Explore Archives: Santa Fe Kids

What would a July 4th be without Pancakes on the Plaza? This July 4th tradition brings the community to the table and raises money to support progressive initiatives for lasting change.

Somewhere in the ground, under the foot of snow that still covers our yard, are hundreds of bulbs that Charles and I planted this fall. That at weekend in October, before the trees had lost all their leaves, before we put away the barbecue tongs and rolled up the garden hose, planting daff odils, tulips and grape hyacinths didn’t require a leap of faith. It was just one of those things we do sometimes in the fall, like freezing chile and picking raspberries at the Salman Ranch. Bulbs are kind of a gardener’s savings plan: you put them in the ground, wait several months, and collect the payoff in the spring with compound interest.

Santa Fe Recreational Centers

A school garden is an oasis among the hot gravel yards and concrete that surround them. Green, growing things occupy a space in a mysterious, reassuring way that provides companionship. Quiet and calm reign among the growing vegetables, flowers, butterflies, bees and bugs. The pulse of time slows in the spaces students and their instructors have created. Snow peas and beans climb schoolyard fences, sunflowers nod their yellow heads to the bees, and cabbages throw back their baby-bald heads with complete trust.

Not so long ago in American history, “collaboration” was a dirty word.

A collaborator was someone who aided the enemy: the Nazis during World War II, the communists in the Cold War. Perhaps more than just a linguistic anachronism, the word indicated defiance of American values of independence and individuality; to collaborate was inherently sinister, morally corrupt.