If José Manuel Archuleta was anything, he was a hard worker.
“That’s the way I was raised, and I liked it I guess” Archuleta said in a 2012 interview. “Always busy, busy.”
Archuleta died Jan. 18. He was 99 years old.
Iconic of the tenacious Hispano farmer that defined the Taos Valley for centuries, Archuleta was revered as a keeper of traditional wisdom and a mentor eager to share his knowledge with others.
Archuleta spent nearly his entire life raising livestock and growing crops in Des Montes. His childhood was spent at his father’s side, absorbing skills honed by the generations of farmers that preceded him.
During those formative years, the mountains surrounding the Taos Valley marked the edges of the Earth; as far as Archuleta was concerned, that was all that existed. That isolation and reliance on the land nurtured a deep connection with the land and water. It’s a lifetime worth of learning he’s passed on to his kids, who continue the family’s ranching tradition.
“He instilled a lot of values and work ethic in us,” said Floyd Archuleta, one of his sons. “He taught us how to plant, how to run cattle, how to graze — all the things a rancher needs to know.”
In a letter to The Taos News, Floyd Archuleta said he would always remember his father as “the man with his irrigation shovel, walking in the alfalfa fields.”
In 2010, José Archuleta was recognized as “farmer of the year” by the New Mexico Acequia Association. The association called him an example of “oro del barrio” — a cultural treasure rooted in the community...
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