Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

This caught my eye because we know these towns and caught some of the
demonstration days at the NMSU organic farm at Alcalde. We've notice apple
trees along the string of Spanish land grant hamelets, Tajique, Manzano,
Chilili, Torreon, about a half hour's drive from here. Knowing those
communities (and some of the houses) go back centuries, we were just a
little curious. . .

paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
---------------

Effort Under Way to Save Apple Varieties
http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry83f4.html?recid=1249

(Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2002 -- CropChoice news) -- ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) --
Wanted, alive: Old-growth apple trees.

Ron Walser and Estevan Arellano are trying to track down the gnarled
old-timers whose family trees date back to Spanish colonial times.

They want to ensure the survival of heirloom apples -- and other old-time
fruits and vegetables that have become acclimated to New Mexico -- for
future generations.

``Some of these old varieties of apples had some excellent qualities that
are going to be lost if we don't preserve them,'' said Walser, a New Mexico
State University horticulturist and fruit specialist at Alcalde.

``They are disease-resistant, insect-resistant, drought-resistant, and just
the qualities of the apples themselves -- processing, eating and storage,''
he said.

Walser, Arellano and others are searching for heirloom orchards along the
Camino Real -- the colonial Spanish road that ran from Santa Fe to central
Mexico.

Arellano, who has a 2 1/2-acre orchard in Embudo on land his family
received under a 1725 Spanish land grant, said saving New Mexico's old-line
fruits and vegetables is important for the state's cultural heritage.

Most orchards in northern New Mexico are not producing, and Arellano
worries that water rights could be in jeopardy.

``A lot of people have cut down orchards to make room for mobile homes. We
have to show people that, while maybe you can't live completely off the
land, that maybe you can make some extra income,'' he said.

Arellano is working with New Mexico State's Sustainable Agricultural
Research Center at Alcalde to plant a colonial heritage orchard on a 2-acre
plot behind the Embudo Valley Library in Dixon.

Root stocks are being ordered and should be planted by next spring. Then,
workers will begin collecting bud wood and grafting the wood from old trees
around the state onto the root stocks.

Walser, Arellano and their team plan to plant 50 apple root stock trees on
the library plot. Each root stock will be able to take grafts from several
different varieties. They also plan to plant 10 apricot root stock trees.

There may be more than 100 different heirloom fruit varieties along the
Camino Real, including some from Spanish colonial days, Walser said. He
said he has identified about 15 different varieties so far.

One tree, on the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, is probably
more than 100 years old and appears to be planted from a seed that has its
roots in Spain, Walser said.

``It's an excellent quality yellow apple. The tree is growing about 100
yards away from a stream. It's never had any care or anything,'' he said.
``It must be a good tree for its area.''

Three other trees at the monument produce small, hard, tart apples ``which
would indicate they are an old apple cider variety,'' Walser said.

He said he has found a tree in Abiquiu and another in the Cloudcroft area
-- both Starking delicious varieties -- that originated in Iowa.

A reddish Baldwin apple growing in the Hondo area can trace its lineage
back to a chance seedling in Wilmington, Mass., in 1740, Walser said.

A tree in Santa Fe is bearing a sort of russeted, golden delicious apple
that appears to be a Grimes golden, he said.

``It originated in West Virginia prior to 1800. Actually, I think that this
Grimes golden is one of the parents of the modern golden delicious,''
Walser said.

Growers are interested in propagating old, hardy varieties, he said.

``They're starting to develop a pretty good niche market for them,'' Walser
said.

Arellano said he has started growing about 25 different heirloom varieties
of apples on his land.

``I think cider is such a huge market that we haven't even tapped,'' he
said.

