If you'd like to see an example of an agriculturally sustainable community in the works, drive a few miles north to Tesuque Pueblo and check out the Agricultural Initiative.

The project is not quite three years old, but has made significant strides so one day Tesuque Pueblo members will not have to rely on outside sources for food.

The most important theme behind the initiative is to teach the 600 members of the pueblo to grow their own food so they can be healthier, said Emigdio Ballon, manager of Tesuque Pueblo Farms and overseer of the agricultural initiative.

"When you go to the store, you don't know what you're buying," Ballon said. "This way, you know what you're eating. If you eat well, you are going to be healthier."

Ballon hopes the project can be a model for Native and non-Native communities throughout the area.

In the last year, Ballon and his crew of three have planted 750 fruit trees; beans, corn, squash and other crops; and medicinal herbs on 15 acres. The farm will eventually expand to 80 acres just west of U.S. 84/285. Fruits planted include six varieties of apples, along with grapes, raspberries, strawberries, peaches and apricots. The farm is also harvesting its own seeds so members will not have to purchase them outside the pueblo.

In the last year, the farm harvested more than 100 pounds of apples and raspberries; some of the fruit was sold at the Santa Fe Farmers Market, and some went to children in Tesuque Pueblo's Head Start program and to the senior center.

The farm will grow next year to include turkeys, chickens and ducks.

Ballon believes the word "sustainable" must apply to all aspects of the farm. For this reason, the four-member crew used only a tractor to till the land on which everything was planted. All the planting and other work has been done by hand, he said.

"For me, sustainable means I don't want to use my car to go to Santa Fe to buy my food," said Ballon, who is a Quechua Indian from Bolivia and has studied biogenetics. He was brought to the pueblo to lead the agricultural initiative and has worked on similar farms in other areas.

As part of the project, the pueblo has also held a number of workshops and education programs to complement the farm.

In September, the pueblo held a "Farms Field Day," where people toured the farm and watched demonstrations of seed cleaning and herb harvesting. Afterward, participants ate dinner made from food harvested from the fields.

Last month, the pueblo hosted a symposium titled "Sustainability and Food Security for the 21st Century and Beyond." Speakers from various local and national organizations addressed topics such as traditional farming, water and legal challenges to food sovereignty. Planning is under way for next year's workshops, which are open to the public.

So far, the agricultural initiative has been funded through tribal support, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other organizations.

Ballon said he realizes that spreading the idea of a sustainable community will take time and patience. Attendance at the workshops has been modest, he added, but he is encouraged that word about this model is spreading.

"We've lived in a dependable system for so long," Ballon said. To make such a model successful, people must dedicate themselves to it, he added.

For more information about the Tesuque Agricultural Initiative, call 699-6408.

Erika Dávila is a program associate at the Santa Fe Community Foundation. She can be reached at edavila@santafecf.org

FEAST DAY

Tesuque Pueblo celebrates with various dances, 10 a.m. Nov. 12; call 983-2667 for actual times and event confirmation, plus rules of pueblo etiquette.