After Hours with Taos Sunflower

Tuesdays in Seco

For probably seven years now we've had the good fortune to participate in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm right here in Arroyo Seco.  It's owned and operated by Melinda Bateman, and is called "Morning Star Farm", so named after one of the former communes right here in our area. 

If you're not familiar with a CSA, it's an important part of the slow food revolution in our country.  It supports a local farmer and keeps you eating food that was picked right before pickup and hasn't caused a huge carbon footprint getting here.  Once you eat food like that, you'll have a hard time going back to the grocery...organic or not.  If you have one in your area, I highly suggest you investigate.  It will cost you a bit up front, but over the 26 weeks we have pickups, the cost averages out to equal to or below what we'd pay for groceries at the store (not to mention that it's fresh and chemical free).  In subscribing ahead of the season, you take the same risks the farmer takes...risking crop loss from weather or bugs...and if it's a banner year, you score, big time.

Every Tuesday afternoon we are able to pick up the week's selections, based on what was (or wasn't) successful on the farm.  There are usually lots of choices and frequently, more food than two of us can eat fresh (I'll freeze what we can't eat now).  We used to pick up right on the farm, but parking became an issue as the CSA grew.  Now the pickup is at a location across the road from our studio/former shop, bordering right on Taos Pueblo reservation land.  It just couldn't be a more beautiful setting. 

For more photos, please visit my Flickr page as noted in the left column here on the blog.  Enjoy!

Freedom of speech

Yesterday I posted about what freedom meant to me.  It prompted a comment from an anonymous reader of this blog, and gave me lots more to think about as I enjoyed my day yesterday.  It reinforced that we are all entitled to our opinions and the freedom to speak them out loud.  It also was a reminder of how things get misinterpreted and how differently we all see things.  I wrote this response, and this morning decided I felt it was more of a posting than a comment. 

As always, my postings here are my own feelings and opinions and I don't expect anyone to feel the same way that I do.  It's another part of that great freedom we enjoy, to voice our opinions and not be in fear of retaliation.

I don't know about real estate prices in Santa Fe these days, but I know that things aren't great here in the Taos area right now.  Have prices gone up in the 16 years I've lived here?  Absolutely.  Has that happened in other communities across the country?  I couldn't say for sure, but I'm guessing they have in more than a few, and we're seeing the results of some of that on the news now as the house of cards is starting to fall in.

I can't speak on behalf of the entire community of Taos, but I can say that I know and am aware of more than a few people who are struggling hard to hang on to live here, both as a result of this kind of growth and the current recession/depression.  Locals who have owned their properties for generations are struggling with tax rates that increase as others move in (like we did).  It's not just here; my son and his wife can't afford to buy a home in the area he grew up in because of this same kind of growth pattern.  It's just what happens.  The people who settled this country called it manifest destiny.  After WWII, it was called  progress.  Call it whatever you like, like it or not...it's what people have done throughout history...they move.

I think when we visit communities as tourists we tend to be having a great vacation seeing what we want to see.  I don't think it's a good idea take a broad stroke and refer to folks as "poverty elite" without really understanding the community.

To own a fancy car certainly has always been a big part of the American dream...it's just not mine. Having lived in an area where things like that seemed to be important, I'm much happier living where they aren't.   I'm also guessing the possessions that mean so much to me (my books, rocks found on hikes, and my art supplies, for instance) might mean nothing to someone else, nor would I expect them to.

It's why we're lucky to live in this country...we can have our dreams and speak our minds, whether we do so anonymously or openly, and own it, as I do.

Freedom

I've been pondering this post for the last several weeks.  I wanted to talk to someone about this while it was still happening, but decided to save it for July 4.  What is IT?  IT is what happened with the elections in Iran.  I thought about how there's so much so many of us complain about in this country, and yet, when the chips are down, we can still hold it together.  Those poor folks in Iran were hoping for a change and had someone pull the rug out from under them without even waiting a decent enough time to even pretend all the votes were counted.  What does this have to do with us?  I was, in my mind, comparing it to what happened in our election between Al Gore and George Bush.  Hanging chads, uncounted votes, and other mysterious events gave us an election result that many of us felt was wrong, but we didn't get killed trying to speak our minds about it.  It was at least one good thing out of all that.

And that, I think, is one of the many reasons why so many people risk life and limb to crawl across our borders to live here.  Must be something we're doing right, even if a lot of it is still a mess.

Freedom is what I think of on this holiday.  A while back, I was at the post office and when I came out, I found this car in the parking lot.  Freedom also means living in Taos.  It's a place where you can be whoever you want to be and be accepted.  No worries about perfect make up, clothes, fancy cars.  In fact, I would say you could possibly be embarrassed to drive a fancy car around these parts, not to mention ill advised...because it's only a matter of time before your car or your windshield get dinged or cracked (a true sign of a  local, IMHO).

I love enjoying all the freedoms in my life, and trust you do as well. 

Happy 4th of July!

Destash update

Oh dear...Monte and I just spent the last two days going through the (mostly) novelty yarn stash and it was a lot more than we had guessed.  When all was said and done, we bagged, tagged and inventoried 138 bags of skeins, some bags with only one skein, but most with 2-5 skeins.  It seems my collection was a little out of control.  (Who, me?)

Anyway...we tried to start photographing more of it today (I did a few last week) and the light was, again, just terrible. We moved the set up all over indoors and out and couldn't get much cooperation from the universe.  That's just too many items for me to adjust with Photoshop, so it's going to be a harder job than I had planned.

All of that to say I will keep working on this and will do my best to make these available soon (we've had mostly rainy, cloudy days for months...not conducive for great photography).  I'll do an official mailing from our mailing list when I think I've got a handle on this...so if you're not signed up already, please sign up now and be sure to select the  option for notifications of updates for the Etsy shop.

And this was supposed to be a fun, fast, project...

:0)

Tim's: the end of an era

When I moved to Taos in 1994, this was one of the first places I discovered.  It was where I went after skiing on a winter's day for margaritas, or for a hearty breakfast before skiing...and where we've gone religiously for all these years for some of the best green chile in el norte.

It's just out our backdoor, so to speak.  We can take the 8 mile drive up along the river to the ski valley to have lunch or dinner there on a summer or fall day...without having to go to town.  It's been our version of "Cheers" here in Taos.  It's where you know you'll see someone you know, catch up on local stuff a little bit, and have as much fun visiting with the staff as you have with your meal.

It's been for sale for years, and this past fall, it finally happened.  The new owners left it pretty much as is all winter, but now that it has reopened this summer, it's under their new name and personal touch.

We went up for dinner this past week.  I supposed I always knew it would happen, but I was hoping against hope it wouldn't.  Phil, the genius behind the recipes, is gone.  Most of the staff we once enjoyed so much was dispatched during the winter months.  The green chile cheeseburger, according to Mr. Sunflower, was still fine, but then, how much can you do to ruin that.  My green chile sauce over my burrito left me broken hearted...it was pretty much tasteless.  There was no one else there, also a telling sign.  I can't recall ever going in without at least a couple of locals hanging around. 

You might like it if you go there, but for me, it's the end of an era.  A sad end.

A mother's pearls

Yesterday, as I was talking to Mrs. Bird (nesting on our porch), I noticed this gorgeous moth laying her eggs on the top of our door jamb.  Isn't she beautiful?  I couldn't help but notice how her eggs resemble pearls.

When I see the patterns on the moths and beetles here, I completely understand where the inspiration for the pottery and basket designs of the southwest may have come from.

If anyone knows what kind of moth she is, I'd love to know more about her.