ENDURING ACEQUIA

A project of the Mil Abrazos Community Land Trust
Funded by the State of New Mexico Economic Development Department, Outdoor Equity Division

 

 

The Enduring Acequia program will educate and train a new generation of parciantes, commissioners and Mayordomos on the importance of maintaining, upgrading, efficiently managing and cherishing the Vado de Juan Paiz acequia, thus ensuring the preservation of a large bread basked essential to food security in our region.

Located 30 miles south of Las Vegas, the 12-mile-long and 10-feet-wide Vado de Juan Paiz acequia irrigates some 5,000 acres of pasture along the Pecos River, in the Anton Chico/Dilia valley.  It is a remarkable feat of engineering and was dug by hand in the 1820’s by the ancestors of the youth that will be attending the Enduring Acequia program.

 

The acequia runs through the Anton Chico Land Grant. The heirs of Land Grant residents will inherit fertile land and it is imperative that they learn the ins and outs of the physical and administrative management of the acequia infrastructure, ensuring the continuation of a tradition that will provide social, ecological and economical sustenance for future generations of farmers and ranchers in the area.

Our apprenticeship curriculum will cover the historical and cultural significance of acequias, the ecological interactions that take place around these riparian zones, the tried-and-true technical skills to maintain a crucial acequia infrastructure, and the communication and collaborative skills necessary to collectively and harmoniously manage the fair distribution of precious and increasingly unpredictable irrigation water.

During La Limpia, the annual collective cleaning of the ditch, elders often lament that after them, there will be nobody to clean the ditch.  The Enduring Acequia program will aim, through engaging the wisdom of elders, story telling, field trips and the use of technology and visual simulation, to sensitize adolescents to the beauty and vital nature of the acequia in their midst.


The Enduring Acequia program will reenergize and support a tradition, and its complex irrigation infrastructure, that has sustained many generations, and ought to continue being honored and practiced to guarantee fertility and biodiversity in the valley.

As an educational nonprofit, Mil Abrazos seeks to integrate technology, traditional wisdom and hands-on learning, to train a new generation of land stewards and regenerative farmers.
 
Teachers of the program will include current and previous Mayordomos and Commissioners, local elders and historians, watershed educators, and leaders of other Acequia youth programs in Northern New Mexico.

In collaboration with the Anton Chico Economic Development Center, the Anton Chico Land Grant Commission and the Mission de San Jose Church, we will seek the support of the local community to celebrate the Enduring Acequia participants through what used to be a right of passage into adulthood.

The program will kick off in February with La Limpia, when the parciantes gather to clean the acequia by cutting trees, moving rocks, repairing gates and canoas (flumes), and unplugging culverts.

Participants will be dropped off by parents or guardians at the Mil Abrazos Community Land Trust 32-acre property in Dilia, or will be picked up by program staff if requested.
Participants will be picked up by their parents or guardians at a set time, or driven back home by program staff.

Food will be prepared fresh and from the Mil Abrazos garden, and will feature many traditional regional dishes using locally-grown, raised, harvested, fished or hunted ingredients, as a means to further re-acquaint a generation with the taste of their land, and instill them with the vitality necessary to continue stewarding this magnificent valley.

Field trips will take place along the ditch, using various farms as classrooms, with farmers sharing stories and answering questions, informally and interestingly transferring crucial knowledge and wisdom to the next generation so the web of culture, nature and agriculture begins to be reweaved.

The use of technology, an essential tool to help us navigate the complexity of the times and the effects of climate change, will be maximized, to engage the already technologically-adapted minds of adolescents and present them with opportunities to operate high tech tools that their families’ socio-economic status doesn’t offer.

 

We will use drones for aerial understanding of the ditch engineering, critical structures and access roads; as well as to thoroughly inspect blockages and needed repairs. The drone data will be uploaded to a Simtable, a digital sand table that will map the optimal distribution of irrigation waters and simulates the topography. A combination of these tools will provide us with the technology necessary to engage and empower the next generation of stewards in the acequia culture.

