By Jessica Rath

When you have an out-of-state guest during the summer weeks and want to offer something special, take your visitor to a performance at the Santa Fe Opera. One doesn’t have to be an opera aficionado to enjoy such an evening – there is much more besides the music to make this an unforgettable event. Take the setting for example – there are hardly any walls! Given the fact that the opera is built on a hill just north of Santa Fe, this means that the surrounding mesas and mountains are visible, and truly eye-catching sunsets over the Jemez Mountains are almost a given. The wind can add some dramatic effects, seemingly being in synchronicity with the events taking place on the stage. And while you can expect world-renowned performances, you can dress as casually or elegantly as you like: shorts and sneakers, jeans and sweatshirts are more common than formal evening wear, and anything in between goes. Since the venue is outdoors and Santa Fe nights can get quite chilly even in summer, staying warm and comfortable has priority over fashion statements.

​This unique opera setting was the brainchild of a unique person, the opera’s founding general director and conductor John Crosby. He launched the company in 1956 and remained its director for 44 years, until his retirement in 2000. His vision was to create a summer festival which would present five operas: two popular works such as Puccini’s Madame Butterfly (which was chosen as the inaugural performance to open the first season in 1957), and the other three would be more experimental pieces: rarely staged and  lesser known operas, as well as American and world premieres. This programming turned out to be highly successful ever since its inception. Next to Madame Butterfly, 1957 also featured Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, with the composer present for two weeks. Each following summer, through 1963, Stravinsky returned to the Santa Fe Opera –the collaboration was beneficial for both.
 
Another innovative idea which was initiated by Crosby and continues today is the Apprentice System. For the 2023 season, the company selected a group of 44 young singers from more than 1,000 applicants. They get the chance to sing in the chorus of each opera, perform in Apprentice Scenes on two Sunday evenings in August,  prepare as understudies for some leading roles, and participate in seminars and master classes. This program was the first of its kind in the United States and has produced a large number of professional performers with distinguished careers. 

The Opera House didn’t always look the way it does now. The original theater, the location of the first performance of Madame Butterfly on July 3, 1957, was completely open-air and could seat only 480 people. The audience sat on benches and often got soaking wet because of the frequent summer rains. However, this wouldn’t deter the die-hard opera enthusiasts!

On July 27, 1967, a fire started around 3:30 am and completely destroyed the opera building. In less than a year, John Crosby managed to raise enough money to rebuild the theater in time for the next season which opened on June 28, 1968 with – you guessed it – Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. The new building had a greater seating capacity for almost 1900 people and was exposed to wind and rain, as the earlier one.
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At the end of the 1997 opera season, extensive reconstruction added a distinctive roof which provided more protection and increased the theater’s seating capacity to around 2,200, among other changes. In July of 1998  a new season opened in the new theater with Madame Butterfly.
Here is an article with photos of the destroyed 1967 theater and the newly built successor. And here you’ll find a number of photos from the 1957 building.

​My daughter who lives near Boston, MA came for a short visit and we decided to watch Rusalka, an opera written in 1901 by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, and a local premiere. I knew it was loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid, which I loved as a kid. But there are some significant differences. “Rusalka” is a female spirit from Slavic folklore which is  associated with water, and can be benevolent but also dangerous and seductive. 

​The Rusalka in Dvořák’s opera is a water nymph who has fallen in love with a young prince who often visits the lake where she lives. He cannot see her, and she longs to become human and visible. Her father tries to dissuade her, but when she won’t listen, he directs her to the witch Ježibaba who will help her – but it’ll cost her dearly. She will lose her voice. And if the Prince rejects her, she will be forever cursed and outcast, and he will be condemned to eternal damnation. But she accepts everything and turns into a lovely young woman whose beauty enchants the Prince. He takes her to his castle and plans to marry her.

