Field Day in Pecos: Regenerative Agriculture in Action

Farming regeneratively brings hope for the future as it can reverse climate change, support clean waterways and increase crop production while requiring little to no chemical inputs. Practices can be scaled up or down, with an overarching focus on growing more nutritious food and building soil. 

Join us on Thursday September 15, 2022 from 2pm – 7pm in Pecos, New Mexico, to experience regenerative agriculture in action. Over the course of two short years, Avalon Rising Agriventures restored a degraded 1/3 acre field in the Pecos Valley using the 5 Tenets of Regenerative Agriculture:

1. Keep soil covered.
2. Minimize soil disturbance and external inputs.
3. Maximize biodiversity.
4. Maintain living roots.
5. Integrate animals.

Community members share in the care for the field and will demonstrate no-till, sheet mulching, compost application, companion planting and other regenerative methodologies they use to create a diverse, multi-story garden of “chaotic abundance”. 8th generation farmer and Chair of the New Mexico Acequia Commission Ralph Vigil will be present to talk about the centuries old acequia culture gaining importance with increasing water scarcity in our future. You will be invited to participate in simple tasks tending the field and share a locally sourced meal.

WHAT TO WEAR

Wear closed toed shoes, a hat and sun protection.

WHAT TO BRING

Bring clippers, gloves and a bag to take some veggies home. 

This workshop is hosted in partnership with the New Mexico Healthy Soil Working Group and the Seeding Regenerative Agriculture Project. Funding for this free event is generously provided by the Santa Fe Community Foundation and the New Mexico Foundation.

Come and join us to see, taste and partake in the bounty!

ABOUT AVALON RISING AGRIVENTURES 

Robin Reindle is the founder of the project. Growing a small plot in her yard to supply her family with vegetables had been the extent of Robin’s experience when she decided to see if farming regeneratively worked here in New Mexico. While the tenets apply across all ecosystems, the most well-known examples from experts in the field (such as Singing Frogs Farm, Gabe Brown, Mathew Powers, Elaine Ingram, John Liu, Vandana Shiva and so many others) are situated in other areas.

Robin’s neighbor Ralph Vigil –an 8th generation farmer and Chair of the New Mexico Acequia Commission– was interested in the experiment and offered use of a 1/3 acre field which was covered thick with thistle. In the spring of 2021, up to 6 Wwoofers were invited to share tasks in the field and with Ralph on his farm.

Robin had always fed the soil plenty of manure but was used to working it in by tilling or double digging. The no-till concept was foreign and intimidating and required great risk-taking as well as bravery. To everyone’s surprise and delight seedlings thrived, nurtured by the compost in which they were planted, and later in the season, Ralph commented that the leaves on the squash were big enough to diaper a baby! 

This year, members of the community were invited to participate. Each of us has our own special gifts to bring to the project and we’ve experienced amazing improvements in both abundance and flavor. The field proved resilient in times of drought, flood and hail. Yes, regenerative is a viable way to farm in New Mexico!