Tiwa Farms Journal

Stone Corn

2012-02-27T17:29:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of the corn season is still months away
we'll take a detour into corn jewelry.

Heishe, the foundation of Southwestern jewelry,

retains a strong link to the corn kernel motif.

The Anasazi were expert bead makers--using stone, bone and shell.

Millions of beads were made at Chaco Canyon alone.

The late Hopi jeweler, Charles Loloma, made great use of an underlying corn theme.

Winter Moisture

2012-02-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

National Drought conditions as of 2/21

The drought seems to have lessened in Texas and spread to a vast part of the West. Locally, it's holding about the same. The stream gauges on the Rios Lucero and Pueblo remain frozen so flow information is unavailable.

Crescent Moon

Saturday night

Since Venus is now the evening star we can catch it with the crescent moon nearby on Saturday right after dark. Sunday night the crescent moon will be near Jupiter.

The new moon with Venus was/is noticed by cultures throughout the world, throughout time--one of nature's delights. Take a look tonight!

Pollen

2012-02-12T12:29:00.001-07:00

We've talked about corn pollen before and it's covered inBelieve in the Corn.

"Consider corn pollen the Puebloan equivalent of holywater. It is used to bless and consecrate in most ceremonial activity.Individuals use it as protection and usually carry it in a pollen pouch. Considerit granular sunshine, it is prayer dust."

Becausecorn pollen is prayer, there is no actual prayer for pollen. Corn pollen is used for good things and ceremonies. Corn pollenmeans the Holy Ones are there to help. Should you not know the words forsomething, pollen will suffice.

Corn pollen is used to mark thestages in a person's life. There are four main ceremonies of life: thecelebration of birth, the baby's first laugh, the puberty ceremony, and thewedding. Corn pollen plays a primary role in transitioning a person throughthese stages of life. Corn pollen plays no role in the ceremonials of death, asdeath is the end, and pollen is life."

But there's another pollen, what Navajos call "realpollen", cattail pollen. It's the more arcahic, elemental, powerful formof pollen. And it's used for the same purposes as corn pollen.

The "spike" on top is the flowering part, the pollen part.

Cattail in full bloom

Video for collecting cattail pollen.

A favorite for bears. Again, the Bear Factor.

I have a brother who's currently reestablishing wetlands north of Durango and has been planting a lot of cattail. Soon he'll be able to harvest pollen.

Piñon Nuts

2012-01-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

Pine nuts fromNew Mexico are called Piñon nuts by law

It's wintertime, time to sit around the fire and crack somenuts. As a kid I saw thousands of sacks of piñon nuts stacked in a warehouse near Yellow Jacket, CO, but those days have gone--another Southwestern product passing away.

A few facts toput things into perspective:

The pine nut market in the U.S. has a value of more than $100 million, but more than 80% of the pine nuts sold in the United States are imported from China.
Between 2000 and 2005, the combination of drought, insects, fire, and disease killed more than 50 percent of the piñon trees in parts of southwestern Colorado and northern Arizona.

The Piñon Pine die-off is detailed here

If protected from fire and left to grow, dominant piñons often live 400 to 500 years and a few piñon trees have lived as long as 800 to 1000 years.

There are two types of piñon nuts:

Soft (Pinus monophylla, single-leaf) and Hard shell (Pinus Edulis, Colorado).

Piñon nut range:
Soft shell in Nevada and California and Hard shell in the Four Corner states.

Wild single-leaf piñon trees rarely bear cones before they reach 35 years of age and generally do not produce commercially viable quantities of seeds until the age of 100. Colorado piñon matures somewhat faster, often bearing cones by the age of 25. Maximum seed production for single-leaf piñon occurs when a tree is between 160 and 200 years old. Something to think about the next time you see a pickup load of piñon wood for sale.
In a good year, a productive single-leaf piñon can produce about 11 pounds of seeds, while a productive Colorado piñon may produce more than 20 pounds of seeds.
Single-leaf piñon is less variable in seed production than the Colorado piñon, with large seed crops occurring every two to three years. Colorado piñon has a somewhat longer and more erratic cycle, with large seed crops occurring every three to seven years.
Although the extent and location of piñon seed crops varies greatly from year to year, it is quite possible to predict what a crop will be like in advance. Pickers and buyers who know the distribution of piñon trees with terminal buds, first-year cones, and second-year cones, as well as local and regional weather conditions and the distribution and intensity of piñon predator activity, can predict seed production fairly accurately two years in advance, and even more accurately one year in advance.
Unlike most plant foods, the protein in piñon nuts includes all 20 amino acids, making it nutritionally complete.
The pine nut was to the people of the Great Basin what the buffalo was to the plains people.
The nutritive value of an ounce of Colorado piñon nuts compares favorably with the equivalent amount of butter and beefsteak. An ounce of piñon nuts has more than 8 times the calories of lean beefsteak, but still has a significant amount protein (14.3 percent).
Humans have eaten pine nuts since the Paleolithic and very likely since the emergence of Homo sapiens as a species. Archeologists have found fragments of Italian stone pine cones in human settlements in Spain that date back 50,000 years. Peoples of the Mediterranean region have cultivated the stone pine, which is native to that region, for at least 6000 years. Cultures in northern China, Mongolia, Korea, eastern Russia, the central Himalayas, the Near East, southern Europe, and North America have used pine nuts for food for millennia.
In the American Southwest, archeologists have documented human use of limber pine (Pinus flexilis) and single-leaf piñon nuts for food at least as far back as 7500 years ago.
The Anasazi, who occupied what is now the Four-Corners region between roughly 1200 BC to 1200 and who were the ancestors of present-day Pueblo farmers in New Mexico and Arizona, also consumed piñon nuts for food. The piñon nut's complete protein content may have provided the Anasazi with amino acids otherwise lacking in a diet based primarily on corn beans, and squash.
By the 1930s, dealers in the Southwest were shipping out 1 to 2 million pounds of piñon nuts every year. In a bumper crop year, the harvest could be several times higher than in an average year. In 1936, when an extraordinarily large piñon crop occurred, traders shipped out roughly 8 million pounds. Pickers, most of whom were Navajos or Hispanos, received 10 cents a pound during the late 1930s. A skilled picker can pick between 10 to 20 pounds a day, and an income of $1.00 to $2.00 per day would have been good pay for the time. Pine nuts sold for 25 cents a pound on the retail market. Current prices range from $15 to $25 per pound.
According to the USDA, managing western rangelands for fresh pine nut production, rather than cattle, would produce approximately 100 times more financial value per acre.

A piñon nut plantation? You'd need some unused land, people who have plenty of time and aren't going anywhere soon.

What's in one ounce of piñon nuts?

The Hunter

2012-01-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

Orion (the Hunter) started rising at twilight around Christmas, signaling the time for the 'animal dances' (Deer, Buffalo) in the pueblos. Right now, the constellation is overhead about an hour before midnight.

Three bright stars in a row (Orion's Belt) mark the center of the constellation.

Orion and Pleiades shortly after sundown.

These two constellations time the affairs of hunting and agriculture in the southwestern Pueblos.

References to both the Pleiades and Orion appear in the Bible (most particularly in the Book of Job) indicating a long relationship with humankind.

Because of the light snow this year the elk and deer have yet to be driven down from the mountains, but it's snowing this morning.

The gauging stations for both the Rio Pueblo and Rio Lucero remain iced up and no flow rates are being transmitted.

Little to do but to wait.

Snow, Etc.

2012-01-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

The drought has been slowly easing even though snow conditions seem sparse.