​But he soon loses interest. And the staff in the castle think Rusalka bewitched the Prince and make fun of her. A Foreign Princess shows up and tries to seduce the Prince who pushes Rusalka away. She is now an outcast and asks Ježibaba for help again. If she kills the Prince with a knife, then she can save herself – that is Ježibaba’s offer. But Rusalka can’t do this and throws the knife away.

​The Prince, who is now ill with remorse, goes to the lake, looking for Rusalka. She has her voice back and tells him that because of his rejection, she is now a spirit and her kiss will kill him. But he begs her for it, to bring him peace. She embraces him, and forgives him as he dies, asking for mercy for his soul.
 
It is a very sad story. Unlike The Little Mermaid fairy tale which has a more redemptive ending (which is, however, not the Happy End of the Disney version), Rusalka paints a bleak picture of human relationships and points out the fickleness of “eternal love”. The Santa Fe production under the direction of Sir David Pountney sets the stage  in a psychiatric hospital in Vienna, which suggests Freudian subconscious struggles and underscores the pitfalls and misunderstandings which can trip up lovers and couples. Maybe there is redemption at the end – Rusalka’s final song may suggest this.

​A special treat was the female conductor, Lydia Yankovskaya, who is the music director of the Chicago Opera Theater. I looked it up – only 13% of all conductors in the United States are women. Brava!

​By Tamra Testerman

It’s an eclectic lineup – Indy pop, Rock, Chillwave, and World - infused folk music at the Ghost Ranch Music Festival this weekend — Blossoms and Bones is a two-day celebration of all things Georgia O’Keeffe, the woman who inspired generations of artists to be fiercely independent, loyal to the vision, and ever restless. 

I am resilient
I trust the movement
I negate the chaos
Uplift the negative
I’ll show up at the table
Again and again and again, 
I’ll close my mouth and learn to listen
These times are poignant
The winds have shifted
It’s all we can do
To stay uplifted.

Sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith, known as Rising Appalachia, have carved a musical career influenced by their southern roots and world travels. Atlanta, New Orleans, their Irish ancestry and the southern Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia are the emotional sound palette that influenced their music. Unwavering, no compromising, activists, and truth-seekers, the sisters have birthed their own je ne sais quoi weaving vintage jazz, global influences, folk, bluegrass, spoken word, and hip-hop. I spoke with Song by phone outside of Asheville preparing for the trip west. Smith couldn’t join us, she’s on“the schedule of the baby” (new mother) "which rules."
The sisters were raised in a family of artists. “Our father is a prolific painter and sculptor. He used to say ‘you are a creator because you cannot imagine being alive without it, I make art not because I want to but because I have to, to get through the day.’ If it’s in your bloodline, then you cannot escape it. It’s in your cooking, it’s in the way you put on your shoes in the morning. And so we grew up with a lot of different visual arts references and a big Georgia O’Keeffe book prominent in our family home. So we knew her, her work, just the beauty of her paintings and the incredible, stunning and stark imagery of herself in all the portraits that were taken of her – She seemed stoic and like a pretty serious, bad ass.”

Holding the lines of tradition, yet ever evolving is the bedrock of Rising Appalachia. “I feel like we’ve always wanted to hold a foundation of traditional folk music—out of the South, which is the region of our upbringing, but also a lot of traditional music at large. So we’ve been students of traditional songs and traditional instrumental projects since we were kids. We grew up with an Appalachian and Irish folk playing family. But we grew up in the middle of downtown Atlanta, Georgia so the neo soul movement influenced our lives as well. – And contemporary folk cultures, which was the underground hip hop movement. Front porch storytelling,

