Field Notes: Roots, Resilience, and a Recalibrated Compass

The past ten months have reshaped the landscape of federal conservation work, creating a chaotic grant and contracting environment that has hit small businesses like ours hard. The toll has been pronounced, forcing us to pause our urban agriculture work in the Middle Rio Grande to support urgent watershed infrastructure projects near the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon burn scar.

Catena HQ has been bouncing along, adapting to serve our clients despite the disruptions. This path recently led me to a jobsite here in Las Vegas, NM, where a severe staph infection contracted on-site landed me in the ER, fighting sepsis without consistent clean water in the jobsite RV. Three weeks later, I'm back to 85%, recalibrating once again.

This life as a government contractor by day and a cocktail server by night at Borracho's—a farm-to-table establishment in the historic district—isn't a detour. As a child of the Culinary Union 226, service runs in my blood. Connecting people to service and soils is my passion, and this feels like a real reconnection to that mission.

Navigating this in a region facing immense healthcare and housing challenges, the crew and I are now posted up near Storrie Lake in our green Mercedes Benz school bus, Mrs. Jones. 🚌 

Let’s just say I’m entering my Priscilla, Queen of the Desert era... but more on that in a future episode. The journey continues, on and off the road. ☮️