What snowfall looks like in Taos:

The average is about three quarters of an inch between now and May.

From now until planting there will be slightly less than a 50-50 change of getting one tenth of an inch of precipitation in any given week.

National Snow

In most southwestern Native American cultures storytelling, important ceremonials, etc. only take place during winter--when thunder is gone and the snakes are asleep. Astronomically, this is the period from when the Pleiades starts rising (in the east) at twilight (around the first of November) until it is overhead at twilight (mid to late February).

There is a rare occurrence called thundersnow when thunder is produced by snow storms. One is blessed or cursed (depending on the belief system) upon hearing thunder during a snow storm. I've heard it three times in my life, once in Taos.

There used to be men who could call thunder and lightening and did so while hunting for witches. But calling winter thunder was the hardest thing to do--a special bullroarer is required.

Mars Retrograde

2012-01-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

Right now Mars is rising (in the east) about midnight. By mid-April it'll be overhead at twilight. Between now and then Mars will go into retrograde--which means it'll appear to go backwards for a while. The retrograde period is January 23 to April 15 (about 72 days). So this year, Mars goes into retrograde right after Quiet Time.

Mars is close to the Earth every 2.14 years and as the two planets pass Mars appears to go backward for a couple months. Mars will be at it's brightest because it's at it's closest.

Mars experiencing retrograde.

Retrogrades and particularly Mars retrograde are times of concern. Mars retrograde is historically associated with times of war and conflict. The beginnings of the two Gulf Wars were associated with the beginning of Mars going into retrograde.

Here's an automated graphic of Mars retrograde 2003.

If the retrograde concept is a little hard, just think of it as the period when Mars is closest to Earth. NASA missions to Mars happen when Mars and Earth are closest for the obvious reasons. The two Mars rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) arrived on Mars in June and July of 2003. One of TFJ's readers was involved with the rover's propulsion system when she worked at Los Alamos. Spirit was active until 2010 and Opportunity is still running--30 times longer than planned.

Launch Patch for Opportunity Rover.

What's important about Mars retrograde? Probably nothing, but it's a reason to go out and watch the night sky. And when you look at Mars, know that a lonely little rover is still there--working hard.

2011 Year in Review

2011-12-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

Here's some of the stuff and people Tiwa Farms

was involved with during 2011.

Thanks to all our supporters!

Christmas Corn 2011

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas!

The annual Christmas native-corn sprouting ritual.

We got a little more snow last Thursday--the ritual appears to be working, a little.

Here's a site for specific weather related information. Drought, plant hardiness zones, first/last frost and so on. For New Mexico and surrounding states.

Spiritual Weather

2011-12-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Farming is about a lot of things, but weather is pretty central to the whole enterprise. And at it's core, Puebloan religion is about weather. Control the weather and you control your destiny. Lose control of the weather and you may have to migrate as the Chacoans and Mesa Verdeans had to do nearly a millennium ago.

I know it can get boring, all this talk about local weather, but a corn farmer spends a lot of time just looking at the sky, imagining and enticing precipitation. If you think about it, there really shouldn't be any farming in the Southwest. Fifteen inches of yearly precipitation isn't much to get excited about. Some recent immigrants to this region never get used to it! Growing corn on that amount of moisture tries one's patience, resolve and inner spiritual strength. It's a test! And used to be the ultimate test. Fail and you'd starve or pack up and move. Shades of the dustbowl.

You have any relatives who remember the Thirties and the Dustbowl? Ask them.

So, if you want to know the spiritual health of the Pueblo world check the weather.

The Last Couple Weeks

2011-12-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

We've received a goodly amount of snow and Taos Sky Valley is feeling optimistic.

Recent storm and runoff

Here's an animation of the recent drought conditions.

Still a long way to go.

The Mountain, brooding

Snow on the ground

Field Treasures

2011-12-11T12:18:00.001-07:00

For the two years I've worked in Taos Pueblo corn fields, for all the dirt turned, all the days spend plowing, planting, irrigating, etc., I've seen no ancient artifacts. Exactly zero. Never saw a pot shard or flint chip. No arrowheads. Plenty of metal stuff, but nothing from an earlier era. Nada, zilch! Lots of rocks. But for anything indicating ancient use, the ground is strangely silent.

The fields at Taos Pueblo proclaim no antiquity. None. Very odd.

Contrast this with the corn fields of my youth near Durango, CO. Flint and ceramic were common. Bone and worked stone on occasion. Hoeing corn could be a treasure hunt!

Some of the stuff I still have

The absence of ancient material at Taos remains a mystery.

Pueblo Churches

2011-12-07T22:31:00.000-07:00

They've all got one.

Quiet Time

2011-12-03T10:37:00.001-07:00

The contents of this post have been removed at the request of Taos Pueblo tribal offices.

And it did Snow

2011-12-03T08:33:00.001-07:00

First day of the Quiet Time season and a few inches of snow. Mud for Christmas likely.

Winter Prep

2011-11-29T09:25:00.001-07:00

The last of the field work for 2011was finished today. Quiet Time at the pueblo starts December 3 and extends (for forty days) into January. Field work during Quiet Time is prohibited.

Taos Pueblo corn fields 2011

Steve Parks and I shredded the corn stalks and turned everything under with the new equipment.

We're now ready for Quiet Time and the Corn that winter grew.

Finished with the corn season and ready for SNOW.

Lunar Eclipse Dec 10

2011-11-14T16:14:00.001-07:00

There will be a total lunar eclipse (as seen from Taos) near sunrise December tenth. In the west, Jupiter will set a little after 4AM, followed by the Pleiades a little before 7AM. The moon will be starting to be eclipsed. Right about 8AM, the moon will set in total eclipse. Then the sun will rise.

6:53AM Dec 10, 2001

7:58AM Dec 10, 2011
Dotted line is the ecliptic, the sun's path.
So, the eclipse will occur about at the spot where the sun set the evening before.

Hornos

2011-11-03T15:39:00.000-06:00

Two major technological advances the Pueblos adopted fromthe Spanish were the adobe brick and the horno oven. Before the arrival of theSpanish, pueblo construction was done with a version of cobbing and cooking wasoften done in a small pit.

From Wikipedia:

"Horno (or, no) is a mud adobe-built outdoor oven used by Native Americans and early settlers of North America. Originally introduced to the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors, it was quickly adopted and carried to all Spanish-occupied lands. The horno has a beehive shape and uses wood as the only heat source. The procedure still used in parts of New Mexico and Arizona is to build a fire inside the Horno and, when the proper amount of time has passed, remove the embers and ashes and insert the bread to be cooked. After the right amount of time, the cooked loaf of bread can be removed. In the case of corn, the embers are doused with water and the corn is then inserted into the horno to be "steam"-cooked. When cooking meats, the oven is fired to a "white hot" temperature (approximately 650 degrees Fahrenheit), the coals are moved to the back of the oven, and the meats placed inside. The smoke-hole and door are sealed with mud. A twenty-one-pound turkey will take 2½ to 3 hours to cook. It comes out very succulent. Since the horno is made of adobe, it wicks the moisture into the food in a natural convection."

Horno construction and use has remains virtually unchanged for 450 years. They're usually built three to six feet in diameter and height with six to eight inch thick walls. The adobe bricks are often made in special double-tapered molds to facilitate circular construction. At Taos, the horno is often built on a foundation of volcanic rocks and has a spiritual significance. The overall shape follows the line of a catanary.