Contemporary music of the people, the music of the streets. And so all of that is already an unusual melting pot –I think continued from the foundations of this music tradition and wrote our own, to collect ways where we can write contemporary songs and merge them with old traditional fiddle tunes or old traditional ballads we’ve brought in the incredible musicianship of traditional Irish and West African players into our project who play the music of their origins. It’s the same. It’s been, like you said, kind of ever evolving. A study of the intersection between traditional folk music and contemporary songwriting.”
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Song and Smith have spent the last couple of years getting closer to their Irish lineage. "We have a lot of Irish on both sides of our family. There’s a lot of intact folk culture in Ireland, which I think is the benefit of it. The arts in Ireland reflect the hardship in its history, and the people's survival has helped preserve much of the culture intact. You can still find it. 10, 15 generation ballad singers and the tradition of the wailing the songs that held the grief. There’s a boat building culture. The sound of fabric being washed on the rocks that’s integrated as a rhythm and percussion into some songs – you don’t even have to imagine it. You can still kind of catch glimpses of it in the living, which is a wonderful, wonderful feeling. We all have access to that in our lineages and in our ancestry. Some of us are closer and some have to dig further. But, you get that texture still in the traditional Irish folk music. A lot of those songs and tunes have been circulating in the public domain for hundreds of years. So they don’t have authorship. Much of the music that we grew up in, being sung and played by groups of people. passed down in the oral folk tradition for hundreds and hundreds of years. We’ve studied singing styles from hill country in Bulgaria and ballad singing from rural Ireland and discovered places with music that has carried that on for generations. And that’s a real big inspiration for us. We look forward to sharing our musical journey, seeing other musicians, immersing in the ancient and dramatic landscape of Georgia O'Keeffe, and meeting the people at Ghost Ranch.

Blossoms and Bones showcases a “progressive female-centric artist lineup in honor of O’Keeffe’s legacy as a leading female voice in American Art, but features male artists as well.

Friday, August 25 music starts at 5:00 p.m. and features Taos’ Natural Lite, folk duo Ocie Elliott, New Zealand rockers, The Beths, Alt Rock Legends, the Breeders with headliner the Indie Pop darling, Japanese Breakfast.

Saturday, August 24 music begins at 4:30 p.m. with Native singer-songwriter Raye Zaragoza, world-infused folk with Rising Appalachia, Chillwave pioneer Toro Y Moi, Grammy award nominees for Best New Artist, Yola, and headlining is Austin Texas Indie Rockers, Spoon.
Friday and Saturday nights feature after-show DJ sets with New Mexico’s own DJ and the art collective Team Everything.

Two-day and single-day passes are available with extras like camping, glamping and VIP deck, special meals, and more.There will be a special welcome night “campfire” concert on Thursday. For details about the artists visit the website https://ghostranchmusicfest.com/artists/ and to purchase tickets https://ghostranchmusicfest.com/tickets/

Photographs of Rising Appalachia by Melisa Cardona courtesy the artists
All others artist courtesy Ghost Ranch Music Festival Blossom and Bones.
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By Jessica Rath​
Once Rio Arriba’s busiest hub, now at the bottom of a lake.
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Ever since I learned that Abiquiú Lake’s water level was so high because El Vado Lake was being drained, I was curious – might there be some visible ruins? Some remnants of human habitation? You may remember that I had spoken with John Mueller, Operations Manager at the Abiquiu Dam, who had explained that in addition to the snow melt our lake received all the water from El Vado Lake because the dam was in need of repair.  He also told me that the name of the lake came from a town that used to be there. WHAT? A town? Under water? I decided to drive up there and look for old ruins. And research the town’s history.

Which means that water has covered all the buildings, houses, railroad tracks, roads, bridges – whatever was there – for nearly ninety years. Would anything be visible, given that most of what we can see in the photographs above was made out of wood and possibly some adobe, neither of which would last very long, being submerged in water all this time?

Although I couldn’t even establish whether El Vado Lake had been drained 100% or whether it was still half-full, in which case one wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway, I was too curious and had to find out. I motivated my friend Peter, who also lives in Coyote, to accompany me for the long ride and possible adventure, and we set off early on a Thursday morning.

We drove north on US 84 towards Tierra Amarilla, and then we turned left on NM 112 which took us to the El Vado Dam and to the El Vado Lake State Park. We reached a boat ramp which was closed for obvious reasons; we could see the Rio Chama and established that the lake had indeed been emptied. But how to get to possible ruins?

