VOICES

Housed in an historic adobe that contained a bootleg operation during prohibition, the TAOS distillery is a creative retreat space, now dedicated to deepening understanding of mountain habitats and exploring ways we may weave traditional water systems into restorative practices. Centered around the traditional water sharing practice known as Acequias, our community-based work is made up of creative acts and conversations that reflect on how we may come together to help alleviate the pressures of a changing climate through sharing resources and recognizing abundance.

Distillery ARTS

ACEQUIAS: A Creature Conserve Mentorship
Building Sci-Art Pathways towards Conservation
Transforming Thistle: Daniela Jules Garza makes tea and art using Thistle

A Year in Grandpa’s Garden
Haiku & watercolors follow young Thatcher Gray and Grandpa as they cultivate terraced PermaCULTURE gardens behind the Distillery through an entire season.

Secret Supper Club:
Pop up dinners in the garden with the Cooking Studio Taos

Distillery ARTS – Fieldworks

Neo Rio | Pollinators Plants & People
OCHO | Printmaking with Plants

Distillery Gardens

Clippings
An Artful Adventure in Sustainable Living by Lyn Bleiler | Eco Source Magazine
artists’ diaries: The Tales of Thatcher Gray – A Year in Grandpa’s Garden | edible
Extreme Backyard Gardeners | edible Santa Fe – Albuquerque – Taos

Ditch Cleaning by Peter T Leonard | edible Santa Fe – Albuquerque – Taos

GARDEN EVOLUTION
2022
2022 Garden Update: smothering aggressive pasture grasses and sowing native seeds.

2014
Building a Hugelculture: saving water while using up garden debris

FRONT GARDENS
We loved the park-like setting around the TAOS distillery and wanted to maintain the open feeling under the assortment of trees that grace the property. The old wooden fence was replaced with a wall that meanders along the acequia ditch and acts as an anchor for continually expanding gardens filled with native plants.

2007: Building the front wall: Young Vietnamese architect, Hoa designs and builds the front wall at the Distillery, lending a subtle Southeast Asian aesthetic to the Adobe style

Acequia

The Distillery is an active member of Los Lovatos ditch system, or Acequia, which was built by Spanish over three centuries ago. This community centered water sharing system broadens alluvial plains through deserts, augmenting wildlife passages while replenishing aquifers. The ancient systems are being challenged on a number of fronts and we use the Distillery to promote traditional water sharing practices that support desert eco-systems while nourishing local communities. Tracing roots of the ancient practice has connected us with creatives in La Huerta in Spain & the Rif mountains in Northeastern Morocco. As a time-tested way to successfully mitigate a drying climate, we are dreaming up ways to weave community through creative exchanges across the diverse steppe regions where Acequias are maintained.

distillery – Archetecture

Transformation of the TAOS Distillery from 2006 – 2016

The Distillery is an historic adobe which housed a bootleg operation during prohibition. The moonshine supplied the speakeasy in the back of what is now La Fonda Hotel run by Vincente Mares, who tended this land at that time. Every day, he would ride his black stallion into town, he was an icon of the village a century ago. We purchased the old adobe and completed extensive renovations in 2012. We think of it now as a place for the distillation of ideas and a platform to help realize restorative acts as we explore how to cultivate the high desert steppe through a combination of ancient practices and emergent technologies. Follow the transformation of the structures:

CASITA
2006: Starting Points

2007: Grandpa falls in love with the TAOS Distillery
Foundation: The unique footprint of the Casita
Building Sacred Fire – The heart of the Casita
Framing: building the live-in Greenhouse
Adobe: Ancient technology of earthen homes