Iskashitaa: Harvesting Hope Empowering Dreams

We met Barbara Eiswerth while she was attending the International Seed Library Forum. She is the founder and director of Iskashitaa Refugee Network whose mission is to empower and help build local relationships for refugees in Tucson through unique programs such as harvesting, food preparation, sewing and crafts, English as a second language, and advocacy.

Barbara Eiswerth at International Seed Library Forum

At the opening Seed Library event, Barbara and Iskashitaa staff person Sherrell were handing out slices of gigantic local grapefruit and talking to folks about the work of Iskashitaa. They were also trying to wrangle up volunteers for the weekly harvest of fruit and vegetables from underutilized food resources around Tucson such as backyard and streetside fruit trees. Like the many crates of grapefruit being handed out at the event, the quantity of fruits and vegatables that go unused and thrown in the landfill is astonishing. Iskashitaa gathers together refugees, volunteers, and homeowners to harvest this food and then redistribute it. They also sell at the local Farmer’s Market.

Iskashitaa headquarters

The next harvest would take place in a few days while we were still in Tucson. This would be the perfect opportunity to tag along and glean with the best of them.

glean, verb:
to gather or collect (something) in a gradual way
to search (something) carefully
to gather grain or other material that is left after the main crop has been gathered

On Wednesday, May 6th, I drove out to the Iskashitaa headquarters and met Chloe the Harvesting and Farmer’s Market Coordinator, several volunteers and the three refugee harvesters who I would be working with, Adam from Aljendae, Darfur, Marim from Mt Nuba, Sudan, and Kali from Butan. We would be heading out to a gated community in the Catalina foothills to pick grapefruit.

Sherrell and Cindy prepping for Market

Grapefruit harvest

The view was picturesque with lavish yards and landscapes filled with abundance. Barbara pointed out many different fruit trees, bushes, and edible flowers. Many were exotic citrus filled with ripe branches of sweet tartness. The tree we headed for was moderate in size and the grapefruit large, thick skinned, and mild.

Pineapple guava flowers a sweet melt-in-your mouth insanely wonderful edible flower.

The harvest works based on an equal exchange of labor, food, and generosity. Here’s how it works… home owners or businesses contact Iskashitaa when they have fruit or produce available to be gleaned. Then the harvest team swoops in to pick the food and carry it off to be redistributed through the group. It is that easy.

Catching the fruit

While we are picking, Adam warns us to be careful in case some of the fruit falls. No one wants to get beamed in the head because it would likely knock someone out. We cautiously use fruit pickers to pluck the fruit from ground level while others climb into the tree and hand pick directly. After about 30 minutes all the fruit has been picked, crated, and loaded into the van with a total of about 5 crates filled with grapefruit. This team effort makes for quick gleaning and fun as we chat during our work together.

This is a fundamental aspect of Iskashitaa and all of their programs. For its not just about the food, the gleaning, or the service. It’s really about relationships, empowerment, and healing by giving refugees a safe place to learn and become a part of the Tucson community. And this in no one-way street. Many come from land-based traditions and carry an incredible wealth of knowledge about farming, foraging, and cooking. They have much to teach us of edible landscapes and maximizing resources in culturally powerful ways.

Kali from Butan

Marim from Mt Nuba

Adam from Aljendae

More fruit!

Here are Seed Stories post-gleaning from Adam Abubakar and Barbara Eiswerth:

Adam Abubakar talks about his life from farmer in Darfur, Aljendea to gleaner in Tucson, Arizona.
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/adam-abubakar-talks-about-his-life-as-a-farmer-in-sudan-to-gleaner-in-tucson-arizona



Barbara Eiswerth talks about how food justice and refugee resettlement go hand in hand.
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/barbara-eiswerth-talks-about-how-food-justice-and-refugee-resettlement-go-hand-in-hand


Stay connected, volunteer and help support Iskashitaa Refuge Network at:
http://www.iskashitaa.org
https://www.facebook.com/IskashitaaRefugeeNetwork

Seed Stories from the International Seed Library Forum, continued

The following are the 2nd series of seed stories that were shared with SeedBroadcast at the  International Seed Library Forum that was held in Tucson, Arizona in May 2015.