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is a catanary

A wood fire is build in the horno chamber and the whole structure is heated to a suitable baking temperature, the coals are raked out, dough is placed in the oven, a door is positioned over the opening and baking commences.

The idyllic view

Pile of Pueblo Puppies

Preparing for Winter

2011-10-31T16:30:00.000-06:00

Corn is drying and wood is getting stacked.

Horno

Christmas puppies

Total Eclipse 2012

2011-10-26T10:14:00.000-06:00

Since there's going to be a total solar eclipse in New Mexico next year, I started writing a small book on Puebloan astronomy. It's going along in fits and starts and should be in print form by the end of the year.

The northern edge of the path of totality will be just south of Taos Pueblo. The center of the path runs through Albuquerque. So most Southwestern pueblos will experience totality.

Path of totality May 20, 2012 near sundown in New Mexico. Right at sundown in Lubbock.
It will get dark before it gets dark.

Durango and Taos are just outside the path of totality by about the same amounts. It's a little over six months away, so start picking your viewing spot. You'll want a good view of a low western horizon. I'll provide more details as the day approaches. We'll probably start planting corn the next day after the eclipse.

Local totality map.

The view from Taos, about a half-hour before sunset. Look 20˚ north of West.

Should have copies for editing by Christmas

Winter Forecast

2011-10-24T11:54:00.000-06:00

As colder weather and snow is predicted later this week, a look at the winter forecast is in order.

There's El Nino, La Nina, the Arctic Oscillation and .... well, the short story is that the news isn't great for winter moisture at the Pueblo.

National Climate Prediction Center

Continued drought

Current streamflow for the Rio Pueblo

More Old Equipment Coming Back to life

2011-10-20T14:29:00.000-06:00

I picked up an old hand-powered cord grinder on eBay a couple months ago

and set about rebuilding it.

Rusted innards

Cleaned it up, replaced bolts, straightened the shaft, fixed the handle, oiled the bearings, etc.

and it's good to go.

Running once again

Last year we motorized a corn sheller and it's worked well.

Corn sheller

October fifteenth is the tradition start-date for corn harvest at the Pueblo, so corn has been picked and is drying. Then it will be shelled and now, can be ground if so desired.

Article on Tiwa Farms

2011-10-17T16:38:00.000-06:00

Here's a splendid article on Tiwa Farms and Taos Pueblo by Jonathan Thompson.

Local Climate Change During the Last Century

2011-10-16T10:38:00.000-06:00

With all the talk about global climate change it's instructive to look at climate change in New Mexico. Both temperature and precipitation have gone up in the last 115 years.

During the last decade it's been warmer in New Mexico.

What happened in 1942?
The drought of the Fifties can be seen.

Climate Change in the Southwest, 1951–2006

Dots on maps indicate where the trend is significant.

Speaking of Seeds

2011-10-13T12:29:00.000-06:00

TFJ donor, Carol Farmer is part of the SEED3 show at the Stables Gallery in Taos.

In addition to the show there's an Exploratorium which deals with seeds as food. This part of the exhibit, alone, is worth the trip. They even have a corn room! The show runs until Halloween at the Stables Gallery (where the original Clay & Fiber was).

SeedTaos.org is in it's third year of activity. While at their site look at the other shows. Local review of the Seed3 show.

Water Wrangling

2011-10-12T17:14:00.000-06:00

An article in the Taos News refers to the Abeyta Water Rights Settlement. Section 5 (pages 13 to 26) deals with Taos Pueblo's part in the settlement. Section 9.1 (page 69) specifies a one hundred million dollar ($100,000,000) fund to be used by the tribe for various water related (and other) projects.

More Bears

2011-10-10T16:21:00.000-06:00

My sister in Durango emailed:
I recently got to watch the Department of Wildlife do a work up on a bear they trapped up at the waterfall. They're doing some sort of research project so they took blood and hair, did a thorough physical exam, weight, measurements, etc. Gave her a micro chip, a radio collar and an ear tag as well as a couple of shots. Throughout all this she's spread out on her belly just like a rug. About 5 min after she got the wake-up shot she jumped up and bolted up the hill like a speading bullet. I had been seeing that same bear going through my yard 2 or 3 times a week, but haven't seen her since. I can imagine her telling her friends about her alien abduction....."you won't believe all they did to me!!"

Taos News:
"This and the seemingly innocent incident at El Monte are actually symptoms of the worst kill season ever recorded in New Mexico. Thanks to the drought and the availability of human food, these bears become either desperate to sustain themselves or too accustomed to human food to forage in the wild."
Read the rest:

Smokey Goes Bad

2011-10-09T12:17:00.000-06:00

Bear talk is the big topic with Rez growers this fall. The summer was so dry that the bears started showing up to eat corn stalks even before the ears appeared. Some fields got hit hard. It's kind of a badge of honor to say, "The bears got it all."

Smokey Bear was sixty seven this year and so could qualify forMedicare and Social Security. Surely it wasn’t Smokey in the Rez fields as Ialways assumed he lived on campground food. Kind of like Yogi Bear. But, Smokey's got to eat!

The New York Times

The calls started coming in about 9 this morning, all Signal 67, whichis police lingo for bear. As in a black bear halfway up a pine tree off SixthStreet. Or another bear chewing on apples on Moulton Street. Or a third bearscurrying down a drainage canal after a wildlife officer chased him out of atree.''We've got three bear calls open at once,'' Sgt. Bill Patterson ofthe Raton Police Department said as he stood on a residential street holding arifle loaded with rubber shot. He pointed to a dark shape halfway up a tree: Itwas a 200-pound black bear that had lumbered down from the mountains, searchingfor food.''They'rejust doing what's natural,'' said Sergeant Patterson, who did not fire at thebear. ''It's the people who don't know how to manage the bears.''
If Florida is enduring a summer of sharks, New Mexico is having asummer of bears. Black bears are foraging through refrigerators, diggingthrough trash bins and picking fruit from backyard trees, all in search of agood meal because of an apparent food shortage in the mountains. One beardevoured a homemade pound cake left on a kitchen counter.Black bear sightings are fairly routine in mountainous states like NewMexico, and sightings have become more common as homes are built in remoteareas. But residents are increasingly anxious as a record number of encounters,some violent, are being reported. Last week, officials blamed a bear for themauling death of a 93-year-old woman, a rare attack since black bears are notconsidered predators. This week, a man in Taos, N.M., about 70 miles southwestof Raton, fired at a bear that had broken into his home. In all, more than 60bears have been shot this year, and at least 20 have been killed by cars.''This year is unprecedented,'' said Joanna Lackey, a division chieffor the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, whose Raton office oversees themountainous northeastern section of the state. ''It's at least four or fivetimes worse than even our worst year.''Ms. Lackey said her office received an average of 100 bear complaintsa day. Justas in Raton, bears are descending into Taos, a ski resort and artist colony.Sheriff Charlie Martinez of Taos County said his office usually received about10 bear complaints in a summer. In the past two weeks, Sheriff Martinez said,the office has handled about 40 complaints. He said officers found one bear onthe roof of a house. In the small community of Questa, a bear was found besidea bank.

