WWOOFing in Montezuma Canyon
Organic fruit farming on the canyon country of the Colorado Pleatau
First of all for those of you who do not know, WWOOF stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms. 135 Acres of land in amazing red rock canyons in the juniper and pinion forest and canyonlands of the high desert on the Colorado Plateau. The year round creek bisects the property with a grove of cottonwoods. Almost 20 Anasazi sites are scattered around the property, with cliff ruins, petroglyphs and pictographs decorating the canyon walls. 21 acres of grape vines, a thousand fruit and nut trees, and a prolific garden make up the main work to be done on the property. Being such low humidity we don't have alot of the major pest problems that lead vineyards to use pesticides on the coast. Instead we can deal with the few problems without resorting to pesticides, even organic pesticides, by using cover crops that promote pest predators. Stay of length is up to you, ranging from a month, to all summer. Working months are between March and October, the beginning and end of the frost free days. We have two guest bedrooms in the main house, although if you prefer more privacy there is a trailer available on the property with solar panels and satalite television. Our non-farming activities are up to you, we usually get a wild hair or two a year and come up with something fun, so lets try out your ideas. Our WWOOF farmers are expected to learn how to prune and take care of grape vines or fruit and nut trees. The plants always appreciate the extra attention. Since we are 15 miles from the nearest town (10 on dirt roads) we try to carpool as much as possible, so just hop a ride whenever someone is going to town. I speak English and some Spanish, someone speaks good Spanish, and someone else speaks French. Small pets are okay, small dogs or cats, but not big dogs. We have lots of wildlife on the property, deer, turkeys, foxes, bear, ect that we don't want to scare away. We don't have any special diets, but we can accommodate. Well I am a 22 year old graduate of UC Santa Cruz, who decided to turn our "ranch" into a viable organic farm and vineyard. We are completely on solar power, and we are installing a solar well so that our house water will be off the grid as well. If you are interested in the Anasazi, our canyon is a treasure trove of old ruins and remnants that you can see and discover up close. We would love to have more people come out and experience this amazing farm in this amazing area. After graduating from college I took over farming of the Montezuma Canyon Ranch full time in march of 2009. I decided to move expand the focus of the farm from apples, peaches, pears, and cherries into a wine grape vineyard. As of the 2010 growing season we will have 21 acres of wine grapes planted (Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir). We also have 4 acres of mostly mature fruit and nut trees. For prospective WWOOFers we have satellite internet, satellite tv, and phone service sometimes, but we are completely off the grid. We rely on solar for our power, pump our own water, and haul our own trash. The project list for next summer includes building 6 more acres of grape trellising, topping and suckering the fruit orchard, building a new larger garden, training grape vines, and planting a new orchard. There should be lots of projects going on at once, so their should be a pretty good variety of jobs to do. I only require 25 hours of work a week, but I have found that most people work more. We usually do something as a group on the weekends (hiking, bars, rafting, atvs, mountain biking), but we will have a bigger group this year so we might scatter a bit more for the weekends.
Posted by danny // 1.26.10Update 1
The designs for the WWOOFer cabin are finnished. The construction will begin in march and the move in date should be sometime in May. The design includes a 216 watt solar system, solar hot water heating, and grey water recovery for the shade trees. It is a 700 square foot 2 bedroom cabin that sleeps 4 people, 2 showers, and 400 feet of deck space. Generated renderings can be found here, and blue prints for the project can be found here. The Cabin is being designed by Mor Storage in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Appeared in the March 2007 issue Santa Barbara's Wine & Dine Magazine
Posted by martha // 1.22.08
