Food Church Property, named Selah, of southern New Mexico is aiming to operate entirely on existing resources from the immediately surrounding lands. Selah is in its 3rd year of development and first year as a Food Church property.
The Selah Food Church Property is situated on a south-facing slope at 7,000 ft above sea level. The property is laden with rocks of all sizes and many downed tree trunks, which constitutes building material for adding swales and terraces throughout the grounds to increase water retention in the soil.
After a few weeks of studying the property, Visioneers began to see the contours of the slope more clearly, and distributed rocks, logs, brush, and mulch to various places, layered horizontally across the slope of the land. Within the newly leveled areas, Visioneers planted native, self-seeding, edible perennial plants to increase the variety of plant species within the property, such as wild lettuce, wild spinach, and plantain.
Retaining walls were also built around trees to create seating and stabilize the soil around important trees.