Greg Schoen shares a seed story about the Glass Gem Rainbow Corn
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/greg-schoen-shares-a-seed-story-about-the-glass-gem-rainbow-corn
Karen Fasimpaur shares her  seed story about growing food and cultivating a community seed library
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/karen-fasimaur-shares-her-seed-story-about-growing-food-and-cultivating-a-community-seed-library
Martha Retallick talks about the cherry tomatoes she is growing from the Pima County Seed Library
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/martha-retallick-talks-about-the-cherry-tomatoes-she-is-growing-from-the-pima-county-seed-library Michelle Perales talks about growing seed knowledge and learning as you go
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/michelle-perales-talks-about-growing-seed-knowledge-and-learning-as-you-go Scott Chaskey talks about the Cornwall cliff meadows and his mentor Edgar Wallis
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/scott-chaskey-talks-about-the-cornwall-cliff-meadows-and-his-mentor-edgar-wallis Jim Veteto talks about the seeds that have influenced his work as a cultural anthropologist
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/jim-veteto-talks-about-the-seeds-that-have-influenced-his-life-and-work-as-a-cultural-anthropologist

Seed Stories from the International Seed Library Forum

The following are the first series of seed stories that were shared with SeedBroadcast at the  International Seed Library Forum that was held in Tucson, Arizona in May 2015.

Gary Nabhan shares the story of his poem "The Seed of a Song"
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/gary-paul-nabhan-shares-the-story-of-his-poem-the-seed-of-a-song
 Cecelia Montoya shares her story of growing Green Chile at Isleta Pueblo
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/cecelia-montoya-shares-her-story-of-growing-green-chile-at-isleta-pueblo Elena Acoba shares her story of food, seeds and culture
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/elena-acoba-shares-her-story-about-food-seeds-and-culture Rebecca Newburn talks about seeds, seed libraries, the commons and the concept of "Face Place Story"
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/rebecca-newburn-talks-about-seeds-seed-libraries-the-commons-and-the-concept-of-face-place-story Besty Goodman talks about her journey with seeds and her work to bring back agricultural traditions
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/betsy-goodman-talks-about-her-journey-with-seeds-and-her-work-to-bring-back-agricultural-traditions Mark O'Hare shares the story of Padre Kino and the white sonoran wheat
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/mark-o-hare-shares-the-story-of-padre-kino-and-the-white-sonoran-wheathare Cindy Conner talks about cherishing the gift of seeds
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/cindy-conner-talks-about-cherishing-the-gift-of-seeds Jessica Suda shares her seed story about relationships across nature
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/jessica-suda-shares-her-seed-story-about-relationships-across-nature
Jacob Kearey-Moreland talks about seedy culture and his inspiration for positive action https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/jacob-kearey-moreland-talks-about-the-seedy-culture-community-of-toronto-positive-action

International Seed Library Forum, May 2015, Tucson, Arizona.

International Seed Library Forum Seed Swap

“If you can look into the seeds of time 
And say which grain will grow and which will not, 
Speak, then, to me, who neither beg nor fear Your favors nor your hate.” 

Macbeth Act 1 Scene 2

Thirty-one years after the first national grassroots seed conference the city of Tucson, Arizona again led the way in the seed sovereignty and food security movement as the host to the first International  Seed Library Forum . This forum was organized by Gary Nabhan (Gary along with Mahina Drees and Cynthia Anson organized the first seed conference), Justine Hernandez and the staff of the Pima County Libraries.
The intent of this forum was “to further coalesce efforts by public libraries, non- profits, universities and food banks to increase the quality, accessibility and diversity of community seed resources and also assist all those involved with seed libraries to collectively address recent regulatory challenges."

Rebecca Newburn of Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library

 In recent years seed libraries have been sprouting all over the nation. Chris Shein and Sasha Du Brul started The Bay Area Seed Interchange Library in 2000 and this action influenced Rebecca Newburn, who in 2010 created a replicable model in the Richmond Grows Seed Library . This model launched a huge movement not just here in the US but internationally and there are now well over four hundred active seed libraries with many more in the planning stages. This grassroots action has evoked demands from some state regulation boards, which threaten to limit public access to local open pollinated seeds. (You can find your states seed law at  American Seed Trade Association ).

 So for three days at the beginning of May many seed enthusiasts, farmers, activists, public librarians, ethno-botanists, civil rights lawyers and curious individuals met at the Joel D. Valdez Public Library to participate in the open sharing of seed wisdom, local lore and best practices in the radical world of seed-saving, propagation and dispersal. The forum was a mix of panels, keynote addresses, a vibrant seed swap, film, poetry and seed stories and the participatory creation of a seed library resolution. Speakers included Justine Hernandez, librarian and seed activist; Bill McDorman of the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance; Rebecca Newburn of Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library; Gary Nabhan, author and food and farming activist; Scott Chaskey, farmer and the author of Seedtime; and Cary Fowler of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault/Special Advisor to the Global Crop Diversity Trust. These speakers eloquently rooted us in the history and mission of seed libraries, crop and seed diversity issues, effects of climate change on agriculture, importance of sharing not only our seeds but the stories they hold, the ethos of seed sharing, the idea of the commons and the importance of coming together to create a resolution for the seed library movement.