New Mexico State University's College of Agriculture and Home Economics:
http://cahe.nmsu.edu/news |
----------------------

Another article on this at
http://spectre.nmsu.edu/media/news2.lasso?i=291
Colonial Heritage Orchard Preserves Old Fruit Varieties in Northern New
Mexico

Date: 12/09/2002
Contact: Ron Walser, (505) 852-2668, rwalser@nmsu.edu Ron Walser, (505)
852-2668, rwalser@nmsu.edu

DIXON - Estevan Arellano, a 55-year-old journalist and grower from Embudo,
has spent a decade researching traditional agriculture in northern New
Mexico. Now, his writings are springing to life as part of a new,
living-history museum where dozens of old Spanish fruit varieties found
throughout New Mexico will be preserved for generations to come.

"It's been my dream to save as many of the old varieties as possible before
they die out, because that fruit is a big part of our cultural heritage,"
said Arellano, who maintains a 2.5-acre orchard in Embudo on land his
ancestors received under a 1725 Spanish land grant. "There are so many
varieties of apples and other fruit brought here from the Iberian Peninsula
via Spain and Mexico. We want to preserve them before it's too late."

Arellano is working with specialists from New Mexico State University's
Sustainable Agriculture Research Center at Alcalde to plant a colonial
heritage orchard in Dixon that will serve as a nursery where growers can
reproduce old fruit varieties and children and adults can learn about New
Mexico's agricultural history.

"There are efforts underway in other states to save old heirloom varieties,
but not in New Mexico, so we're going to preserve the old stock by grafting
it onto new rootstock in a special orchard set up for that," said Ron
Walser, an NMSU horticulturist and fruit specialist at Alcalde.

Walser will lead a team effort with Arellano and others to search for
heirloom orchards along the old Camino Real, the Royal Road that ran from
Santa Fe to central Mexico in Spanish colonial times.

"As the Spaniards moved along that trail, they planted orchards
everywhere," Walser said. "People have old varieties growing in their
backyards and they often have no idea what the varieties are or where they
came from. We want homeowners to help find and identify varieties and allow
us to collect wood from their trees for grafting."

Walser said there could be more than 100 different heirloom fruit
varieties-including apples, apricots, and pears-scattered along the Camino
Real. There are also some old stone fruit trees such as cherries, plums and
peaches, but they're harder to find because the trees have shorter life
spans and many have died out.

The team will receive technical assistance from Tomás Martínez
Saldaña, an agriculture and rural history professor at Mexico's
prestigious Universidad Agrícola de Chapingo. Martínez Saldaña has
researched agricultural development along the Camino Real during Spanish
rule and can help identify old fruit varieties, Arellano said.

However, identification may often be impossible, Walser said. In those
cases, the heirloom varieties will be named after their owners.

Apart from preserving the state's cultural and agricultural history,
heirloom varieties can offer growers a niche market if propagated, Walser
said. Many heirloom apples have died out because modern producers grow
apples that can be easily stored and shipped and look appealing to
consumers, even though they're inferior in flavor to old varieties.

"Heirloom apples are just excellent, extremely tasty fruit," Walser said.
"They're also well adapted to the local environment with disease resistance
and excellent cooking and processing qualities. More and more consumers
want to go back and try the old varieties, so there's a growing niche
market."

The orchard will be planted on a 2-acre plot behind the Embudo Valley
Library in Dixon, where some unidentified varieties of apple, peach and
cherry trees have been growing for more than 75 years, Walser said. NMSU
will plant about 50 fast-growing rootstocks that should bear fruit within
three years, and then the team will begin grafting heirloom varieties onto
those trees.

Arellano said the orchard will become an "edible park" for visitors, where
homeowners and growers can get woodcuttings for grafting on their own
property. The library will also house books on traditional agriculture and
the acequia (ditch irrigation) system, creating a community learning center
on agriculture for children and adults.

"Kids today think their food just comes from the local supermarket,"
Arellano said. "This orchard will allow us to preserve our history and
cultural heritage while teaching our kids about the past."

For more information, call Walser at (505) 852-4241, or send e-mail to
rwalser@nmsu.edu.
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