Because an acequia through a desert is a rich riparian zone, with both river, acequia, irrigated fields and deciduous trees, field trips will also involve animal tracking, bird watching, plant identification, hydrology, engineering, math, physics and weather observations.

Climate change awareness will be present through all aspects of the Enduring Acequia program, as the next generation of acequia stewards will need to be well versed in collaboration and adaptability, in order to weather the expected ups and downs of droughts and floods, and assure that this oasis they call home can continue sustaining many generations, providing a desirable habitat for resident and migratory wildlife, and be an essential pillar of food security in the region.




Enduring Acequia educators

Ralph Vigil, Founding President at Molino de la Isla Farmers Cooperative and member of the New Mexico Water Trust Board, Santa Fe.

James Munos, Commissioner, Vado de Juan Paiz, and District Recreation Program Manager for Forest Service, Santa Fe National Forest, Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District.

Hilario Romero, professor of history, Spanish and education, as well as the former director of the New Mexico Educational Opportunity Center at Northern New Mexico College for three decades, was also the state historian and a former archivist at the New Mexico Archives.

Adolfo Bachicha, Anton Chico Land Grant heir and Board Member, and Vado de Juan Paiz Mayordomo.

Rich Shradder, Executive Director of River Source, which supports people living as good stewards of their watersheds by providing watershed science and policy education, planning, monitoring, ecological restoration and adapting to climate change.

Joseph Zebrowski
Director of Geospatial Technology, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM.
Geographic Information Specialist, NM Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute. Performs geospatial analysis and creates custom maps to support statewide forest and watershed restoration projects.

Poki Piottin, President of Mil Abrazos and Commissioner for the Vado de Juan Paiz, will coordinate the program, bringing additional instructors from various communities experiencing a renewed interest and involvement of their youth in their acequia governance. 

Contact:  

Mil Abrazos Community Land Trust
1194 Dilia Loop
La Loma, NM 87724
505-557-7962
info@milabrazos.org

 

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Mil Abrazos Community Land Trust is a 501(c)3     

Donations of cash, stocks, vehicles or material goods are tax-deductible  

 

 

________________________

 

 

A DIFFICULT SUMMER

 

 

 

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

Limpia Days: https://www.facebook.com/poki.piottin/posts/10224798975425369

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.

 

I want to thank all those who have donated to this project since we started. Be assured that the funds have been wisely spent and stretched a long way. You’ve helped acquire this land and my deepest hope is to continue building this place for many to come enjoy, and hand it over to future generations.

 

 

 

 

Mil Abrazos Community Land Trust is a 501(c)3     

Donations of cash, stocks, vehicles or material goods are tax-deductible  

 

 

________________________

 

 

STRAWBERRY FULL MOON, SOLSTICE AND COMMUNITY

 

 

The past couple weeks have been so intense for me that, at times, I was melting, crumbling, drowning, panicking and wondering if my heart was going to take it. Feeling the fate of humanity, and contemplating my own-holding on to a piece of land to pass on to future generations.

 

I am inspired to better explain here, what the Mil Abrazos project is, because for many, a community land trust is still a foreign concept.

 

The Mil Abrazos Community Land Trust is right now, simply a nonprofit (501(c)3) with the following mission: 

 

• Acquire and hold land in trust in order to provide for permanently affordable housing.

• Provide permanently affordable access to land for such purposes as quality housing, sustainable agriculture, cottage industries and co-operatives by forever removing the land from the speculative market.

• Develop and exercise responsible and ecological practices, which preserve, protect and enhance the land’s natural attributes.

• Serve as a model in land stewardship and community development by providing information, resources and expertise. 

 

 

The Mil Abrazos Community Land Trust owns the farm property in Dilia, NM, that we also call Mil Abrazos for the time being to keep things simple.

 

For 3 1/2 years, with very limited financial resources, Windy and I, and a handful of interns, friends and volunteers, have been building a cozy camp to start welcoming and nurturing community. Building lodging capacity with campground, vintage trailers for interns, outdoor kitchen and shaded lounge, outdoor shower, composting toilets, and a sweet farm building with a well stocked kitchen, a lovely bunkhouse and even a real bathroom with a flushing toilet for VIP’s!