Elsewhere:

In New England in colonial times, black bears were serious agricultural pests and were bountied as an incentive for controlling their numbers. Black bears still cause damage to agriculture, particularly corn. Corn is not only consumed but stalks are flattened, hindering mechanical harvesting. In Wisconsin, corn damage increased from 10% (of all damage claims) between 1936-1954 to 65% between 1986-1990, principally due to the increased use of short-maturity varieties of corn. Silage corn is most commonly depredated in New England. Oats and blueberries are also sometimes damaged. Watermelons, soybeans, peanuts, and other crops may be affected in southern states. Apple orchards are occasionally damaged, often by bears' breaking tree limbs while climbing. Depredations are typically linked to crop maturation and the abundance and availability of natural foods. In east-central Minnesota, 50% of respondents growing corn and oats experienced damage in 1991, with an average 11% loss. In 1990, 68% of corn producers surveyed in Massachusetts rated damage as "low" or "moderate" and most (77%) estimated damage at $1000 per year. Bear damage has little economic impact on the total product of the damaged commodity, but individuals may suffer substantial loss.

Starting the Fall Work

2011-10-06T13:54:00.000-06:00

Overcast, cold, and windy day, just right for fall field work.

Did some repairs on the governor linkage.

Finished cutting the field back, discing next.

Fall in Taos

2011-10-04T14:47:00.000-06:00

San Geronimo Day

2011-09-30T11:15:00.001-06:00

San Geronimo Day--the morning races, the afternoon pole climb, the harvest festival and trade fair. The season's long exhalation is finished. The crops are quiet, summer is done. Taos Pueblo is very open and welcoming on this day. Take a look at Red Willow Voices blog.

Erecting a pole for the climb.

Autumnal Equinox

2011-09-23T17:00:00.001-06:00

Equinox–equal night. The day and year are split into equal parts. The sun rises exactly east and sets exactly west. It's the in-between point, the half-way mark, summer finishing and turning into fall.

The time for agritourists to show up and they have. Margaret and Bruce Maupin from Denver took a tour of Tiwa Farms today.

The fields look healthy and are finishing out filling the ears of corn. No freeze yet.

Margaret and the Red Buffalo

Testing New Equipment

2011-09-17T13:44:00.000-06:00

The lift on the Red Buffalo is still a little unpredictable but the disc works fine.

Finished field

Corn turning

Back in Business

2011-09-14T17:30:00.000-06:00

We transported the Red Buffalo and some new equipment back to the Rez today. The tractor had been at Flavio's in Velarde getting work done on the hydraulics, etc. I bought a new disc and cultivator in Alcalde. So we're good to go for the fall work.

Corn/Taos/Art

2011-09-12T16:31:00.000-06:00

It's a little off our usual fare, but Steve Parks (an important member of the Tiwa Farms team) has an insightful interview in the current edition of the Taos News. He's the resident authority on Taos art matters.

Steve in his new gallery

Punkin Frost

2011-09-11T20:38:00.000-06:00

In response to feedback on a previous post, When the Frost is on the Punkin is the classic Fall poem written by James Whitcomb Riley in 1883. Much of his poetry was written in what is called Housier dialect. His Wikipedia entry noted that he "graduated from grade eight at age twenty." Riley had trouble fitting in, not unlike many in Taos today. He sold Bibles, painted signs, entertained in a medicine show, always coming to a dead end. It is his poetry we remember him by.

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock

The poem elicits romantic, sentimental images of fall activities in the Midwest. Cider making and so on. Agrarian plants and animals are given tribute. My father never liked Spring with the wind, mud and cold. He said he was a 'fall guy.'

Translated, the first line says, when the frost is on the pumpkin and the corn is in the shock. What's a corn shock? It's a way of collecting and storing/stacking corn stalks in the field. As a kid, I saw this method employed near Durango, CO.

Classic fall image with corn shock and pumpkins

Here's the poem's full text. It's worth memorizing and reciting at least once a year.

In The Structure of Delight I have a short ode to Fall.

"It was early September and the first hint of fall crept alongthe River valley. Noom always liked fall, when the earth finished its longsummer exhalation and began a slow inhalation, drawing in a moist breath tosave and finally crystallize as winter snow. Most think of spring as the seasonthat begins the annual cycle. For Noom, it was fall. As the days cooledsomething within him quickened. An excitement slowly built, an excitement thathe frugally stored. It would catch his breath at odd moments, reminding him ofhow seasons continually pump beginnings into his life. For an old man it waswonderful to feel ageless."

The Mountain

2011-09-09T20:48:00.000-06:00

Last night it snowed on The Mountain. Over the last couple years The Mountain has appeared at the back of many of my photos taken on the Rez. It's the overseer of a vast realm in northern New Mexico.

Technically, it's called Pueblo Peak (12,290 feet ) and its authority is backed up by an older brother hidden behind it–Wheeler Peak (13,163 feet ), the highest spot in New Mexico.

If you live (or visit) within sight of The Mountain you should introduce yourself–to do otherwise is rude. Once you strike up an acquaintance and keep it current--you live here.

Waitin' for the Freeze

2011-09-08T14:50:00.000-06:00

The fall freeze at Taos pueblo usually happens toward the end of September. Following is where things stand at the moment.

Arrow indicates average date of fall freeze

A few leaves at my place are starting to turn.

The Hackberries turn first, then the Cottonwoods

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's is in the shock...

Watermellon

Bear damage at the Lujan field

Squash

Two varieties of Red Corn

Nice stand on the way in to the Pueblo

Recent rains effecting Rio Pueblo stream flow.
In the past week or so I've gotten about an inch of rain.

The Apodaca Trail

2011-08-29T19:33:00.002-06:00

Concurrent with writing and developing Po'Pay Speaks, Steve Parks and I have been identifying a section of the old trail from Taos Pueblo to San Juan Pueblo (Ohkay Owingeh). This particular section is from Pilar to Dixon and it was abandoned around 1850 when a new road was blasted out along the river.

Anyway, we know Po'Pay ran this trail in 1680 and his footprints should be on it somewhere.

Orange is the Apodaca/PoPay Trail

Corky Hawk has done a tremendous amount of work identifying historic trails around Taos and there is a copy of his work (with maps) on file at Southwest Research Center in the downtown UNM-Taos complex off Civic Plaza Drive. We've been following the maps he gave us.

Today, we started on the south end (at Apodaca) and progressed northward.

No petroglyphs, but more recent signs

Steve and the Old Cedar

Too little, Too Late

2011-08-19T10:13:00.000-06:00

I got an eighth inch of rain last night. In the last 92 days I've received less than one inch of rain in my rain guage. So much for the corn season.

The blue line would be one inch of rain

I expected more lightening started wild fires this summer, but as someone said, "It didn't even rain enough to start a fire."

New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma got hit hard by drought this summer.

Worst drought in Texas history

The Show Opens

2011-08-17T08:28:00.000-06:00

Last night Po'Pay Speaks, performed by Robert Mirabal, premiered at the Lodge at Santa Fe and he nailed it. The show will be performed nightly (except for Mondays) until September 4.

Replica Po'Pay Cords that the Message Runners carried from Taos Pueblo to the other pueblos.
Untying the knots, day by day, coordinated a simultaneous uprising for the successful 1680 Rebellion.

1680 Runner

2011-08-12T12:05:00.000-06:00

In combination with Po'Pay Speaks, Robert has created a sculpture commemorating the message runners who comprised the Puebloan communication system in 1680.

1680 Runner, mixed media, eight inches, limited edition of 10

PoPay Rehearsals

2011-08-09T10:32:00.000-06:00

Rehearsals for PoPay Speaks are underway at a deserted shopping mall south of Santa Fe on the way to Albuquerque. Performances will be from August 16 to September 4 at the Lodge at Santa Fe and tickets are available online through Tickets Santa Fe.

Comin' Along

2011-08-07T17:24:00.000-06:00

The corn is coming along. It's been very dry and hot. And water has about dried up. The Rio Pueblo is down to about 5 CFS--one fourth of normal. Some of the corn is doing pretty well and the rest not so good.

