History of of the Pueblo
as an Agricultural Society
Ancestral Puebloan people have been growing food in the southwest for thousands of years. Things have changed over the years, but people still grow food on the Pueblo de San Ildefonso today. Scroll through the timeline below to learn more about the history of growing food on the Pueblo.
Credit: Aerial photo of the Pueblo de San Ildefonso, with Black Mesa in the background. Taken in the 1950s. Credit: Tyler Dingee, Courtesy of the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/DCA).
Around 1200 AD
Ancestors of the Pueblo people moved from Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon to the mesa and cliffs of the Pajarito Plateau, near present-day Pueblo de San Ildefonso.
While living in Mesa Verde, Pueblo people learned to grow food in a hot place without much water.
Some would load the bailer with the hay, couple guys would help when the bale of hay comes out, and a couple of guys would tie it with wire to make sure the wires held. That was a big chore but it’s a need to feed the horses and cattle.
Cloud Flower
Mid-1700s
Spanish settlers brought cattle and horses to New Mexico. The Pueblo people adopted these animals and started growing food for the animals to eat. One of the foods they grew for the new animals was alfalfa, which was something the Pueblo people had not grown before.
Credit: Pueblo de San Ildefonso
Early 1900s
Most families on the Pueblo grew their own food. Extra food was shared with relatives and other Pueblo members. Martin Aguilar remembers that his family grew “lots of vegetables – corn, cucumbers, squash, red chili, green chili.” His family also grew alfalfa which they sold “to the Hispanic families so they can feed their horses and cows."
Credit: Pueblo de San Ildefonso
1930s
The United States government brought tractors and other farm equipment to the Pueblo. Before this, people used horse and plow to prepare their land for planting.
I used to work at the Los Alamos lab in the body shop fixing cars. I went to school to learn how to do body shop work. On the weekends I would work on my farming.
LARRY AGUILAR
Early 1940s
The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) opened. Some people from the Pueblo started working at LANL and had less time to grow food than they did before the LANL opened.
Credit: Pueblo de San Ildefonso
1950s
Khoh’Ay Povi remembers that as a kid, men would use buckets to bring water from the Rio Grande to water the food they grew. At this time, the area between the Rio Grande and the Learning Center was covered in vegetables and fruit like corn, melons, and alfalfa.
Credit: Abt Associates
Many plants used to grow in the ditches. Wild spinach, wild asparagus, choke cherries.
KHOH’AY POVI
1960s
Acequias or community ditches are man-made channels that carry water from the mountains to farm land for growing food or other uses. Pueblo people used these ditches long before the arrival of the Spanish. Historically, people would gather wild foods that grew in the ditches.
These ditches are porous, meaning that water in the ditches can seep into the ground. In the 1960s, the ditches were lined with concrete to increase the amount water that reached places where people need it to grow food or for other uses.
Credit: Tim Martinez
2000s and 2010s
Students learned to farm from elders and other Pueblo members as part of the Pueblo’s Farm Program. During the Farm Program, students helped grow food in an 8-acre field and they helped build a hoop house. Fruits and vegetables were shared with the community through a Farmers Market held at the big tree. Students also helped families on the Pueblo plant their own fields and kitchen gardens. The Farm Program taught students about the importance of farming and how the Tewa language is used to pass knowledge from elders to youth.
Credit: Abt Associates
2020
Many of the activities that were part of the Farm Program were paused when the COVID-19 pandemic started. During this time, community members built box gardens. They shared these box gardens with other Pueblo members so that they could grow food at their homes during this challenging time.
Credit: Abt Associates
Right now in my yard I am growing grapes and jalapenos and tomatoes.
LARRY AGUILAR
Today
Farming isn’t a full time job like it used to be, but some people on the Pueblo continue to grow food and carry on farming-related traditions. People still grow the traditional Pueblo foods and gardens on the Pueblo range in size – some are small, raised beds while others are large, 2-acre fields.
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This work was supported by Abt Associates.
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