traditions, especially the literary customs, better than the Penitentes of any other Latin American country in the world. Hundreds of alabados and prayers, written in the romance form of the Spanish medieval period, as well as décimas, have been carefully preserved in New Mexico.The matter of secrecy kept some Penitentes from participating in the prayer meeting. However, after much discussion, the president of the organization decided it would be OK. The Penitentes responded with enthusiasm. Even though there was some hesitation Linda Pedro and Suzanne Jamison on the march about coming out in public, the
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Hermanos came out in force to support this important cause. On that Saturday in May of 1999, the march departed Santa Cruz de la Cañada plaza in a drizzle of rain. Linda Pedro led the procession in her wheelc hair, assisted by various friends and helpers. She was Chimayó, New Mexico followed by a host of approximately 40 Penitentes from four different moradas. Members of the community joined us, as well. Despite the weather, no one was deterred from our resolve to make a statement that day. The ancient alabados that the Hermanos sang along State Road 76 rose through the air and hung there. Along the route, we took note that all the known drug-dealers’ gates were closed and locked.
She invited the Penitentes, the local Catholic Church and other congregations to participate in an old-fashioned “limpia.”
The Aztec dancers of Taos greeted us at the entrance to the Santuario de Chimayó with burning copal and chanting. Blessing ourselves with the incense, we marched down to the Río Santa Cruz, where members of the community gathered. Native Americans, Sikhs, Anglos, Chicanos, elders and youth rose up to challenge the epidemic of drug abuse and violence in their midst. Most unforgettable was the invocation by a member of the local Pentecostal church. As she wound up an emotional appeal to stop the violence and drugs, lightning and a loud thunderclap underscored her call to the community. i José Griego Maestas, Ph.D., is president emeritus of Northern New Mexico College.
Jose Griego Maestas, Ph.D., President Emeritus, Northern New Mexico College. Proud father, grandfather, friend of Mother Earth.
Afterword by Camilla Trujillo
Four months later, I opened the morning paper to see that a major drug raid had occurred in Chimayó. When I examined the map of the area most affected by the raid, I saw Linda’s property smack-dab in the middle of all the action. I learned that in the early morning hours of the previous day, Sept. 29, multiple helicopters had descended upon the village, targeting five families who were major players. One-hundred-and-fifty law-enforcement officers were involved. Local, state, DEA and FBI agents had arrived in the predawn hours. Pens full of pit bulls were destroyed, and drug dealers still in their pajamas were dragged out of bed and handcuffed. I called Linda to see how she was doing. She described the tense moments when she and her assistant were roused from sleep by the first helicopters. SWAT teams had surrounded two neighboring homes. Linda could glimpse people kneeling in their yards, awaiting arrest. “It was like the archangels, coming down from Heaven,” she said. “Oh, my God,” I realized. “September 29 is the Feast Day of Michael and all the Archangels!” Camilla Trujillo is from the Española Valley. She is a potter, herb-crafter and author of the book, Española (Arcadia Publishing, 2011)
Green Fire Times • September 2015
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© Seth Roffman
I have learned to open my heart to a wisdom that does not flee from suffering, breakdown, or error. Rather, the wisdom of this place knows these aspects of life as inseparable from job, triumph, and communion.
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model for economic transition and sustainability. Traditional food co-ops, like those that proliferated in the 1970s, have working members. They sell food at significantly lower prices than natural food markets like Whole Foods and most of the United States’ new-style food cooperatives. The Park Slope Food Co-op in Brooklyn, New York, founded in 1973, is a traditional co-op with 17,000 working members; it saves members 20 to 40 percent on food. The Greenhouse Grocery is modeled on the Park Slope Food Co-op. Largely ignored by mainstream U.S. economists, cooperatives are a distinctive form of social organization that is not capitalist, socialist or communist. Cooperatives are neither for-profit nor not-for-profit. They are actively democratic. Members participate on a one-member-one-vote basis and earn equity based on participation: either profits in a worker cooperative or purchases in a consumer cooperative. While investment earns a return, it doesn’t necessarily imply ownership. Thus, cooperatives are highly participatory, driven by engagement rather than capital. Cooperatives contribute to resilient employment, a sustainable economy and the well-being of people at work. While the two most famous cooperative regions are in Spain and Italy, U.S. agriculture is also a significant contributor to the global cooperative economy. There are estimated to be over 40,000 cooperatives of various kinds in the United States, whose memberowners include over 100 million Americans—nearly one out of three. Besides the U.S.’s 3,000 agricultural cooperatives, there are childcare, credit, healthcare, housing, insurance, telephone and electric cooperatives, to name a few.
Cooperatives have been largely ignored by mainstream U.S. economists. According to the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, farmers’ cooperatives in the U.S. generate $191 billion annually. On average, farmers who belong to supply cooperatives—those engaged in the manufacture, sale and/or distribution of farm supplies and inputs, as well as energy-related products like ethanol and biodiesel—earn approximately $5,500 more per year than those who do not belong to cooperatives. Total assets of U.S. cooperatives in 2008 was $57 billion; estimated total employment was over 250,000 and total payroll was in excess of $8 billion.