 

So this summer is the time for us to welcome small groups of people on weekends (or weekdays if it suits you better) to introduce the land, the project’s current initiatives, and give people a chance to experience a setting that we wish to offer the larger community (you out there, my social reach!) for the practice of building, nurturing and being in community.

 

By simply spending time on the farm, lending a hand where you can (or wish to learn), preparing and partaking in common meals, sharing your skills and wisdom, making new friends and having your children interact with caring and inspiring adults. Nurturing a place that you like and want to regularly come back to. You don’t have to live here to enjoy, and benefit from, this place. 

 

Our property is designed for and meant to be hosting interns and visitors. We can easily lodge, cook for and sit 12-15 people comfortably. The place is being designed to also have multiple activities going on at the same times, in order to offer a pallet of skills building that makes each visit a treat of learning (and sharing). About things, plants, self and others. Building community in the way we weave ourselves in the fabric of a creation.

 

From the flow of people and activities at the farm, our intent is that over time, a small group of people will emerge that will have the skills, preparedness and support to take residency at the property.

 

So to clarify to many who have asked, we are not yet a “community”. Just builders of a foundation for a future community.

 

I often tell people I don’t know if I’ll live here once a “community” gels and has co-created all the governance agreements it needs to ensure its future. It’s not that important for me as long as a new regenerative stewardship of farmland is practiced here, with the well-being of future generations in mind.

 

 

But for the time being, I am here, grounded and prayerful, managing my energy and resources in the wisest way while I await for the community to arrive.

Today, Natalie is coming for 3 days with her daughter Lysette. Another Natalie comes Monday to help. Evie will come lend a hand for a while after July 5th. Kimberly arrives on July 12th for an extended period of time. 

 

All women!

 

It’s interesting because Marlene, a Mil Abrazos Board member, recently stated in an email:

 

“I wonder if you could mainly call on women to create a community - where you are not the stirrer who holds the reigns - but assists with your knowledge. I know there are many successful communities having been started by women in this country, growing food together, and naturally children become part of these settings - learning in the process of living. I am often in awe of the inventive positive ways and solutions that are being found and developed by women - having lived under oppressive patriarchy and belittlement for centuries - we have observed and honed our various skills mentally and physically - but also deep seated insecurities have stifled our trust in our wide-ranging capacities and strength - due to repetitious conditioning that we are weak and feeble and fit only for certain work - and yet - in my upbringing I saw that women worked seemingly endlessly - and where the backbone to success …. Am sure you know of what I’m saying here - you grew up in similar cultural ways …..The answers will arise naturally if we make space for them”.

 

If you’ve been following my adventures on the land, you may remember the account of a journey (https://www.facebook.com/poki.piottin/posts/10221806198047805) where I met the deepest of fears within me, and also received a clear message of “Women are now in charge” and “The project will be run by Hispanic and Native women”.

 

So here we are! 

 

This is an invitation for all of you, my social reach, especially those in New Mexico, to help build this place. This is not a reality show or a spectator sport! This is the real deal!

 

Mil Abrazos is a project with big questions:

• How do we reclaim land into the Commons?
• How do we repopulate and regenerate farmland?
• How to be build the communities of the future?
• How to we build and nurture places of practice for community?
• How do we make a farm a school as well, to teach life skills to people of all ages.
• What regenerative agricultural practices do we need in order to feed future generations?
• How do we raise children in community?
• How do we care for the sick and elders on the land?

If any of these questions tickles your inspiration, there are countless way you can participate in the building of this community environment. From sharing this post to extend our social reach, to referring us to people who may be interested in being interns, financial sponsors, creative contributors or advisors. 

