Plein air at the ranch [] Rancho Vía Orgánica

Published July 3, 2022

by Bonnie Lee Black

When my friend Melissa, a serious organic gardener in Taos, New Mexico, came to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, six years ago, she wasn’t interested in rushing to see the usual sights. Yes, the Jardin and Parroquia, the Instituto and Bellas Artes, the Biblioteca and Fabrica la Aurora (and so much more!) were all worth seeing, Melissa knew. But at the top of her list, the must-see-first-and-above-all-else, was the Vía Orgánica farm and ranch in the beautiful Jalpa Valley, just a half-hour’s drive outside of town.

Somehow Melissa knew what I didn’t know — even though I’d been living in San Miguel for over a year by then – that, as their website states, the Rancho Ecológico de Vía Orgánica is “an educational model in regenerative organic agricultural production and sustainable living” that serves as a training center and network for farmers, families and activists worldwide. (www.viaorganica.org )

That visit to the Vía Orgánica ranch, in November 2016, was my first. And this weekend was my second. What immense improvements they’ve made in the intervening years! Melissa and everyone else who hasn’t been there in a while – as well, of course, as those who’ve never been — should make a point of going as soon as possible.

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