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Earlier this week we launched phase one of our sustainable travel initiative, celebrating hotels that make a positive impact on the planet and in their community. When it came time to choose a a place that exemplifies those actions, it didn\u2019t take long to settle on Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm<\/a>. We had no shortage of options \u2014 thousands of Tablet hotels are taking steps toward a more responsible future. Los Poblanos stands out, though, because they make sustainability seem especially accessible, like it should be the logical goal of any great hotel.<\/p>\n It\u2019s tempting to treat sustainability as an indulgence, a new-age obsession, the domain of the woke and well-off. But that\u2019s backward. Los Poblanos isn\u2019t an opulent eco-resort or a remote spiritual retreat. This is a family-run farm on a centuries-old ranch, ten minutes from downtown Albuquerque. Sustainability is demystified here \u2014 it’s common, universal, natural, concerned as much with the social and economic environment as with the ecological one. Los Poblanos wears their mission more like a comfortable old robe than a shiny badge of honor. They aren\u2019t hopping onto some trendy bandwagon. They\u2019re simply preserving the operational models of the past. <\/p>\n To understand how, let\u2019s start with Campo, Los Poblanos’ much celebrated farm-to-fork restaurant. <\/p>\n Campo is considered one of the best restaurants in the country. Its casual fine-dining experience \u2014 sourced from local farms and from the hotel\u2019s own organic gardens, fed by compost sourced from kitchen waste \u2014 is as delicious as it is sustainable. Serving a style they call Rio Grande Valley Cuisine, the menu now features duck and pork, local mushrooms and blue corn. But don\u2019t expect to see the same ingredients year round. \u201cWe\u2019re going back to what it was like 100 years ago,\u201d said Campo’s chef, \u201cwhen there wasn\u2019t this global economy where you can go get berries in the middle of winter.\u201d<\/p>\n When you arrive at Los Poblanos<\/a> in the summer, it\u2019s the lavender that you\u2019ll first notice. 25 acres of purple scent drifting under distant mountains. Distilled on site, it is the secret ingredient in the bath products, as well as in the sustainable ambitions of this organic farm hotel. Hundreds of years ago, this was already farmland. When the ranch\u2019s latest stewards took over, they prioritized lavender \u2014 which grows well in the arid climate and uses a fraction of the water than the typical crop, cattle-fueling alfalfa.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not to denigrate the historic owners. In the 1930s, the only two single people in the House of Representatives fell in love and made this place their empire \u2014 and alfalfa, beets, and cattle their subjects. Then, Albert and Ruth Simms turned the old ranch into an architectural pilgrimage site.<\/p>\n They hired a titan of Southwestern architecture, John Gaw Meem. His two buildings at Los Poblanos \u2014 the Hacienda and La Quinta (now spa and community gathering place, respectively) \u2014 remain among the best examples of his Territorial Revival style. A uniquely New Mexican art form, Territorial Revival blends Greek Revival pediment windows and doors and broader European influences with the tan, mud-colored stucco finishes and white plaster walls of indigenous and Spanish styles. It is an \u201camalgam of all these cultures coming together in one place,\u201d as Matt Rembe, executive director of Los Poblanos, describes the style. He would know \u2014 he grew up in the Hacienda with his family. The Rembes bought half the ranch from the Simms as a family home, before purchasing the rest to save it from development years later. Rembe grew up playing among the original Spanish tile, towering carved doors, and kiva fireplaces that draw marveling guests today.<\/p>\n Other buildings on the ranch are no less storied (if significantly less glam). Rembe calls the old dairy structures from the 1930s \u201cdumb U.S. Department of Agriculture buildings.\u201d But they aren\u2019t completely useless. When it comes to construction, there\u2019s a trade-off between the energy that goes into creating modern, ultra-green buildings from scratch and reuse of what already exists. \u201cRestoration and adaptive reuse of old buildings is probably the greenest thing you could do,\u201d argues Rembe. The Los Poblanos restaurant, kitchen, bar, and shop make use of the utilitarian spaces. The rest still store hay and equipment.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no question that Los Poblanos<\/a> is among the best hotels in the Southwest. Today, its 45 guest rooms take inspiration from both of the estate’s styles. The Meem Rooms and Suites mimic their namesake architecture, all tin light fixtures, hand-carved beams, and fireplaces, while the Field and Farm accommodations take inspiration from the 1930s dairy buildings, sporting original artwork and views of either the gardens, acequias, lotus pond, or lavender fields and mountains.<\/p>\n Rembe notes that most who come for the food or the architecture end up seduced by something as simple as the community around the ranch. Los Poblanos farmers, chefs, distillers, cheese mongers \u2014 they\u2019re all there, all friendly and welcoming, all laughing over the property\u2019s cat, Mouse, who sneaks into guest rooms where he\u2019s not allowed, or the chattering peacocks and guinea hens that have prompted complimentary bedside earplugs.<\/p>\n But at Los Poblanos, it\u2019s inevitable that conversation circles back to your plate. \u201cNot everyone can afford sustainably grown food,\u201d admits Rembe. \u201cWe can\u2019t grow enough here to support the broader community.\u201d But what they can do is \u201cgrow in a way to educate people who are coming here to understand where they should be buying their food, why it\u2019s important, and how it tastes better.\u201d It\u2019s a reverence for the setting that can\u2019t help but inspire, both at the hotel and in the larger ABQ community. And as the hospitality world continues to prioritize the locations that host them, perhaps that\u2019s the most important way for hotels to contribute. <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re eating and sleeping on the property where the ingredients were grown,\u201d says Rembe. \u201cIt\u2019s a very profound experience. It\u2019s so immediate.\u201d<\/p>\n Photography by Douglas Merriam, Elizabeth Wells, Alicia Lucia, Sergio Salvador, and Josh Hailey Studio.<\/em> On the outskirts of Albuquerque, Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm has built a model for the future from the practices of the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":88836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3643,3763],"tags":[3431,3600,3642,3367,3605,3748],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-88740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hotel-spotlight","category-sustainability","tag-farm","tag-food-drink","tag-hotel-spotlight","tag-new-mexico","tag-sustainability","tag-sustainable-travel"],"acf":{"new_subtitle":"Los Poblanos Preserves History in New Mexico","property_id":[{"id":"8215"}]},"yoast_head":"\n![\"Los](\"https:\/\/static.prod.r53.tablethotels.com\/media\/ecs\/global\/magazine\/story-images\/20220423\/Fields.jpg\")
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\nBook Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm<\/a> on Tablet.
\nRead our plan to inspire sustainable travel here<\/a>.<\/em>
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