 SeedBroadcast was invited to be part of this forum by our friend and librarian Justine Hernandez who has been instrumental in the formation of the extremely successful seed library system for the Pima County Libraries. Justine, along with many of the librarians that attended this three day gathering hold the belief that open access and democratic sharing of knowledge and resources is essential and by adding local varieties of seeds to the library borrowing collection is an obvious community service that fits within the libraries missions.

SeedBroadcast rolled into Tucson just in time to set up for the seed swap that was held in the patio of the Loft Cinema. Seed swaps attract a wide diversity of seeds and people and this was no exception. Many of the nation’s seed libraries were represented by their unique seed collections along with Greenhorns, Seed Savers Exchange and local Tucson seed enthusiasts.

Pinole popcorn grown by Evan Sofro and Gary Nabhan

Local seed saver and his seed collection

Seed swaps create a feverish excitement with the potential to discover a new seed variety such as the special pinole popcorn or the purple fava bean with the cracked open strip revealing its white flesh that attracted me. I carried this one around in my pocket for days I could not help but pull it put now and then to show its beauty to a new seed-loving friend. Cary Fowler told me that this was called “pocket breeding”. We met Cary last year while SeedBroadcasting at the Telluride MountainFilm Festival and it was a delight to reconnect. Cary was at the forum to present the film Seeds of Time and to keep us informed of the many varieties of seeds that are being lost and the devastating impact this will have on our access to food in the future.

 For the duration of the forum we set up the Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station in the plaza outside the main library and juggled our time between the many panels and discussions, plotting with our seed-loving friends, and recording seed stories from attendees and local people that had heard we were in town and came by to share their seed stories.

Justine Hernandez and city workers visiting SeedBroadcast

Jacob Kearey-Moreland from the Toronto Seed Library

 The panels addressed a mixed variety of issues from seed library challenges, such as the state regulations, oral story banking, how to develop a mission for your seed library and many informative topics to help establish deeper roots for the seed library and food justice movement. Throughout the gathering Neil Thapar of the Sustainable Economies Law Center & Neil Hamilton of Drake University’s Agricultural Law Center, lead a participatory process to create a joint resolution. This resolution was invoked to help the seed movement address the regulatory challenges and to allow the movement to stand in solidarity around why seed libraries exist and why they stand outside the current seed legislation.

Bill McDorman presenting the Seed Library Joint Resolution

The invocation by Bill McDorman of this resolution created a celebratory collective finale for this gathering.
It was a packed few days full of shared graciousness and seed wisdom. Everyone holding the same deep love of true agricultural practices with a determination to make a stance to save our culturally relevant food systems and to create new democratic ways forward into a world that will be fit for our children’s children. It was a time of reconnection to seeds and people, the discovery of new connections and a renewed activation to keep this seed sovereignty and food security movement alive and healthy.

 “What are we doing that will be relevant in a thousand years”, asked Justine Hernandez on the first day of the forum. Many of us carried those words back home in our hearts. This was an amazing time of collective connectivity to what matters most in our lives.

Greenhorns

There was no admission fee to this conference thanks to support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Amy P. Goldman Foundation, and the Arizona Library Association. This event was presented by a collaborative effort of: Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, Edible Baja Arizona magazine, The Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace’s Mission Gardens, The Loft Cinema, Mercado de San Agustín, Native Seeds/SEARCH, Pima County Public Library, and University of Arizona. Additional co-sponsors included Greenhorns, the National Young Farmers Association, the Seed Library Social Network, Seed Savers Exchange, and the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance.

SeedBroadcast would like to thank Justine Hernandez, the staff at the Pima County Libraries, Gary Nabhan and all the people who made time to share their stories with us.

Seed Stories from the International Seed Library Forum will be published in the next blog so stay tuned.

SeedBroadcasting from the International Seed Library Forum

SeedBroadcasting with the Pima Country Seed Library, 2013

SeedBroadcast will be at the International Seed Library Forum recording seed stories and sharing creative resources from the Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station. We will be parked on the Joel D. Valdez Library Plaza during the entire event.

Come by and share your seed stories and seed library inspiration!