Beyond Local Cooperatives Regional Cooperative Economies
Some cooperative regions around the world are characterized by very high cooperative employment. A lower wage gap between the average worker and top executives, highly secure employment, a well-balanced distribution of employment between urban and rural areas and a people-centered vision are some of the characteristics that explain the lure of cooperative employment. “The phenomenon of cooperative employment is sufficiently significant, both quantitatively and qualitatively, for public policies to
take stock of this long-lasting experience in terms of creating and strengthening employment,” states Bruno Roelants, secretary general of the International Organization of Industrial, Artisanal and Service Producers’ Cooperatives and coauthor of a recent study. The two major cooperative economies in the EU are regional, Modragón in the Basque region of Northern Spain and COOP in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. France, the UK, South Korea and Japan also boast robust cooperative economies. New Mexico might do well to emulate their practices, using their governance, organization and cooperative principles to grow its own agricultural economy. Some U.S. food cooperatives, like the new Greenhouse Grocery in Santa Fe, are structured much like Modragón. In the Greenhouse Grocery, each member has the opportunity to participate in governance; each member has one vote. Actual benefits, savings derived from purchases at the co-op, depend on how much a member purchases. The more a member purchases, the more a member will save. Equity is distributed to members proportional to the amount they purchase. While member investors—or impact investors—earn a reasonable return on their capital, they do not own the cooperative. The co-op members who actually shop at the co-op own it. In the U.S, worker and marketing cooperatives work together closely. From the vantage of farmers, marketing cooperatives are functional components of their farm cooperatives. In fact, they handle, process and market virtually every type of commodity grown and produced in the United States. Greg Nussbaum, of Camino de Paz, envisions a marketing cooperative, a retailer, as a much-needed outgrowth of his Montessori school and farm. He recognizes that Greenhouse Grocery is an independent manifestation of this precept. Greenhouse Grocery is simply an independent retail consumer cooperative that brings farmers’ goods to market, benefiting both farmers and consumers. Across food cooperatives in the United States, co-ops on average sell 22 percent local products, compared with supermarkets, where only 7 percent of their products are local.
The Potential of Cooperatives to Foster Food Security
Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. By 2050, the population of the Earth will reach nine billion. To feed all of these people, agricultural production will have to increase by at least 60 percent. Farming and agricultural cooperatives, with an estimated 32 percent of the global market, are an important part of the solution. B.J. Pheiffer is founder and president of the Greenhouse Grocery. bj@greenhousegrocery.coop
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Natural Evolution
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
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New Mexico Land Conservancy Awarded National Accreditation
T
he New Mexico Land Conservancy is a statewide land trust founded in 2002 to preserve the state’s land heritage by helping people conserve the beauty, character and biodiversity of places they love. NMLC does this by partnering with private landowners, communities, conservation organizations and public agencies to protect significant wildlife habitat, productive agricultural lands, scenic open space, cultural and historic resources and recreational lands. NMLC works collaboratively at community, watershed and landscape scales.
A conservation easement is a perpetual voluntary agreement between the landowner and a land trust.
To date, NMLC has conserved just under 150,000 acres with a long-term goal of conserving one million acres statewide. The primary tool that NMLC uses is a conservation easement, which is a perpetual voluntary agreement between the landowner and a land trust to restrict subdivision and development of the property in order to protect its natural, cultural and/or agricultural values. In exchange for relinquishing these development rights, the landowner can receive substantial tax and financial benefits. About 80 percent of the easements that the organization has done have been on working ranches and farms. “The beauty of conservation easements is that the landowner still owns the land and can continue to use it for farming, ranching, managed timber harvesting and other uses compatible with the conservation purposes of the easements,” said Scott Wilber, NMLC’s executive director. “We know that by keeping these lands open and undeveloped, we are also
The grasslands of northeastern New Mexico offer great potential for large-scale conservation of private lands due to ranches like Wagon Mound that practice sustainable grazing operations and act as wildlife migration corridors. The completion of the Wagon Mound Ranch project is a significant step forward for land conservation in Mora County.
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This year, the NMLC was awarded national accreditation through the Land Trust Alliance’s independent Land Trust Accreditation Commission. Voluntary accreditation provides independent verification that land trusts meet high standards for land conservation, stewardship and nonprofit management in the nationallyrecognized Land Trust Standards and Practices. i
Corazón de la Tierra Country Fair • Oct. 3
Greg Moore • NMLC 2015 Conservation Award Winner
Land conservation will be celebrated and Wagon Mound rancher Greg Moore will receive the Petchesky Conservation Award at NMLC’s 4th Annual Corazón de la Tierra Country Fair on Oct. 3 from 4–8 pm at the Petchesky Conservation Center, 5430 S. Richards Ave. in Santa Fe. The event will feature food, live music for dancing and a variety of presentations. Tickets are $75. More info: 505.986.3801, ext. 102, etemple@nmlandconservancy.org, www.nmlandconservancy.org
NORTHERN RÍO GRANDE NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA Annual Meeting • Sept 26, 2015
© Evalyn Bemis
On Oct. 3, the NMLC’s 2015 Jane Wing Petchesky Conservation Award will be given to long-time rancher and innovative land steward, Greg Moore. Moore recognized the threat of subdivisions and development facing agricultural communities across the West, and worked with NMLC to place his entire 23,000-acre PETCHESKY Wagon Mound Ranch in northeastern New Mexico CONSERVATION under conservation easements. Seeking to inspire by AWARD example, Moore has become an advocate for private land conservation among the local ranching community. “I like to think of myself as more of a resource manager than just a rancher,” Moore noted. “There is a balance that needs to be maintained – but, basically, if you take care of your land and grass it benefits the wildlife, and what’s good for wildlife is also going to be good for your livestock.” The place Moore calls home is a spectacular ranch that boasts shortgrass prairie, piñón-juniper woodland and ponderosa pine at higher elevations. The spread includes Carrizo Creek, a tributary of the Canadian River, that runs across its southern landscape. Moore uses sustainable grazing practices, rotating cattle among 20 different pastures. He has designated several areas as protected wildlife sanctuaries and undertaken habitat improvement projects, particularly along the creek. The sanctuaries, in particular, have become critical to restoring the riparian areas—producing wetlands in some areas where there had once been only bare rock. Moore’s work paid off during the summer of 2014, when the long drought ended and the ranch exploded with diverse native grasses and forbs (herbaceous flowering plants).
