STANLEY CRAWFORD
Open Doors
When writer Stanley Crawford moved to northern New Mexico in late 1969, he didn’t imagine becoming a farmer, nor how deeply he and his wife, RoseMary, would delve into acequias, farmers’ markets, legal services, the arts, and eventually the Dixon Studio Tour.  He wrote three nonfiction accounts of his experience as an activist farmer, including the lauded Mayordomo: Chronicle of an Acequia in Northern New Mexico. Drop by his place during this month’s Dixon Studio Tour. “As a participant, yet another year goes by when I don’t get to ‘do’ the tour—except vicariously, through reports and rumors of how it is all going out there,” he says.

CARMELLA PADILLA
Maverick Dreams
For Carmella Padilla, following Jerry West’s directions to his painting studio was like a trail out of time. “You’ll pass the old Bonanza, the old Butte, the old Tiffany mines,” West said. “You’ll find me just beyond the old home place.” Padilla found a man who, in name and character, personifies the hospitable, hardworking, rough-and-tumble ethos of the West—and a modern artist whose unique vision of Padilla’s northern New Mexico home inspired her to take an alternative track in telling of his place in the art history of the state. A recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, Padilla recently edited Borderless: The Art of Luis Tapia (Museum of Latin American Art/University of Oklahoma Press).

CHERYL ALTERS JAMISON
The New Mexico Slow Cooker Queen
Four-time James Beard Award–winning author Cheryl Alters Jamison, our former culinary editor, cut back on her articles last year to write her 20th cookbook. The Texas Slow Cooker came out last month, and we had to claim some of those luscious recipes for ourselves. “In conducting research for the book,” she says, “I bought three slow cookers and even installed a slow-cooker cam on my website.” See what she’s cooking next at excitedaboutfood.com. Jamison hosts the popular foodophile radio show Heating It Up, on Santa Fe’s KTRC, live-streamed on Saturdays, 3–4 p.m., and podcast at santafe.com.