​Luckily, the State Park Ranger Station was nearby, and we decided to stop there for some directions. They were closed, but a friendly ranger came out anyway to help us. Without her, we would never have found out where to go!  The thing was to reach the peninsula (which we didn’t know anything about), and to do that, we had to drive back all the way to US 84, go a bit further north, and then turn at NM 95 to go to Heron Lake, pass the Stone House Lodge, and then turn left at the Peninsula Drive. There’s a peninsula – we had no idea. It goes about two miles straight south and from the southern tip one can see the dam. 

The Chama flows to the east of the peninsula, and the town of El Vado was probably on the west side. “It’s steep to go down”, the ranger had warned us, and she was right. It was too steep for me, I was only wearing sneakers and it was too hot. Peter did make it down after we had driven back up for about one mile, but he checked out the side near the Chama, and he found nothing – that’s what the lady had told us to do, but I think she made a mistake. We explored the other side, the area west of the peninsula, and it looks more likely that that’s where the town of El Vado was situated. 

​If you look at the first image at the top, the one with the lumber mill, you notice a little bridge in the foreground. In the image above, you see a small creek, a tributary to the Chama – that could be what the little wooden foot bridge spans.  The photograph was taken from a position not much higher than the front of the bridge and with a wide-angle lens; that’s why figures and items in the distance look further away than they probably were. The second image must have been taken from the opposite direction, looking towards the peninsula. One can see the same smokestacks, and possibly the smoke from a locomotive. 

We did find the old cemetery which of course never was under water, that’s why the wooden cross and the fence posts etc. are still there. I don’t know why I thought we could find old ruins, when wood and adobe clearly wouldn’t last long being submerged for nearly 90 years. To find the metal remnants which must still be there, railroad ties, plates, and other rusty left-overs, one has to hike down the steep slope – wear adequate shoes, possibly bring a hiking pole, and plenty of water. And binoculars would help, too. We’re planning to do this again, soon.

The beauty of the area made the long trip worth it anyways, even without anything resembling Stonehenge or the Colosseum in Rome.  

If you have some other ideas about the location of the town – I know I’m merely speculating – please leave a comment!

By Jake Arnold
 
​​The cases alleging perjury in grand jury testimony by Rio Arriba County Commission Chair Alex Naranjo and former County Manger Tomas Campos are on a procedural hold with District Judge Jason Lidyard recusing himself from presiding over either of them.
 
With that action by Lidyard, the cases will now be assigned to one or a series of other First Judicial District judges.  According to prior experience such matters involving prosecution of public officials, criminal cases brought them against them most often lead to a series of additional recusals (excusals by either defendants or prosecutors) until one of the other First District Judges ends up with the case. Each side has the option to exercise a one-time excusal of a judge ultimately assigned to a criminal case.
 
In recusing himself from the Naranjo and Campos perjury cases on July 24, 2023, Lidyard did not disclose why he chose to do so.  He simply stated, via standard court recusal form, that he had "good reason" to do so, without mentioning any specific details.
 
Consequently, as a result of Lidyard's recusal and the expected sequential process of multiple, pro forma assignments to a series of other First District judges, further procedural actions in these cases are on hold.  Until another judge does ultimately take these cases, no arraignments/first appearances can be set, no summons for the defendants to appear at such hearings can be issued, and no defense attorneys can enter their notices of appearance on behalf of the defendants.
 
Also, on Thursday 7/27/23, upon receiving notice of Lidyard's recusals, the clerk of the First Judicial District Court re-assigned the Naranjo case to District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer and re-assigned the Campos case to District Judge Glenn Ellington.
 
Campos did tell the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper that he is represented by top notch criminal defense attorney Tom Clark in this matter, but Clark had not submitted a notice of appearance on Campos' behalf as of 7/26/23; presumably because the procedural states of these cases are in limbo for the immediate future.
 
