Part Five: The patron saint of farming
A crumbling church on changing land
LAS MESITAS, Colo. —Alfalfa blooms in the fields next to the shell of the San Isidro Catholic Church, which burned in 1975. (Photo by Diana Cervantes for Source NM)
Chris and Lucilla Cisneros, married for 55 years, live just up the road from the San Isidro Catholic Church. In that time, the land has changed around them, marked by drought and fire. (Photo by Diana Cervantes for Source NM)
Lucilla Cisneros pulls tumbleweeds from the cage around the older graves in the churchyard. "We care for them as if they're our own." (Photo by Diana Cervantes for Source NM)
“Before, we could plant a garden, and you’d hardly have to irrigate it because the rain would take care of it,” Chris said. “Now you can’t grow nothing hardly, because it didn’t rain this last year.”
Chris and Lucilla Cisneros, married for 55 years, live just up the road from the San Isidro Catholic Church. In that time, the land has changed around them, marked by drought and fire. (Photo by Diana Cervantes for Source NM)
Chris and Lucilla Cisneros pull away from the crumbling church and its cemetery after their work is done. The couple has been caring for these grounds for 35 years, but the work has grown harder as the land and climate shift. (Photo by Diana Cervantes for Source NM)
A carpet of grass fills the aisles of the church, open to the elements for nearly 50 years. (Photo by Diana Cervantes for Source NM)