Edwin

Chelona

Night Sky

2011-07-31T18:54:00.000-06:00

Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, starts this evening. The Islamic calendar is lunar and the months start with the first sighting of the new moon at sundown. Which, in this case, is tonight.

Venus, Mars and Jupiter (which were more closely grouped at Summer Solstice) are now breaking up and spreading out. The Pleiades will be at the nadir at sunset and will progress eastward until they are rising (in the East) at sunset around the first of November. This will signal the beginning of the ceremonial season.

Corn Capital(s)

2011-07-26T11:32:00.000-06:00

THE SENATE VESTIBULE

The United States Congress first convened in the Capitol in November 1800, following the federal government’s move from Philadelphia to the District of Columbia. Although President Washington laid the Capitol’s cornerstone in 1793, construction had proceeded slowly. When Congress arrived, only the north, or Senate, wing was ready for occupancy. Described as a “ponderous unfinished mass of brick and stone,” it was surrounded by half a dozen brick homes with farm animals roaming the streets nearby. Thirty- two senators, 106 representatives, the Supreme Court of the United States, the district courts, and the Library of Congress all shared tight quarters in this small, rectangular, sandstone building.

At that time, the east door of the Senate wing served as the Capitol’s principal entrance, leading to what is now known as the Senate Vestibule— a room with wooden floors, a flat ceiling, and a slightly wider dimension than evident today. President John Adams passed through this hall on November 22, 1800, headed for the nearby Senate Chamber to welcome the members of Congress to their permanent home. Several months later, on March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson entered the Capitol through the Senate Vestibule and proceeded to the Senate Chamber to take his oath of office as president. Jefferson took great interest in the construction of Washington’s public buildings, especially the Capitol, which he called “the first temple dedicated to the sovereignty of the people.”

After the House of Representatives moved to the newly constructed south wing in 1807, a complete renovation of the north wing was begun. During this work, Architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe designed a vaulted fireproof ceiling for the Senate Vestibule. To support the weight of the vaults, Latrobe introduced six sandstone columns carved by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Franzoni. Rather than simply adopting traditional Greek or Roman column motifs, Latrobe chose to “Americanize” them with capitals featuring ears of corn and shafts carved to resemble bundles of corn stalks. As Latrobe reported to former President Jefferson in August 1809: “These capitals during the summer session obtained me more applause from members of Congress than all the works of magnitude or difficulty that surround them. They christened them the ‘corncob capitals’.”

In August 1814, during the war with Great Britain, invading troops burned the Capitol and destroyed most of its interior. In the north wing, fire gutted the Senate and Supreme Court Chambers and badly damaged the great staircase that once occupied the nearby Small Senate Rotunda. Because of its vaulted construction, however, the Senate Vestibule survived relatively unscathed. Latrobe was relieved to discover that his corncob columns were unharmed. Thus, they are among the oldest architectural features in the Capitol.

Fourth and Fifth Corn Dances

2011-07-25T15:55:00.000-06:00

The Santiago Day Corn Dance was today and tomorrow the Santa Ana Day Corn Dance will be held at Taos Pueblo.

Taos Corn Dance, Norman S. Chamberlain 1934

The Po'Pay Set, being assembled in my living room.

Current Corn

Peruvian Corn

2011-07-18T12:13:00.000-06:00

Some photos from Dawn and Aspen's recent trip to Peru:

Corn statue--the importance of corn put into perspective.

Selection of native Peruvian corn

Studying the Corn Manual

Field work

New blog member

2011-07-12T11:34:00.000-06:00

I just noticed that Tiwa Farms Journal has picked up a new follower--my second-cousin, Jonathan Thompson. He's originally from Durango and is presently living in Berlin with his wife and two daughters. And is blogging his adventures. He knows how to do a blog. Even has another blog.

His blown-up, hence grainy, Google photo

Po'Pay Gear

2011-07-11T14:22:00.001-06:00

We were supposed to do some hilling today, but the gearshift level got broken off. So the Red Buffalo has to go to the vet. All and all, it'll probably be down for a month.

Much of the past few days has been devoted to creating stuff for Po'Pay Speaks.

Design for the T-shirt with the three Warrior Stars

For the most part, the 1680 Revolt was a exercise in organization--masterminded by Po'Pay in Taos. The pueblos that participated stretched from the Hopi Mesas in the west (in Arizona) to Sandia in the east (south of Albuquerque) and north to Taos Pueblo. The distance from Taos to Hopi is around 400 miles. About 25 pueblos were involved and the trick was to get them all to rise against the Spanish, all on the same day.

This was accomplished by sending out knotted cords from Taos. These Message Runner cords coordinated and synchronised the Pueblos to rise and strike, all on the same day. The knots were untied (one per day) until gone. The cords left Taos July 29 with 12 knots, so the uprising took place August 10, 1680--it was a Tuesday.

Runner's Cords

Po'Pay's Climate

2011-07-07T23:44:00.001-06:00

While researching material for Po'Pay Speaks we were curious about stories of droughts before and after the 1680 Revolt and how they may have effected Puebloan decisions. The two dry years before the revolt would have made heavier the constant Spanish demand for corn. And the dry year after the revolt could have weakened the Pueblo resolve to keep the Spanish out.

Anyway, here are some rainfall records tabulated from tree ring data.

Note years around the 1680 Revolt

Long-term southwestern rainfall record

4th of July

2011-07-04T16:22:00.003-06:00

This is Independence Day at Taos Pueblo--irrigating Robert's Middle Field, visiting corn fields and doing some maintenance on the Red Buffalo.

Steve Parks inspecting the corn

Henry Lujan weeding his patch

Working on the front wheel bearings

North Field

2011-07-01T19:47:00.000-06:00

Robert's north field is serving as our test field for native varieties this year. We planted eight different varieties of white corn. The field is the highest (7500 feet), coldest (shortest growing season) and is Robert's second home as he prepares for the Po'Pay Speaks performance in Santa Fe this August. It's Po'Pay's field.

The Po'Pay Compound

Irrigation--the First of July

Uncle Tony's garden tucked away in the cottonwoods

Cool spot on the Rio Lucero

Two of the many corn samples Dawn and Aspen brought back from Peru.
The nickel is for scale.

Pueblo Corn--30 Days In

2011-06-28T16:51:00.000-06:00

We planted most of the corn on the reservation about a month ago. Here's how it's progressing:

Henry Lujan's corn--freshly irrigated.

More Fires

2011-06-27T15:16:00.001-06:00

The Mountain again obscured by smoke. This time for the Las Conchas fire near Los Alamos.
Presently, Los Alamos is preparing to evacuate.

From the 'Everything Corn' Department

2011-06-25T13:13:00.000-06:00

Chinese snuff bottles

Chinese jade bottles

Corn Bottles, the Puebloan answer to Chinese snuff/jade bottles -- for holy stuff

These Corn Bottles should be available at Mirabal.com in a week or so.

Third Corn Dance

2011-06-24T16:24:00.000-06:00

Today was the third corn dance of the season at Taos Pueblo -- San Juan Day Corn Dance.

San Ildefonso Pueblo Corn Dancers with Koshari

Astronomical Po'Pay

2011-06-21T15:50:00.007-06:00

During the writing of the script for Po'Pay Speaks we examined the night-sky pattern for the Summer Solstice 1680. Before sunrise, in the early morning, there was an unusual grouping of planets (Jupiter, Mars and Venus) in Pleiades. We surmise that Po'Pay, et al., took it as a fortuitous sign/signal. In any event, the planning for the revolt proceeded and in August of that year the Spanish were driven back to Mexico.

