A large variety of perennial plants, some of them exotic and others native to high desert environment, had been planted around the Seeds of Change farmhouse in a unique design. For the last few years this area around the house, which was vacant and had not been tended, was growing wild and proliferated with weeds. Of special interest were the beautiful apricot trees, Prairie Fire Crabapples, lilacs, grapevines and old junipers, which we pruned to make a small, welcoming grove.

We did a thorough clean-up back in April that opened lots of space. The clean-up was followed in May by a landscape design workshop. The aim of the workshop was to come up with concepts for the different spaces surrounding the building. Peggy Wright, a landscape architect from Santa Fe, conducted the workshop for a group made up of Seeds of Change associates Wade Collins, Chris Bell, Steve Peters and myself, plus two outsiders: Terry Allan from California and Felice Lucero from San Felipe Pueblo. As Peggy put it in the workshop introduction:

“The research begins by looking at the landscape as a style or type and by searching for precedents for that style of landscape. For instance, if you are designing a memorial garden, a community vegetable garden, or a meditation garden, you first research the history and precedents for that particular type of landscape. For example, for my thesis on children’s preschool playgrounds I began by doing research on the stages of a child’s development, the role of play on a child’s development, environmental elements that could enhance development, the history of children’s playgrounds and contemporary precedents for children’s outdoor spaces. Obviously given the time frame for this project, this will be a fairly condensed process. For your garden you might want to look at traditional rural New Mexico gardens or search for examples of gardens that facilitate social gatherings.”

The spaces around the house will above all have a social purpose: a place where our interns can live and interact as well as a place where visitors can relax and learn about gardening and the Upper Rio Grande valley bioregion.

The long whitewashed terraces curving along the driveway offered an opportunity to reveal the artistic skills of our group. Walking or driving along those walls will take the visitors through the seasons with a diversity of blooming plants, fall colors and cold-hardy plants. The four levels of the terraces will represent the Earth with rock, lizard, tortoise and snake images; Life with vegetation and mammal images; the sky with images of clouds, birds and sun, and finally the celestial elements with images of the moon and stars.

On a more technical note: a water catchment system based on passive irrigation is being integrated into the landscape with work commencing during our July Permaculture workshop. We expect to start painting the walls and completing the water catchment system in the fall and to continue planting in the spring of 2009.

We are looking for two interns to work on that project, so if you are interested please contact us!

We are proud to be part of this project to create a new social space at our farm and thereby increase the visibility of our mission—to preserve biodiversity and promote the use of sustainable organic agricultural practices.

Richard Bernard,
Seeds of Change Research Director

Photo Captions: (1) Recently cleared space around the farmhouse will be transformed into inviting gardens, engendering social gatherings. (2) Terrace walls will soon be adorned with artwork, and the beds will host a variety of plants.