 

 

 

 

Right now, these are positions we need filled:

 

• Intern with a serious desire to learn agricultural, mechanical, carpentry and project management skills.
• Bookkeeper familiar with Xero (system already set up)
• Airbnb and Hipcamp manager (can be done remotely)
• Beekeeper to check and possibly treat bees for mites.
• Outdoor Equity Grant coordinator (a paid position).
• Roofers (metal), welders and carpenters to continue building the farm building.
• Volunteer coordinator (person must first be familiar with the land and our activities)
• Grant writer ASAP (2 grant deadlines are coming up and we have grants we have written that need to be edited and resubmitted).
• A core group dedicated to tending the 2.5 acre Blue Corn field.
• A media-web person to manage our new Wordpress website.
• Parents to help brainstorm and design our environment for children and teenagers’ skill building activities.

 

Our work exchange is usually 4 hours a day. It gives you plenty of options from light to heavy duty work. The rest of the time, you have a superbly quiet environment to play, read, explore, tinker, nap in a hammock, enjoy the company of charming four legged, walk to the river and more. We highly encourage people to come for an overnight to enjoy the full spectrum of this sweet setting.

 

So I want to say thank you again to all those who responded to my last FB post with calming and reassuring voices. 

 

The most striking voice said “I am well aware of the circuitous and challenging paths we find ourselves in when we attempt to live according to our vision and guidance. You are so capable and rooted in practicality as well, and I think in being with so many gifts the perfecting process can be excruciating at times. But the old cliche is true...you did not come so far... to see your vision turn to dust. Instead, it is sure to rise up stronger. If there is a way for you to let go a bit at moments and let Spirit do the work, the invisible work that I am certain is going on at this time, the help and guidance you need now, will find its way to you. The corn is listening, the Earth is listening, the air is listening, water is listening. I thank them, I thank you, I thank all who have brought their work to you and I thank difficult spirits, too, but ask them to allow Grace to enter now and make its beautiful, light and easy presence felt, ushered in by Summer”.

 

 

That day, which was on Solstice, I took some time off to sit. I decided to journey that night to indeed, ask Spirits for grace in the mix. Hard, focused, selfless work I know, but grace often eludes me when I am overworked, over-heated, and over-worried because I am holding so much.

 

The moon that night was extraordinary. With a broad halo and a cloudy sky resembling a snake skin. I bathed in the moonlight. I just let go to receive something. I had to surrender because I was flirting with despair, exhaustion, hopelessness and a sense of failure.

 

What I bathed in was cooling white light, imbued with calm, moisture and wisdom. 

 

I am grateful. 

 

I look forward to a dynamic engagement from this community, to help us continue building what we have started.

 

Questions?   

poki@milabrazos.org   

505-557-7962   

www.milabrazos.org

 

 

 

Mil Abrazos Community Land Trust is a 501(c)3     

Donations of cash, stocks, vehicles or material goods are tax-deductible  

 

 

________________________

EARTH DAY IS EVERYDAY

 

Birds have been cheering the tree buds, garden is being planted, new compost pile is being built with cow manure and humanure, water is running in the ditch and campers are arriving. It must be spring time!

 

Time to gather our extended family for playing with dirt, dogs, trees and construction projects.

 

Every weekend from now on, we will be hosting people who wish to participate in the farm activities, enjoy camping under big skies, play at the river and make this place a lovely community spot for skill shares and creative conversations.

 

We have a sweet campground by the pond.

People can stay overnight Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday.

If you wish to come during the week, we can also accommodate.

We encourage sleepovers as our property is 90 miles from Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

 

We cook and eat together.

Children, elders, musicians and storytellers most welcome.

 

Here is a partial list of what we will be doing this spring and summer:

• Planting trees (we have 400 trees waiting in the nursery)
• Planting 2 acres of blue corn, with one acre in a three sisters (Milpa) design
• Installing irrigation water lines for the trees that we’re planting.
• Building a 400 ft² shop for carpentry, welding and mechanical repairs 
• Building the camp shower and kitchen 
• Installing a large commercial food dehydrator 
• Roofing a 1,000 ft² dining hall 
• Repairing fences 
• Making paths 
• Planting edge rows 
• Cleaning the adjacent arroyo of typical New Mexico artifacts like box springs and other undesirable junk. 
• Inspecting and maintaining our 13 mile-long Acequia 
• Discovering the beauty of the lower Pecos watershed 
• Making new friends 
• Building community resilience 
• Learning and sharing skills 
• Eating good food 
• Enjoying the countryside 
• Building our body doing earth work 
• Breathing the freshest air on Earth
• Loving Life
  

Please RSVP as we have limited camping capacity. If you wish to stay in one of our campers, bell tent or bunkhouse (beds are made since we rent these units on Airbnb and Hipcamp), we ask that people make a donation for the lodging upgrade.

