Remember when Santa Fe-based organic seed/food company Seeds of Change got bought out by behemoth Mars, Inc? And everyone said it was just a cynical green-washing PR ploy? And they were right, because Mars shut the farm down and moved operations completely out of state, but retained the company’s made-from-scratch brand and feel-good history for itself?
You can buy that farm. It’s on 14 acres in El Guique, just north of Española. The property comes with a residence, two green houses, a 5,000 square-foot processing building and an apple orchard. And it’s certified organic.
in the 80s i worked down the road on a farm & seed bank at san juan pueblo that formed the basis of the seeds of change collection.
the mars money was involved in the company early on at its first location in gila NM. later, one of the mars family lived on site in el guique. at first, he had no intention of selling out or greenwashing but the family stockholders eventually outvoted him.
its a gorgeous place. unless its been replanted in recent years, its a peach --not apple-- orchard. the retired & widowed schoolteacher lady who owned the place let us dirty hippies pick all we wanted.
