Suitable Digs

11/08/2020

Dear Everyone...I haven't looked at this page since I wrote the last post last year! I thank you so much for all of your beautiful words which mean the world to me. I sold Suitable Digs and relocated to Berkeley, California as of last December, now spending my days writing, reading, walking, zoom yoga, cooking and tending to my tiny but crammed backyard; this spring I planted 11 trees...an olive, avocado, fig, persimmon, cherry, lime, 2 apples and 3 hazelnuts, plus blackberries, gooseberries, vegetables and herbs. I've left the heat and winters of New Mexico behind, as here it doesn't freeze and the summertime temps are 70's/80's with chilly mornings and evenings, a radically different experience from anywhere else I've lived.

Suitable Digs continues as lodgings under the ownership of Michele and Alex, lovely people, and is now called Casa Chicoma with a website by that name. You might want to give it a try if you're ever in Santa Fe.

Hoping your lives go well and my best to all of you,

Lisa

16/12/2018

Dear friends...It's been such a long time since I've checked in here! Suitable Digs has grown magnificently in the past 2 years, leaving little time to do much else. Perhaps knowing that I am a tree freak, you might be glad to hear that the olive trees, the fig trees, the almond trees, and the 120-tree microforest along the driveway are all thriving. Every year is greener than the last, seeds from planted grasses are flying and rooting all over the yard, and the little bamboo patch behind the Bunkhouse is a wonder to behold.

And now, this fall, I have put Suitable Digs on the market. I'll be moving to California to see what else life holds for me, ready for a change after 33 years here. This thriving 18-year business of mine is part of the deal. Please do get in touch with me directly at [email protected] if you or anyone you know might be interested in Suitable Digs. Here is the MLS listing: https://www.redfin.com/NM/Santa-Fe/712-Chicoma-Vis-87507/home/137872814

I've loved every minute of this ride, so many wonderful people to meet, so much to learn about the land here, wouldn't have missed any of it!

My love to all...
Lisa

(Santa Fe MLS) For Sale: 3 bed, 3.5 bath ∙ 3439 sq. ft. ∙ 712 Chicoma Vis, Santa Fe, NM 87507 ∙ $1,250,000 ∙ MLS # 201804943 ∙ Welcome to one of the most inspiring properties you will ever have the opportunity to ...

03/07/2017

Early summertime at Suitable Digs in 2017...Please come stay with us and enjoy the season!

02/05/2017

I love this man and what he is doing, paying attention to what is right in front of him and transforming wasted space into food gardens in Los Angeles, ever with beauty in mind. We have plenty of healthy food options here in Santa Fe, but there are no options where he lives, and his food-growing is a health necessity. Bravo to Ron! I just supported him on his GoFundMe page, as you too might want to.

Ron Finley is a crusader for planting vegetable gardens in urban areas.

27/04/2017

Hello to everyone! Winter is truly over and spring, though still a little iffy, has arrived in the fullest bloom, with no late fruit-decimating frosts for the first time in ages. All is coming back to life at Suitable Digs as you will see in these pics, and all the various springtime tasks are nearly done. Please come and share in the beauty...I am hoping to see as many of you as possible in this year!

15/12/2016

It's been a while...lots of small, necessary projects before winter, battening down the hatches until earliest spring returns in March.

Left to right: The newly erected 'Woodhenge' along the back driveway to the Spartan (replacing disintegrating straw bales), made of tree sections deposited by an unknown person at the end of my driveway many years ago; this week I figured out what to do with them and then painted them gold.

The last of the fingerling potatoes dug yesterday.

A small new garden by the front cobblestone patio planted with Lilies of the Valley and purple Violets, ever seeking ways to grow beloved east coast favorites in this dry land.

And Meyer lemons on a very small plant in the olive tree greenhouse.

All best wishes to family and friends for a fine wintertime and the very best of new years!

21/11/2016

Dear friends of Suitable Digs...This piece in the New York Times is a magnificent ode to Thanksgiving and to all the immigrants who make up this fine and complex country of ours, along with the many foods they brought with them. I hope you'll watch all the little videos: they are beautiful tales of our national holiday on Thursday and and of the vast gathering place that is our country. Plus, you can find all the recipes at the end!

The Times asked 15 American families to talk about the dishes on their Thanksgiving tables that speak best to their heritage and traditions, and to who we are. These are their stories.

18/11/2016

I find this story and reality most extraordinary regarding the restorative powers of nature. Almost unimaginable, but here it is!

Millions of native orchids are flourishing on the site of a former iron mine in the Adirondacks, suggesting that former industrial sites – typically regarded as blighted landscapes — have untapped value in ecological restoration efforts. ESF graduate student Grete Bader, who completed her master’s t...

07/11/2016

This Spring I planted 4 kinds of fingerling potatoes, one each in 4 metal troughs. What you see is half of them just dug, about 5 pounds, and the troughs, wonderful planting beds!

26/10/2016

And...a tray of my most favorite herb marjoram, just picked for drying, alongside a plate of squash seeds - some of which will be planted next year - from a gorgeous and profoundly delicious hubbard squash given to me by tree farmer extraordinaire Gordon Tooley, when purchasing trees from him in Truchas, New Mexico at Tooley's Trees.

26/10/2016

The first crop of fresh fava beans which I must now figure out how to cook - Norbert, any ideas?! - and the Little Leaf Linden in full golden splendor by the solar array; these trees can live to be 1000 years old. I could not resist posting the pork roast I made for friends on Sunday from an heirloom pork breed, wet-roasted with a spicy dry rub along with tomatoes, onions and garlic. Some of the best pork I've ever had, and purchased from the most wonderful, conscientious, and passionately dedicated company called Heritage Foods USA, delivered right to your door.

21/10/2016

Harvest time...heirloom tomatoes, chiles - pasillas on the left being dried, jalapenos on the right will turn red, whereupon they will be smoked, dried and ground to become exquisite chipotle powder - and the new cobblestone patio just completed this week!

16/09/2016

This lovely man, Sean Travis, shared with me this James Dean-esque photo of himself taken during his 3-night stay in the Spartan last week. It was such a pleasure talking with him before he continued on his 20-day bike trip from Tennessee to California, where he is moving to create a lifestyle brand for which he will design clothing in a context of caring deeply for the earth. Wonderful to experience such passion in action. This is my most favorite thing about Suitable Digs: Seeing who will show up on any given day.

13/09/2016

Up in the hills behind Suitable Digs there is a wonderful 45-minute loop trail for the enjoyment of all. The sky is vast, the land is rough and gorgeous, and after 30 years I continue to be astonished by this beauty on a daily basis.

25/08/2016

I've had 4 almond trees for 4-5 years, and this is the very first almond any of them has produced. I've wondered for months how I would know when they were ready until yesterday, when I glanced up into one of the trees and saw the fleshy shell of one of the almonds - they look like little peaches - split open. And here it is. I am overjoyed!

24/08/2016

Garden vegetables roasting in the oven as I write: red, purple and yellow potatoes, beets (Detroit Dark Red, the best I've ever grown), orange and purple carrots, Italian frying peppers, rosemary and garlic, soon to be eaten with my friend Amy Summa and her father Pete Spencer, who are staying here in the Bunkhouse for their annual opera week!

The Winecaps I just picked from the mushroom bed by the swimming hole, sauteed them and ate them without sharing, unbelievably luscious.

And garlicky beet greens, which are what you make whenever beets are pulled.

21/08/2016

Guest extraordinaire Christopher Ruszkowski, who, fortunately for me, is here for an extended stay! A great guy.