The reddish-brown soil at Indian Camp Ranch is a wind-blown loess which varies in depth from only a few inches near the rims of canyons to more than six feet in the centers of the mesa tops. Most of the Anasazi house sites at Indian Camp Ranch, and indeed throughout the Montezuma County, were built on this loess, because it is so well-suited for farming. Because the loess holds water for a relatively long time, it was (and still is) possible to grow abundant crops without the use of any supplemental irrigation water. This agricultural technique is called dry-land farming, and is still practiced in many parts of Montezuma County today.
Replica of Anasazi dry-land garden, grown on Greenlee Parcel east of Ladle House