La Luz sits right where the Sacramentos quit and the Tularosa Basin opens — close enough to the canyon that cool air slides down the wash at night, far enough out that the white dunes glare on the western horizon at noon. The village grows fruit and pistachios in the shelter of that slope, and the trees pay for the privilege in wind. Pruning keeps the orchard wood productive and the shade trees balanced; trimming lifts branches off adobe walls, wires and the narrow lanes. When a tree splits at the crotch or dies out from the top down, removal takes it in pieces with nothing beneath it disturbed. After a canyon blow, storm damage cleanup gathers the wreckage and leaves the yard swept and open to the light.