CASL was born in 1994 as Northeast Metro Coalition for Affordable Housing* and after several more iterations of affordable housing, it evolved into the Coalition for Affordable Sustainable Living in 2015. Five years earlier it received a donation of Blue Horse, a 6-acre** rural property at 16220 Leon Road SE, Deming, NM and planned to develop it into low-income housing. However, the challenging desert conditions coupled with a depressed housing market made the Board reconsider the mission and how to use the property.
CASL Mission
Develop sustainable living in desert conditions thru education and exploration appropriate in the 21st century fast approaching a post-doom environment. What is sustainable and how can we protect it? To find a way to live with and sustain ourselves in the face of overshoot. To live in right relationship with nature and perhaps survive the 6th Great Extinction in the high Chihuahuan Desert. Can we adapt or are we doomed?[1]
Background: We came and stay for the Desert Magic: spectacular view of mountain ranges all around us, sunshine almost everyday, the capacity of flora and fauna to go dormant in dry times and quickly flourish during the short time of monsoon season and last but not least, the wide open spaces!!
However, this area of New Mexico has been in a 6-year drought (getting 2" annual rain instead of the normal 8") Every day more and more desert is being created in the world as well as here in Luna County. CASL's self-directed education
has helped us explore major desert issues including water, air quality, temperatures and desirable building structures.
[1] Our current mentors include:
William Catton, Overshoot, The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change
Michael Dowd, Post Doom minister, if we live locally with generosity, humility and integrity we can find joy
David Suzuki, scientist and elder
Guy McPherson
Jane O’Sullivan
Corey Bradshaw
Michael Moore’s film Planet of the Humans
Biggest Little Farm u-tube with Sandra Keats, John Chester, Mark Monroe
CASL has been at Blue Horse in the
High Chihuahua Desert since 2010 and as it’s caretakers, we have learned some useful things including how to:
* Mitigate poor quality and limited water supply
* Improve the soil
* Use no-till farming method and straw mulch in the vegetable garden to encourage earthworms and other beneficial insects plus reduce evaporation.
*Maximize use of native plants for ground cover and beautification.
*Use building materials from the earth while using wood for ornamentation to minimize fire hazard and reduce maintenance.
*the value of underground living/storage in desert conditions to moderate extreme temperatures and winds.
*minimize disturbing the soil to reduce dust storms
*incorporate courtyards to increase outdoor living space and shield from extreme weather conditions
Use ditches and swales to help reclaim barren desert to savana like conditions
Stay on roads and established paths. Native vegetation is easily destroyed with just light foot and vehicle traffic or farm animals overgrazing and will often require years to recover without our help practicing good permaculturing.
Blue Horse Buildings were designed to minimize/utilize the intense sun, big winds, and invading wild critters. New Mexico is called the “Land of Enchantment”, a nice way to describe the dust-laden winds and intense sun at 4,ooo’ elevation! Blue Horse has multiple small buildings around a walled courtyard; even in a fierce dust storm we can enjoy being in the courtyard. Over time CASL construction has used different building block machines for building with earth and concrete.
Main house: About 950 sq ft with concrete block walls & bond beam. The house has large south facing windows for the view; this is not a wise window choice, though, so we have installed exterior shutters to keep out the heat in summer and keep heat in on cold winter nights. A solar heated floor in the dining area helps heat the house in winter. Electric heat pump has proven to be an excellent choice for the dry air and extreme temperatures (low 0F - 110F)
Studio: The studio was built with 3 double walls (poured concrete and interior 6” wood frame wall on 2 sides; the north wall is a double 6’ concrete block wall with poured insulation between and on the south a 1’ thick stone Trombe wall inside the south facing sunroom.
Outdoor Kitchen: During the summer the outdoor kitchen helps reduce heat in the house and the outdoor dining area is a wonderful spot in spring and fall and even in winter on a sunny day!
Projects underway include:
Roofing the main entrance tower and the vegetable garden entrance tower.
Building a concrete block wall on the north side of the vegetable garden to add 120 sq ft to garden area.
Car port and solar panel array with off grid Eco E4 system
Adding a wrought iron gazebo above the fountain in the main courtyard that can help hold shade cloth securely over the courtyard in summer thus reducing heat absorption.