Category Archives: Research

Cultivating a sensible food system in the face of Climate Change and COVID

Posted on September 11, 2020 by Miguel

Greetings readership!  I hope you are well during these unprecedented times!  Sorry it has taken me so long to post, life is exceptionally busy when the focus is on family and the land! Following is an article I wrote for … Continue reading →

Posted in Research, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Rio Fernando starts flowing

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Miguel

Today I drove by the familiar bridge on Witt Rd and saw water coming down the river.  It seems early for this to happen, remembering that early in my life the river would flow year round.  The sight of water … Continue reading →

Posted in Acequia Culture, Research, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Reflections on the harvest of blue corn in Taos in 2016

Posted on October 14, 2016 by Miguel

It can be said that my experience with blue corn (maíz azul) is the reason I became interested in agriculture in the first place. You can read about my first experience planting blue corn here. Husking an ear of blue … Continue reading →

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First frost at Sol Feliz Farm

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Miguel

Today is Dia de San Geronimo, an important feast day in the Taos area.  There will be dances and celebration at the neighboring Taos Pueblo.  We awoke this morning to a layer of ice on the windows of the cars … Continue reading →

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AIRE presents at “Humanitarian Design Seminar”

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Miguel
Posted in Acequia Culture, AIRE, Chrysalis Alternative High School, Grow Dome, Parr Field, Research, Sol Feliz Farm, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Trial and error with aquaponics

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Miguel

I checked on the Grow Dome yesterday to see how the system was running.  It was not as dramatic as the loss of fish, but I entered the Grow Dome and found about half of our plants dried up and … Continue reading →

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Rio Don Fernando starts flowing

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Miguel

We noticed water in the river this past weekend.  There was some water in the river a couple of times in the last month or two but it wasn’t river flow, per se, but just some local snowmelt.  Now the … Continue reading →

Posted in Acequia Culture, Chrysalis Alternative High School, Research, Sol Feliz Farm | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Making biochar in a woodstove

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Miguel

We have been making biochar all winter in small batches by using tin cans we got from some “pirouette” cookies and a paint can that we found in an old garage that was exceptionally clean.  We poked a small hole … Continue reading →

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Learning to slaughter lambs

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Miguel

Today we facilitated a learning experience in slaughtering lambs.  These aren’t just any lambs, these are high quality, grass fed, pasture raised, churro sheep.  We had three educators learn the process from a local slaughtering expert, Edward Gonzales.  All of … Continue reading →

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Sorting the garlic harvest

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Miguel

This is our second year of going through our garlic harvest and separating it into different size classes.  This is useful to know how our garlic is doing and allows us to better answer questions around the effects of soils, … Continue reading →

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