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The farm consists of two acres of fruit trees, and three acres of vegetables located on 40 acres of some of the last undeveloped land in Santa Fe. The garden produces sweet corn, cabbage, bell peppers, chiles, and winter squash, among other crops. The orchard produces apples, peaches, apricots, cherries, and plums. The Community Farm donates its entire harvest to the homeless, hungry, and needy of the city. All farm hands are volunteers who help plant, weed, harvest and distribute the fruits and vegetables.
History of the Community Farm
John Stephenson has lived in Santa Fe since his birth in 1914. While attending school in Santa Fe, John was active in sports and today he is a national senior champion weight lifter. John attended New Mexico State University at Las Cruces, then transferred to and graduated from Colorado State University at Ft. Collins, Colorado.
John was employed by the Soil Conservation Corps and the U.S. Forest Service for 30 years, with time out for active service in the U.S. Army during World War II. After the War, John returned to Santa Fe where John and his dad then built John’s home on the land where the Community Farm is located. With his wife’s help, John planted the orchard and tilled the acreage. The Stephensons raised three sons on the land.
When John retired from the Forest Service he began working with New Vistas, a community organization serving the developmentally disabled in Santa Fe. Around 1983, John began bringing some of those disabled persons to the Farm to teach them farming techniques. Soon this teaching program evolved into a unique cooperative program of distributing foods as well as farm produce for the hungry of Santa Fe. Friends of Mr. Stephenson’s, and some members of the First Presbyterian Church began helping with some of the harvest. Volunteers, however, were sparse and sporadic and Mr. Stephenson began to question the feasibility of the project.
 At a Hunger Task Force committee meeting in 1991, John voiced his concerns. Kathleen Jiménez, co-director of Ghost Ranch Santa Fe (at that time called Plaza Resolana), suggested that she might be able to get some help through the Presbyterian Church’s USA Mission Volunteer program. Ghost Ranch Santa Fe began supporting the Farm by providing a Volunteer-in-Mission to assist John with farm work and to handle the growing administrative details of a city-wide food distribution program.
All produce from the farm is donated and distributed to over 30 different agencies in Santa Fe that serve the homeless, hungry, disabled, and children in need. Volunteers are the farm’s only labor source. These farm hands come from all different parts of the Santa Fe community. They are members of churches and other religious organizations, youth groups, students from area schools, after school programs, clients from the agencies we serve, and many other concerned individuals from Santa Fe.
Mr. Stephenson farms three acres in garden and two acres in orchard. The garden produces sweet corn, chiles, bell peppers, cabbage, broccoli, summer and winter squash and onions. The orchard has more than 60 trees, mostly apple, along with pear, peach, apricot, cherry, and plum.
 The farm is irrigated with a drip system similar to that used in Israel. Drip irrigation is considered the best water saving system (a hose delivers one gallon of water, per hour, next to a plant) and is proven to increase production in produce. The Community Farm is as "organic" as is now possible.
John Stephenson is honored as a "Santa Fe Treasure," as one of Santa Fe’s "10 Who Made a Difference," recognized by President Clinton as a "Points of Light Foundation Award" Recipient and to the Hall of Fame for the National Weight Lifting Association. John Stephenson continues to make a difference.
Revised 10/24/06
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