New Mexico's Fiber Tradition

I only learned to knit in the last few years and, with the move to Vashon, was introduced to a vibrant culture of knitting, weaving, spinning and natural dyeing.  While not having much talent, it has been fascinating and opened my eyes to appreciate the treasures that exist in New Mexico.  In fact, the introduction of sheep to the Americas was thanks to the Spanish explorers.  They brought a hardy breed from the Iberian Peninsula called the churro (originally churra).  The breed is known for its ability to survive harsh conditions and ewes often have twins and the lambing is successful without human intervention.  The sheep were important for food and fiber in the Hispanic culture of the Southwest and quickly adopted by various Indian tribes.  Both Hispanic and Navajo weaving became rooted in the two cultures.  Different techniques are used by each, with different kind of looms.  Both made rugs and blankets from the wool produced from the churro sheep.

The churro became so popular that the Mexican churro pastry was named after the wavy churro sheep fiber.

The sheep population grew in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as Southern Colorado and Utah and there may have been some overgrazing.  In the 30's, when drought devastated the US, misguided and insensitive federal agents basically exterminated the breed, shooting thousands and leaving their carcasses to rot, in their efforts to control overgrazing.  They also thought it was a breed inferior to the sheep from Northern Europe.  The breed was reduced to around 500 animals and only recent efforts by biologists and some ranchers have brought it back.  I am told it has wonderful properties for rug weaving in particular, and is a sweet and healthy meat.  To the latter I can attest.

Prize winning Churro sheep

Shepherd's Lamb is one of the Hispanic ranches that has cultivated the breed in the area around Chama.  They provide wool to the Tierra Wool weaving co-op and meat to the area as well as to high end restaurants.  They still graze their flock on wild land, moving the sheep to higher pasture in the summer.

Seasonal flock move to higher pasture

In 1983 the Tierra Wools Weaving co-op was established to keep alive the Hispanic tradition of spinning, natural dyeing and weaving in the area.  The co-op is a few miles south of Chama in the small town of Los Ojos.

Tierra Wools Weaving co-op

Tierra Wools Showroom

Natural Dyed Churro Wool

Tierra Wools Weaving Studio

For those those who have a fiber passion, here are some more references.

http://www.nmmagazine.com/love-of-lamb/#.VZvPu2BsU9X

http://www.newfarm.org/casestudies/tierrawools/gerard2.shtml

http://www.santafetravelers.com/our-travels/tierra-wools-2/

Going back a few weeks to the Santa Fe area, the town of Chimayo is known for a centuries old tradition of Hispanic weaving, with the Ortega and Trujillo families being prominent.  The BD brought his book and patiently waited while I visited three studios, Ortega, Trujillo and Centinela.

Chimayo is still a small village and the fiber arts are the big attraction.  The fact that it is still sleepy and centuries old is really special.  While other wool is used, churro rugs and blankets are still made.  I treated myself to a pillow made from natural colored churro wool in the very traditional pattern for the couch in Pancho.

The pillow will be woven in the pattern and colors above and shipped to me in the next few weeks from the Trujillo studio.  The picture doesn't do the colors justice, the browns and carmel are quite rich looking.

At the Centinela studio I found a lovely wall hanging.

The hanging is made from naturally dyed wools using:

green-indigo and chamisa
tan-black walnut
pink-cochineal
blue-indigo
purple-logwood
orange-madder root
natural wool colors of cream and black



Some of the plant material used in the area that was new to me included chamisa

Chamisa

Chamisa

as well as Yerba de la Negrita.

Yerba de la Negrita

Chama and Northern New Mexico

We were in Chama for about a week, enjoying the very northern part of NM while waiting for our appointment in Farmington at the Freightliner dealer for some warranty work.  We have been to Chama before, the last time by accident and discovered the wonderful narrow gauge steam train that runs between Chama and Antonito, CO.  The train system in the area was established in 1880-81 as the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad and the stretch known as the Cumbers and Toltec is 64 miles long, summits at over 10,000' and took only 9 months to complete. Trains in the Northern NM, Southern CO area were originally built to service the silver mining industry, then used to carry oil and pipe for the oil boom around Farmington.  It also carried peppers from Santa Fe (the Pepper Express) and transported lamb and wool raised on ranches in Northern NM and Southern CO.  More on that in a future "Fiber" blog (no, not Metamucil!). While we did not ride the train this time, we camped right next to the trestle and watched and heard it travel north at 10:00 am and return at 4:00.  It is a big operation jointly run by the  "Friends of the Train" and reactivated by a cooperative effort between New Mexico and Colorado.  The RV Park  contains a number of retirees who spend the summer volunteering in the steam shop.  

