Casa Mistica - Santa Fe, NM

Located in the heart of Santa Fe, Casa Mistica has been a communal living project since 2003. The community explores relationship to self and other through cohabitation, social activism, spiritual contemplation, and relationship to land use and food systems. When a new house was built on the property in 2022, it was designed with rooftop rainwater catchment and greywater systems, reflecting the community’s appreciation of the reality of the preciousness of water in the arid high desert. We collaborated with the residents of the property to design and install a permaculture plan that suited the community’s needs for a landscape that is water efficient and low-maintenance while also meeting the desire for edible and medicinal plantings and inspirational green spaces for secluded contemplation and for group gatherings. We have enjoyed seeing how improving the soil biology has helped successfully establish a thriving poly-culture of cover crops, buffalo grass lawn, native perennials, and locally adapted fruit trees from what was initially bare, highly disturbed post-construction dirt.