The Hispanic “Seasonal Round” in Northern New Mexico: from the Pojoaque Valley to the Pajarito Plateau, circa 1920s
DURAN
JEMEZ MOUNTAINS PAJARITO PLATEAU RIO GRANDE
Seasonal (spring-late summer)
Ca
ny o
ott o
a re m St m
ROMERO
Homestead claims
nB
ROMERO y DURAN
Dry-land farming Cistern stores water Extended family
Year-round Long lots POJOAQUE RIVE
R
ACEQUIA
Irrigated farming Acequias Extended family (small village)
Adobe Houses and Wood Outbuildings Log Houses and Wood Outbuildings
Main Group of Seasonal Occupants (Spring to Late Summer) Intermittent Visitors
Figure 51. The “Seasonal Round.” Homesteaders left their permanent homes in the Rio Grande Valley every spring to graze their stock and grow crops on the Pajarito Plateau. (Los Alamos National Laboratory, Ellen McGehee)
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Homesteading on the Pajarito Plateau
Farming and Ranching Dry farming was the only method for growing crops on the plateau because there was not enough surface water available for irrigation. Dry farming does not mean growing crops without water; it means growing crops without irrigation and making the most of what little water is available. Dry-land farmers employ specific strategies, such as using drought-resistant seed or mulching plants to lessen water loss from evaporation. They keep the soil loosened, through plowing, so moisture will be retained by the soil, and they weed so that any available water will go to crops. Dry farming is possible only if rainfall reaches at least 10 inches annually. There has to be enough moisture in the spring, either left over from winter or from spring runoff, to start crops. The growing season must be at least 120 days. Fortunately for people dependant upon farming, most of the rain on the Pajarito Plateau falls during the summer months of July and August.70 Beans were the primary cash crop on the plateau, while wheat, corn, squash, pumpkins, melons, potatoes, peas, beets, and turnips were grown for personal consumption.71 In addition to pinto beans, the homesteaders planted frijole bonita, a rounded variety of bean.72 Plateau crops were used to feed the families; any extra would be sold for cash. Annie Luján’s father, José Serna, was a plateau farmer. He grew corn, wheat, and pinto beans in Rendija Canyon. Serna sold most of the harvest each year but kept some for the family. Luján remembered that the family raised pigs and rabbits for the family to eat and usually had a few cows and chickens.73 In addition to cash crops, homestead families cultivated small vegetable gardens and fruit orchards near their cabins. During the summer months, homesteaders would gather local plants and culinary and medicinal herbs, including wild strawberries, wild plums, yucca root, oregano, quelitas (wild spinach),