Sharlene says Michael has the skills needed to be a successful farmer: carpenter, mechanic, electrician, plumber, and welder, and he has found himself acting in the capacity of soil scientist, hydrologist, etymologist, wildlife biologist, bookkeeper, and efficiency manager. “I am the one,” she adds, “that comes up with great ideas and makes things ‘pretty.’

“The life-giving Mimbres River flows through our 43-acre farm, 14 (acres) of which are irrigated. We have a 150-day growing season, with an average last frost date of May 15th and an average first frost date of October 15th.”

No Cattle Company was most likely farmed by the Mimbreno Indians between 800 and 1100 AD. There are remains of pit houses on the other side of the river, where pottery chards can be found. Sharlene and Michael flood-irrigate their orchards and fields with water from the Mimbres River, transported to the farm through the Acequia del Llano, which is shared among four farms of about the same size. This community ditch was dug to completion in 1873, four years after the construction of Fort Webster, which was located about 4 miles upstream. No longer fearing reprisal from the native Apaches they were displacing, Anglo and Hispanic settlers began homesteading and cultivating the river valley to supply food to the mining communities in the area.

“No Cattle Company is truly a seed-to-market operation. We save many of our own seeds and propagate them in our 2,600-square-foot greenhouses. The greenhouses not only provide certified organic vegetable starts, but they also provide the first income of the year by offering over 250 varieties of vegetable, herb, and flower starts for sale to the public,” says Sharlene.

They also sell about 30 types of perennial nursery stock, including flowers, herbs, shrubs, and vines, and many native plants, all of which are propagated on the farm. They do some custom growing for area growers. The greenhouses are open to the public mid-April and are closed mid-June, when every thing is sold and they are in the field full time.

Michael says that although they had been growing vegetables on about ½ acre for many years, the year they committed themselves to farming as their sole source of income, they received 24 inches of rain. They were running around poking seeds in the ground everywhere. Most of them grew and they thought, “Hey, this is easy.” Within a couple of years, the Southwest entered a drought cycle. They are now into the 11th year of a 7-year drought. It is challenging to grow water-hungry vegetables, but through the use of organic mulches and good water management, they have been successful. During the good years, they press 50 gallons of cider a week and also make 10 gallons of apple cider champagne a year.

These organic farmers feel they are fortunate to live in an area of immense biodiversity, and they do everything they can to cultivate that diversity. When asked what their greatest success was this season, they respond that it is a colony of more than 30 bats that occupy a new bat house they put up. Bats eat bugs and are nocturnal. The Codling moth, also nocturnal, lays its eggs and may become a worm in an apple. The bats eat the Codling moths.

Green manure is their fertilizer and grown for the purpose of adding organic matter and nutrients to the soil. They plant seeds of winter wheat and Austrian peas and then plow it under so it enriches the soil. Sharlene emphatically states, “Soil first. It is the most important thing a farmer has.”

The No Cattle Company encourages farm tours for education groups, ranging from 5-year-olds from a local Head Start Program to classes from New Mexico State University and Prescott College in Arizona. While they don’t have the time to give individual tours to all who ask, fellow growers are always welcome as long as they understand they can’t stop what they are doing and must follow them around as they work, and hopefully help as well.

The No Cattle Company is what the true American farmer is. Support your local farmers and pay them what they are worth!

Beth Donahue is a freelance writer and can be reached at (505) 248-9700 or via email at NMWBethDonahue@aol.com.