Naranjo did not publicly identify, in his comments to that newspaper, any attorney who may be representing him in his companion case.  But on Thursday, 7/27/23, attorney Elden Pennington did file an entry of appearance on Naranjo's behalf.  But Clark has not yet filed an actual entry of appearance on behalf of Campos.
 
The tortured history of the legal proceedings leading to the indictments against Naranjo and Campos goes back to June, 2019, when longtime political activist Antonio ("Ikie") DeVargas of La Madera submitted a petition submitted to Lidyard, signed by several hundred Rio Arriba County residents, seeking to have Lidyard convene a special grand jury to investigate alleged wrongdoing (criminal or simply malfeasance in nature) on the part of the North Central Solid Waste Authority, that governmental agency's employees and/or board members .
 
Naranjo, as a county commissioner, was formerly and is now once again, a NCSWA board member.  Campos, as a former county manager, was once a NCSWA board member.
 
The NCSWA owes its existence to a joint powers agreement executed by Rio Arriba county, the City of Espanola and other units of local government including two Native American pueblos.  Pursuant to that agreement, representatives of those entities sit on the NCSWA board. However, shortly after the emergence of the of the Covid pandemic, the state Supreme Court suspended all state grand jury proceedings until the pandemic no longer made such proceedings impossible to continue.
 
Finally, in early 2023, grand jury proceedings could once again resume and Lidyard issued an order to convene a special grand jury in response to the 2019 DeVargas-initiated petition. Any such grand jury proceeding requires the involvement of a state prosecutorial agency (local District Attorney's Office or the state Attorney' General's office).
 
As it so happened, the First Judicial District Attorney's Office prosecutors attempted to scuttle the convening of a NCSWA special grand jury by Lidyard and a procedural battle between DeVargas, his attorney Richard Rosenstock and Lidyard transpired. The DA's prosecutors argued that a 2022 state Supreme Court ruling severely limited the functions of grand juries and the ability of prosecutors to use grand juries as a vehicle to bringing cases against targets.
 
Lidyard rejected that move by prosecutors since the 2022 state Supreme Court order in question applied solely to "regular" grand juries and not to "special" grand juries convened on the basis of a citizen petitions, as authorized by the state constitution.   Therefore, a NCSWA special grand jury sought by DeVargas and his co-petitioners was eligible for him to convene.
 
Lidyard did convene this special NCSWA grand jury and its proceedings commenced on April 24, 2023.  That grand jury, as do all other state grand juries, had a legal term of 90 days during which it could deliberate, hear/see evidence and choose to indict (or not indict) "targets" or witnesses who may have perjured themselves when testifying before it. The term of this special grand jury expired on July 22, 2023.
 
Three days earlier, on 7/19/23, the grand jury handed up indictments against Naranjo and Campos for perjury to Lidyard. The indictments state that Campos perjured himself in grand jury witness testimony on May 31, 2023, and that Naranjo perjured himself in grand jury witness testimony on June 28, 2023. In their respective grand jury witness testimonies, both Naranjo and Campos claimed they were completely unaware of allegations or reports of any NCSWA wrongdoing discussed at board meetings when they were members of that board.
 
The indictments state that the conclusions of perjury for both defendants were based not on testimony of other witnesses, but on a documentary record that included minutes of NSCWA board meetings in which both Naranjo and Campos participated. Those minutes (included as exhibits in the report) demonstrate that both defendants were acutely aware of NCSWA wrongdoing/likely criminal conduct by NCSWA employees/officials.
 
Based on those indictments, Lidyard, the following day (7/20/23), initiated fourth degree felony criminal cases for perjury against both Naranjo and Campos. The next day (7/21/23) the special NCSWA grand jury submitted a 22-page report on its deliberations, recommended actions by the court/prosecutors, indictments requested, and as a series of findings pertinent to the history of the NCSWA over the past decade since its creation. 
 
