New Mexico siblings turn to ‘progressive farming’ to preserve historic inn

Homegrown

By: Candelora Versace | For The New Mexican
Published online: Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The idea of adult siblings banding together to save a family farm is a familiar one, but few accomplish it with as much sustainable agricultural vision — and style — as the Rembe family has with Los Poblanos in lush Los Ranchos de Albuquerque.

"It's really a preservation project with progressive farming at its core," said Executive Director Matt Rembe, the youngest of four siblings who now collectively own Los Poblanos. Though he grew up on the property, Rembe did not expect to return to it quite this way. A former New York dealer of Latin American art and the sole agent for the Alexander Girard estate of designs and trademarks, Rembe said figuring out what to do with the vast property and historic buildings was not easy.

But as the surrounding farm acreage in the area began giving way to large homes with vast lawns, the Rembes were faced with a decision. "We saw what was happening in the area," he said. "We started this [Los Poblanos] in 1999, and it took until 2007 to make it work."

Now an organic farm and historic inn offering "Field to Fork" dinner events and in-house catered weddings, Los Poblanos has bed-and-breakfast-style accommodations and a full schedule of educational, farm-based activities. Heirloom food crops grown on the property supply the kitchen for all on-site activities. Acres of lavender plants perfume the air and supply the essential oil for house-made soaps and lotions, both available for sale in the farm store.

Territorial-style guest rooms have been added to the family home, and this spring a new pool and three additional guest-room buildings were completed. Built in a contemporary version of what Rembe calls "1930s ag-style architecture," the family offers elegant, comfortable rooms with a minimalist farmhouse aesthetic.

The two original buildings on the Los Poblanos property — a ranch headquarters and a family residence — were designed in 1932 by John Gaw Meem and remain furnished with period fixtures, such as carved vigas and reverse-painted glass and tinwork lamps and mirrors. Peter Hurd contributed agricultural-themed frescoes, while Gustave Baumann fashioned doors out of carved wood.

Originally built by Ohio Congressman Albert Simms and his wife, Ruth Hannah McCormick Simms, a Chicago newspaper heiress, the property was a Works Progress Administration-era stimulus project wrapped around a working 800-acre ranch, which was also the original site of Creamland Dairy.

The Rembe family moved into the residential quarters in 1976. Matt Rembe said his father retired from his oncology practice in the early 1990s and became interested in organic farming.

He started working with what has become one of the state's largest Community Supported Agriculture delivery programs, Los Poblanos Organics, which recently moved to larger acreage to support its growth.

In the late '90s, the family purchased the Simms' ranch headquarters next door to create a 50-acre property and spent several years researching various agritourism options.

Things started moving in 2007, when Rembe hired executive chef Jonathan Perno, an Albuquerque native who had gone to San Francisco in the 1980s to study at the California Culinary Academy and later worked for Wolfgang Puck and other Bay Area luminaries.

"All the chefs at that time were working this way, that's what was happening," Perno said of the sustainable, organic and locavore principles he's built at Los Poblanos. "We didn't call it that, we were just living this way, sourcing from farmers, doing our own butchering."

Perno took the lead to make the family's farm-to-table vision a reality. Today, Perno oversees three commercial kitchens on the property — the two original 1930s kitchens in the house and ranch headquarters as well as a new space, which will house a baking operation.

"We were scared about weddings at first," Rembe noted, "but now our clients are asking for this — family-style service, sourced from the farm." In addition to the farm's "Field to Fork" events, Perno's staff also provides a hearty breakfast and a seasonally driven dinner menu.

One other crucial component to the progressive agricultural vision of Los Poblanos was the addition of Sean Ludden, formerly an archaeologist with the National Parks Service, who calls himself an "artisan farmer." Since joining the staff a year and a half ago, he has increased the lavender beds and distills the oil for the bath products.

He also started the kitchen's crops and herb garden, manages the compost and replanted the CSA's acreage with cover crops for revitalization.

Next he'll be filling the property's original greenhouse with starts to provide the kitchen with year-round greens, tomatoes and squash.

"Some of these historic foods are unfamiliar," Ludden said, such as cardoon (artichoke thistle) and Tepary beans, which once were Southwestern staples, "but getting them back on people's plates is important."

IF YOU GO

What: Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm

Where: 4803 Rio Grande Blvd. NW, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, N.M. 87107

Information: Visit www.lospoblanos.com, email info@lospoblanos.com, call 505-344-9297 or fax 505-342-1302