Farming program yields robust crops on the grounds of former army post and Indian boarding school

By Elaine Tassy
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4min 56sec
TeAndre McLane holds an ear of blue corn
Courtesy photo
TeAndre McLane at the Old Fort farm in Hesperus.

FORT LEWIS COLLEGE OLD FORT FARM
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Emily Bell is the Fort Lewis College farmer training program coordinator, photographed next to an almost-ready-to-harvest stand of blue corn at the Old Fort farm and campus in Hesperus, Sept. 15, 2025.

Courtesy the Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College

FORT LEWIS COLLEGE OLD FORT FARM
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Some of Fort Lewis College’s Old Fort farm buildings in Hesperus are being painted with murals whose mission is to better reflect indigenous and rural life. Sept.15, 2025.
FLC OLD FORT FARM
Courtesy FLC Old Fort
Students at the Old Fort farm in Hesperus, part of Fort Lewis College, in Durango.

FORT LEWIS COLLEGE OLD FORT FARM
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
A vintage tool once used to cut corn kernels from cobs sits on a table in the yurt that serves as a classroom at Fort Lewis College’s Old Fort farm in Hesperus. Sept. 15, 2025. Emily Bell, the farmer training program coordinator, is in the background.
FORT LEWIS COLLEGE OLD FORT FARM
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
A collection of texts and pamphlets shelved in a yurt that serves as a classroom at Fort Lewis College’s Old Fort farm in Hesperus. Sept. 15, 2025.

FORT LEWIS COLLEGE OLD FORT FARM
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Katelyn Hemmer, in a greenhouse, trimming onions for subscribers to Old Fort’s Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, program, at the Old Fort farm and campus in Hesperus, Sept. 15, 2025.

FORT LEWIS COLLEGE OLD FORT FARM
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
A colorful patch of Cosmos flowers brighten a section of Fort Lewis College’s Old Fort farm in Hesperus. Sept. 15, 2025.

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