It is mid-August and I have been at the farm alone, except for a few visitors and Airbnb guests. Interns did not stick around and my land mate (and Board member) of the past year-and-a-half recently left for a walkabout to Central America. Happy trail Windy! Thank you for your incredible commitment, perseverance and generosity. May the healing winds have your back!
Several of my announcements early this year, stating that the farm was ready to receive visitors, that we were interested in exploring co-creative endeavors with individuals, families and like-minded organizations, along with more recent announcements that I was alone at the farm and needed help tending a 2.5-acre field of blue corn, bean and squash, yielded next to no response.
What I woke up to this year, is that I have been kind of running a reality show on my Facebook page and various FB groups. I have obviously entertained and inspired many (from the number of views, emojis, comments and shares my posts get), but it has not manifested in any concrete actions. Same with the 3 articles that were published in local papers.
Repopulating Farmland: https://www.facebook.com/poki.piottin/posts/10219844820854601
Cannabis bill threatens NM food security: https://www.abqjournal.com/.../cannabis-bill-threatens-nm...
I am painfully realizing that my strategy of relying on my social network to build this community project has failed miserably. Living 90 miles from town and only coming to town to dance and shop, I‘ve only had my social network to publicize the project’s activities and needs.
For the past two months, alone at the farm, tending to every aspects of the farm operation and running a nonprofit, I have started to experience low grade depression and physical exhaustion.
I have attempted to write this letter several times, even made several videos, but none has passed my editorial desk. Knowing the difficulties going on in people’s lives, I have been hesitant to bring more gloom to your screen.
I feel pretty surrendered as I write this. I need to let my audience know that I feel stuck in the harbor with no wind to blow my sails.
I have been deeply inspired by stewarding this land, building infrastructure and lodging capacity, and successfully embedding myself in this rural Hispanic community. I feel very proud of having built a beautiful camp to welcome visitors, planted hundreds of trees, and for having loved this land with all my heart.
Because of my experience in a previous community land trust project 20 years ago, I chose a different strategy for building this environment, spending two years here alone to observe the land, befriending, and working for, the surrounding community (as irrigation ditch commissioner), proceeding slowly, developing lodging capacity and slowly introducing the place to people. I wanted to observe who resonated with the place and project’s mission of creating a modern day agrarian settlement to be passed on to future generations.
Here is a good read on what a community land trust is. https://cltweb.org/resources/what-is-a-community-land-trust
Knowing that being 90 miles from town doesn’t make it easy for people to make a living, I was very cautious about not taking in “residents” before a community vision is developed, sources of revenue created, and community governance documents in place.
There are reasons why 90% of intentional communities fail in their first year so I wanted to avoid the pitfalls that tend to create this failure rate.
Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, I haven’t been able to reach and attracted the right audience.
So… because money will run out by year’s end, I am left with no other option than to begin a transition. Either turning over the project to a like-minded organization that can benefit from all the work that has been done, or sell the land and regroup.
I cannot conceive continuing like this, carrying such a heavy load, jeopardizing my health and sanity, and frankly feeling that my gifts and energy are wasted. As physically tough as I am, with as much experience running businesses and community projects as I have, with the many skills and connections I have, I am not able to garner either the community engagement, nor the funding necessary to carry this project forward.
It hurts deeply because I have had so many visions of possibilities here, and know that we need to figure out how to build the agrarian settlements of the future-intentional communities that are part farm, part school, and part community learning centers, where kids can be born and raised, and elders cared for through sickness and death.
I have always been a visionary and will continue dedicating my life to worthy causes. What Spirits have in mind for me is a mystery. I am praying for clarity and guidance. I know I will be fine.
But I have to let my audience know that I am shifting gear as I cannot afford to wait any longer and risk to go in default with our bank loan.
So take a moment to feel and reflect on what I shared here before giving advice, or making comments like we are “too far”or “write grants”.
Irrigated farmland isn’t cheap. Most people don’t have the means to purchase land to build community and farm near an urban center. And projects like Mil Abrazos, showcasing regenerative and small footprint practices, are deeply needed to help inspire the rejuvenation of a New Mexico countryside that has fallen into disrepair.
As a starter I was envisioning this place as a sweet destination for family camping in a small farm setting, a place for summer camps as we have a lovely campground and river access, or a place for retreats.
My hope was that over time, a diverse community would gather around the place, organizing events, sharing skills and helping build the place.
I was willing to invest both time and money to build basic infrastructure but always thought the rest of the environment would be designed, financed and built through a communal effort.
Like many visionary projects, this one may be a bit ahead of its time. I really thought my skills at building, organizing, raising money and writing, would garner the momentum necessary to build this project.
I guess I was wrong. My strategy failed. My expectations did not manifest.
I thought my audience would be interested in visiting, and be inspired into co-creative dimensions of the project, whether it be agriculture, life skills education, acequia culture education, land restoration and the training of a new generation of community land stewards.
Instead, after nearly 4 years of very demanding work, I am now having to quickly develop plan B or prepare an exit strategy.
Since I began realizing that I needed to shift gear, I have reached outside of my normal social media audience, and new people from outside my network have contacted me.
I hosted a friend who has a child with Down Syndrome for two weekends. She is a single Mom working full time from home and homeschools her child.
I hosted a young man for a week, while he waited to go into rehab.
I was invited to a group conversation with folks interested in developing a network of care farms (https://www.kindredspiritscarefarm.org)
I hosted a friend with a 21 year-old autistic child that he wants to place on a farm.
Next week, someone already running a rural center for autistic adults, is visiting the farm (http://www.divergentlabs.org/ocatecliffs)
Each one of these visits has inspired me to possibly making the place a center-school-community-residence for a mixed, or particular, special needs population.
So for the rest of the summer, I am committed to reaching out and building the place with, and for, a different audience than I anticipated. If nothing concrete manifests, I will begin the process of selling land and assets, hopefully to people able to benefit from all the work that has been done. For your information, we still carry a $120,000 debt on the land and a personal loan of $70,000.
We got hit with another epic storm last night. The third time the corn field gets badly damaged. I mentioned in previous posts that I will not abandon the corn field and hat I will tend it as if my people depended on it for their survival. Strangely, I don’t know who my people are because very few have come around so far, and I know a lot of people…
Project may still move forward, but how, is a mystery at this point. The
journey has been tough but well worth it. I have done the very best I
can do to love this land and offer the space for community engagement.
Mil Abrazos Community Land Trust is a 501(c)3
Donations of cash, stocks, vehicles or material goods are tax-deductible
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