The same sky pattern has reappeared this year.

In Puebloan culture the Pleiades are known as the Deer, so this year the same warriors (Jupiter, Mars and Venus) are back amongst the Deer and Robert will be in Santa Fe performing Po'Pay Speaks during the same period the revolt took place 331 years ago.

Early morning, Summer Solstice, 1680

Early morning, Summer Solstice, 2011

Po'Pay, Tickets, Etc.

2011-06-21T09:49:00.006-06:00

Because readers have been asking -- Robert Mirabal will be performing a one-man performance, titled Po'Pay Speaks, at the Lodge at Santa Fe from August 16 until September 4. Tickets and schedule.

The show location is the Heritage Hotel, Lodge at Santa Fe and tickets can be purchased at www.ticketssantafe.org or 505-988-1234.

It is a portrayal of Po'Pay, the Puebloan leader of the 1680 revolt--first successful revolution in America. The performance covers the period from 1680 to the present.

Robert, Steve Parks and I have been writing a script since March.

A preliminary script has been published and the final version will be published in late July

We are presently deep into rehearsals and everything is coming together.

Billboard south of Santa Fe

The Summer Solstice is upon us.

Blood of the Field

2011-06-13T21:31:00.000-06:00

Today was the second corn dance and Robert, Pat and Dawn all danced.

The corn is up and our attention turns now to water and it's off to a bad start this year. We've probably seen the streamflow crest and it's presently running about 60% of normal.

Ode to the Water

Limited Horizons

2011-06-08T13:33:00.001-06:00

Taos Mountain obscured by smoke from Arizona

Another Book

2011-06-08T08:37:00.000-06:00

I've written another book--this one specifically about growing corn at Taos Pueblo. It details the pueblo's climate, soil, stream flow, etc. While preparing fields this spring I got a lot of questions about corn and farming matters and realized we needed to take a step-back and do a little education.

People on the reservation have been watching us going here and there on the tractor and the book goes a ways toward explaining what we're doing and why. We've developed a corn farming method (Rip-Till-Hill) which is explained. Basically, the row-crop approach is new to the reservation, but once people see hills and furrows they get the concept almost instantly. Planting dates, depth and density are all covered, as is corn's developmental stages and irrigation schedules, etc.

I'd been collecting material since Tiwa Farms started in 2009 and decided to put it all together as my gift to the tribe. It's free to any Taos Pueblo corn grower.

Believe in the Corn is the hand-method of growing corn in the Southwest, this book explains the mechanized approach we're using at Taos Pueblo.

It's In and Up

2011-06-07T19:35:00.002-06:00

The corn for 2011 is in and I'm glad to have it done! We planted the last of the corn this afternoon. Mostly short-season varieties of white corn in our highest, coldest field.

Aspen did the hilling and planting:

The first corn we planted this year has sprouted and is flourishing.

Saturday Book Signing

2011-06-04T17:12:00.001-06:00

Here are a couple shots from the beginning of the book signing today at Moby Dickens:

Sunset

2011-06-03T08:18:00.000-06:00

There's a lot of smoke and dust in the air as a big fire is burning about 15 miles south of Taos.

Last night's sunset

Book Signing

2011-06-02T12:13:00.002-06:00

Saturday at 2:00, Robert and I will be at a book signing for BELIEVE IN THE CORN, Manual for Puebloan Corn Growing at Moby Dickens Bookstore in Taos.

Most all of the planting is done and some early irrigation is underway.

This past week, the streamflow of the Rio Lucero and Rio Pueblo has more than doubled--the runoff is underway.
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Long Week

2011-05-28T16:05:00.001-06:00

It's been a long week. Monday, a front wheel bearing went out and we're limping along on a fix. Tuesday it rained, just enough to make mud. We ended up preparing about 40 fields and planting about half of them. The rest will be hand-planted by the owners.

We got one of our own fields mostly planted and the other will probably be done next week. One guy liked what we did and now wants his field expanded. People are already calling for ditch work.

Old seed varieties are starting to come out of closets and we'll be growing some these heirloom varieties for seed this year. We've picked up a elder, knowledgeable about corn, to serve as our Special Projects Consultant.

Tools, seeds, etc. Stuff to keep the planting going.

David Gomez wanted all Hopi Blue

Harold Left Hand got white corn and Taos Red Beans.

Henry Lujan went with sweet corn and Taos White.

Time to Plant 2011

2011-05-22T14:50:00.000-06:00

We hope to get most all the corn and beans planted this coming week. Several varieties of white corn, a couple of blue, a couple of red corn and some Taos Red Beans. Hit the ground running and get the seed in.

Spring Weather

2011-05-19T18:26:00.001-06:00

We're finishing up some fields this week and got a half inch of rain yesterday and today. There's snow on the Mountain and we worked through some brief snow flurries today.

Latest storm

Completed some defencing

It's been hard to get people to wait a little longer before planting. Maybe the weather will clear out for next week and we can begin planting.
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Field Preparation

2011-05-17T20:04:00.000-06:00

We're finishing field preparation this week and will be gearing up for planting next week. This year we prepared over 30 plots for planting, three times the number of last year. Nine of the fields were recovered or created--meaning they hadn't been farmed in decades or never farmed at all. So, there has been a lot of rooting out saplings/sagebrush/wild plums and brush-beating willows and other woody growth. Removing rocks from the fields is a never ending task.

With the new ripper blade we've broken up the hardpan in the fields, thereby vastly increasing the active root zone and significantly improving the water-holding capacities of the fields.

We've assembled a set of all the implements needed and have been actively engaged in welding/repair to keep all of it up and running.

Most of the fields required three passes--ripping, tilling and hilling, so we were working in fields about 90 times. Needless to say, there were a lot of implement changes and road/travel time.

Throw in ditch work and some field leveling and you can see we've been busy this spring. A serious amount of tractor work.

All work has been free to the field owners, all money needed was raised by Robert and me. The fuel bill alone ran several hundred dollars this spring. And speaking of fuel, I've been having to eat more to keep my weight up.

Location of some of the fields Tiwa Farms prepared at Taos Pueblo 2011

Some of what we've been doing:

In addition to the work we've done, I've noticed a definite increase in preparation for farming on the Reservation this year. Maybe we did get something started after all.

For those late to the party and/or those who just can't get enough tractor here's the Red Buffalo vid.

Cultivator Repair

2011-05-13T14:26:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was a day for maintenance and repair. We've been hilling many of the plots, especially those which will be hand-planted and the cultivator shanks are a little light and getting bent.

We have another week for field preparation and then we'll start planting. We're getting some of the fields pre-irrigated so they should get off to a good start.

Everything is coming together.

New Field Hand

2011-05-07T21:34:00.000-06:00

Aspen Mirabal, Robert's 14 year-old daughter, is spending time with us in the fields. She's well on her way to mastering tractor driving and commands the Red Buffalo with a deft hand.

There's bound to be more video of Aspen as she'll be with us in the fields throughout the summer before starting school in Santa Fe at the music academy this fall.

Cinco de Mayo

2011-05-05T21:42:00.000-06:00

The rotary tiller unearthed this broken stone hammer today in one of the newly recovered corn patches.

Another Artifact

First Corn Dance

2011-05-03T19:47:00.001-06:00

The first of five annual corn dances took place today. Aspen was one of the dancers.

