Events & Volunteer Opportunities

Updated by Marisa at 12 pm on Thursday, Oct 16,  2025

We harvested150.5 lbs. of tomatoes today! And 149.6 lbs. of green chile, too. 

Reminder for next Tuesday, Oct 21: new start time is 9 am on Tues & Thursdays.

Ready to be picked! In need of good home. Photo: Marisa 10-15-25 


🍅🍅🍅 2025 Harvest Weights - Running total: over 1,400 lbs. so far!

                        

Page contents:

  • Volunteer Info (where, when, what to bring)
  • Upcoming Events & Other Activities
  • Photos from this summer
  • Flyers for upcoming events
  • Tomato harvest weights by day


Volunteer Info (where, when, what to bring)


    Marisa Thompson's Urban Horticulture Program (Agrivoltaics & Tomatoes in 2025)
 Harvesting TOMATOES -- From here on up past the first frost, we'll be harvesting tomatoes (and chiles and apples) every week on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

 

Please bring boxes with you if you'd like to take some home. 


                Where: NMSU Agricultural Science Center at Los Lunas
                1036 Miller Road
                Los Lunas, NM 87031

    • October-November Tuesday & Thursday Mornings, 9 am - 11 am. 
      • Our volunteer mornings are at the Los Lunas Ag Science Center, meetings either in the Learning Garden or adjacent veggie rows, or pruning activities in different fruit orchards. Park in the main parking lot and follow the ORANGE TRAFFIC CONES on foot to find the group wherever we're working that day. 
      • As of July 24, tomato harvests have officially started! 
      • What to Bring: BOXES for tomatoes! and a Water bottle/canteen/vessel, Sun protection - hat, sunscreen, long sleeves/pants, Sturdy fieldwork shoes that can get muddy, Gardening gloves (we have extras, if needed), Camera! Please help me snap pics of our pruning adventures for posterity 

      • As always, you are welcome to arrive late or leave early on these days. 👍

     

    Upcoming Events & Other Activities

    • Ongoing Volunteer Opportunities around the state with Tree New Mexico - Find details at https://treenm.org/volunteers/
    • Thursdays in October, Lush & Lean Speaker Series in Las Cruces! See flyer below.
    • Thursday, October 16, "When Do Trees Need Our Help?" presentation by Marisa Thompson for NM Nursery Growers Association at Osuna Nursery
    • Wednesday, Oct 22, 9-11 am in Alcalde NM - "Saffron Harvesting and Processing Workshop" at the Sustainable Agriculture Science Center in Alcalde. See flyer below!
    • Friday, October 24, noon - "Passive Rainwater Harvesting" webinar presentation by Anthony Luketich & Bobby Mullin for the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Authority (part of a series! see flyer below)  - https://www.abcwua.org/conservation-rebates-workshops/
    • Tuesday, October 28, 1-3 pm - "Ristra Making Workshop" at the Los Lunas Ag Science Center. See flyer below for more details. (If we get enough interest in this event, we will likely host another in November)
    • DATE TBD — likely a Friday in early Nov - 10 am - 12 pm - "Quince Harvest Party" at the Los Lunas Ag Science Center! With Dr Curtis Smith and Willie Sommers and Marisa Thompson
    • Wednesday, November 19, 9 am - 4 pm - Southeast NM Urban Horticulture Symposium in Roswell. See flyer below.
    • Wednesday, November 19, 3 pm - Ready, Set, GROW! Webinar - "Vermicomposting" - Yini Wang, Bernalillo County Extension Master Composters Apprenticeship Program. Yini will walk us through the simple steps for vermicomposting in any garden. Register at https://desertblooms.nmsu.edu/grow.html
    • Wednesday, November 19, 5:30 pm in Las Cruces at Branigan Library - Marisa will present “Climate-Ready Trees” for CAMBIOS, an NMSU Speaker Series and we’ll have some small trees to give away! Details to be posted here: https://cambios.nmsu.edu/_configurations/current-speaker-series.html
    • Wednesday, December 19, 3 pm - Ready, Set, GROW! Webinar - "The Skinny Garden" - Anne Fenkner, Western Region Project Developer with Davey Resource Group. Anne will waltz us through a decade-long tale of converting a rusty chain link fence into a stunning community asset! For more information, visit the Skinny Delight website. Register at https://desertblooms.nmsu.edu/grow.html

    Pics from this summer:

    Volunteers and interns — replanting failed tomatoes and moving solarization plastic on 7-17-25




    Summer Fruit Tree Pruning workshop with TreeNM & volunteers on 7/10/25. 


    Carol and I found these five hornworms on her tomatoes, and one was pooping when I took the pic.  📸 7-14-25. M. Thompson. 





















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