Red Willow Center's Story

Red Willow Center is an indigenous-run non-profit in Taos Pueblo in northern New Mexico. We were founded in 2002 with the mission:

 To reclaim the agricultural heritage of Taos Pueblo and restore its traditional food systems. 

In this farm's 20 years of operation, this mission has been pursued in many ways, including focusing on renewable energy within agriculture. As part of this, a solar panel electrical system was installed to power our drip irrigation and water spigots. We are grateful to those who have come before us for the time, energy, and resources they have put into this farm to bring it where it is today.

Our outside growing space includes three fields for our market garden crops, which include over 30 different crops and 80 different varieties of open-pollinated seeds. We also have two traditional areas where we grow corn, beans, and squash for the Pueblo. Our market garden space totals approximately 1/3 acre, and our standard fields are about 1/10th acre. At halfway through our growing season, we have been harvesting an average of 600lb of food weekly! Additionally, because we are not growing year-round, we are focusing more on food preservation, which provides food during the winter months, and seed saving which allows us to collect seeds for use next season. These practices allow us to provide ample food for the Pueblo community and enables us to re-center on our mission.

2023 A Season of Continued Abundance

In 2022 at Red Willow Center, we worked to re-center our actions and intentions on the original mission. In this, we simplified our farming practices, which means we elected not to use the GARN to heat our greenhouses over the winter. Rather, we rested their soil, which has become depleted over the years from continual production. We restored the soil through use of cover crops and compost, which allowed us to focus to our outside fields and farm in conjunction with the natural seasons and cycles. Although we did not grow year-round, we did not produce less food by any means! In 2023, we exceeded our 2022 produce yields.

Although much food was grown, being a production farm was not our primary goal. We provided food for the community, but, we also ensured our center was a space for learning and healing for members of Taos Pueblo; a place where they could reconnect with the land and their agricultural heritage. Our accomplishments this season would not have been possible without the youth and community stewardship of the plants and the land. Learning and healing came from interaction with plants, land, and people. With great pride, both youth and community members have spoken of healing that has come to them through our center and we are honored to have provided a space for this to happen.

LOOKING FORWARD in 2024:

We hope to continue down a path of simplified farming practices, learning, and healing while maintaining produce yields to feed community members. We are working to be more sustainable by improving our current processes for food and seed preservation. With generosity from the Taos Pueblo Foundation Tides Grant, we are investing in our Youth Interns by providing new and improved safety gear and gardening tools. We intend to expand our Youth Intern programming with learning sessions from guest speakers and hands-on field trips. In addition, the Taos Pueblo Foundation Tides Grant allows us to make infrastructure improvements to our Farmers Market as vendors and customers will see the construction of a roof to protect from hot summer suns and monsoon rains.

If you are interested in supporting our efforts, please consider donating, as we always need financial support to keep our organization operating as a resource for Taos Pueblo.

In addition, we have volunteer opportunities available, too! Please note: Red Willow Center is a NON-SMOKING campus.

Thank you!