Community Profile: Peter and Juanita Casados

Farmers in Guique, New Mexico

Pete and Juanita Casados.

The town of Guique lies just to the northeast of San Juan Pueblo in the rolling high desert. At the base of the desert hills, in the lush Rio Grande River valley, Peter and Juanita Casados run Casados Farms. Peter explains that they have been growing "every type of vegetable, especially corn and chile," on this land for about the last 60 years. Juanita recalls, "My father used to do this same thing, but he used to take his products by horses and wagon to Colorado and sell them there."

This is the kind of community where neighbors are family -- both in spirit and in blood. Juanita Martinez, Peter's sister, lives down the winding dirt road just past the shed where the Casados' dry their chile and corn. She helps to produce, package and distribute the farm's various chile and corn products.

Everyone at Casados Farms is concerned about losing the way of life that has given them a sense of community and home. Peter has seen the Espanola Valley change significantly in his lifetime. "The farming part has always been here, but not so much now. We used to have a lot of fruit trees in the valley; now there are hardly any fruit trees," he points out. "In the last 30 years Los Alamos has moved in and that's had a big effect on the valley. A lot of people have moved into the area and very few of them are farming. I really hope agriculture in this area doesn't die, but it's getting to that point." With that said, Peter believes that farming is still the staple of the Espanola Valley.

Juanita Casados notes that methods of distributing the farm's products have changed over time. "Once we used to raise the products and people used to come and buy it. We would advertise and people would call or write to us for our products. Now we do a lot of pre-packing for the stores." Casados Farms is a small operation that produces about 25 lbs. of corn and 5 lbs. of chile a year. Juanita Martinez knows that convenience doesn't always equal quality. "It's easy now because you can just go down to the store and get anything you want to. But it doesn't taste as good."

No matter that times are changing in the Espanola Valley, agriculture is still the backbone in this nook of the world. Peter fondly remembers, "They use to fatten a hog all year and in the wintertime invite the neighbors and have a feast. And then the next week a neighbor would do the same thing. It was nice. Now, you eat it yourself." Not as long as the Casados are around.