Steam Shop

The only wooden coal steam train chute left in the US

While we didn't ride the train we did take a drive that paralleled the route and were able to follow the progress of the train as it traveled north.  While different from being on the train, it was as nice an experience.

This part of NM is beautiful and still very green because of the rainy spring.  We get thunderstorms most afternoons and I have never experienced such loud thunder.  Max is not fond of it but doesn't go too crazy.  Raggie's hearing loss is an advantage.  The other end of the train is a small town named Antonito.  It used to be a major sheep raising area but has clearly fallen on hard times.  An old building intrigued me.

SPMDTO stands for Sociedad Protección Mutua De Trabajadores. and was founded in 1900 in Antonito in order to prevent Hispanic land usurpation and combat discrimination against wage laborers.  It grew into 65 lodges in CO, NM, and UT providing financial aid, low cost insurance and fraternal support.

Another interesting building was the Catholic Church, the first church in Colorado, dedicated in 1863.

First Church in Colorado

One day we took about a 90 mile ride due east to Taos.  It had been a few years since I visited the little town, which was relatively quiet and quaint at the time.  No more.  Like so many places it seems, the word gets out and they become overrun by tourists, retirees and people seeking 2nd homes.  It is a small village with limited traffic infrastructure, resulting in crowded streets and too many people.  We found a lovely cafe at the edge of town and had, yes some more, NM food in a shady patio.  While the town was a big disappointment, the ride to and from was gorgeous.  The summit is 10,500, with the western section a part of a Spanish land grant and the eastern belonging to the Carson National Forest.  At one time there were ranches in the area but the harsh conditions resulted in most being abandoned though summer grazing leases still exist.

Brazos Cliffs

Just west of Taos is the Rio Grande Rift.  It is an impressive, deep "canyon" with the Rio Grande at the bottom going south.  According to an article on Geology of the Taos area:

"The Rio Grande Rift has cleaved Northern Mexico, Texas, New Mexico and half of Colorado over a distance of 800 miles.  The rift is somewhat like a plowed furrow with raised shoulders, partly filled with alluvium.  In this area, the shoulders are the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the east and Brazos Uplift (Tusas Mountains) on the west.  Just west of Taos, the floor of the rift is estimated to be down-faulted 36,000 feet.  If we could vacuum out the alluvium, the basin would be six times deeper than the Grand Canyon."

Rio Grande Rift

Northern New Mexico-Food

We remain in one of our favorite states, New Mexico.  We love the food, variety of centuries old cultures, handicrafts and views.  The only drawback was some really hot weather in Santa Fe, with a western exposure without trees in the afternoon.  We changed spaces so we could add time to our stay and, sadly, gave up our wonderful shade tree.  Now that we are in Chama it is higher and the weather has cooled but proximity to the Chama River and the wet spring have really brought out the skeeters.

Yesterday I  lost abut 6 or more hours of work on the blog trying to catch up on the last few weeks.  Don't know if it was the flaky internet connections or something in the blog that Google didn't like.  Some Internet chatter referenced the same problem with some "cures" that are frankly beyond my patience and technical knowledge.  I like doing the blog and figure when I am old and forget my journeys, I can relive them on the old blog entries.  So, I will break the NM entries down into smaller segments, the first being...

FOOD

We have visited several restaurants at the suggestions of friends and locals here in Santa Fe, as well as outlying areas.  Among our favs are Tia Sophia's and Maria's in the Santa Fe old town area, Rancho de Chimayo in Chimayo, which is abut 30 miles north of Santa Fe, Harry's Roadhouse east of town and a fun place we found by accident when I was hungry in the middle of nowhere about 10 miles north of town.  It is the Tesuque Village Market, which appears to be frequented by locals.  Another fun place outside town is Gabriel's, which has an interesting gallery adjacent to the restaurant where 22 different tribes' art is featured.

