Exploring the area w/an emphasis on ruins

Written by karen on October 31st, 2010

We have had a lot of fun this week exploring various local sites (some of which I listed here before) with my dad.

Highlights included:

Amerind Museum ()

This was a place I’d passed on the highway many, many times and really wanted to visit. With Dad’s interest in Native American history and this being on the way to Casa Grande, the opportunity was ripe.

This was a very nice museum and separate art gallery, both housed in beautiful colonial Spanish buildings. The works here belonged to the private collection of William Fulton, a businessperson and later archeologist, who moved to Texas Canyon, AZ to further his studies.

Casa Grande Ruins ()

These ancient ruins are from the Hohokam culture and feature the “great house,” a four-story high structure housed under a modern shelter to protect it.

IMG_0725

Fort Bowie ()

We’d planned to do Fort Bowie in the morning and the Shakespeare Ghost Town in the afternoon, but Fort Bowie ended up being a bigger adventure than we’d thought and we spent all day there.

We hiked to the fort (though I now understand that you can drive there), and it was a beautiful hike through amazing country to get there. After we hiked back (different trail…well worth it), we were famished and had a great picnic lunch.

City of Rocks State Park ()

This was the state park where we camped on the first night of our two-night trip up to Bandelier. It features a large number of upright rocks made from eroded volcanic ash, one of only six geologically similar features in the world.

This place was awesome! Just about every camp site was great. We got in just before sunset and left the next morning, but we’ll definitely be returning to check out the surrounding trails and to spend more time here.

Bandelier National Monument ()

This site of Ancestral Pueblo dwellings has been on my to-do list since the first time we went to Albuquerque, and it met all my expectations plus some. Brad and I even hiked up to the Alcove House, which features a 140 feet climb up four ladders.

In addition to the fascinating ruins, we saw lots of beautiful fall foliage. And the drive both into and out of the part was stunning.

We camped at Jemez Falls campground (which was great) and also enjoyed a nice breakfast in Jemez Springs at the Jemez Stage Stop. (This seemed like a fun little burg to spend a weekend or something.)

Petroglyphs National Monument()

We snuck in a visit to the petroglyphs too on the way home from Bandelier. (These pics are from the last time Brad and I were there.)

We also did a few canyon drives (Horseshoe, Price) while Dad was here and ate a lot of good food.

 

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Local stuff to do

Written by karen on October 14th, 2010

Our region is so packed full of unique and interesting natural and historical sites, some of which we’ve visited and others of which are still on our list.

I’ve been thinking about this for two reasons. One is that we are having some visitors here this month. The other is that I am excited about the idea of doing some projects with local school kids around some of these sites. Being a fairly remote location, a lot of kids think it’s boring to living here and that anywhere would be better. On the other hand, a lot of us adults have chosen to live here because it is such an interesting place. Kids here (many of whom have never seen these sites) should get a vision of why it’s a cool place.

So here’s a list of some of the sites, just in case you’re wondering.

Within 2 hours

Chiricahua National Monument
Our favorite…we take every visitor here and never tire of it.

Fort Bowie
Haven’t been there yet but are looking forward to it probably later this month. Update – we’ve been and liked it a lot

Shakespeare Ghost Town
Again, haven’t been there yet…hoping to go for the re-enactment weekend later this month. (I’m leaving Tombstone off this list…I hear it’s grotesquely commercial, and Brad won’t go anyway.) – Update: We’ve been to the Shakespeare ghost town; interesting, a bit touristy, but good if you like this kind of thing….and some day, I want to go to Tombstone; a free beer goes to whoever comes and wants to go with me.

Kartcher Caverns
Haven’t been

Within 4 hours

Gila Cliff Dwellings
See recent post

The Catwalk Trail
Haven’t been (nor to Glenwood), north of Silver City Update: visited briefly; another stop if you go up this way is Pietown

City of Rocks State Park
Near Deming…haven’t been there yet, but maybe this month. Events calendar looks intriguing. Update – we’ve been and liked it a lot

Saguaro National Park
Have driven through it, not sure how much more there is to see

(Also in Tucson is the San Xavier del Bac mission. I think there are other missions around here, especially near El Paso, but I need to research.)

Casa Grande Ruins

Within 6+ hours

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
One of my personal favs; see video of the fly out. Brad hasn’t been. We will definitely go again when the bird count gets good this year.

Carlsbad Caverns
Haven’t been

Sedona

Bandelier National Monument

Petroglyphs National Monument

A bit farther afield (but definitely on the list)

Grand Canyon (8 hours)

Big Bend (8 hours)

I’ll add to this list as new things come to my attention. – Update: a few more things here, here and here.

