Continuing our Celebration of the Women of Los Poblanos

We continue looking around the property to celebrate more of the talented, dedicated women here at Los Poblanos. If you've stayed with us, there's no doubt you've engaged with this wonderful team, from a warm welcome at check in to a crisply made bed.

Los Poblanos Celebrates Women of the Farm

Today, we continue looking around the property to celebrate more of the talented, dedicated women here at Los Poblanos. Our farm team is fortunate to have several amazing women in key roles to help create a functional and beautiful environment that's enjoyed by our staff and guests alike.

Women’s History Month at Los Poblanos

Over the past 100 years, a series of remarkable women have left an indelible mark on our historic property. This Women's History Month, join us in celebrating the incredible women who have shaped Los Poblanos into what it is today. All month long, we'll be showcasing their work and impact through storytelling and guided property tours. In the Farm Shop, you can find several books about or written by many important women of Los Poblanos, as well as incredible work by many talented women artisans.

A Los Poblanos love story

This Los Poblanos love story begins in the most unusual of places, far from our farm in the Rio Grande Valley, in the hallowed halls of the United States Capitol. As the 71st Congress was being called into session in March of 1929, two freshman members in the House of Representatives met for the first time: Albert Gallatin Simms of New Mexico and Ruth Hanna McCormick of Illinois. 

Gustave Baumann’s whimsical holiday tradition

Of the many New Mexican artists who worked on Los Poblanos Ranch and La Quinta in the 1930s, Gustave Baumann was certainly one of the most esteemed. The beautifully carved wood doors and fireplace mantle at La Quinta are the work of a master at the top of his game. What is perhaps less well known about Baumann, however, is that he had a wonderful sense of humor. And nowhere was this more apparent than in Baumann's annual holiday card tradition. 

A Century of Healthfulness

John Gaw Meem's Journey to the Southwest

It was the spring of 1920 when 25-year old John Gaw Meem IV headed west from New York City. His destination: the Sunmount Sanatorium in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Like many others in the early 20th century, Meem had contracted tuberculosis and been advised by his doctors to recover at a sanatorium in the arid southwest. In a moment of serendipity shortly thereafter, Meem noticed a poster for the Santa Fe Railway and decided on the spot to move to New Mexico for his recovery.

Our farm team is busy

Turning lemons into lemonade in the New Mexico desert

At Los Poblanos we dig deep, literally, as we turn the soil and plant seeds that will nurture us into the future. In their own words, here's a glimpse of what our farm team is up to.

History Spotlight: Ruth Hanna McCormick

A peek into Los Poblanos history

Before marrying Albert Simms and building Los Poblanos Ranch in the early 1930s, Ruth Hanna McCormick had established herself as a nationally-known leader in the women's suffrage movement. Following the first wave of the movement in the mid-19th century (led by activists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton), Ruth and her colleagues picked up the cause in the 1910s. As a young mother and staunch believer in progressive reform, Ruth realized that women needed to vote in order to legislate change. She was particularly concerned with improving matters of public health, working conditions and childcare. As Kristie Miller writes in her biography of Ruth, "with her developing skills as a charismatic political leader, [Ruth] was in the forefront of the fight on the ballot."

Beekeeping on the farm

A rich agricultural history

Our farm has been a site of rich agricultural activity since the very beginning. In the 1930s and 1940s, Los Poblanos was a model experimental farm that grew sugar beets, alfalfa, oats, corn and barley. The farm boasted one of the finest purebred herds of Guernsey and Holstein cows, and purebred rams were raised with the intention of helping sheep herders in the state improve their flocks. The historic greenhouse was used as a laboratory for growing new varieties of roses and chrysanthemums commercially. 

A Los Poblanos hero: Aldo Leopold

We feel very fortunate to be in New Mexico right now, with vast open spaces, fresh air and big blue skies, and are thankful for the time to walk in the Bosque or in the city's acres of Open Space. One of our heroes at Los Poblanos is the great conservationist Aldo Leopold, whose many years in New Mexico left an impressive environmental legacy on our state. His work in Albuquerque lead to the creation of the Rio Grande Valley State Park, Zoo, Botanic Gardens and Rio Grande Nature Center. In fact, the Nature Center is just down the street from our farm, and is a gateway to the Aldo Leopold Forest and Trail.