I’ve hit that point in winter where while I don’t mind seeing those beautiful snow topped mountains in the distance, I really want just want to be looking at some greens, some new growth, the hint of spring to come.
At the end of January, I drove to Chimayo to meet Mykel and Lindsey, who run a flower farm there called Mini Falls Farm. Down 84/285 to NM-503 to Juan Medina Road to NM-76, then make a few quick turns down a single lane dirt road and there is Mini Falls Farm. There is no sign, but the hoops of the garden tunnels filled with cold weather wintering plants that peek out behind the house let me know I was in the right place.
I found Mini Falls Farm in the place where I find a lot of things these days, on Instagram. You should probably go find them there too. I’d never been to a flower farm before, let alone in New Mexico, so I was excited when we connected and found a time for a visit.
I grabbed my camera bag, and we walked around back, and through a fence that keep their lovely dogs out of the flower fields. Mykel lead us over to see the acequia, an irrigation system used in New Mexico. The farm was last used in the sixties, Mykel told me. When they first got here five years ago, they had to clear all the elm trees that had sprung up across the fields like weeds. You can still see them around the property. There were so many of them it was too much to haul them away. Since then, they’ve been using them for wood for the fire, and to build a fence out front. The stumps and roots line the edge of the property. Lindsey said that they read somewhere that they are good bug habitats and will help the flowers, so they decided to keep them. It took two years to get to the point where they were able to start growing flowers. “We had to clear the whole field and get all the roots out. That was a lot of work.”
The snow from a previous storm had mostly melted leaving mud and small pockets of white in all the shady spots. The day was warm and sunny, so Lindsey and Mykel opened up the tunnels. The temperature drops a lot at night, so all of the plants they’ve got started, get covered up as soon as the warmth from the sun starts to fade.
There were a couple of early bloomers in the tunnels that day, but it will be end of February before the anemones are ready, and April for the ranunculus, daffodils, sweet peas, and more. Winter is a quieter time at the farm, and they are planning and organizing their season, and getting seeds in. Soon they’ll start seeds for the spring fields.
I can’t wait to go back and see the farm when the flowers are in bloom!
If you’re looking for flowers this spring or want to learn more about the farm, head to Mini Falls Farm on Instagram, where they share all the up to date news about flowers at the farm.
All photos by me, Becca Grady, 2020.