High Desert Hounds - Fundraiser for the Vulnerable Dogs of Taos County

As many are aware, the animal welfare crisis in Taos County has worsened exponentially in the past several months. With no viable shelter in the town or county, many have been left in the cold and have bred even more puppies contributing to the ever growing over population problem.

Our mission is to provide emergency housing and resources for the vulnerable and homeless dogs of Taos County.

In addition to emergency housing for these animals, we aim to provide vet care and essential needs while promoting compassion and civic responsibility through humane education programs and spreading public awareness.

We are accepting donations to aid in this mission as well as donations directly to vet care. These can be called in to Taos Vet and put under High Desert Hounds at 575-758-7310.

Questa Story Boxes & the Community Memory Lab

An update from Questa Stories

Claire Cote

This year we’re continuing our Voices de Aquí series, but changing our approach to sharing these stories. When you’re at Questa Farmers Market keep your eye out for two wooden boxes with headphones each featuring a story and bio of one of our community members. These listening units are fun, interactive ways to share stories, learn about and appreciate one another and get to know our community a little better.

We’re collaborating with Questa Library to develop a Community Memory Lab and Archive onsite at the Library as well. We're gathering equipment and strategizing on ways it can serve. Get in touch if you'd like to be involved with this! Questa Stories has also been attending local events recording audio, video and taking photos and adding this documentation to the community archive at QuestaStories.org and on harddrives at Questa Library and soon to be added to the Manitos Community Memory Archive (expected to go live soon).

In the coming months we’re looking forward to offering hands-on photography and cyanotype story workshops in local schools in collaboration with local photographer, Jamey Bryant.

We continue to improve and add content to our website QuestaSories.org. Visit us there and @questastories on Instagram and Facebook 

Wild Camp, 2023

This year at Sangre de Cristo Wild Camp, Localogy’s teenage camp, we continued our tradition of helping the community and challenging the teenagers in a week-long back packing trip. Our intense two week adventure proves a success once again.

The Sunday camp starts sets the tone for the rest of the session, and this year the teenagers did a stellar job in taking control and owning their camp culture. After picking work crews, we spent the next 4 days serving Questa Farmer’s Market, cleaning Casas Culture next door, continued a building project at Veterans Off Grid, and cleaned up and restored our Camp campus. The teenagers at Questa Farmers Market did some much-needed weeding, indigo dying of clothes and Suki-Ban wood burning. The Casas crew peeled off-putting plaster off of 110 year old adobe relleno walls, revealing the beautiful earth plaster underneath. At Veterans Off Grid, Ryan Timmermans taught our teenagers a lot about sustainable building through insulating a healing structure with straw-clay slip between studs.

The backpacking trip took place in the beautiful sea of mountains that is the Weminuche Wilderness in south western Colorado. The teenagers embarked on a 52-mile hike that took them through a river, up a peak, running into several moose, and swimming in Emerald Lake. Stargazing late into the night and hiking under the sun through the day, the teenagers had a deep-dive of wilderness and they came back to camp in good spirits ready to take on the world.

We had an amazing time and the teenagers were truly the best our camp program has ever had.

Keaton Karvas - Wild Camp Director

Questa's commemorative tree grove, plus art workshops for kids!

An Update from Leap - land Experience and art of place

Did you know LEAP has been planting trees since 2017? The Commemorative Tree Grove at the Questa Municipal Park, sponsored by community members in honor of loved ones, has grown to over 20 trees. As we continue to steward the grove, we are working with the Village of Questa to install a more professional irrigation system with a timer for the park with a longer-term vision of establishing a comprehensive site plan for the Park, Youth Center and Library site. Since 2021, LEAP has collaborated with the Vida del Norte Coalition, the Village of Questa, Questa Farmers Market, Questa Economic Development Fund and other partners to facilitate intergenerational community connection days, including tree planting days! This year, our two spring Community Connection days happened at the park and Farmers Market site to pick up trash, remove invasive weeds and ready the sites for summer use. We’re also supporting the Village of Questa’s Beautification Committee and working to expand and mobilize the volunteer base in our community.

This summer we also offered two kids cyanotype art workshops with the Quesa Achievers 4H group and Vida Camp. We gathered and identified local plants along Columbine Trail for 4H and at Questa Park for Vida camp, then each child created unique prints using their collected plants and cyanotype paper, exposed it in the sun and developed it in a tub of water. Kids had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the chemistry and mystery of the process!

Claire Cote - LEAP Director