It is unclear if all or portions of this report was the work of grand jury members, the prosecutors from the DA’s Office, or both. The report is highly critical of the DA's Office, claiming that the DA's prosecutors effectively tried to stonewall the grand jury when it sought assistance or evidence from that agency.  The report reveals what may be a hostile relationship from time to time between the grand jury and the prosecutors.
 
So, while Lidyard has the report in hand and did initiate the actual criminal cases against Naranjo and Campos, he is now out of the picture and the expected series of recusals and likely excusals of the other First Judicial District judges is now underway--a process that could last for an indefinite time period.
 
In one curious and mistaken understanding of what is legally possible regarding action against other NCSWA figures that appear in the report (certainly composed by grand jury members rather than the prosecutors) the report recommends "indictments" against those other NCSWA figures for "malfeasance."
 
No crime of "malfeasance" is included in any New Mexico criminal statutes.  Whomever composed that portion of the report's text may have been confused about a different, and extremely rare procedure that can be initiated by a special grand jury in conjunction with the prosecutor assisting a special grand jury and the district judge supervising its proceedings.
 
This unusual procedure allows for a finding of "malfeasance" or dereliction of duty in the conduct (or lack thereof) on the part of a currently sitting elected official--a county commissioner for example.  Key to this provision is that the targeted individual must be an elected official and the articulated finding of malfeasance must be related to/be in progress during that official's current term of office.  This procedure cannot apply to non-elected officials, onetime officials no longer holding office, and cannot apply to misconduct during an elected official's previous term(s) in office.
 
If this unusual procedure were to come before the supervising district judge, he/she could suspend that elected official from office pending a civil trial to resolve the recommended removal from office for malfeasance. That trial would proceed as a civil case, but the rules governing its adjudication would follow the rules of criminal procedure.
 
The targeted elected official would then be subject to a ruling of removal by the district judge, or conversely, the judge could issue an effective "acquittal" and the targeted elected official could resume his/her term in office.
 
None of the individuals identified in the special grand jury report are erroneously recommended for "indictment" or "malfeasance" could be subject of this arcane provision of the statues.  Only one of them (from a total of six altogether) was an elected official--a former Rio Arriba County commissioner who is longer holding elective office.  The other five are/were NCSWA employees/board members but are not/were not elected officials.
 
Another intriguing aspect of the special grand jury report is that the members of this body "recommended" an indictment against three individuals.  The grand jury did just hand up indictments against two of them, Naranjo and Campos, but did not do so in the instance of the third individual that this special grand jury sought to see prosecuted, former Espanola City Council John Ricci (no longer holding elective office), who was once a NCSWA board member.
 
It is not clear if the decision not to proceed with an indictment against Ricci, when the special grand jury handed up indictments against Naranjo and Campos on 7/19/23, was that of the DA's prosecutors or a decision by the grand jury members having reconsidered their initial recommendation as stated in their report. Both special grand jury members and/or the DA's prosecutors could have composed different portions of this report.
 

~By Jessica Rath

​​​How many times have you seen a tree that was struck by lightning and caused a fairly substantial wildfire? THE tree that started it all? Well, I had to become 77 years old before I could cross this item off my bucket list (I’m joking, I don’t have one). And not only that, I got to meet the person who first discovered the fire! 

On July 6 I joined a field trip organized by the El Rito Ranger Station of the  Carson National Forest, to look at the Comanche and Midnight Fires and see the fire effects of a few weeks and a year later. I didn’t go to the Midnight Fire site because it would have become  too long of a  day for me, but I want to share what I learned during the first part of the trip. It certainly was fascinating, given the fact that wildfires are normally (and rightly) seen as something to be feared. But they also have beneficial effects, something I had never really considered before.
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About 20 participants, maybe a few more,  gathered in the parking lot of the Carson Forest Ranger Station at 9:30 in the morning. Angie Krall, the West Zone District Manager, showed us on a map where we would go and told us what would happen during the day. First, we would visit a Type Four level active Fire Incident: the site of the Comanche Fire.

