Albuquerque’s South Valley is home to a historic and active agrarian community. The tour will stop first at Chispas Farm, a certified organic, small-scale vegetable farm producing fruits and vegetables since 2001. The tour will explore the farm’s heritage orchard and grape vines, seasonal vegetable production, and livestock on just 4 acres of fertile farmland, just a few minutes from downtown Albuquerque. The tour continues to the Gutierrez-Hubbell House Agricultural Center, a historic sitealong El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro that serves as a community gathering and educational place, as well as the headquarters of Bernalillo County’s Grow the Growers Program. Longtime middle-Rio Grande Valley farmer Casey Holland will share how the Grow the Growers program prepares young and beginning farmers for the realities of farming today.