We will also be participating in the following panels:
"Oral Histories & Cultural Memory-Banking Documentation for Seed Libraries"
"Publicizing Seed Libraries and Their Missions in Your Community"

International Seed Library Forum
May 3 - 6, 2015
Joel D. valdez Main Library
Tucson, Arizona

See here for more information
http://www.library.pima.gov/blogs/post/islf2015-schedule/

https://www.facebook.com/internationalseedlibraryforum?fref=ts

|UN|silo|ED|Seeds

SeedBroadcast//Food Justice at Santa Fe Art Institute

|UN|silo|ED|Seeds
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Santa Fe Art Institute
1600 St Michael’s Drive
Santa Fe, NM
9:30 am - 6:30 pm

|UN|silo|ED|Seeds will include a seed-saving workshop, potluck, seed music and performance, seed swap, and the interactive SeedBroadcast hub featuring Food Justice projects from local and national farmers and artists.

10:00 am - 4:00 pm Seed Saving Workshop led by seed-saver Rowen White (Mohawk)
This workshop is an introduction to the holistic, Permaculture based approach to seed stewardship. A beautiful approach to working with seeds that brings the culture back into agri-culture, that infuses our gardens, kitchens, tables and families with beautiful stories of connection between humans and plants. Come learn how you can revitalize your human connection to these sacred heritage seeds, and honor their cultural and practical context within your daily life. Increase your seed literacy, and come away with a few essential practical skills that will help you on your path as an Earth Steward and Seed Keeper. Join this grand lineage of humans who have kept the seeds alive for the sake of future generations!

Bring some food to share for a lunch-time potluck. Lunch time performance with violinist Karina Wilson and dancer Echo Gustafson. Curated by Rulan Tangen

Seed Steward Workshop is RSVP Limited to 40 participants, so please email seedbroadcast@gmail.com to reserve your space.
Suggested donation at the door $10
(No one will be turned away because of lack of funds).

Public Performance Event and Seed Swap

4:30 pm - 5:30 pm Response Performance
Curated by Dancing Earth's Director /Choreographer Rulan Tangen
Artists from New Mexico, Alaska and Guatemala bring their responses to seed stewardship with music, visual art, dance film, and movement. Artists include:
visual artist Israel F Haros Lopez; Filmmaker Marion Claire Wasserman, flutist Suzanne Teng, singer and sound healer Madi Sato, dance artists Molly Rose, Julie Brette Adams, Trey Pickett (Tsalagi), Anne Pesata (Jicarilla Apache basket weaver/dancer), musician/writer/Northern Plains Tradish dancer Teklu Hogan (Tahatln), Hoop dancer Talavai Denipah-Cook ( Dine, Hopi, and Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) and interdisciplinary artists Tohil Fidel Brito Bernal (Ixil Maya) and Maria Regina Firmino Castillo (Mestiza)

5:30 pm - 6:30 pm Seed Blessing and Seed Swap
Bring your open-pollinated seeds to share with other seed keepers

All welcome
Suggested donation at the door $10. (No one will be turned away because of lack of funds).

Organized by Seedbroadcast, Sierra Seeds, Dancing Earth, Littleglobe, Santa Fe Art Institute
Funded in part by the McCune Charitable Foundation

SeedBroadcasting from the Mancos Seed Swap and Montezuma School to Farm Spring Hoedown

Expanding our April visit across the Four Corners region, we partnered up for the second year in a row with the Mancos Seed Library. This year we made it to their spring Seed Swap and the yearly celebration of Montezuma School to Farm Project called the “Spring Hoedown.”

Mancos is a small town in southwestern Colorado with high-range grasslands, subalpine foothills and canyon bottoms. It is a region with a long history of agriculture reaching back thousands of years into Ancestral Puebloan hands. This land of old seeds still speaks through traces of the past and gives promise for a present movement emphasizing community care through healthy food from seed to seed.

The Seed Swap was held at the Mancos Public Library in the Community Room. The public library is also where the Mancos Seed Library is housed. The seed library has been at it for the last 5 years, providing a place where local seeds can be organized, distributed, and stored. It is a hub of educational resources and community networks based in freedom to know and access to all. Gretchen Groenke, Ingrid Lincoln, and Shaine Gans are the local facilitators and librarians for the seed library and also organizers for the swap.

