Acequias are traditional community owned and managed irrigation ditches which are a lifeline of small holding farmers in New Mexico and elsewhere. Each has a mayordomo who is elected by the users to manage the operation of the ditch for a period, and settle disputes about water usage. Stanley Crawford moved to New Mexico to farm garlic in the early 1980s, and spent a year as mayordomo in 1985 and 1986. This lovely book is about that year, and is a classic of nature writing, which brings to wider attention a significant but easily overlooked tradition which is vital for the lives of many people. It's a beautiful book, full of humanity and kindness and community, and observations of the passing of a rural year.