|
TRnews
home page Ramah
weather Market
News: Page
one Page
two Page
three Page
four Page
five Page
six Page
seven Page
eight Page
nine Page
ten Garden
Links 
Editors:
Jackie Rossignol
(505)
783-4440 Denis Black
(505)
783-4440 Kate Wilson
(505)
783 4704 email:
Mail
Address: Ramah Farmers' Market
HC
61 BOX 816
Ramah, NM 87321 |
| Ramah
Farmers' Market Opens The
Ramah Farmers' Greens & Crafts Market opened two weeks early this season to
an unexpectedly large turnout of both customers and venders. 130 customers bought
produce and purchased crafts and baked goods from the 15 local vendors and the
Community Table. Six local growers sold spinach, lettuce, spring onions, rhubarb,
arugula, asparagus, and sorrel, as well as strawberry, tomato, chili pepper, sweet
pepper, and Brussels sprout plants. The second week saw the addition of fresh
cut flowers, beet greens, mustard greens, Mizuna, and garlic. All
vendors reported that they did well the first two weeks of the Market and are
looking forward to coming back. At the July 1 market a record may have been set
with over 230 customers visiting the market. Ramah
Farmers' Market on Line!
You
can read the newsletter and check out RFM flyers online by visiting the Timberlake
Ranch web site www.trnews.info. The co-managers would like to thank Roger Irwin
for providing this service to us. All
RFM Customers Next time you're at the market
make sure you sign up to receive the newsletter. You can also e-mail your name,
email address, mailing address and phone number to jacqueblack17
@yahoo.com. If you give us your e-mail address we can send you the color version
of this newsletter as well as any posters we put out. You can also mail us at
RFM, HC 61 Box 816, Ramah, NM 87321.
|
|
The
Trees of Ramah On highway 53, between
Zuni and Grants, lies the little oasis of Ramah, a country village established
and settled by the Mormon pioneers. The first settlers came to the area in 1876
but did not stay; again others came in 1878 and also left due to disagreements
with the Apaches. The year of 1882 is remembered as the official beginning of
the Mormon colonization in this valley. As was the habit of the Mormon people,
the early settlers to the area planted trees and yellow roses along the irrigation
ditches; the Lombardy poplars that can be seen in the village in front of the
home now owned by the Harrington's were planted in the year 1882. The Carolina
poplars west of the museum were planted in 1910.
Since
the irrigation ditches were covered about a dozen years ago to control mosquitoes,
many of the trees planted so long ago no longer get as much water as they once
did. In addition, some trees, such as poplars, usually do not have as long of
a life span as other types of trees. Poplars commonly live to be about 100 years
old; therefore, many of these beautiful old trees are at the end of their normal
life expectancy. Storms, high winds, and drought also take their toll. Unless,
an effort is made now to replace the trees that will be lost, Ramah may one day
have a very different appearance - it would not be the shady oasis that we now
enjoy.
Seven years ago, I began a service-learning
project with my UNM classes in Ramah called the Adopt-A-Tree program. Originally
the project was meant to be a one-time effort to provide trees at low cost to
the community to plant in individual yards. However, the response was so positive
that I have continued the tree project on an annual basis for the past seven years.
Each year the response of community members has been wonderful and the project
has turned into a huge effort that has had to be divided into three separate mini-programs.
In the spring of each year, beginning in March, UNM
students at Ramah High take orders for ornamental shrubs, shade trees, and fruit
trees. The shrubs and shade trees are packaged and delivered about the first week
of April; fruit trees are delivered two weeks later. Evergreen orders will be
taken in the fall. All of the trees are sold at cost (including shipping) as the
Adopt-A-Tree program is meant to be a way for students to provide service to the
communities that have sheltered them.
This year the
Ramah Adopt-A-Tree program has reached the 10,000-tree mark! Trees have now been
placed in many communities including a few in Grants and Gallup; but, the majority
of trees have been planted in the areas of Ramah, Timberlake, Zuni, and Pine Hill.
If we continue to care for these trees, the shady lanes of Ramah will still be
as beautiful and sheltering for the next generation as they are for us. In addition,
other communities will now have an opportunity to create their own leafy havens.
Planting trees is a unique opportunity to make a lasting,
valuable contribution to the lives of our children and grandchildren. My own life
will end long before the lives of some of the trees that we are planting, and
I may not see all of the final benefits of this effort. However, a hundred years
from now, there will still be something left of me in the trees of Ramah.
--Linda L. Burson
NEXT
PAGE>
| |
Page one