Carrizo Creek on Greg Moore’s ranch near Wagon Mound, New Mexico
protecting valuable habitat and wildlife corridors, natural and cultural resources and environmental services,” Wilber added. “The easements remove the development pressure from the lands and provide a way for the landowners to pass their family farms and ranches on to the next generation.”
The Northern Río Grande National Heritage Area, Inc. will hold its Annual Meeting on September 26, 2015 at the Río Arriba County Annex – Commission Chambers in Española, from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm. Discussion topics include Board elections, presentation of the annual report, financial report and 2016 budget, and program discussions for implementation of the Management Plan. The mission of the NRGNHA Inc is to celebrate and to sustain the communities, heritages, languages, cultures, traditions, and environment of Northern New Mexico through partnerships, education and interpretation in Taos, Rio Arriba and Santa Fe Counties. For information call the Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area office at 505-753-0937. The public is invited to attend.
Green Fire Times • September 2015
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The Zanjeras continued from page 25
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
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El Camino Real
continued from page 13
On May 7, 1871, the descendants of Nicolás Ortiz presented their claim to the U.S. Surveyor General T. Rush Spencer for investigation under the Eighth Section of the Act of July 22, 1854. (Source: Act to establish Office of SGNM in NM Chap.103, Sec. 8 Stat. 308, 1854) Three witnesses were examined by Surveyor General James K. Proudfit in November, 1872. Their testimony supported the claimant’s allegations concerning their relationship to Nicolás Ortiz and the continuous use and occupation of the Caja del Río Grant. By decision dated Nov. 21, 1872, Proudfit recommended that the grant be confirmed by Congress to the heirs and legal representatives of Nicolás Ortiz, deceased. A preliminary survey of the grant was made in November 1877 by Deputy Surveyors Griffin and McMullin for 62,343.01 acres. (The Caja del Río Grant No. 63, Misc. Records of the S. G. N.M.).
The Río Santa Fe, the corridor first used by the colonists on El Camino Real, served settlement and grazing lands.
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However, Congress never acted on the claim. Felipe Delgado, legal representative for the Ortiz heirs, filed suit in the Court of Private Land Claims on Oct. 14, 1892, seeking confirmation of the grant to the heirs and legal representatives of Nicolás Ortiz, deceased. An amended petition was filed on Aug. 10, 1893, in which Felipe Delgado alleged that the preliminary survey was incorrect and that the grant actually contained about 72,000 acres. The plat attached to the amended petition depicted the grant as including all of the Mesa de San Ildefonso extending northward to the boundary of the Pueblo of San Ildefonso Grant. (Source: Records of the Court of Private Land Claims, No. 178) At the trial, the plaintiffs introduced the expediente of the grant including documents that referenced the grant and its occupancy during the Spanish and Mexican periods, all of which recognized the existence and validity of the claim. The government, while recognizing the grant papers were genuine and in order, contended “the north boundary of the grant as claimed by the plaintiff had been stretched so as to include 4,000 acres” more that it should. In its decision dated Aug. 30, 1893, the court confirmed the grant in accordance with the description contained in the grant papers. Thus, it left the boundary question to be resolved by the survey under the provision of Section 10 of the Act of March 31, 1891. (Source: Court of Private Land Claims Act, Chapter 569, Section 10 26 Stat. 854 (1891)) Deputy Surveyor Sherrard Coleman surveyed the grant for 68,070.36 acres, which included 1,221.58 acres that conflicted with the Pueblo of Cochiti Grant. Coleman’s survey located the north boundary just south of the Mesa de San Ildefonso. The plaintiff relinquished any claim to the lands in conflict. This action resolved the dispute between the owners of the grant and the Indians of the Pueblo of San Ildefonso and, since no objections were raised, the court approved the survey and a patent based thereon was issued on Feb. 20, 1897. (Source: Miscellaneous Records, Court of Private Land Claims, Caja del Río Grant, No. 63) The Río Santa Fe flows through these grants and served the middle and southern sections of these settlement and grazing lands that produced large quantities of beef and mutton in addition to hides, wool and agricultural produce for nearby communities and La Villa de Santa Fe. This was the corridor first used by the colonists on El Camino Real that ascended through the Santa Fe River canyon (Caja del Río) into La Ciénega, La Cieneguilla, the Pacheco Grant, Agua Fría and Rancho El Pino into La Villa de Santa Fe. There is a need to present more detailed stories of the people who worked the land on these pueblos and land grants along the Río Santa Fe, Riito La Ciénega and the Río Grande. We will do that in future editions of Green Fire Times. One thing that this detailed, rich history demonstrates to me is that conventional tourism, which is so important to our region, could be diversified and strengthened by developing historical agritourism and ecotourism. i Hilario E. Romero, a New Mexican mestizo (Spanish/Basque/Jicarilla Apache/Ute), is a former New Mexico state historian. He has spent the past 40 years in higher education, as an administrator and professor of history, education and Spanish at the University of New Mexico, Highlands University and Northern New Mexico College.
