Box Car Farm

New Mexico isn’t easy farming land. It’s hot, it’s extraordinarily dry, and at the higher altitudes, the growing season follows its own timeframe, varying significantly from lower lands. Nestled above 8000 feet in the Sangre de Christo mountains, the experience of walking the perimeter of Box Car farm is visually more reminiscent of postcards of the Alps than the high desert images usually associated with “New Mexico”.

On moving to Santa Fe, one of the first orders of business was to get new wheels. I couldn’t resist the bright orange jeep. I wanted to be able to go as far and as high as an assignment or my own curiosity might send me.

And it comes in handy, navigating the dirt roads that are the driveway pre-requisite to the best farming lands. I’m happiest when I’m on an adventure, and I’ve finally figured out which second turn past which 3rd mailbox has me headed in what I’m sure is the right direction, and I can see the destination – in this case the carved crow above the hand-painted sign for “Farm.”

Writer, mother, and now farmer Kristen Davenport Katz and her husband Avrum had a wild dream a ways back. They wanted to do the farming thing, for real. It’s a pastoral fantasy a lot of us have, and some even embark upon, only to retreat quietly back to urban life when they realize just how much work it is, just how hard a living it can be.

True to the name of the farm, they did indeed begin their farm living in a train Box Car they were somehow able to truck up from Albuquerque. And now, having learned the cycle of high altitude growing seasons, and learning each year more about soil care to prevent pests, and just how exuberantly dirty farm children can be, they’re thriving.

I photographed Box Car Farm on assignment for Local Flavor magazine, and Kristen herself wrote the story. Small scale, sustainable family farming is alive and well. You can read Kristen’s accounts of the farm at the Box Car Farm website and you can enjoy their produce at the Santa Fe Farmer’s market.

Box Car Farm New Mexico photo by Gabriella Marks

The family farm, the family tractor

Box Car Farm New Mexico photo by Gabriella Marks

Moments of nature and nurture

Box Car Farm New Mexico photo by Gabriella Marks

The youngest Box Car farmer feeding the llamas and the goats

Box Car Farm New Mexico photo by Gabriella Marks

Mama with llama, Ella pleased with her altitude

Box Car Farm New Mexico photo by Gabriella Marks

Raising food and family in the greenhouse

Box Car Farm New Mexico photo by Gabriella Marks

Little wonders in the rabbitat

Box Car Farm New Mexico photo by Gabriella Marks

Dressing fancy for a rendez-vous with the honeycomb