Aspen at the time of her initiation last year

One of the reasons for the founding of Tiwa Farms is keyed directly to the corn dances. Should corn growing completely disappear at Taos Pueblo, the purpose for corn dances will also vanish. Their character would change. No corn, no corn dance.
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Taos Field Hoe

2011-04-29T10:55:00.001-06:00

July Fourth, 2003, a lightening-caused fire broke out on the Taos Pueblo. The Encebado Fire ended up taking about 5400 acres. Over a thousand firefighters were called in to fight the blaze. For Taos Indians, the damage to their watershed and sacred areas will be felt for a generation or more.

Smoke for the fire, in the early stages, seen behind a remnant of the Old Church.

One unexpected side effect of the burn is that the McLeod Fire Tool, used by the firefighters, has subsequently been adopted for use as a field hoe.

McLeod Tool -- As always, you can get one on Amazon

Chopping Cotton

2011-04-29T00:59:00.004-06:00

Turns out the hoe type featured in the previous post is still made--India, China, Tanzania and so on. Generically, they're called Eye Hoes.

From China

Ireland

And from an archaeological dig by the Nation Park service.

Old School

Here's one on Amazon -- nine bucks.

Incidental Archeology

2011-04-28T17:47:00.002-06:00

As we resurrect old fields we find things. Most of it is junk, usually it's cable, wire, tubing, and the ubiquitous poly baling twine. But today we came up with a find that's near to our hearts.

A wonderful addition to our collection of old hoes

We have theories about why we unearth so many hoes and none are happy. Yes, hoes should be found in and around corn fields, but our take is that the hoes were abandoned (thrown?) in disgust. If you ever hoed much corn as a kid you'll understand.

We've found flat irons--what are they doing in a corn field? Since many of the plots haven't been farmed in a long time, we unearth old chicken wire, rebar, bedsprings, and various bits of horse-drawn equipment from the horse-drawn era.

Anyway, we think today's find is probably our oldest to date.

Some of last year's haul

More fields finished today

Snow Today

2011-04-26T07:55:00.000-06:00

Spring Weather

2011-04-25T19:16:00.001-06:00

We got about three quarters of an inch of rain over the weekend. There's new snow on the Mountain and the wild plums are in full bloom. Go figure.

Plum Road

Snow on Taos Mountain

And we put in two more corn fields today.

Entrance to the Cacique's new corn patch

Early Hilling

2011-04-22T18:42:00.002-06:00

We got a lot done today. We've turned a lot of dirt. All the plots around the Pueblo have been ripped, tilled and hilled. They're ready to irrigate and then plant. Planting is about a month away. The Red Buffalo has developed oil leaks here and there, but it's holding up.

Taking a break at Edwin's patch

Kona's new puppy rides home on the tractor

Traditionally, corn is planted and before the first irrigation it's cultivated and hilled--usually in one operation. Hilling accomplishes a couple things: It creates a soil shape that's supposed to be conducive to the growth of corn roots and it creates a ditch, between the corn rows, for the irrigation water.

Because the soil is so dry this year, we'll hill first, irrigate and then plant. The tractor, hiller and planter are all set up for 30 inch rows so it'll all work out.

The hilling operation.
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Planting by the Moon

2011-04-18T20:12:00.002-06:00

Time to start thinking about a planting date for this year, as planting can start about a month from now. Depending on the local growing season (ours is about 106 days, click on 'freeze free' in left column) factors such as the moon phase can be included. For most heirloom varieties of Southwestern corn plan on needing about 100 frost free days. In our coldest field, last year, we had 129 days and we needed them. The late fall really saved us. From August on the temperature was cool at that field and the corn just poked along.

To find weather info for the Western US states.

Although information on Puebloan moon phase considerations for planting corn are skimpy and somewhat contradictory, the general consensus seems to be to plant as the moon is waxing (growing). The new moons for this year are May 3 and June 1. Planting on the waxing moon in May is a little early and planting very far into June is a tad late. So, 2011 isn't an ideal year to test out moon phase theories.

One way to go is plant on Memorial Day. The period from Memorial Day (the last Monday in May) to Labor Day (the first Monday in September) is always 98 days. You probably can't go wrong with this method. For us, planting earlier than, say, May twentieth is a little too early weather-wise.

Another planting method for the Colorado Plateau that has worked for centuries is to watch the northern night sky, just at twilight. Watch the North Star and the Big Dipper right at twilight (about an hour after sundown).

Twilight Calendar marked for Navajo needs

Twilight, May 25

Above is what the Northern sky will look like, at twilight on May 25. And it'll be the same view, at twilight, all across the Northern hemisphere. If you have a low northern horizon, it's just when the low point of Cassiopeia comes closest to the horizon, at twilight.

We'll be planting a little before Pleiades appears as a morning star.

With all the planting date stuff, the question naturally arises about how prehistoric people kept track of time (dates) in the sense of when to plant. All the Southwestern Pueblos watched the sun on the horizons as it moved back and forth between winter and summer solstices. At this latitude (Taos) the sun moves about 60 degrees. Sunset on the Summer Solstice is at an azimuth of about 300 degrees and Winter Solstice the azimuth is about 240. These figures hold up pretty well throughout the Pueblos as they are roughly at about the same latitude. Surprisingly, all 21 Southwestern Pueblos lie within 1/2 of a degree of latitude.

Go out and look at the horizon, east or west, find east or west and then approximate an angle of 30 degrees on either side--that's about the section of horizon a pueblo sun-watcher has to work with. It immediately becomes obvious that a distant horizon is easier to work with and also one which has permanent features--hills, cliffs, clefts and so on. In Taos, this is the western horizon out beyond the Rio Grande gorge and in the late 1800's observations were made from a certain tree at the Pueblo. The eastern horizon for Taos Pueblo is mountainous and nearby. So sun-watching at Taos was generally done to the west at sundown.

You've surely noticed that sunlight in your home changes from summer to winter and it isn't much trouble to begin marking the sun/shadows from various windows, etc. and in short order (a couple years) you could be living in a fairly detailed sun shrine and know the current date with a fair degree of precision. Then there is the process of correlation. Over the years, noticing that sun from a window, at sunset/sunrise, has to just touch the fireplace (for example) for the corn to do good that year, leads to having a fairly reliable planting date that is mediated by light and shadows.

If there's a prominent feature on the horizon followed by featureless length then a cord can be knotted and the days counted by uniting a knot a day. Shalako at Zuni is timed this way. It wouldn't be unusual for a prehistoric pueblo to have dozens of different sites and ways to follow the sun--both official and private/personal. In general, they knew what day it was within a day or two--more than enough accuracy for their needs.

Years ago, the sun-watcher at a Hopi village logged his observations onto a wall calendar and had incorporated new and changing features like TV antennas, etc. He had it covered.

The direction a Taos sun-watcher would see the sun go down on May 25 is right on top of the hills beyond the Gorge.

Anyway, it's not all that hard to do Indigenous time reckoning and it starts connecting you to a larger realm.

Two More

2011-04-16T18:32:00.002-06:00

Two more plots were created this week. We're burning fuel and turning ground. Water is starting to appear in reservation ditches. Within the last week we broke ground and started seven new farming plots. It was a good week. There are more people lined up to start farming this year.

Colleen

Tony

Replacing Alfalfa

2011-04-12T15:59:00.001-06:00

We're putting corn in an old worn-out alfalfa field. And it's going to need some irrigation before we go much further. Very hard ground. The upside--since alfalfa is a legume (nitrogen fixer) there should plenty of nitrogen for corn.