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
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Green Fire Times • September 2015
Green Fire Times is available at many locations in the metropolitan Albuquerque / Río Rancho area! For the location nearest you, call Nick García at 505.203.4613 www.GreenFireTimes.com
Thirteen states, including New Mexico, were granted a temporary injunction by a U.S. district judge in North Dakota on Aug. 27, blocking the Obama administration’s new “Waters of the U.S.” rule that would give the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers authority to protect some streams, tributaries and wetlands from being polluted or destroyed. The EPA says the rule restores Clean Water Act protections to more than half the nation’s streams and will safeguard drinking water for millions of people. The state officials in opposition contend that the rule is unnecessary and infringes on their sovereignty. The rule has spurred Congress, landowners and farmers to have the EPA clarify how particular waterways are defined and which smaller waterways are impacted. Similar lawsuits have been filed by other states, business and agriculture groups in at least eight U.S. district courts. In a statement, the EPA said that the injunction applies only to the 13 states that sued and that the rule would be enforced in all other states.
Fracking Continues in the Greater Chaco Area
A federal judge last month refused to grant a temporary halt to oil-and-gas drilling in the greater Chaco Canyon National Historical Park area, as sought by a coalition of Navajo and environmental groups. The groups have filed a lawsuit over the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) drilling plan. The plan, which is being revised in the face of a shale-oil boom, would allow hundreds of fracking permits. “We are dismayed by the decision because full-scale, unregulated oil-and-gas development continues to impose devastating impacts on human, cultural and environmental resources on Dinétah (Navajo homelands) and surrounding areas,” said Colleen Cooley of Diné Citizens Against Ruining our Environment. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have heavily industrialized the region with truck traffic and a vast network of new roads, oil tanks, pipelines, flares and equipment. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, San Juan Citizens Alliance, WildEarth Guardians and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Attorneys from the Western Environmental Law Center represent the groups.
NM Supreme Court to Review Copper Rule
The New Mexico Supreme Court has granted a petition, filed by the New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC) on behalf of Amigos Bravos, Gila Resources Information Project and Turner Ranch Properties, L.P., requesting review of the Copper Rule. The Rule, backed by Gov. Susana Martínez and the New Mexico Environment Department, regulates discharges from copper mines in New Mexico. Amigos Bravos and allies are challenging the Rule, adopted in September 2013, alleging that it gives the copper industry the right to pollute vast amounts of groundwater—future drinking water supplies—in direct conflict with the state Water Quality Act, and sets a precedent for other industries. Lowering the cost of doing business for polluters transfers the cost of cleanup and the cost of public health outcomes to New Mexico taxpayers, the groups say. Petitions filed with the Supreme Court by the New Mexico Attorney General and a former state Groundwater Bureau chief, also requesting a review of these issues, have also been granted by the court.
Advocates Seek Reform of Coal Lease Program
Coal mines in New Mexico employ about 1,500 people and account for a payroll close to $100 million, according to the state Minerals and Natural Resources Department. Although the industry is in decline, about 60 percent of the electricity generated nationwide is still from coal, 40 percent of which comes from public land. The Department of the Interior continues to lease millions of acres to mining companies, even as the Obama administration ramps up efforts to curb greenhouse gases from coal-burning power plants. The BLM hosted a listening session on coal issues in Farmington, N.M., last month. Despite the hearing’s location, the San Juan Basin, only a few people spoke in favor of coal mining, many of those fearful of losing their jobs. Over a dozen organizations testified in support of reforming what they see as an outdated federal coal-lease program. Nellis Kennedy-Howard, of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, said, “Many coal companies aren’t required to set aside enough money or insurance to clean up public lands after they are done mining—leaving taxpayers on the hook.” Also cited were coal mining’s health- and climate-change impacts (which communities increasingly have to pay for), the need for New Mexico taxpayers to receive a fair share of profits from mines on public lands, and the need for the BLM to increase coal’s royalty rate to match that of other fossil fuels.
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Northern New Mexico faces a daunting challenge. How do we meet the ever-increasing demand for clean, fresh water with a relatively static supply? Santa Fe has found a way. City departments have developed a process that recirculates water that has already been used once. Using state-of-the-art technology, the Wastewater Department reuses water to irrigate landscapes and recreational turf. Forward-thinking urban planners, working with Utilities Engineering and the Parks Department, have created a delivery system that brings “conservation reuse” water to the Municipal Recreation Complex and the new Southwest Area Activity Node. Turf grown with this water is safe to walk, run and play on. Using this to irrigate recreational fields and the municipal golf course will save many acre-feet of water. The New Mexico Environment Department requires that the discharge of reuse water pass through specially designed irrigation systems and that signs are posted at all facilities, in Spanish and English, explaining that the water is not for human consumption. The NMED also requires that the Parks Division monitor, record and report on the system’s operation. The system’s safety features include a smart flowmeter and master valve, an aerometer to measure wind speed and a rain sensor. These feed a computerized controller that can shut the system down during windy or rainy conditions and react to excess flow.
