Northern New Mexico Farm Tour

Despite the number of farms I’ve seen, I don’t think I’ll ever lose my fascination for seeing the where the food i enjoy comes from. I grew up in a land where produce came from the left end of the supermarket, and meat was behind glass along the back wall. After years of the farmer’s market, I confess I fall into the habit of thinking of the back row over by the train track as the place where my garlic is. Not that it grows there – but that’s the physical location and image I associate with the garlic I like to get. This year’s farm tour gave me a whole new set of cultivation coordinates.

The annual farm tour is a bit of a speedbump for me – sure, I’d love to go, but it’s a sunday, my official hang-about-the-jaconita day, and I’m ever so slightly allergic to crowds, so it’s no stretch to find reasons not go. But this year, extenuating circumstances (the need to transport lamb shanks from Tierra Amarilla to Taos for an upcoming project) had me driving a strategic loop through Northern New Mexico that took me by three of the farms participating in this year’s tour.

The road tour of New Mexico can get a little bleak. It’s high desert. It’s dry. It’s monochromatic. It’s not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of “lush fertile valleys”. But they’re here – off the main roads. When there’s a sign that directs you down the second dirt road on the left, you find yourself blowing out the shocks on a bumpy dirt road that ends in an emerald explosion of fresh things growing. It’s so worth it.

Farm irrigation by Gabriella Marks Photography

Shepherds Lamb Gabriella Marks Photography

Natural Wool by Gabriella Marks photography

Natural Wool by Gabriella Marks photography

El Bosque Garlic Photograph by Gabriella Marks

El Bosque Garlic Photograph by Gabriella Marks

El Bosque Garlic Photograph by Gabriella Marks

Farm Dog Photograph by Gabriella Marks

Talon del Gato Photograph by Gabriella Marks