Listen here to Gretchen’s Seed Story, Feed the Future which she shared at the Mancos Seed Swap:
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/gretchen-groenke-reads-feed-the-future


This poem was originally published in the 2014 Autumn SeedBroadcast agri-Culture Journal, see page 18: http://seedbroadcast.org/SeedBroadcast/SeedBroadcast_agriCulture_Journal_files/SeedBroadcast%20Autumn%202014%20Web_1.pdf

During the swap several tables were set up where folks dropped off their seeds and looked through others to take home. With the mantra of take a few and pass them on, people took a few seeds and repacked them in envelopes, while talking to other seed keepers and gardeners about seed culture and the season to come. Over the course of three hours the bags, envelopes, and jars of seeds continued to grow, covering the surfaces of all the tables. Seeds came from around the region to participate in the swap and during this time many discovered the Mancos Seed Library which they had not yet learned about.

Good Mother Stallard Beans from Buckhorn Farm, CO

Beans, Peas, Corn, Onions, and Native Grape seeds

A group of farmers and seed savers from the Southwest Seed Library, based out of Durango came to show their support and participate in the exchange. A huge assortment of beans and peas came from a young grower who had farmed in Mississipi and Montrose, CO. Many other domestic vegetables were also available, as were many collections of native wild edible, medicinal, and habitat plants, trees, and vines.

Turtle Farm seed saver with her special box of seeds

Farm Hopscotch out front of the Spring Hoedown

While in Mancos we had the good fortune to also spend time with a large portion of the community during the biggest event of the year, the Montezuma School to Farm Project: Spring Hoedown! People came from all over the area to usher in spring and celebrate this nationally recognized program that employs agriculture, gardens, and farming to enrich learning and hands on curriculum at public schools. The Spring Hoedown is a chance for all these students, parents, and supporters across the county to gather together, have a party, and generate funds for the coming year’s School to Farm programming.

Everyone was encouraged to come out in their best “Western” attire and woop it up at the historic Mancos Opera House. Local bluegrass bands, comedy skits, spoken word, and announcements filled the evening while party goers ate local food and played their hand at a silent auction a’la local services and goods. Many of these were rural in nature such as ”4 hours of Tractor Work” or “5 lbs of tomatoes.”

Here is a Seed Story performed at the Spring Hoedown by Kayla Tallmadge, Hazel Smith, and Taylor LaRose: https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/kayla-tallmadge-hazel-smith-and-taylor-larose-sing-a-seed-story-about-an-apple-seed


The School to Farm Program is wide reaching, serving public schools in Dolores, Cortez, and Mancos. Sarah Syverson started the program and currently directs it, but it would never be what it is today without massive community involvement, many local volunteers, grants, fundraising, and yearly Americorp Vista Volunteers. By the end of the Spring Hoedown over 300 people had attended and Montezuma School to Farm had generated over $9000 to support 2015-16 programming.

During the event the Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station was parked curbside in front of the Opera House door. All night people popped in to check out the van and listen to Seed Stories. On several occasions the space became a hub to make connections, network, meet new people, and generate ideas around local seeds.

Here are Seed Stories from the Spring Hoedown:

Kelli Meeker shares a Seed Story about fun, seeds, and public education from the garden: https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/kelli-meeker-shares-a-seed-story-about-fun-seeds-and-public-education-from-the-garden


Tyler Hoyt shares a Seed Story about teaching and learning with amaranth: https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/tyler-hoyt-shares-a-seed-story-about-teaching-and-learning-with-amaranth


Mari Mackenbach shares a seed story about her grandmothers zinnias
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/mari-mackenbach-shares-a-seed-story-of-her-grandmothers-zinnia-and-passing-it-on-to-her-daughter


Thank you for joining us in Mancos and sharing your Seed Stories!

SeedBroadcasting with the Aztec Seedsavers from Aztec, New Mexico

Open Sesame film screening in Aztec, NM

In mid April 2015, SeedBroadcast took a drive northward to meet seed keepers in the Four Corners region of New Mexico and learn more about the state of seeds and food. The Four Corners is an area of the Southwest where New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona converge on the Colorado Plateau. It is a rugged place of high desert plains, mesas, canyonlands, and mountain foothills, with sparse riparian corridors flowing throughout. It is also a confluence of culturally diverse communities including the Navajo, Hopi, Ute, Spanish, and more recent Americana melting pot. Some old orchards and pastures still line the two local rivers, the San Juan and the Animas, but the majority of activity is now centered around extraction industries of petroleum, natural gas, and coal, along with the relatively recent Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI/NIIP) which has put 72,000+ acres of high plateau into agricultural production.