© Anna C. Hansen
States Attempt to Block Federal Water Rule
family fun day: sept. 19
The Southwest Area Activity Node will open to the public on Sept. 19. A Family Fun Day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. will include a ribbon-cutting, fun run and bicycle tour at the new SWAAN Park. City departments and community service organizations will host information booths. The Parks Department, working with 1Santa Fe and the Tierra Contenta neighborhood, have activities planned for all ages including horticultural tours of surrounding areas. Healthy food from local vendors will be available, along with entertainment by local musicians and dancers. The entire community is invited, free of charge. Don’t forget the sunscreen. To get to the park, head south on Cerrillos Road past the Airport/Rodeo intersection and turn right on Jaguar Drive. Come to the end of Jaguar and follow the signs.
Indian Summer: Ragle Park American Indian Community Day: Sept. 19
Santa Fe Indian Center’s (SFIC) 5th annual American Indian Community Day will be
held on Sept. 19, 12–4 p.m. at Ragle Park (Zia Rd.) This unique gathering provides an opportunity for the American Indian community in Santa Fe to come together, enjoy music, share a potluck meal, participate in fun activities, socialize and share information.
Everyone is invited to this
free outdoor event, which welcomes the changing of seasons and children’s return to school. In addition to the food provided, guests are invited to bring their favorite traditional and healthy foods to share. Wings of America will engage participants in active games and physical exercises. Adrian Wall of Jemez Pueblo will provide music. There will be nonprofit information booths. Traditional dancers from Tesuque and Jemez pueblos, face painting, door prizes and other activities will happen throughout the day.
SFIC’s mission is to support, promote and enrich the vital, diverse American Indian community. The center brings people and organizations together to discuss issues and solutions, assists individuals and families in urgent need and also serves as a resource center for those seeking special services.
Volunteers, nonprofit participants and donations are needed for the Community Day event. Call 505.660.4210 or email sfindiancenter@gmail.com. SFIC is also on Facebook.
Green Fire Times • September 2015
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Jemez Pueblo Buffalo Dancers
NEWSBITEs
SWAAN Park: Santa Fe’s Newest Regional Park “Conservation Reuse” Water System Employed
What's Going On! Events / Announcements
ALBUQUERQUE
Sept. 2, 5:30-7 pm Green Drinks Hotel Andaluz, 125 Second St. NW
Network with people interested in doing business locally, clean energy alternatives and creating sustainable opportunities in our communities. Presented the first Wednesday of each month by the ABQ and Río Rancho Green Chamber. info@nmgre enchamber.com, www.greendrinks.org
Sept. 9, 9-10:30 am Agriculture Collaborative MRCOG, 809 Copper NW
Presentation/discussion about the future of food & agriculture in NM through the eyes of a UNM student initiative. Followed by a NM Food & Ag Policy Council committee meeting at 10:45 am. 505.247.1750, www.localfoodnm.org/
Sept. 10, 9 am-2 pm UNM Health Sciences Job Fair HSC North Campus Upper Plaza
Annual job fair hosted by UNM School of Medicine’s Resident and Graduate Assisted Placement Services. Open to health professionals and health profession students from all NM educational institutions. AClithero@salud.unm.edu
Sept. 12, 10 am-4:30 pm TEDxABQ 2015 Popejoy Hall, UNM
Live talks, performances, interactive experiences. tedxabq.com
Sept. 12 Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Gala 2401 12th St. NW
Annual fundraising dinner/auction. Art, food, dance, history. $150. Sponsorship opportunities available. 505.724.3539, ccanfield@indianpueblo. org, indianpueblo.org/gala
Sept. 22, 6-7:30 pm NM Solar Energy Assn. Chapter Mtg. REI, 1550 Mercantile NE Open to the public. 505.917.5074 jim.desjardins@affordablesolar.com
Sept. 26, 10 am-5 pm ABQ International Festival NM Veterans Memorial Park 1100 Louisiana Blvd. SE
Free family-friendly multicultural event that celebrates the Intl. District. Entertainment, food, arts & crafts, children’s activities. 505.265.2511. Sponsored by the city of ABQ, STEPS, Intl. District Neighborhood Assn.
Sept. 26, 10 am-5 pm NM Solar Energy Association Solar Fiesta CNM Workforce Training Center 5600 Eagle Rock Ave.
Trade show brings homeowners together
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with solar and sustainability experts. Exhibits, workshops, kids events. Free. 505.246.0400, info@NMSolar.org, www. nmsolarfiesta.org (See ad on pg. 8)
Sept. 5, 10 am-12 pm Citizens Climate Lobby
Sept. 26, 2-5 pm Water in the Desert Sawmill Lofts, 1801 Bellamah NW
Sept. 7, 11 am-3 pm Family Labor Day Celebration Center for Progress & Justice 1420 Cerrillos Rd.