Fire officials decided to  contain the wildfire and allow it to burn at a low intensity. They established boundaries and consulted resource advisers.

The fire started between El Rito and Canjilon, and crews have been using a “confine and contain strategy” which means they allowed  the fire to work its natural role in the ecosystem. We took Forest Road 137 to drive to the burn site. As we passed the area of the 2005 Pine Canyon Fire on our right, we saw the skeletons of burned trees. In some places the 2005 fire made space  – which is one of the goals of prescribed burns. We passed ponderosa, pinyon, and mixed conifers, the typical vegetation of the region. A prescribed burn, the Stone Angel Project, is being planned just west of El Rito in the next few years.
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We noticed that the left side of the road looked very different from the right side; while the left side was overgrown with shrubs, saplings, and scrub oak, on the right side the fire had thinned out the vegetation.

For our first break we parked somewhere near the fire, and Tommy Peters, the Incident Commander Type 4 trainee, gave us an overview of the Comanche Fire history.  On June 8, lightning struck near the El Rito/Canjilon border and caused the fire.  The fire and fuels team from the West Zone of the Carson,  together with a resource specialist, looked at it, and they formed a strategy for a fire-planning area.
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On June 12, the fire crews and  teams got together, and they created a plan to contain the fire for an area of up to 10,000 acres.The purpose was to reduce future risk to natural resources and communities.

On June 21  a drone and a helicopter ignited several spots from the air. In May and early June we had a lot of moisture, but then the rest of June became dry and windy, which wasn’t the desirable weather for the plan. They started with low intensity fire which later turned into more intensity than desired. At that point ignitions ceased. The latest Forest Service update says the fire activity is minimal and the crews will work only to cool any possible hotspots.

From the start of the fire until the day of our field trip, 1974 acres were burned, a number which has a good landscape effect. There were less than two acres of high intensity effects, exactly what the planners wanted to see: lots of small pockets of fire; a mosaic. On the day of our visit several engines were still there to monitor and control the line. The day before, on July 5, the temperature was high and it was windy, but there were no great reactions. There’s a slurry line for the safety of firefighters and natural resources. Tommy stressed that firefighter- and public safety always come first and are the most important concern.

So far, the Ranger Station is delighted with the results. The resource advisors say that everything of value will be considered.
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Last year’s Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, two escaped prescribed burns,  became New Mexico’s largest and most destructive wildfire ever. As a result, several new policies have been implemented. There’s much more community input. For the Comanche Fire more resources have been added, there were press releases, two community meetings, and daily updates. Procedures are more transparent and monitoring is more robust.

Prescribed burns had come under attack because of the devastating destruction last year’s fire had caused. People were angry because the fire could have been prevented. They concluded that there are too many unknown variables to conduct safe prescribed burns. While this is an understandable reaction, I came away from this field trip with a different impression. Something that utterly surprised me because it was so unexpected: A fire, when correctly monitored, is beneficial for the forest and the understory. It prevents overcrowded trees, supports forest health and resilience, and therefore lowers the risk of more dangerous wildfires. Dense vegetation with lots of brush, shrubs, and trees burns quickly, especially in a dry climate. These types of  burns  also help the watershed: with fewer plants, streams are fuller and benefit animals and other plants. In addition, they  keep the forest canopy mostly intact presenting less risk of erosion and landslides. By contrast,  hotter wildfires remove most if not all canopy and ground cover.

I was also impressed by the knowledgeable and scientific approach to wildfires. They had always left me with dread and apprehension. To learn that the many professionals who deal with fires have a huge repertoire of tools, techniques, experience, knowledge, and training, felt reassuring indeed.

When we walked around through the burned areas, our guides would point out interesting facts. For example, Ponderosa pines are well-adapted to fire; they have very thick bark which can survive a fire. And the branches are high up, so the fire can’t jump up a tree.

We went to a look-out spot and could see some open areas from past fires (I’m not sure whether these were prescribed burns). A hundred years ago there would have been many more open spots, and the vegetation wouldn’t have been so dense.

