When the state purchased the 148-acre Los Luceros ranch complex in Alcalde last year, public access was listed as a primary objective by the Department of Cultural Affairs.

A few state agencies and other groups have held meetings at the Española Valley estate, but there have been few opportunities so far for the public to visit the historic property.

But that is expected to change.

In a 2008 Report to the Community, the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs said it "wants to use Los Luceros as a cultural destination with interpretive exhibitions and public access" as well as a retreat center for workshops and seminars connected to New Mexico's film industry, for crop testing and environmental-studies programs.

And the Legislature recently appropriated $100,000 for a master plan for use of the property.

"Our intention is for the public to be able to use it," said Department of Cultural Affairs spokesman Doug Svetnicka, although there is currently no timetable for opening the property to regular visitors and no decision on admission prices.

Meanwhile, a rare opportunity to visit the 19th-century hacienda is coming up next Sunday at a fundraiser for the state Office of Archaeological Studies by Friends of Archaeology. This year's Chilies & Sherds event will include tours of the property, historically appropriate food, bird watching, archery and demonstrations of Spanish Colonial arts.

Los Luceros comprises the main house, or Casa Grande; an old jail; a chapel, the Capilla de la Sagrada Familia; a new visitor center; and orchards, bosque lands and irrigated pasture.

The first owner of the Casa Grande was probably Luis María Ortíz, according to a history of the Los Luceros Ranch by Santa Fe historian Corinne Sze published in 2000. Ortíz was in the seventh generation directly descended from Nicolás Ortíz and Mariana Coronado, colonists with Don Diego de Vargas at the time of the 1693 reconquest.

The property was owned by Boston transplant Mary Cabot Wheelwright from 1923 until her death in 1958. Wheelwright was a founding member of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society and in 1937 established the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art, which was renamed the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian 40 years later.

Her descendants, Frank and Ann Cabot, sold the ranch to the state — and expressed the desire that it be open to the public.

Among the features of the 5,700-square-foot Casa Grande is a second-floor sala, or parlor, which was at one time the seat of Rio Arriba County. It has two fireplaces with hand-painted details by Olive Rush. Artists Rush and Georgia O'Keeffe were frequent guests of Wheelwright.

There's also a two-story, white-painted portico around the house, which gives it a grand, antebellum look, according to architect Beverley Spears, who was in charge of Los Luceros restoration work completed in 2001.

"It was a pretty daunting project," Spears said in 2004. "This is a major piece of architecture, and it was challenging because of some of the structural issues. We actually had the southwest corner of the house collapse when several of us were inside. I'll never forget that."

The fact that the house had been altered very little since 1920s renovations by Wheelwright helped it achieve a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The Chiles & Sherds event is all about "the historic cuisine of New Mexico and about historic (as opposed to prehistoric) archaeology, which is relatively unusual for this office," said Mollie Toll, a botanist with the Museum of New Mexico's Office of Archaeological Studies.

"There are archival records of the Oñate entrada and the laundry lists of what they brought with them, the huge carts and an enormous number of animals, most of which they had to eat not long after getting here in order to survive," she said.

Guests at the event will register at the visitor center and sign up for a tour of the grounds. Lea Armstrong from the Wheelwright Museum, who is working on a book about Mary Cabot Wheelwright, will present slide shows. Pam McBride and Nancy Akins from Office of Archaeological Studies will create a display on ancient cuisine, and one of the office's archaeologists will show historic artifacts.

Items that have been found on the Los Luceros grounds during the past century or so include a conquistador helmet, a cannon, a sword, a chandelier and antique saddle fittings.

Guests will see peacocks, guinea fowl, turkeys, burros and goats — including 10 babies — walking around the property. The crabapple trees should be in bloom, and there will be a spotting scope for bird watchers. Wood ducks and Lewis' woodpeckers are two fairly common species at Los Luceros.

People of all ages can shoot replica arrows that were recently fashioned for the new history museum in downtown Santa Fe. Landscaper Philip Clark will talk about historic gardens and orchards. And there will be demonstrations of Spanish Colonial arts: furniture-making, retablo-painting, tinwork, colcha embroidery, reverse-glass painting and pottery making.

Food, catered by Santa Fe's Cowgirl BBQ, will be served in a big tent. The aim is to approximate some of the things Spanish colonists ate.

"All we know is what kinds of ingredients they had, from their detailed mission-supply lists, and what kinds of foods people were still eating in the 19th century and calling 'old,' " Toll said. "We know the Spanish settlers liked multi-ingredient stews. And we know, because Nancy Akins has done the faunal studies, that they were eating a lot of sheep and far less cattle than we do now, fewer pigs, and practically no turkeys or other game. And chickens were for when you were sick.

"We'll do a pork molé with chile and onions and garlic and spices. We know they had all kinds of spices, for example coriander, cinnamon and cloves. And we'll have a green-chile lamb stew, a butternut squash casserole, and a salad of shredded root vegetables: white turnips, beets, carrots and radishes, with raisins and piñon nuts and vinaigrette dressing."

Spiced sweet breads are also on the menu.

"They took pounds of saffron up the Camino Real, and I'm planning to do saffron and rosemary sweet breads," Toll said. "And there will be a killer bread pudding from the Cowgirl."

Contact Paul Weideman at 986-3043 or pweideman@sfnewmexican.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Chilies & Sherds fundraiser
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 26
Where: Los Luceros, near Alcalde
Who: Museum of New Mexico Foundation and Friends of Archaeology
Cost: $95 ($70 is a tax deduction); register by April 22 at 982-6366, extension 112, and specify your preference of a morning or afternoon tour of the grounds.
Directions to Los Luceros: Head north on N.M. 68 from Española. After passing the Oñate Monument Resource and Visitors Center on the right, turn left at the Los Luceros sign and drive a half-mile to the ranch.