Tia Sophias

Rancho de Chimayo

Harry's

Tesuque Village Market

The BD is a huge chile rellenos fan and enjoys trying them at restaurants.  New Mexico has been uniformly good, perhaps because of their fondness for chiles.  The best so far is Tia Sophia and even the little cafe here in Chama got a 9 on their version.  I first discovered Carne Adovada at Rancho de Chimayo.  It is made by marinating pork or chicken in a red chile sauce, then slow cooking the meat.  My first version was served with posole and beans at the Rancho.  The restaurant was opened in 1965 after Arturo Jaramillo and his Anglo wife, Florence, decided to refurbish the family hacienda built in 1910 and open a restaurant featuring family recipes. At the time it was not "respectable" to offer such cuisine in a restaurant but Craig Claiborne, then NY Times food critic, visited and wrote a glowing report in the paper.  As a visitor he had asked many questions but the Jaramillos had no idea who he was.  When the NM Governor gave them the article, they had to call friends in the East to ask who he was.  Because Chimayo was a bit remote and NM wasn't too much on the foodie radar (I don't think foodies existed then), the article had little influence on business.

For a few days the heat in Santa Fe was around 100 so it was a choice of staying in Pancho with the A/C on, leaving the dogs and going to a movie or museum or taking a ride into the mountains with the car A/C on and the dogs with us.  We chose to head for the Sangre de Cristo Mountains east of Santa Fe. We found fly fishermen fishing for native brown trout as well as stocked rainbows, pine and at the higher elevation, aspen. It was cooler and beautiful

A fun sign on the road gave the history of a particular holding, which kind of sums up what I love about NM and the sense of history, which is so obscured in many areas as tracts are built and shopping malls erected.

Catching Up-Wyoming, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico

After leaving Jackson, Wyoming we headed south to a place called the Star Valley.  It abuts Idaho and was settled in the late 1870's by Mormons, some of whom practiced polygamy and were unwelcome in Idaho.  Apparently Wyoming wasn't picky and was eager to gain hardworking residents in order to achieve statehood.

Thayne and Alpine are in the Star Valley

 Before the valley was colonized, it was the summer and fall residence of Shoshone Indians as game was abundant and the valley had numerous salt deposits.

Salt River running through the Star Valley 

Star Valley

The valley is still heavily Mormon (a 1951 historical article-the most recent on the subject I could find,  estimated 95%) and in 2011 it was announced that the Star Valley Mormon Temple would be built. We just missed the groundbreaking, which occurred on April 25, 2015.

Thousands attended the groundbreaking for the new Temple, coming in cars and trucks as well as horseback from various parts of Wyoming and Idaho

The town of Afton will be the site of the new Temple.  The town is known for its the arch, made of the largest number of elk horns.

The valley was laid back and agricultural compared to Jackson.  The people were very nice and we stayed in a cute park that had a cafe on the grounds.  I tried another bison burger which was as good as the Jackson one, and was under $10.  The rich and famous don't seem to flock to the Star Valley so prices are reasonable.  The boys got their vaccinations updated so they could be boarded while we took a train ride to the Grand Canyon.  More on that later!!

Star Valley RV Park and Cafe.  Max was very suspicious of the wolf statue

A solution to jail overcrowding

This was taken from the car-the fox was right off the pavement.  Now I know where the term foxhole comes from!

View from Star Valley campground one afternoon

I had read about a development that included RV spots for sale but sadly it was done without much aesthetic appeal. Too bad, as the huge ranch (comprised of three original homesteads) was quite lovely before being developed.

Leaving Wyoming we were drove through Utah and headed to Williams, Arizona where we booked a spot in the RV Park owned by the Grand Canyon Railroad.  It was very convenient and included a dog boarding facility on the premises.  Despite significant US travel, I had never seen the Grand Canyon from the ground.  Years ago I saw the canyon from a small plane out of Sedona, AZ.  We decided to visit the canyon via the rail because it would be less crowded (waits at the south entrance by car can be one-two hours), plus we like trains.

