Return of the Ancestors Ceremony

A spring miraculously appeared above the pond the day before the Return of the Ancestors Council came to bless the land with a water ceremony. Kisha Little Grandmother of the Sioux and Salish Tribe held the ceremony for the New Mexico and Colorado region at the request of Adam Yellowbird and Grandfather Don Alejandro Cirilo Perez Oxlaj, leader of the Mayan Council of Elders. “At the time of the 12 Bhaktun and 13 Ahau is the time of the Return of our Ancestors and the return of the men and women of wisdom.” Apparently Little Grandmother had a vision and our land turned out to be that vision. A powerful earth acupuncture ceremony was held and quartz crystals were tossed into the waters of our pond and spring. We finished the ceremony by planting corn, bean and squash into the natural garden area of the property and watered each seed with water from the springs. Warren also found a perfect obsidian arrow head on the land the day before. It doesn't get any more Santa Fe than a weekend like that!

Erosion Stabilization

April 18th weekend turned out to be quite the weekend. Warren and I stayed the weekend on the land arriving Saturday morning to a 3inch blanket of snow that quickly melted into the land. Santa Fe's local ecological, wetlands, and erosion expert Steve Vrooman has provided us with excellent advice and we are putting it into action. We raked vulnurable areas, spread native dryland seed mix ($110 for a 20lb. bag) purchased from Plants of the Southwest (about a handful for every 15 sq. ft.) Raked the soil and seeds again before adding a layer of Gamma Straw (also from Plants of the Southwest $12 per bail). We were going to rent a gas powered 6" chipper shredder ($180) and grind up some of the brush we have on the land but Warren figured out that we could buy a lot of ready mulch for that price. So we did: 35 bags from Lowes for $4.60 a bag. Spread that over the Straw to keep it in place and noticed it was all wet from dew early the next morning. We had a good group of volunteers show up despite the snow. We put railroad ties into the parking area to establish 7 spots. We also began lining the garden sculpture trails with river rock.