 

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A mew in the night

Written by karen on October 8th, 2010

At 3:00am this morning, I was awoken by a kind of constant whiny mewing just outside my window. A kitten? I didn’t think so since there are no feral cats around here that I know of and the sound was too small to be a bobcat. Maybe a baby opossum, some kind of rodent, or even a baby skunk?

I listened to it for awhile becoming more insistent and clearly irritated. I woke up Brad.

We went to the window. It seemed to be almost directly against the house, but we couldn’t see anything. We turned on the outside house lights and got a flashlight. Still nothing. But the mewing continued.

Finally, Brad ventured outside (in his underwear…quite a sight, and it was cold). What he saw was a spade footed toad….being eaten by a much smaller snake.

snake-frog

The snake looks big in this zoomed up picture, but the snake was only the thickness of a fat pencil and less than a foot long. We think it might have been a juvenile nightsnake but we’re not sure.

No sign of either party this morning.

 

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A little leisure

Written by karen on October 5th, 2010

Last week was crazy here. We spent many hours getting ready for the big open house at the farm. It went great and we had a tremendous turnout, but boy were we tired at the end of it all. (We made something like 50 pizzas, 3 trays of lasagna, salads, bread, 20 or so pies, and cheesecakes.)

We also had our first overnight visitor at the guest house. It was great to have Brad’s mom here, and we put her to work! (I’m a little worried that we are going to get a reputation for working our guests to exhaustion. :)

After all that, we finally made a trip to Gila Cliff Dwellings. Over the past five years or so, we have made several attempts to go there but for a variety of reasons, none have come to fruition.

This park is only about 2 hours from our house, and it is fabulous! We’ve visited several other cliff dwellings, but have seen none like this where they let you actually go into the dwellings themselves. It was great. (The hike to the dwellings is a short one mile round trip.)

These structures were built by the Mongollon people who lived in the area in the late 1200s AD. They apparently only occupied the dwellings for one generation. No one knows exactly why they came or left.  There are six separate caves with 46 rooms.

The area surrounding the park is beautiful country, and we look forward to going camping there in the future.

Link to full size slide show

 

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Changing seasons?

Written by karen on September 22nd, 2010

It seems time for one of those newsy updates about life here.

We awoke this morning to a cool steady rain. It was the kind that really soaked the ground, much better for the plants  than the storms that whip through here, though less entertaining for us. The rain gauge this morning held a little over 1/4″ (three-tenths as they would say here), and there are still low clouds holding rain all around us.

Yesterday, huge thunderclouds loomed all around us, and by sunset, there were huge downpours falling to the north and south of us, but only a few drops here. So it was nice to wake up to the sound of a steady rain.

Other than that, the weather has still been hot during the day (90s), but it has been getting very cool at night (high 50s). Fall seems to be in the air. (At the farm, we are harvesting pumpkins and winter squash, more signs of changing seasons.)

We haven’t quite started the second house yet, but have been working on some changes to the plans. Now that we’ve lived here for a while, we have a better feel for things. In particular, while we’d been warned that we probably designed with too many windows, we are adding even more windows to the second house. The summer heat hasn’t been too bad (especially with the ceiling fan and shades), and we love the views more than we ever thought we would.

We are also getting new quotes on materials. We’ve heard that prices have gone up considerably in the last few months. I can’t imagine why — has there been a resurgence in the building economy that I’ve missed? At any rate, we should start ordering and then building soon. (By the way, what do you all think of “Gila” — pronounced heel-uh — as a name for the second house? I’m not sure it means anything by itself but there are many things named for it, including a river, mountains, a county, a fish, and obviously a monster lizard sometimes seen in these parts.)

In the meantime, we’ve had time to finish up some detail work in Tumbleweed that we hadn’t gotten to previously. Not that there won’t always be more to do, but things are very livable and mostly finished looking now.

Our garden, though late in coming to its prime, is producing a lot now. We’ve had tons of green onions and cucumbers, and yesterday I counted 12 green tomatoes of varying sizes. (We’ve harvested four so far.) We’ve also had a good amount of green beans. I’m currently planting a fall crop of spinach and lettuce, and we are also planting garlic and Egyptian walking onions. I feel like I’ve learned enough this year that we’ll really have a good garden next year.

 

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Summary thoughts [foodchoices]

Written by karen on September 21st, 2010

If you haven’t had time to read the many voluminous posts on food issues I’ve written lately, perhaps you would have time to watch this short video that summarizes some of the main points.

(For those interested, I did my presentation on this topic at our local “Heritage Days” event this weekend. It was very well received, and I think it will make a difference in how people think about their food choices.)