Rain chains and other artwork inspired by water scarcity will be part of a silent auction to benefit the NM Water Collaborative, a nonprofit that supports water conservation strategies for communities. 505.563.0615, www.nmwatercollaborative.org
Sept. 26-27 New Mexico Approved Expo State Fairgrounds
200 vendors. Organized to connect residents and tourists to local businesses. Local celebrities, musicians, fashion show, salsa cook-off. Proceeds benefit nonprofit entrepreneurial services. Presented by NM Community Capital.www.newmexicoapproved.com
Oct. 14-Nov. 10, evenings Master Composter Training
Master composters are volunteers educated in the science, art, materials and methods of home composting techniques. They share this information in the community. nmcomposters.org
Oct. 29-31 New Mexico Film & Media Industry Conference Isleta Resort/Casino
Includes biennial education summit and state liaison network program. http:www. nmfilm.com/schedule-2015.aspx
Through Oct. 31 Habitat: Exploring Climate Change through the Arts 516 Central SW
Exhibitions, speakers, screenings, workshops. 505.242.1445, www.516arts.org
Nov. 11-13 Quivira Conference Embassy Suites
“The Next Wave: Cultivating Abundance”; hear from ranchers, farmers, scientists, activists and others. Speakers include Paul Hawken, Christine Jones and many more. 505.820.2544, cbaca@ quiviracoalition.org. Tickets: http://qui viracoalition.org/2015_Quivira_Conference Daily, 10 am-6 pm
“ABQ 2030 District”
A voluntary collaboration of commercial property tenants, building managers, property owners and developers; real estate, energy, and building sector professionals, lenders, utility companies; and public stakeholders such as government agencies, nonprofits, community groups and grassroots organizers. Property partners share anonymous utility data and best practices. Professional partners provide expertise and services. Public partners support the initiative as it overlaps with their own missions. Info: albuquerque@2030districts.org
SANTA FE
Sept. 2, 11:30 Am-1 pm Green Lunch SFAHBA Offices, 1409 Luisa St.
Guest speaker: B.J. Pheiffer, founder of Greenhouse Grocery, community food cooperative. $15/$20. Reservations: 505.982.1774. Presented by the SF Green Chamber of Commerce.
Green Fire Times • September 2015
1st Sat. each month. “Creating political will for a livable world.” santafe@citizensclimatelobby.org
Games for kids, award-winning film screening, speakers, music, raffles, prizes, bbq. Park behind building. tomas@chainbreaker.org
Sept. 10, 9:30 am-12 pm, , 5:30-8 pm Craft Entrepreneurship
Two sessions to help creative entrepreneurs learn business basics and start an online shop on ETSY to sell handmade products and create supplemental income. 505.474.6556, rperea@wesst.org, www.wesst.org/etsyworkshop-application-sfe/
Sept. 12 Community Potluck & Garden Harvest Corner of Jaguar & Country Club Rd.
Meet new AmeriCorp members. Join conversations about food justice, sustainability and the community. Learn about the community garden and other Earth Care programs. 505.204.0664, mariajose@earth carenm.org , www.earthcarenm.org
Sept. 12, 6-8:30 pm Wild & Scenic Film Festival SF Farmers’ Market Pavillion
One of the nation’s premiere environmental and adventure film festivals. Special guest: author Craig Childs. Tickets: $12 adv/$15 day of event. www.brownpapertickets.com/ event/2006561, nmelc.org/filmfest
Sept. 13, 11 am-2 pm Community Homestead Day Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center, Cerrillos, NM Ampersandproject.org
Sept. 13, 4:30 pm Annual Stewart Udall Legacy Dinner National Park Service Building
Celebrate SF Conservation Trust’s conservation legacy. $175. Sponsor or purchase tickets: 505.989.7019, www.sfct.org
Sept. 15, 10 am-12 pm Local Plant Walk Milagro Herbs, 419 Orchard Dr.
Learn about uses of local plants for food and medicine and how to identify them. $20. 505.820.6321
Sept. 16, 6-7:30 pm NMSEA-SF Chapter Meeting Amenergy, 1202 Parkway Dr.
SF Sustainable Everything Advocates, a NM Solar Energy Assn. chapter, seeks to make living sustainably the accepted norm through creating public awareness, actions, participation and volunteerism in organizations and events that establish SF and NM as leaders in this effort. Meets 3rd Weds. each month. Claudia@solarlogicllc.com
Sept. 17, 4-7 pm Teacher Resource Fair New Mexico History Museum
An opportunity for teachers to learn about community organizations and what they offer to support curriculum and classroom
activities. 4-5 pm: History Museum open for teachers. 5-7 pm: Teacher Resource Fair. Free. Presented in partnership with the SF Community Educators Network. 505.476.5200, amclaughlin@santafecf.org, http:nmhistorymuseum.org/index.php
Sept. 17-20 Three Trails Conference Santa Fe Convention Center
Trail associations, scholars and the general public can learn about the trails’ history. Field trips to area sites. 505.920.4970, 3TrailsConferenceSantaFe.org
Sept. 17-20 Soul Renewal Wilderness Retreat Santa Fe National Forest
Renew your soul and spirit for an evolving world. Basecamp with customized 24-hr. solo options. All skill levels welcome. Permitted with SFNF since 1989. Co-hosted by www. leadfeather.org and www.wildresiliency.com.
Sept. 19, 9 am-12 pm Personal Patient Advocacy Santa Fe Community Foundation 501 Halona St.
How to be your own (or your loved one’s) most effective support during illness. $25. Registration: 505.988.9715, www.santafecf.org
Sept. 19, 11 am-5 pm Family Fun Day SWAAN Park Opening Tierra Contenta, end of Jaguar Rd.
Ribbon-cutting, fun run, bicycle tour, community booths, food, music. See newsbite, pg.37.
Sept. 19, 12-4 pm Indian Summer Ragle Park (Zia Rd. & Yucca Dr.)
American Indian Day in SF. An opportunity for the Native community in SF to get together and socialize, enjoy music, a potluck meal and share information. Info booths, music and Native dancers. 505.920.4313, hereinthesw@ yahoo.com See newsbite, pg.37.