Those who know us well are familiar with the fact that we NEVER board the dogs.  Sometimes they have house sitters but never kennels.  That is why I was unconcerned when the bordatella vaccination lapsed by a month.  We decided to leave them for the day, though I was anxious.  Raggie is frail and needs help getting around at times and I worried that Max would panic, thinking he was being returned to a shelter after having been in 8 places we know of, including 3 shelters, before coming to us.  We decided to go ahead after viewing the facility and talking to the staff.  It seemed very well run and we were encouraged to bring their beds, toys, special food etc.

I didn't take a picture but the parade of pet parents bringing in their mutts was hilarious.  Huge beds, toys, special food, bowls... After all the animals would be there for 10 hours!  I felt better as I was not alone in my hand wringing.  One attendant explained that such concern was common and that one woman even cried when she left her dog.  We returned that afternoon bearing treats and found the boys delighted to see us and escape confinement but no worse for their experience.

The train trip was very fun.  It started with a shoot out in a western "town."  We then boarded our luxury car, which had an observation dome and plus lounge  below, with access to the rear platform.  Coffee, continental breakfast and a bar for those who can face alcohol in the morning made it quite pleasant.

Upon arriving we took a 2 mile walk on the rim, seeing various overlooks and the Colorado River.
I really liked viewing  the National Park buildings, designed with so much care and character.

The lovely Hotel El Tovar was opened in 1905 following construction of the 65-mile spur to the South Rim from Williams.  The Fred Harvey Company (now Xanterra Parks and Resorts) has managed the hotel from the beginning.  The hotel was named for the Spanish explorer, Don Pedro de Tobar who reported the existence of the canyon to fellow explorers.  Parts of the interior were designed by Mary Colter who later built many famous Grand Canyon buildings.

El Tovar Hotel at the South Rim

El Tovar Hotel Lobby

Hopi House at the Grand Canyon South Rim

Mary Coulter was the architect who designed the Hopi House.  An interesting woman, born in 1869.  She studied design in San Francisco and apprenticed with an architectural firm.  The field was dominated by men but she worked for the Fred Harvey Company for 46 years, from 1902, designing many buildings and known for using natural materials that fit the landscape.  The Hopi House was designed to look like a Hopi Pueblo and Hopi labor was used to construct it.  It serves to display and offer for sale Indian crafts.

The return trip featured a train robbery and the passengers had lots of fun negotiating with the robbers.  One woman offered an IOU for a gambling win in a poker game.

The western town of Williams was the last section of Route 66 to be replaced by the I-40.  It retains a real western feel though now dominated by people heading to the Grand Canyon Southern entrance via car or rail.

We took a one day side trip to Prescott, Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon.  It was quick, pretty warm and since the dogs were with us, we really didn't stop.  Prescott is being overdeveloped, like so many places, Sedona has grown but some building codes seem to have kept its flavor and Oak Creek Canyon is lovely.

Leaving Arizona we headed to one of our favorite states, New Mexico.  With two days to kill before going to Santa Fe we stayed at a fun Route 66 RV park in Albuequerque that played to the theme of the Route 66 era.

I love seeing these old RV's.  I grew up camping with a Teardrop Trailer, hence my love for RV travel.

My Mom had one of these Ironrites.  Sheets and boxer shorts were among the items properly pressed.  

Remember these beauties

The first night's sunset reminded me why I love this state.

Sunset in Albuquerque

We were delighted to secure 10 nights at our favorite Santa Fe RV park, built in 1949.  It is an over 55 park so there are no squealing kids on bikes and skateboards to make Max crazy.  The park has lots of charm and friendly staff.  Pancho has his own tree which helps as we now have warm weather.

Trailer Ranch RV Park

Pancho's tree

And of course another real attraction of Santa Fe is food.  Our first special meal was at Maria's, an old traditional Santa Fe restaurant.

Pulled pork tacos on the left with red and green salsa, chile rellenos  on the right and sopapilla in the middle