I happened to get a ride in the truck driven by Lorenzo who works for the Forest Service and was the one who discovered the fire. He told us what had happened: he was looking for vigas, and then smelled the smoke. We drove by the tree where the lightning had struck– what a moving sight.
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Lorenzo also pointed out that because of the early rain in May, the grass along the road and everywhere else grew very high. Then the rain stopped and the grass dried out, increasing the danger of fire.

We had lunch at the Comanche Creek. The fire crews repaired the fences around the creek and installed some water containers for cows and wild animals. The  situation there is better now than it was before the fire broke out. 

We drove back to the Ranger Station, and most of the other participants went on to look at last year's Midnight Fire site. I had to miss the second part, although I’m sure it was as fascinating as the trip to the Comanche Fire. What an exciting experience this was – and I have a much better understanding of the mechanisms of prescribed burns. It was an altogether successful day. 

​​For those of you who may not yet know, let me tell you a little about what’s going on here. Owl Peak Farm has been revitalizing the land in La Madera since 2010.  C.C. Culver is the heart and brains behind OPF.  She has an amazing and generous spirit and I am always astounded with the energy she throws into everything at the farm. They grow beans, corn, wheat, fruit and many grasses, as well as so much more. They are committed to enriching the valley and ensuring its prolonged health and abundance. 

Owl Peak opened a grain mill last year and now are providing local eateries with small custom ordered sacks of freshly ground and locally grown Blue Corn, Turkey Red Hard Wheat and Sonora White Winter flours. They also grow and dry pinto beans. If you are lucky, you might just be able to snag a bag of beans or a sack of flour. They also sell farm fresh eggs, corn, baked goods and a variety of mustards and unique condiments.

They have generously opened up this beautiful building to the local public to gather for meals and games and sometimes, even bingo! There isn't really a structured schedule, so one needs to be alert and pay attention. If ever you get word of one of these fabulous and very special events taking place, go, just go!

Being here on this wonderful Friday was quite a treat. Shortly after we arrived, out came huge trays of savory and delicious food. There was beef barbacoa, perfectly grilled and seasoned. It was flaky and flavorful and just delicious. Bowls full of freshly made pico de gallo, smooth guacamole and home grown sweet corn with herbs lent a tart and spicy taste and I was not shy about piling my plate high. Fresh made pinto beans straight from the field and a tender, perfectly cooked and seasoned white rice rounded out the meal. All this to be topped upon either a homemade flour tortilla or a yellow corn tortilla. Does it get any fresher?

There was also an amazingly melony fruit salad. The watermelon and honeydew tasted like Mexico. Someone then brought over a salad to our table that we had somehow missed, made of butter lettuce and citrus with a light vinaigrette. It was a lovely palate cleanser and very refreshing. ​

Now, for the desserts. My goodness, there were so many and all were spectacularly good. My favorite was the very chocolaty brownie, but close seconds were the plum torte (C.C.’s favorite recipe from her favorite New York bakery) and the strawberry coffee cake. All very professionally executed and mostly baked by C.C. herself.

There’s an industrial refrigerator stocked well with a variety of beverages for the grabbing. My wife and I shared a bubbly water, so as not to distract from the culinary showdown.
During all of us politely but ravenously stuffing our faces, one of the men who lives nearby and was somehow involved with feeding us all, whipped out his guitar and started playing beautiful cat gut acoustic classical sounds, so soft and perfect. We have been through this experience before at La Sala. Therefore, we knew that there was no assumed expectation of monetary trade for all this extraordinary grandeur. So we casually slipped some bills under the decorative house made biscotti jar to which I noticed several other diners did as well. This entire experience feels a bit like a dream, a dream I’d like to have again!

On a personal note…Along the vein of warm family feelings and community, this will be my last article for the time being.  It has been an extreme pleasure and I am honored to have shared our humble and fun adventures with you along the way. Perhaps we’ll see you on the foodery trail.
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