Better and Better
Just want to let you know how much I enjoyed the last issue (July) with all these articles especially in the B section, about hummingbirds (so wonderful) and the fires in the Gila National Forest (which nobody talks about in the news), and all those luthiers in the "Strings Attached" story. The discovery of that organic farm in Las Cruces in "Healthy Horizons"—how wonderful! Really I think you outdid yourselves. And as usual the "Continental Divide" was exquisite. When is your daughter going to write again? I miss her articles; she is a very good writer.
I can tell you, I'm looking forward to the next issue, as always, but maybe even more so now. It's better from one month to the next.
Micheline Lafortune
Las Cruces
Editor's note: For those who've wondered, our daughter Courtney Fryxell's occasional "Away at Grad School" column is on hold—along with her last two classes—as she spends from now until Election Day working (long hours, seven days a week!) as a field director for a US Senate campaign in Tennessee. Perhaps she'll write about her experiences after the election—and after a few weeks of sleep.
Overlooked Oasis
I read Jeff Berg's piece entitled "Healthy Horizons" in the July 2006 issue of Desert Exposure with interest. I'm familiar with Jeff Graham's work and am pleased to see it highlighted.
I would, however, encourage Jeff Berg to do a bit of homework in this area. The following is a paragraph from his article regarding Jeff Graham's CSA: "This part of the organic plot is the source of the only Community Sustained Agriculture (CSA) project in the Las Cruces area. CSAs are kind of like playing in the 'futures' of the stock market, except with fresh organic food being the prize."
Interestingly, this is not the only CSA in Las Cruces! Readers may wish to take a look at Connie Falk's work in the Mesilla Valley in this area (agesvr1.soilphys.ad.nmsu.edu:8888/oasis/index.jsp).
On the NMSU Oasis Web site you might note the following regarding the CSA (which actually stands for "Community Supported Agriculture"): "In fall 2001, faculty at New Mexico State University's College of Agriculture and Home Economics were awarded a three-year grant by the USDA Hispanic Serving Institutions Grant Program, to develop a student-managed CSA farm on campus. Our first crop was planted on a 2/3-acre plot on the NMSU Fabian Garcia Farm. This is the first organic garden on the Las Cruces NMSU campus, the first organic production class, and the first CSA venture in the Mesilla Valley. . . .
"At OASIS, students learn how to plan and manage a diverse organic vegetable, flower and herb production system in spring and fall semester classes. Students are hired in the summer to help with planting, harvest and weekly distributions. Our season runs early April to late November, about 34 weeks."
I believe it is very important for our community to consider issues of sustainability. I would encourage publications like Desert Exposure to consider themselves possible avenues for educating communities in this regard and to do so in an accurate manner whenever possible!
Teresa Brobeck
Las Cruces
Correction:
Last month's People's Law column about bigamy omitted a word, making a sentence say the opposite of what was intended. It should have read: "And previous court decisions in New Mexico have said infidelity and criminal acts such as domestic violence do not disqualify one from sharing in community property at divorce. [The error has been corrected in the online edition.]
Let us hear from you! Write Desert Exposure Letters, PO Box 191, Silver City, NM 88062, fax 534-4134 or email letters@desertexposure.com. Letters are subject to editing for style and length.