But, there is something small and special happening here, in the roots of an older generation of gardeners and seed savers who love to grow and love to share; a sweetly sung promise, a conversation about seeds, Seed Stories, and growing a vibrant community of inter-generational knowledge around farming, gardening and eating healthy food.

Backyard permaculture garden, Aztec, NM

Strawberry Popcorn seeds are on their way to Aztec Seedsavers!

On Friday, SeedBroadcast facilitated a Seed Story Workshop with this group from the Aztec Seed Savers. The workshop began with an introduction to SeedBroadcast and our goal to pollinate cultural connections among seeds, food, and resilient communities. We sat around a large oblong table with corn cobs of every color and Paul Navrot’s ceramic pots filled with varieties of bean seeds. The 2015 Spring agri-Culture Journal was handed around and we watched a portion of the video, Letter from a SeedBroadcaster. We then talked about Seed Stories and what these could possibly be. After this discussion we spent about 15 minutes writing and brainstorming. Many memories from long ago were shared, while giving thanks to the gardens and seeds that feed us, keep us warm, and inspire us to grow more. We ended the evening with a wonderful blessing and potluck.

Here is Dan Dombrowski's Seed Story, written and shared during the workshop:

Since I started gardening about 10 years ago I enjoy watching the miracle of a tiny seed grow and produce wonderful fruits and vegetables.
My neighbors love that I share the bounty with them. I have been saving some of my seeds to preserve the most successful of the plants. Now I have begun to share seeds and add to mine with locally grown seeds that do well in our climate and soil conditions.
I enjoy producing healthy produce for my family.

Growing in the high desert can be extremely challenging. Our host’s gardens were filled with many different experiments to help build soil, retain moisture, keep rodents at bay, and also make gardening easier and less labor intensive.

Backyard permaculture garden, Aztec, NM

Samaritan Village Community Garden

Saturday morning SeedBroadcast visited the Samaritan Village Community Garden in Aztec, NM, which is directed by Joann a local Master Gardener. That morning a group of Master Gardeners, youth volunteers, and Teen/Grade Court youth were working together to clear the garden and begin cultivating beds for the new season. When asked what they would like to see grown in the gardens and what fresh veggies they love to eat, several youth shouted out tomatoes, onions, chile, melons, and potatoes. There were even memories of the three sisters, corn, beans, and squash. These young folks will continue with their service for as long as it lasts. But they can stay involved in the gardens helping out in exchange for fresh produce and more importantly pride that this has come from their hands. For many hands make light work and foster a community where working together is meaningful.

Samaritan Village Community Garden
WELCOME!!
WE APPRECIATE HELPING HANDS
WEEDING – Know Your Weeds
WATERING – Deeply Is Important
MULCHING – Conserves Water
HARVESTING – Be Careful Not To Damage Plants
We Use No Chemical Fertilizers or Pesticides
Close The Gate – The Rabbits Haven’t Learned To
Share
THANK YOU!

Working the compost piles, watering, turning and adding the cleaned weeds for organic matter

Jug-band gopher control. It consists of a bottle buried in the ground. The bellowing sound is said to keep gophers away, as the wind blows over its lip.

During a quick break, all the garden volunteers came through the Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station. They picked out seeds to take home and plant, they spent time listening to Seed Stories, and they picked up copies of the 2015 Spring agri-Culture Journal.

Our final stop was the City of Aztec Senior - Community Center for a public screening of the film Open Sesame, post film panel discussion, and seed exchange. This public event was also meant to cultivate wider local interest in seeds and gardening and to grow involvement in the local seed saving group. After the film, our discussion revolved around the big question, “What do we do now?” Meaning what is to be done for the seeds, the literal seeds we grow our gardens with and the seeds of potential in our communities? How do we build capacity for a healthy and resilient local foodshed where farmers, gardeners, schools, families, the retired, the young, the working, the poor, the rich, the median, the Indigenous, the Anglo, the Spanish, everyone and all gather energy around the beautiful and bountiful seeds of action in the power of growing and feeding community? This is the big question. In the film Open Sesame the same question is asked, but in a slightly different way, “What makes a seed grow?” And it is a wonderful way to begin answering this other big question. For these both have a lot to do with our potential to rise to the occasion. Can we learn from a seed how to begin this slow process of supporting the diverse regrowth of healthy life in our communities? This is what the Aztec Seedsavers are working on now... how to think and be more like a seed...how to sprout their wisdom through inter-generational work with education, with mentoring, with gardens, and most importantly with community. No seed can grow alone.