Querino Montoya is putting in a garden and corn patch.

Sharecropping

2011-04-10T16:05:00.002-06:00

Kelvin Mondragon is sharecropping an unused field this year. From the photo you can get an idea of how long it's been since this field was agricultural.

It snowed a little last night, froze and today was cold and windy. We ripped the ground, Kelvin pulled out fencing wire, cactus, sagebrush, rocks, etc. and then we rotary-tilled the whole thing.

Last year, he worked on the ditches and got them up to speed--now we're good to go.

Really Old Corn Fields

2011-04-09T19:48:00.001-06:00

Steve Parks and I have been out looking for petroglyphs and found this one not far from Rinconada.

The 'net' looking thing is the universal Amerind symbol for fields, in this case corn fields. Just a little bit of joy for today.

Petroglyph panels? Not totally unlike contemporary blogs.

Tiwa Farms Journal has a companion blog where our petroglyph search is better explained.

New Plots

2011-04-09T08:58:00.000-06:00

Renee and her mother are planning on growing some corn, red beans and squash this summer. Son Tyler is slated to handle the irrigation. We prepared the plots and things are ready to go.

This is the best dirt we've worked so far. Outstanding, actually.

A Good Rain

2011-04-08T09:46:00.000-06:00

A reader of this blog wrote and asked if we had a good rain. We got five-eights of an inch, tending toward three quarters. How measurements are rounded off says something, I suppose. Rain gauges in the interior of Australia typically measure accurately to a hundredth of an inch--which tells you something about the weather of the interior of Australia.

The historic average for annual precipitation in Taos is just a little over twelve inches. So, in Taos an inch should qualify as a good rain, as the occurrence is more on the unusual side of things.

To know corn is to know water--either in the form of rain or irrigation. The Puebloan emphasis on rain/water is deeply ingrained in the religious outlook. The ski season in Taos, this winter, was a bust as the snow levels were way below average. The Corn Maidens didn't ski this year.

And we haven't had moisture since February so people were starting to eye the sky and shake their heads. June is a dry month (with less than an inch on average), but things get cracking in July and August when rainfall jumps up to a whopping inch-and-a-half to two inches.

The graph gives monthly amounts averaged from records going back over a hundred years. It appears that for dry-land farmers, if they can keep the corn alive through June they'll have a shot at a harvest. The Taos rainfall pattern is close to idea for corn with the excess of moisture coming during rapid growth/pollination and grain-filling stages.

Anyway, this last storm delivered a healthy portion of our historic allotment for the entire month of April. Good rain? Not quite. But that's just measuring the amount. Another aspect is the time period for the rainfall. Using Navajo terminology, Male Rain--fast, Female Rain--slow, this rain was female (soaked in rather than running off) so that was good. Another inch of moisture by the middle of next month would put us in good shape for planting.

The stream flow running through Taos Pueblo jumped a little, but just up to normal for this time of year. But most of the conditions discussed in a previous post are still intact.

Ripper Blade

2011-04-07T17:17:00.001-06:00

One of the ways we're hoping to beat the drought this year is to use a ripper blade on all the fields. In polite company it's called a subsoiler. The concept is to run a blade deep into the ground to break up the hardpan so the soil will be less compacted and retain more moisture. Ripping a field breaks up the hard dirt and aerates it. Taos Pueblo fields are heavy clay (adobe) with a generous sprinkling of rocks. Last year, we encountered hardpan in practically all the fields at about six inches. Sometimes as little as four. This creates a situation where the soil just doesn't hold much moisture and doesn't allow for a good growing bed for the corn.

Soil Conservation Service map for Taos Pueblo 1937

With the ripper blade we can loosen things up down to about 20 inches. As far as we know this is the first time ripping has been tried on the Rez and certainly in the fields we planted last year.

Field Work at the Waldorf School

2011-04-07T16:49:00.002-06:00

Wednesday, we started work on the garden plot at the Taos Waldorf School where Kona Mirabal goes. And it's pretty much the same story as elsewhere. No irrigation, as the ditch is in bad repair and/or nonexistent. The ground is very dry and hard. So we benched the rotary tiller and ripped the plot.

It rained this morning and there was snow on the Mountain. We rotary-tilled the plot and were done.

As soon as they get the ditch path flagged we'll put in a new ditch for them.

More Equipment

2011-04-05T02:36:00.000-06:00

We picked up some more equipment in Alcalde yesterday--rock rake and ripper blade. We're using the rake to gather willows we cut with the brush hog. Later, we'll use it to clear fields of rocks and debris.

Just Don't!

2011-04-02T16:05:00.001-06:00

So, how dry is it?

2011-03-31T11:38:00.001-06:00

Pretty dry and there's no relief in sight.

Stream flow (from USDA) has us in the brown area which is a flow of 50-70% of normal.

The Drought Monitor has us at D1 or moderate drought:

The three month's precipitation outlook isn't good:

And finally, the soil moisture projections for the end of April and the end of June--running 40-60% below normal:

Welcome to Puebloan agriculture. Now you see why rain is such an important part of Pueblo ceremonials. No rain, no corn.

Clearing Old Fields

2011-03-30T19:25:00.003-06:00

The Quiet Period is finished and we're finally getting started with some farming. First up is a field that hasn't seen crops in a long time. The tree size will give you an indication of how long. The other thing you'll notice (from the dust) is that the ground is dry. Dry to the point of concern. Suffice it to say that we need some rain, substantial rain and soon.

The Red Buffalo is running strong, Robert and the tractor are bonding.

Here's the link for Tiwa Tees

Tiwa Tee

2011-03-29T16:49:00.002-06:00

Our Tiwa Farms digitally printed tee shirts are in. Last December, we gave you a peek at them and there was some interest. So to all those who wanted a shirt, we now have them in about all sizes (S-2XL) and you will be able to order from Mirabal.com. I'll wait for Dawn to get them online and then give you a direct link.

You can look resplendent this summer in your corn patch!
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Bird Points

2011-03-28T12:00:00.002-06:00

Examples of the Cedar Mesa small arrowheads--bird points:

Burnt Corn

2011-03-27T18:39:00.003-06:00

A supporter of Tiwa Farms Journal sent in the following photo:

It's a small piece of burnt cob/corn from around 1300-1350 AD. As a general rule, carbon (burnt things) don't combine/react with dirt and therefore last pretty much indefinitely.

I've always been entranced by the material screened from Anasazi campfires on Cedar Mesa in Utah in which invariably, a single small arrowhead is found. Some kind of profound symmetry in that.
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Tiwa Farms Cap

2011-03-25T20:11:00.001-06:00

Here's what they look like:

In case you can't live without a TF Cap.
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Extending the Cornfield

2011-03-21T20:00:00.000-06:00

We're clearing out brush and extending the upper cornfield. We might be able to make it a quarter bigger. Red Buffalo and brush beater are working well together. Robert is a little stunned at what the tractor can do.

Supermoon Redux

2011-03-20T16:06:00.000-06:00

Hazy full moon's rising last evening. Very quiet and then a single coyote went nuts in the front yard for fifteen minutes. Scared my dog.

We're talkin' Corn Seed

2011-03-19T08:56:00.000-06:00

Kokopelli is the Anasazi seed-bringer and flute player. All native corn in the Southwest can be traced back to him.

Without seed there is no corn.

Without song there is no harvest.

Some of the varieties we're planting this year

For those in the Taos area, if you want to grow corn this year, get the Corn Manual and then contact us for some free corn seed. Mirabal.com is also selling small containers of blue corn seed.
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