This concludes this series of posts…for now. I can’t promise I won’t write more about food politics in the future though. ;)

 

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When it all seems like too much [foodchoices]

Written by karen on September 20th, 2010

At the end of the book The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter, the authors say:

“When one ethical concern is heaped upon another and we struggle to be sure that our purchases do not contribute to slave labor, animal exploitation, land degradation, wetland pollution, rural depopulation, unfair trade practices, global warming, and the destruction of rainforests [all issues that the authors explore], it may all seem so complicated that we could be tempted to forget about everything except eating what we like and can afford.”

They go on to say that it is important not to lose heart. Doing something…doing whatever you can do… is important.

Here are some ideas for things you can do that make a difference.

  • Make the best choices for you.
  • Vote with your dollars.
  • Know your food!
  • Start a garden.
  • Visit a farm stand or farmer’s market.
  • Look into the local food co-op.
  • Buy local.
  • Get to know your neighbors.
  • Eat local (non-factory-farmed) eggs.
  • Support your local farms.
  • Eat completely local food one day a month (or week).
  • Eat organic.
  • Try Meatless Mondays.
  • Buy local and seasonal.
  • Learn to cook something new.
  • Compost
  • Visit a local farm.
  • Eat food that you love!
  • Freeze, pickle, can, dry.
  • Think about selling or bartering things you make or grow.
  • Have a local potluck.
  • Eat heirloom.
  • Buy whole food.
  • Learn more about community self-sufficiency.
  • Find out about community-supported
    agriculture (CSA).
  • Help build our local farmer’s market.
  • Get to know others who are interested in food choices.
  • Share what you’ve learned with someone else.
 

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Effects on the world [foodchoices]

Written by karen on September 14th, 2010

Now for the big picture: how our food choices affect the larger world. For some, this will seem less relevant. To others, this is what it is all about. I think that the consumer choices we make are one of the biggest ways we can affect the world. In the era of governmental dysfunction that we live in, voting with our dollars is potentially the best way to make our voices heard.

Food choices we make affect many parts of the larger world, including:

  1. Economic priorities
  2. Treatment of animals
  3. Labor conditions
  4. The environment

From an economic standpoint, the choices we make affect businesses, both large and small. In the U.S., most small farmers don’t earn enough to make a living without other sources of income. The big ones only make it because of huge government subsidies. As a consumer, do you want to support big agribusiness or support small family farms? Do you want to encourage social responsibility or low prices at any cost? All of these are directly affected by the food purchases we make.

I haven’t talked much about the treatment of animals in factory farms, but suffice it to say that it is appallingly horrible. I can’t imagine that any caring person could see the way animals are treated in factory farms and still buy meat or dairy products produced that way.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of food in chain grocery stores comes from factory farms. It is a very sad thing.

If going vegetarian/vegan isn’t your thing, at least consider buying from a small farm where you can see how animals are treated or somewhere like Whole Foods that has Animal Compassion standards.

I’ve already talked about the fact that low food prices are often made possible by passing on the costs to someone other than the consumer. In many cases, the cost is passed on to workers, who are paid substandard wages and benefits or are working in unsafe conditions. Outside of the U.S. (at least we like to think it doesn’t happen here), this can extend to child labor, indentured servitude, and other manners of abuse.

One way to try to avoid this is to buy “fair trade” food which ensures decent wages, compliance with health, safety,and environmental standards, labor organization, and no child or forced labor.

Finally, the environment — this is perhaps the most important area our food choices affect.

Significant environmental degradation is caused by factory farming practices like chemical fertilizers and animal waste run-off. It is well documented that grain-raised beef is one of the worst calamities for the environment, worse it is said, than all our vehicles’ carbon emissions. If you want to do one thing that will make the biggest single difference for the environment, it is not to buy a hybrid car or even quit driving all together — it is to become a vegetarian.

There are many other ways to use food choices to help the environment. Choose food with less packaging. The amount of wasteful packaging that goes into our food is crazy. Or bring your own reusable bags to the grocery. This is a really small easy thing that everyone can do. And it makes a difference.

In addition, buying local (and seasonal) makes a big difference. Food raised overseas not only takes large amounts of fossil fuels to transport, but it is often raised using unsustainable methods. (Another area that I was unaware of previously is how damaging most “farmed” seafood is to the environment.)

But in addition to buying locally-produced food, it is also important to buy seasonal food. Food that is not seasonal (such as tomatoes grown in the winter…or rice grown in California where there is not adequate water) often takes so much extra energy to raise (even locally), that it would be more environmentally sound to fly it in from somewhere it can grow seasonally.