Aztec Seedsavers public film screening of Open Sesame by Sean Kaminsky

Ówîngeh Tá, Pueblos Y Semillas Gathering and Seed Exchange

One never knows what the weather will bring at this time of year in the high desert of New Mexico but April 11th was a blessed day. Cool air, wispy clouds and the spring winds that can stir up emotions and dust to block ones vision held to a gentle breeze. The orchards of the Chimayo valley were full of fruit blossoms, acequias were running, farmers were out moving bales of alfalfa and gardeners were tending their sprouting seeds.

It was a time of renewal.

Traditional agriculture, and I stress the word culture, is so deeply rooted in here in Northern New Mexico. The act of planting, growing, sharing and eating locally grown food is embedded in the way of living and being. It is a spiritual act and one to be revered, carefully protected and held with a deep respect.

In 2006 a traditional agriculture conference was held in Alcalde in the Española Valley. Many people attended to participate in a seed blessing and exchange and to witness the signing of the Seed Sovereignty Declaration.
This important document was drafted by members of the Traditional Native American Farmers Association and the New Mexico Acequia Association.  Then this initial alliance was strengthened by the participation of Tewa Women United and Honor our Pueblo Existence.
These committed organizations have continued to make great strides to protect the native seeds, traditions and wisdom of the indigenous land-based communities of New Mexico.
The New Mexico Food and Seed Sovereignty Alliance, which is composed of the New Mexico Acequia Association, Honor our Pueblo Existence, Tewa Women United and the Traditional Native American Farmers Association, has held a traditional seed blessing and exchange every year since that first gathering. After Alcalde it moved to Española where it became so popular that it turned into "a seed frenzy” and the original idea of honoring and blessing the traditional seeds and farmers disappeared in the hubbub.
The organizers felt a need to regroup and bring this community seed event back to its essence, back to the dignity and spiritual land-based respect. And this they did.
Now the Ówîngeh Tá, Pueblos Y Semillas Gathering and Seed Exchange alternates between an acequia community one year and a pueblo the next.

 This year was the 10th Annual gathering  “Nuestra Madre, Nuestra Cuerpo”  was held at the community center in the small acequia community of Peñasco, which is located on the scenic road to Taos. At the entrance of the community center there was a poster which made it clear that by passing though this portal one would be entering into a sacred ceremonial space.

Please observe the ground rules: 

No political campaigns 

No soliciting

No surveys or petitions 

No issue campaigns except those approved by the alliance

No genetically modified (GMO) seeds

No photos during the ceremony

Yes to native, heirloom, land race and organic seeds! 

Yes to prayer and ceremony 

Yes to family and community connections 

Yes to sharing our food and seeds together and building relationships  

The day opened with a prayer, song, incantations to San Isidro, the patron saint of farmers, a special alabado to the departed by the Hermanos Penitentes and ceremony to honor the water, soil and seeds from the four directions. The south being anywhere south of Española, in case anyone was wondering.
We were asked to feel into the ceremony, to put our cameras, phones and electronic gadgets away, to bring all of ourselves, to be present for the seeds, the nourishment and life they bring to us and to our mother earth. It is best not to write about this ceremony, it is best to just to hold on to the feeling and energy that was evoked to the interconnection between all of us, the ground on which we were standing and the seeds we were holding.

"The leader of the ceremony will call forward the four land and water offerings. Afterwards the people who brought seeds will line up to make their offering. Each seed-saver should have a sampling of their seeds in a basket, which we will hand out. The participants will move through the line and walk around the ceremonial circle to offer their seeds for a blessing
 directed by the ceremony leader".

 From the Ówîngeh Tá, Pueblos Y Semillas program.

Grupo Coatlicue, Danza Azteca-Chichimeca

When the ceremony came to a close the seed swap began and the Grupo Coatlicue held space and continued ceremony with their drumming and dancing. People had brought many varieties of local seeds and were excited to share them and talk about them. Seed-savers are a passionate animated group that love to share their stories along with their seeds and this gathering was no exception. Soon the room was humming with conversation and the expectation of perhaps finding a new variety of seed.  Tewa Women United set up a station to make seed balls with the water, earth and seeds that were brought from the four directions. Kids played with these seeds, made images, got their hands in the soil, splashed in the water and brought a playfulness to us all.

In true Northern New Mexico spirit the sharing of food was an essential part of this gathering and local chef Margaret Garcia, from Taos Real Food and her helpers, provided everyone with a true feast of locally grown food. We all sat around communal tables to continue our stories and deepen our  new connections.

