Field Day at Chelenzo Farms: Water Harvesting Earthworks

On Saturday, August 6th from 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., join a field day on water harvesting earthworks at Chelenzo Farms in Cerrillos, NM! This will be a hands-on, experiential opportunity led by our conservation partner and Soil Health Champion Jan-Willem Jansens of Ecotone Landscape Planning. We will be building terraces and other earthworks (zuni bowls, one rock dams, etc), while learning how to maximize water infiltration and minimize erosion.
→ Learn about one rock dams and zuni bowls in this Erosion Control Field Guide by Quivira Coalition and Watershed Artisan (in English and en Español)

This event is free and lunch will be provided.

This event is hosted in partnership among Hacienda Dominguez & Chelenzo Farms, Ecotone Landscape Planning, the New Mexico Healthy Soil Working Group, and the Seeding Regenerative Agriculture Project.

ABOUT ECOTONE LANDSCAPE PLANNING

Ecotone’s vision is to help create and maintain healthy, productive landscapes through insightful ecological stewardship by the primary users and decision makers of the land. Our work often centers around common themes, including soil health, water storage, woodland and forest health, and creating and restoring habitat for wildlife. By working at the nexus of these ecological principles, we take a holistic approach to land management that works towards healing the entire landscape.

We develop landscape management plans, conceptualize landscape conservation and restoration initiatives, bring together project teams, identify and pursue funding sources, and direct the project’s detailed design and implementation.

Ecotone’s work begins where there is an edge, a transitional space, where ecosystems meet and where people seek to resolve tensions in the use and health of the land. Through a deepening understanding of land and communities both human and wild, Ecotone guides diverse individuals and groups in an integrative multi-step process of land restoration and stewardship.

ABOUT HACIENDA DOMÍNGUEZ & CHELENZO FARMS

Founded upon a dream of a healthier life closer to nature, Chelsea & Lorenzo (Chelenzo) moved to New Mexico from New York in 2021 with their family to plant regenerative roots in the Land of Enchantment.

Set in the high desert mountains of Cerrillos, New Mexico, Hacienda Domínguez offers guests the experience of a farm in action as well as the opportunity to hike on 350 acres just east of the Turquoise Trail (Route 14) and directly above the Galisteo River Basin. Nature lovers, hikers and outdoorsmen alike will discover arroyos, caves, mesmerizing 360 degree vistas of the mountains that surround Santa Fe, and witness awe-inspiring sunrises and sunsets.

At Chelenzo Farms we are applying permaculture, soil health, agroecology and agroforestry principles and are enthusiastic about applying innovative and indigenous practices to achieve our goals.

Our organic research farm serves to educate the community, resolve food insecurity issues and offer training in the areas of permaculture farming, land conservation, indigenous agricultural and sustainability practices, and the realm of sciences that look to understand the relationship (past, current and future) that humans have with nature and the land. We also aspire to contribute to knowledge about agricultural practices that improve soil health in an arid environment, amidst a 22-year megadrought.

Most immediately, we aspire to rejuvenate the magical landscape into a flourishing garden and small-scale farm replete with edible native plants and trees, such as cacti, agave, succulents, saffron, beans, herbs, various other greens, fruits and vegetables. Currently, our animals include chickens, goats, and ducks, and we intend to acquire more, which we will integrate into our farming practices via grazing and the creation of compost and organic-based soil amendments.