 

We serve wholesome, homegrown vegetarian meals so let us know if you have special dietary needs.

 

We look forward to introducing our camp and building it with community for community.

 

Inquiries and RSVP to poki@milabrazos.org

 

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LIMPIA DAYS

The annual cleaning of the irrigation ditches

March 6 & 13

9:00am-1:00pm

 

Every year, Northern New Mexico acequias (irrigation ditches) are closed for cleaning and repairs.

 

It is a tradition, and a duty for parciantes (land owners with irrigation rights), to gather for the annual clean-up of the ditch.

 

It typically consists of removing fallen trees and rocks, and clearing blockages that prevent water from properly flowing.

 

You are warmly invited to join our Limpia Days in Dilia/Anton Chico, 90 miles from Santa Fe along the Pecos River, and experience a tradition dating back 200+ years in our area.

 

Lunch will be served at 1:00pm at the Mil Abrazos farm, and can be a sweet opportunity to meet with locals and elders.

 

Some accommodations are available upon reservation if you wish to come the day before.

 

Children are most welcome. Please no dogs (unless they stay in your vehicle) as we have too many already. Work clothes, gloves and rubber boots recommended (we have some to loan at the farm as well).

 

For more information on Limpia Days, read the following article published in the Green Fire Times. 

 

RSVP at poki@milabrazos.org

 

 

 

Mil Abrazos Community Land Trust is a 501(c)3     

Donations of cash, stocks, vehicles or material goods are tax-deductible  

 

 

________________________

 

 

THE SCHOOLS WE NEED

 

I hated school.  The animal in me felt caged and beaten down by a curriculum that had nothing to do with what I needed, wanted and should have received if school was truly meant to prepare me for life.

Instead, public school was, and is, a conveyor belt preparing a workforce to fill certain job-functions in the diabolic industrial machine of modernity.

The lack of true education creates ignorance, addictions, and a dependency on money, jobs and institutions to fulfill our basic needs like feeding ourselves, lodging ourselves, healing ourselves, making and repairing the tools we use and resolving our conflicts. This lack fosters an environment that emboldens competition instead of inspiring collaboration.

Given the urgent need to rebuild a World that we have deeply damaged, it is crucial that we rethink the way of educating our children, and re-educating ourselves, in order to be equipped for the daunting task ahead.

Many great thinkers have equated our current enslavement, lack of real health, wealth and freedom, to our disconnection from the land.  And I am not talking about just going hiking in the woods on weekends, but of a deep sense of belonging to a place.  Having a keen sense of home.  A place that we know and that knows us.  A place that we nourish and beautify, and that loves us back in a thousand surprising ways.

The Juniper Titmouse birds coming in and out of our farm building obviously recognize us and the dogs, and see us as their family.  Their undeniable comfort shows their closeness to humans.  The Northern Flickers pecking at our metal building as if playing Gamelan, are obviously communicating a message unique to this place, and us, living in this space.

Three years ago, I put my bags down on this 30-acre strip of old and neglected farmland, knowing that I was here to stay and become one with the place.  Continuing a journey of decolonizing my mind and reawakening the dormant indigenous part of my being, one that my formal schooling did everything to suppress.

For three years I have been baked, battered, frozen, melted, inspired, confronted, scared and touched in many more ways than I can explain here.

For three years I have been observing an environment that is wild, damaged and complex, yet deeply alive.  I have stepped into the ancient Acequia culture, learning from having to manage not only my water quota water over our fields, but also from being a ditch commissioner in charge of the upkeep of a 12 mile-long irrigation infrastructure dating back to 1820.