All of this may seem like a lot of burden to take on ourselves as individuals. But if we as individuals don’t think about these things, who will? Our governments surely aren’t. If we don’t make some changes, we’ll all ultimately pay the price. And isn’t a little thought with regard to our food (and possibly some occasional extra expenditures and inconveniences) worth it?

 

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If I can do it… [foodchoices]

Written by karen on September 12th, 2010

Often when I talk about food, the subject of cooking comes up. People say something like “Yeah, well, if I could cook like you, I’d eat better (or make better food choices).”

Well, I’m here to tell you that anyone can cook.

When I think about people who I know that are reading this, they mostly fall into two groups: people who knew me before I could cook and can’t imaging me cooking (pre-Africa) and people have known me since and therefore think I have always been a good cook. The truth is that for most of my life, I did not cook. I ate out a lot, and when I tried to cook, it was mostly to heat up simple already-prepared food (and even that didn’t always work out).

So what turned me into a good cook? I have no idea really, except for a desire to learn and lots of good resources (Food TV, YouTube, many good cookbooks, great magazines).

Now that I can cook, I can’t imagine what all the fuss is about. With only a few exceptions (e.g. souffles), most of the stuff I make is very basic. Many dishes involve only a few ingredients and follow the same basic steps. For example, all the soups I make are basically the same. Start with sauteing onions and garlic; add a tablespoon of flour; whisk in broth or milk; add whatever the soup is (potatoes, squash, tomatoes, leaks, etc.) and use an immersion blender.

And now that I do cook, I’d almost always rather cook something that eat out.

I am so convinced that anyone can cook that I have thought about starting my own line of cooking videos. All it takes is a little time and the willingness to succeed. (A few other people I know who have recently started cooking more have verified this.)

And the pay-offs are worth it. Not only will you save money, but you’ll enjoy your food more and eat healthier.

The food served in restaurants is loaded with extra fat, sugar, and salt. Even store-bought prepared food is not the healthiest. The further you get from whole foods, the harder to know where your food came from and what exactly is in it.

If you are interested in making healthy and satisfying food choices, but don’t currently “think you can cook,” give it a try. I think you’ll be glad you did.

 

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Labeling – organic and more [foodchoices]

Written by karen on September 11th, 2010

I grew up learning that it is important to read labels in order to be an informed consumer, but the truth is, in today’s marketing buzz-happy world, labels don’t mean a lot.

Some of the things we might look for that sound good include “organic,” “natural,” “cage free,” “free range,” etc.

Let’s start with organic. The original spirit of organic farming was to use methods that were environmentally, socially, and economically sound and sustainable. A key tenet is building soil fertility (through natural crop rotation, composting, and planting cover crops, not through chemical fertilizers). Most people think of small farms in association with organic farming.

In 1990, the USDA created a legal “USDA organic” certification. The main requirements of this are that crops are grown without synthetic fertilizers, and most pesticides are also banned. Animals must eat organic grains and cannot be given growth hormones or antibiotics. Genetic modification is banned. Anything labeled “USDA organic” must meet these standards.

However, as “organic” has become hot with the market growing substantially over the last couple years, most large factory farm operations have developed an “organic” line. They do meet the requirements of not using chemicals and not including any GMOs. However, they are often still factory-farmed using methods that cannot be considered sustainable. For example, animals can still be kept in inhumane conditions, crowded into small indoor spaces with barely enough room to move naturally.

Some feel that the industrialization of organic food is necessary in order to increase availability and decrease prices. Others think that factory-farmed organic food isn’t really organic in the true sense.

Another variable is that many small producers, including the small organic farm that I work with, choose not to get the organic certification even though they meet all the requirements. For some, it is a matter of cost. For others, it is a protest against the increasingly corporate view of “organic.”

So while “organic” can be a good thing, it is not always indicative of sustainability or social responsibility, and sometimes food that is not labeled “organic” may actually be better than food that is.

On other labels terms, “natural” means absolutely nothing. It is purely a marketing term.

“Cage free ” doesn’t mean much. The vast majority of “cage free” chickens are crowded into giant metal buildings with no access to outdoors, given less space per bird than an 8-1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper, and have their beaks cut off (without anesthetic) to prevent them from their natural pecking behavior. Is that better than being in a cage? Frankly, with what I’ve learned about chickens (which along with pigs are the most inhumanely treated), I am reluctant to buy any eggs from a store. (Thank god for our local farm. You can also buy small farm-produced eggs at most farmer’s markets. At first I thought it was a little weird and potentially scary. Now I love the eggs and the fact that chickens aren’t abused.)

Unfortunately, the bottom line on labeling is that you really have to do your homework. “Organic” isn’t everything. You have to know your food — where it comes from, how it is produced — and make good choices that reflect your own values.

 

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