Listen to one of these stories:
Lorraine Kahneratokwas Gray


The day was completed by a panel of wise women who spoke from their hearts about health, environmental issues, and the importance of the reconnection to “la cultura” and to the ceremonies that have been part of this Northern New Mexico landscape for centuries. We were reminded to never forget the power of ceremony and that if held sacred these acts have the power to transform not only ourselves but the world around us.
As the day drew to a close Kathy Sanchez gathered us all in a circle where we held hands with new friends with whom we had shared lunch and had swapped seeds and stories. We all felt for that special moment connected and when we left that truly New Mexican ceremonial space we graciously held part of it in our hearts and in our hands.

A special thank you to the incredible Pilar Trujillo from the New Mexico Acequia Association,  all the women from Tewa Women United and Marian Naranjo, of Honor our Pueblo Existence. It is such an honor to be in your presence.

More Art and Seeds or the Magic of Sprouting Up At Balboa Park!

A young artist we met at Balboa Park

Bringing together art and seeds….there is a wise saying that speaks to the profundity of holding just a few seeds and planting these into a cycle of relationships between humans and the earth. On the outside this looks simply as a human-centered opportunity, that is, seeds needing us to plant in order that we might harvest the bounty and nourish our practical bodies. But there is also another view, an embedded perception that opens up the magical and somewhat uncanny cycles of the world, bringing needs in touch with medicine, and inspiration in touch with hope. Seeds are the grounding for this as a journey. This journey was very much present in our SeedBroadcast travels from Anton Chico to San Diego and back again.

It began as a moment when, in Silver City, NM, we discovered inspirations of seed wisdom coupled with sheer generosity and good fortune…which seemed to continue throughout our journey.

The Tomato Guy, Rick Bohart, helping with the MSSBS in Silver City

The Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station has always been a persnickety beast, old, strong, and long winded. It always seems to get to where it needs to be by luck and a mysterious desire to wish our way there. In Silver City we broke down and a off-duty mechanic replaced the carburetor and sent us on our way. We made it to Gila and Patagonia with time to spare. But something was still wrong as we trudged westward and made a pit stop in El Centro to try our hand at very amateur SeedBroadcast-mechanic-try. So onward we chugged. I almost felt the need to recite the Little Engine That Could as we barely topped off the Laguna Mountains and puttered down to Chula Vista, San Diego.

 The next morning was looking like an utter disaster and a cancellation of the rest of our tour… but somehow we stumbled upon the most amazing mechanics who basically rebuilt the motor in a day and sent us on our way. As we met each of these people, small talk brought us to seeds, gardens, and hope. It was always the way.

That evening, while pulling into our host’s house, I turned off the van, stepped out, and saw someone I would never have expected. Michael!

Michael Ruiz lived right across the street and was out watering a plant when he saw the Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station pull up to his neighbor’s house. Surprised and somewhat confused, he came over and said, “What are you doing here?”

Wow that’s uncanny! Michael was a fellow student at VCFA (Vermont College of Fine Arts) where I went to school when I built the SeedBroadcast van and drove it to Montpelier, VT for my final thesis “exhibition” in the summer of 2012. That was the last time we had seen each other or spoken. The moment was surreal and strangely seed-like. An amazing cycle bringing us together again to inspire some seedy art.

2012 MSSBS Tour at VCFA in Montpelier, Vermont

After catching up, Michael invited us to come to Balboa Park, San Diego’s gigantic urban cultural park in the heart of the city. So spontaneously, on March 26 from 12 – 2 we set up SeedBroadcast between the Spanish Village, the Museum of Natural History, and a SYSCO semi-truck. Like a seed, we sprouted to the occasion and had the joyous opportunity to meet people, share seeds, record seed stories, and learn more about the state of local food and the goal of Balboa Park to redefine “California Landscape” in the inevitable water crisis.

Occupied! Artists At Work in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA

Here are Seed Stories shared from Balboa Park and also some thoughts about the words “Food Justice”

Michael Ruiz shares a Seed Story about making tortillas with his mother: https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/michael-ruiz-shares-a-seed-story-about-making-tortillas-with-his-mother


Michael Ruiz shares several Seed Stories from and of Balboa Park: https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/michael-ruiz-shares-several-seed-stories-from-and-of-balboa-park


Jerry Phelps talks about what food justice means and why saving seeds is so important: https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/jerry-phelps-talks-about-what-food-justice-means-and-why-saving-seeds-is-so-important


Ryan Rosette talks about what food justice means to him: https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/ryan-rosette-talks-about-what-food-justice-means-to-him


Did I mention the stories that seeds have to share?