Christina Allday-Bondy

Edgewood Soil and Water Conservation District

Edgewood, New Mexico

Christina Allday-Bondy farms with her husband, Jim Allday, on five acres in the eastern foothills of the Sandia Mountains. Together, they raise Navajo-Churro sheep and a flock of chickens.

As an Associate Supervisor with Edgewood Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), Allday-Bondy personally utilizes various soil health practices and assists others in applying them on their farms.

Allday-Bondy uses dead trees, trimmings and waste bales of hay as berms to slow water movement and capture soil on her slopes. Temporary fencing allows her to provide rest for her grasses as she moves her sheep from one area to another. She has also stopped pulling weeds after realizing it opened the hard clay below the surface. Lastly, she distributes her henhouse cleanings across her slopes to aide in nutrient distribution.

Her practices have greatly benefited her farm, despite the challenges she faces. She struggles to manage against pesky gophers but has since learned to plant into hardware cloth ‘baskets’ to prevent them from causing damage. Moving her temporary fencing is physically demanding, but well worth the difficulty.

Since Allday-Bondy began raising sheep in 2014, her holistic management practices have helped decrease the prevalence of bare soil from 85 percent to approximately 50 percent or less. This improved ground cover has helped prevent soil loss from monsoon downpours and the fierce spring winds that can reach 70 miles per hour.

Updated July 2019.