Sept. 22-24 First Nations L.E.A.D. Institute Conference Buffalo Thunder Resort, Pojoaque
Empowering Native Youth, Strengthening Tribal Institutions, Nourishing Native Foods & Health.
Sept. 23, 9-11 am Fundamentals for Sustainable Fundraising SF Community Foundation 501 Halona St.
Nonprofit technical assistance workshop. $15-$45. Registration: 505.988.9715, www.santafecf.org
Sept. 25, 10 am NM Acequia Commission NM State Capitol Bldg., Rm. 303
Monthly meeting. Info: 505.603.2879 or molinodelaisla@gmail.com. Agendas: 505.827.4983 or www.nmacequia commission.state.nm.us
Sept. 25, 6:30-9:30 pm Guardians Gala SF Farmers’ Market Pavillion
12th annual Wild Earth Guardians benefit dinner/auction. Speaker: ecologist/author Dr. Sandra Steingraber. $100. 505.988.9126, ext. 3, cnickel@wildearthguardians.org
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Sept. 26, 2-4 pm Milagro Herbs Medicine Show 419 Orchard Dr.
12 students from the Milagro School of Herbal Medicine certification program will showcase their tea blends, salves, elixirs, etc. Sample products, ask questions, buy products. 505.820.6321
Sept. 27, 1-3 pm Water Systems Walkthrough Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center, Cerrillos, NM
See simple off-grid catchment, greywater and solar heating systems. Ampersandproject.org
Sept. 29, 6-7:30 pm Is Your Cell Phone Making You Sick? La Montañita Co-op Community Rm., 913 W. Alameda
Learn about patented products that help neutralize the effects of wi-fi technology and simple ways to decrease exposure. Free. 505.780.8283
Sept. 30 PNM’s Power Replacement Plan Public Regulation Commission PERA Bldg.
Another round of hearings on the San Juan Generating Station. After this, the PRC commissioners must make a final decision.
Oct. 2-4 Earth USA 2015 NM Museum of Art
8th Intl. Earthbuilding Conference. See article, pg. 9. Earthusa.org
Oct. 3, 4-8 pm Corazón de la Tierra Country Fair 5430 S. Richards Ave.
A celebration of land conservation. Music, dinner, award presentation. $75. See article, pg. 29. 505.986.3801, etemple@nmlandcon servancy.org, www.nmlandconservancy
Oct. 6, 5 pm Piñón Awards Ceremony La Fonda Hotel
SF Community Foundation awards recognize outstanding nonprofit organizations and philanthropists. Ceremony at 6 pm followed by dinner. $50. 505.988.9715, www.santafecf.org/pinon-awards
Oct. 14-18 SF Independent Film Festival
505.349.1414, info@santafeindependent. com, www.santafeindependent.com
Tuesdays and Saturdays, 7 am-1 pm Santa Fe Farmers’ Market 1607 Paseo de Peralta (& Guadalupe)
Northern NM farmers & ranchers offer fresh greenhouse tomatoes, greens, root veggies, cheese, teas, herbs, spices, honey, baked goods, body care products and much more. www.santafefarmersmarket.com
Sundays, 10 am-4 pm New Mexico Artisan Market Farmers’ Market Pavilion www.artmarketsantafe.com
Santa Fe Recycling
Make 2015 the year to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as you can. City residential curbside customers can recycle at no additional cost and drop by 1142 Siler Road,Building A to pick up free recycling bins. At least 50 percent of curbside residential customers recycle now. Let’s take that number to 100 percent. For more information, visit http://www.santafenm. gov/trash_and_recycling or call 505.955.2200 (city); 505.992.3010 (county); 505.424.1850 (SF Solid Waste Management Agency).
www.GreenFireTimes.com
Española
Sept. 11, 9-11 am Regional Coalition of LANL Communities Ohkay Casino Conference Center, 68 NM-291, Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo
Monthly board meeting open to the public. In partnership with 8 cities, the coalition strives to be good stewards of the land affected by legacy and ongoing waste activities at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Regionalcoalition.org/
Sept. 26, 9:30 am–2 pm Northern Río Grande Heritage Area Río Arriba County Annex Commission chambers
Through Sept. 12, 10 am-6 pm Arte de Descartes XV Stables Gallery 133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte
15th annual juried art show features art made from 90% recycled materials. 575.751.9862, www.whollyrags.org
Through Sept. 24 Beautiful Midden Taos Center for the Arts & Stables Gallery
Art & artifact exhibit. A project of Amigos Bravos addressing issues of illegal dumping in Taos County. www.beautifulmidden.org,www.amigosbravos.org
Annual meeting. Open to the public. See pg. 29. 505.753.0937
Sept. 26-27 Española Valley Arts Festival Plaza de Española Paseo de Oñate at Bond St.
Art exhibits, food and other booths and many local musicians. Drew9180@gmail.com
Oct. 23-24 Traditional Agriculture & Sustainable Living Conference Northern New Mexico College
10th annual. This year’s theme: Global Warming and Other Issues Threatening Mother Earth. International keynote speakers include renowned elder/healer/shaman Angaangaq Angakkorsuaq (“Uncle”) from Greenland and Dr. Mark Nelson, dir. of the U.K. based Institute of Ecotechnics. Panels, workshops, hands-on activities, vendors, info booths, heritage seed exchange. 518.332.3156, fourbridges@live.com, http://4bridges.org
Los Alamos
Sept. 12, Oct.10 Seed Collecting Tour Pajarito Environmental Center
Collect grass seeds and look at native plants. Seeds will be used in a post-fire restoration project along Frijoles Creek in Bandelier. Free. Register in advance. 505.662.0460, www.peecnature.org
Sept. 29, 7 pm Endangered New Mexico Pajarito Environmental Center 3540 Orange St.
