Growing Community

culture@dailylobo.com

Erda Gardens administrator Amanda Rich ran her soil-caked hands through a bed of plants Wednesday afternoon, her fingertips searching for a ready plant to pluck. Rich’s hands have seen several years at the garden, and as she rinsed off two bright purple beets, she said the act of tending a garden has become therapeutic for her.

“We go through cycles of growth and fruition and dieback in our lives, and to watch that happen in the natural world, to watch things spring out of the earth out of nothing out of the winter, to go and produce 20 whole pounds of tomatoes and then fall back in the winter and die off, and to watch that, the human psyche, we relate to it, we connect to it and it resonates with us,” she said.

Erda Gardens was founded in 1996 by Franciscan nun and peace activist Marie Nord as a project to promote peace and harmony on the planet, Rich said. “Erda” is the Old High German word for “Earth,” and Erda Gardens uses biodynamic practices. As such, the garden is raised through three principles. First, gardening is approached holistically: What can be recycled or reused for the garden will be. Second, the garden is prepared with a healing homeopathic tea that’s sprayed over the growing beds. Finally, seeds are planted and plants taken care of according to an astrological calendar. The phase of the moon and the positions of the planets determine which leaf and root plants will be tended.

“There’s a spiritual component to it, raising the plants with a consciousness or a kindness,” Rich said.

The community-supported agriculture program has several locations in the South Valley of Albuquerque and allows people to help fund the garden with money or volunteered labor. The program has 60 families funding the farm. Erda Gardens also offers classes throughout the year, including a kids summer farm camp and a course about the basics of chicken coops.

The main garden has several rows of beds, each of which is lined with growing greens such as cilantro and rainbow chard. Past the growing vegetables is a small chicken coop, a pen for baby goats and a small greenhouse of garlic seedlings. On one side of the garden are two beehives, and on the other is a large pile of manure.

Rich has worked at the community’s main garden in the South Valley for the past six years. Rich said she grew up in southern Idaho, digging up potatoes for her grandfather and picking flowers in her mother’s garden as a young child. Rich began work at the farm in 2007 as a volunteer, balancing her work at Erda Gardens with her job as a social worker.

“It was a real stressful job. You’re dealing with people who have really hard lives, hard times, tough things going on, and to come to the garden felt really peaceful, really grounding — a way to shed some of the residual stress,” she said.

Over time, Rich said, she shifted her focus to the farm. By 2011, Rich’s involvement with the farm became full-time.

“It takes a lot of trust to say these 60 people will come up with my payroll every year,” she said. “Just leaving your steady job with insurance and benefits to work for really low wages, really hard work every day … a lot of people would say, ‘You’re crazy,’ but I feel so happy.”

Treasurer Kevin Hawk began working with Erda Gardens four years ago. Since then, Hawk has donated money and a truck to the farm. Community gardens and farms like Erda Gardens help empower people, Hawk said.

“It’s a philosophy. I think it’s important that people move away from corporate food, make their own decisions, empower themselves to grow their food and make decisions about how they eat,” Hawk said.

UNM alumnus Steven Emmons placed hooks in the soil Wednesday afternoon before rolling a white tarp over a newly laid bed.

Emmons, an intern, began working for Erda Gardens last week. He had previously worked in the admissions office of an art school in Portland, Maine. Emmons said he came back to New Mexico to work outside the confines of an office.

“I needed a little bit more spirituality in my life, and I think one of the ways that I wanted to connect to that is through farming and working outside and observing plants, watching food grow, working with animals,” Emmons said.

Emmons said that although he’s only worked a week at the farm, he’s been impressed with what grows in the area.

“You look at this ground and it looks like it’s just dirt and sand and crap,” he said. “It’s really kind of amazing that here — in the arid Southwest and in what seems to be kind of like an area you wouldn’t expect to grow anything — there’s really a lot prospering here.”