For three years I have shown up at church, rodeos, communions, funerals, San Isidro feast days, community meetings, ditch clean-ups, and mingled with a traditional Hispanic ranching community that has made me feel at home.

As I have slowly and diligently begun building the foundation for a new agrarian settlement to serve future generations, I have been reflecting on all the things that this place can teach us as residents and to the people visiting.

The land itself is the real teacher and her myriad of voices speak must be listened to.  It takes time and patience to hear them.  The one and only thing the River ever said to me when I first arrived is “I am a being”.  That alone can keep me busy thinking and feeling for the rest of my life…

The watershed, is also a great teacher as we have interdependence and responsibilities with communities upstream and downstream from us.

The weather is another remarkable teacher as one’s work must be adapted to the conditions present in each day since most of our activities are outside.

Away from the brouhaha and endless distractions of the city, the mind turns to a different rhythm.  

The position of the sun is your clock. 
Your body, your main tool.  
Your imagination, the boss.  
The community of residents and migratory birds, your friends and a source of endless entertainment.
The wind, a reminder of the might of the elements.
The cold, a reason to move to stay warm.
The drought a call to cooperate to share irrigation water.
The quietness, an opportunity to feel and listen deeply.
The distance from urban centers and conveniences such as gas or groceries, a reason to continually plan ahead and become better organized.
The neighbors, who have lived here their whole life, an opportunity to get to know them and draw from their wisdom.
The wealth of skills present within our extended community, a gift to be shared with our neighborhood.

Rebuilding our cities, villages, communities and farms is going to take a lot of imagination, drawing from ancient wisdom and new technologies alike.

We need new schools in the city where nature and life-skills are engrained and purposefully taught. We also need new schools in the country in the form of farms and settlements like the one we are attentively devising. Both models ought to nurture a true connection to the land and its complex needs, and give us spaces to learn the skills we need to prepare for an uncertain and most likely quite difficult future.

Designing such schools that can host a constant flow of interns, residents and visitors requires planning and imagination, and resources of all kinds. It requires patience, love and a determination to think of many generations down the line.

For the past three years, we have slowly been preparing the place for the arrival of interns, collaborators, visitors, teachers and funding, while building capacity, planting trees, creating a campground with kitchen, shower and composting toilet, repairing bridges and irrigation gates, mending fences, planting cover crops and pollinator flowers, harvesting medicinal herbs, growing a home garden, tending bees and nurturing a wild and loving pack of dogs that gravitated towards our camp.

We have written grants and developed protocols and systems to enable us to live efficiently and harmoniously as a small community of caretakers.

In working in close quarters, we have been confronted with the realities of entitlement and privileges, within ourselves and in others, and we have grown more aware of our needs to heal whatever is in the way of our becoming valuable guides, mentors and elders.

Three years have gone so fast that my arrival feels like yesterday.  I have never had a dull moment as the needs of such a complex and ambitious undertaking always keeps me awake, and on my toes at all times.

It has truly been an honor to be here and strive to create a new form of farm school, or maybe to return to what a farm used to be.  A community, an organism, a hub, a teaching center, a place of refuge for humans, animals and plants alike, a heartbeat in sync with Nature.

It is with gratitude that I write this year-end statement and reflect on all that has been done in such a short time with so few resources.  I am grateful for all the skills I have acquired during a creative and engaging existence.  I am touched by all that has been donated in terms of resources, skills, support and care.  I am encouraged by the dance of Nature all around me as if she is saying, good job son, here’s another flock of Canadian geese over your head as a blessing of honking and grace.

As Covid has taken so many things away from our daily lives, I feel lucky to be here, always in the fresh air and on my feet, breathing life as intended-fully. Working diligently and passionately to find innovative ways to build, organize, promote, be engaged and in service to Life.

It has been a remarkable three years and the best years of my life.  

I will leave you with a slide show of our accomplishments so that hopefully you’ll feel the vibe and be inspired to contribute and participate in the creation of a new center of learning for ourselves and our children.  A center of birthing, transforming, metamorphosing and aging.
 

A place to call home when you live here, come to teach, learn or visit.

 

 

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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