A representative from Defenders of Wildlife will discuss which species in NM are threatened or endangered and what you can do to protect them. 505.662.0460, www.peecnature.org
Tuesday-Friday, 10 am-1 pm and Saturday Pajarito Environmental Education Center 3540 Orange St.
Nature center and outdoor education programs. Exhibits of flora and fauna of the Pajarito Plateau; herbarium, live amphibians, butterfly and xeric gardens. TuesdaySaturday. Free. 505.662.0460, Programs@ PajaritoEEC.org, www.pajaritoeec.org
Thursdays, 7 am–12:30 pm Los Alamos Farmers’ Market Library parking lot talacook@windstream.net, com/farmers-market.htm
TAOS
lamainstreet.
Sept. 26-27 Mother Earth Summit Gathering for Mother Earth 9/26: San Ildefonso Pueblo 9/27: Pojoaque Gathering Site
19th Gathering for all cultures and ages. A public event. Youth activities, healing arts, craft booths, Native cultural dances, workshops. 9/26: Mother Earth Summit; 9/27: Gathering and Relay Run. 505.747.3259, info@tewawom enunited.org, tewawomenunited.org
Through Sept. 31 Ancient Native Farming Techniques Exhibit Colorado Plateau Intertribal Learning Center, Tuba City, AZ.
HERE & THERE
Exhibit showcases efforts by elders and community leaders from 12 tribes across the Colorado Plateau to preserve dry farming practices that have allowed native peoples to flourish for thousands of years. Open by appointment. alicia.tsosie@ foodcorps.org, www.grandcanyontrust.org/blog/ preserving-our-seeds-and-farmer-knowledge
Galleries in Chama, Brazos, Los Ojos and Laguna Vista. Maps at the Chama Station Inn. 575.756.2315, Chamavalleystudiotour.com
Oct. 3-4, 10 am-5 pm El Rito Studio Tour Between Abiquiú and Ojo Caliente on Hwy. 554
Sept. 25–Oct. 4 Taos Fall Arts Festival
Six locations. See newsbite, pg. 11. www.taosfallarts.com
Sept. 5-6, 10 am-5 pm Chama Valley Studio Tour
Sept. 5-7, 8 am-5 pm Arts & Crafts Market Santo Domingo Pueblo
Annual event with more than 300 artisans, pueblo-grown produce, Native dances. 505.465.0406
Sept. 9, 8 am-12 pm Chile Field Day NMSU Plant Science Research Center, 8 mi. SE of Las Cruces on Hwy. 28
Showcase of research projects, graduate student posters, field tours. 575.646.4398, swalker@nmsu.edu
See pg. 4. 575.581.4679, www.elritostudiotour.org
Oct. 25-28 Transforming Sustainability Education Minneapolis, Minn.
Assoc. for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education 2015 conference and expo. www.cvent.com/events/aashe2015-conference-and-expo/event-sum mary-fc440cae5a7d4c2c89480f782d320300. aspx
Sept. 15 Donation Deadline Storydancer Project Navajo Nation Series
Free services include health clinic trainings, presentations for toddlers, preschool and K-6 graders and teacher in-service trainings at schools and centers projectdirector@story dancer.com, www.thestorydancerproject.org
Sept. 16 Arizona Farmer/Chef Connection Tucson Convention Center, AZ
Conference/showcase for local wholesale food buyers and suppliers. Localfirstazfound ation.org/azfarmerchef
Sept. 24-27 Gila River Festival Silver City, NM
“Finding Balance in a Changing World” will explore the inherent tension between modern society’s technological sophistication and our imperative to live within the bounds of the natural world. Featuring filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, Thinking like a Watershed dialogue with Jack Loeffler, Enrique Lamadrid, Rina Swentzell and Steve Harris. Gala for the Gila. Kayaking, birding, guided hikes, filmfest and more. Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the NM Humanities Council. 575.538.8078, www.gilaconservation.org
Sept. 24-27 EarthWalks Journey Canyon de Chelly, AZ
Full moon/autumn equinox guided journey. Experience cultural traditions and volunteer service learning activities with a Diné elder/ weaver on her farm in the canyon. Indoor lodging or free camping. info@earthwalks. org, http://earthwalks.org/
Green Fire Times • September 2015
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James H. Auerbach, MD and Staff support Green Fire Times in its efforts to bring about a better world by focusing on the people, enterprises and initiatives that are transforming New Mexico into a diverse and sustainable economy. Some of the topics Green fire times showcases: GREEN Building, Products, Services, Entrepreneurship, Investing and Jobs; Renewable Energy, Sustainable Agriculture, Regional Cuisine, Ecotourism, Climate Adaptation, Natural Resource Stewardship, Arts & Culture, Health & Wellness, Regional History, Community Development, Educational Opportunities James H. Auerbach, MD provides dermatology services in Santa Fe, NM (Sorry, we are no longer accepting new clients.) 40
Green Fire Times • September 2015
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