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Starting Nearly
40 Years Ago... |
Life in Minnesota |
We lived in northern Minnesota near Itasca State Park, headwaters of the Mississippi River, from 1979-1996. We started out with sled dogs and a small farming operation. Eventually we attended Bemidji State University, where we studied biology with an emphasis on botany and plant ecology. Primary focus of life in the latter part of that era was running our publishing business after buying The Business of Herbs, trade journal for the herb and specialty horticulture industries. |
 The Minnesota house, 100 years old, log construction. |  We had The Business of Herbs from 1988 through 1999. |
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The Big Move - August 1996 |
We left Minnesota in the summer of 1996 after buying a place in the northern New Mexico mountains. We loved the natural beauty and the location deep inside the Santa Fe National Forest at 8700 feet elevation. But after seven years of dealing with bad weather and even worse services, we headed to the southwestern corner of the state. |
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Our Most Recent Step |
We are now living on a "mini-ranch" in southwestern New Mexico. It is only five acres, but it has many fruit and nut trees and newly established garden beds. The climate here is superb, offering year-round growing conditions. The winter garden this year produced excellent turnips, broccoli, chard, kale, and more. The rather modest house has some nice features including a large screen porch. The roofed area that was formerly the carport is now enclosed and has become a passive-solar plant growing and human basking room. The oversized three-car garage was already finished inside. After a few modifications it has become our new office. |
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On the Mini-Ranch |
 Flowers, flowers, | 
|  and more flowers |
Red Mountain, our nearest and most photogenic landmark |

Sometimes there is snow on the mountain, but not very often | 
Venus and the moon |  Summer Solstice: the sun sets nearly at the north end of the mountain |
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The Deming Area |

|  - Above: Rockhound Park
- Left: Spring Canyon
- Right: Mexican Poppies
- Below: City of Rocks
- Bottom: Gila Cliff Dwellings
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Here We Are |
 Paula in Santa Fe mode |  Paula and David Oliver and a favorite rock |  David enjoying the sunshine |
Paula created all the works of art on this site and wrote the descriptions. David took all the photographs and produced and maintains the Web site. |
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Download the Northwind Visions 2018 Calendar To download the calendar, right-click the little calendar at left and select "Save Target As" or "Save Link As" from the menu that pops up. Save the file. Open it and print it from Adobe Acrobat Reader. It prints best on glossy photo paper using the appropriate settings for your printer; it is optimized for 8-1/2x11 borderless printing. (Acrobat Reader may try to reduce the size and print a border. Set it to 100% size and your printer preferences to borderless.) Photo:
A spectacular roadside specimen of Colorado four o'clock,
Mirabilis multiflora. | |