FallenFruit visited Santa Fe on the weekend of April 21, 2006 for a short residency at the
College of Santa Fe. On the evening of the 20th we did a presentation at the college with lots
of images & stories,and we were lucky that David talked Sante Fe Greenhouses into donating two fruit trees,
a plum and an apple, which we gave away to two locals who promised to plant them on public land
and care for them until they were strong enough to live freely.

On Sunday the 23rd we did a public fruit mapping, with about 25 people from the area.
We walked around the 2nd Street neighborhood, which is a charming older part of Santa Fe that
doesn't feel as slick as the more touristy parts of town. The atmosphere is almost partly rural, without sideways
and with many alleys. There were fruit trees everywhere, especially apricots, and we met several neighbors.

New Mexico like much of the Southwest is the midst of a prolonged drought,
so xeriscaping is especially called for here. Some of the varieties that will thrive here are golden currents,
apricot, and piñon pines, but the higher you go, the more moisture there is. In the middle of Sante Fe
is the New Mexico School for the Blind, which has beautiful and extensive fruit orchards that seem
to be on the decline. We wondered if they were for the school, much like many schools across the country
are planting their own gardens with student help to supply the cafeterias with healthier food.
The most visible initiative in this movement is the edible schoolyard.

One of the great characteristics of Santa Fe is the annual surplus of amazingly good apricot trees
that are everywhere. People talked about apricot gluts and two of them gave us some apricot jam
they made last summer. The apricots ripen all at once and most of them seem to go unharvested.
Its interesting how every area has at least one fruit tree that grows so freely almost to excess,
without anyone's care. In LA its the loquat or the fig.