   A New Mexico Adventure - August 15, 2001 Jeff Schalau, County Director, Agent, Agriculture & Natural Resources Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County I'm writing this column from Albuquerque, New Mexico at the National Association of County Agricultural Agents annual conference. New Mexico Cooperative Extension is hosting the meeting and doing an excellent job. Imagine 1,500 Extension Agents from the 50 United States and Territories invading your town for a week. That's a scary thought. In truth, it's a great opportunity to learn about Extension programs and compare notes with others that do similar work. As with most conferences, you have to have a keynote address, an inspirational speaker, concurrent sessions, a field tour, and an awards banquet. One highpoint of this meeting was laughing my socks off while Baxter Black told stories and recited his distinctive brand of cowboy poetry. Baxter Black is a former large animal veterinarian/cowboy that now makes a living as an entertainer/author. I highly recommend catching his program if you can. Another highpoint was accepting a national award for the Backyard Gardener Web Site. New Mexico also offers the best green and red chile that I have ever had. My goal is to have green chile at every meal. Today, about 30 Agents went on a tour focused on specialty crops of the Estancia Valley. The Estancia Valley is about 30 miles east of Albuquerque with several small farms producing a wide variety of crops. The growing season averages 130 days and the native vegetation is similar to the Prescott/Chino Valley area. The tour was very fun and informative so I'll describe it to you. The first farm we visited grew pinto beans, corn, and potatoes with a vegetable stand on the farm. All crops produced were sold locally for a premium price. I bought 25 pounds of beans for $12.00. Our next stop was a 560 acre sod farm. They grew Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue under center-pivot irrigation. The sod is shipped to nurseries and landscapers within a 250 mile radius. Our third stop brought us to a farm that grew alfalfa, corn for silage, and pumpkins. The pumpkins are sold in a pumpkin patch experience similar to Young's Farm in Dewey and Collier Family Farm in Chino Valley. Schools bring children to the farm and each child pays $3.50 for an agricultural experience that includes a visit with the farmer, hayride, and the pumpkin of their choice. These hands-on farm educational programs are very popular across the country and provide a valuable link between children and agriculture. A local 4-H club served us lunch at Quarai: an abandoned Tiwa Pueblo ruin and Spanish Mission. The site was occupied between the 1300's and 1670's. Aside from an excellent lunch, we had a great tour which covered the Pueblo culture, Spanish colonization, and the events that led to the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. There is a lot more to this story, but suffice it to say that New Mexico has a very rich and interesting history that is unique in the United States. New Mexicans exemplify this by saying that if the pilgrims had sailed up the Rio Grande River to Santa Fe, they could have stayed in a nice hotel on the plaza. It rained, so we couldn't get down the road to the pheasant farm. So, we made our final stop at the bean processing operation. Pintos and other dried beans are harvested with a combine and windrowed in the field for a few days prior to gathering for cleaning and threshing. The processing equipment separates the dried beans from husks, rocks and debris. It also separates the broken beans from whole beans. The processor also sold dried beans directly from his shop in 25 and 100 pound bags. In Arizona, some dried beans are grown commercially in Cochise County. Of course, the New Mexico growers and processors claim that their product is superior to all others. The rangelands of the Estancia Valley have many of the same grass species as Yavapai County. Four wing saltbush and wolfberry were common shrubs. Gambel oak, pinyon pine, and Utah juniper were in abundance on the foothills. Juniper encroachment onto grasslands also appeared to be occurring. Aside from the plants, there was one outstanding landscape feature that I noticed: old adobe and stone buildings that had rugged and old character. These were both houses and outbuildings. Most had metal roofs and were in a serious state of disrepair. Trailers (mobile homes) seemed to be the house of choice among the newer structures. This tour got me thinking. Maybe we could conduct a tour of Agriculture in the Verde Valley. We have several farms and ranches that have unique character. Our irrigation ditches are also a distinctive resource. I know the Verde NRCD used to offer a tour of the ditches. If I ever get ahead of my other work, maybe I can round up some cooperators and make it happen. Until then, keep on gardening (and farming). The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension has publications and information on gardening and pest control. If you have other gardening questions, call the Master Gardener line in the Cottonwood office at 646-9113 or E-mail us at mgardener@kachina.net and be sure to include your address and phone number. Find past Backyard Gardener columns or submit column ideas at the Backyard Gardener web site: http://ag.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/. |