Dirt, rain, Gobernadora “Creosote”, sunsets, nopales, and the mountains are all things I hold dear in my heart as a child of the desert. The land has always been sacred to me. I became a steward for the land through my studies, and I continue to seek programs, places, and people that share this passion. I received the Diana Natalicio Environmental Internship award for the Summer of 2018. With guidance from Dr. William Hargrove from the Center for Environmental Resource Management at UTEP, I was connected with La Semilla. This non-profit is a place where passion meets leadership and success. A place where culture is cultivated and seeds of knowledge are planted in the community allowing for healthier sustainable lives.
Imagine you are standing at the center of a field. Now listen. Buzzing, chirping, the sound of grass and corn stalks brushing against the sky. A low mechanical whir from the tractor across the field, and train wheels passing on the metal rails. The smell of a rain storm approaching in the desert, the dirt in the air, the mulch in the soil, flowers blooming. The smells are so alive, you can almost taste them! You can see sunflowers in the vegetable beds and blue corn growing alongside its sister plant, the squash. Bees can be seen dancing around the honey mesquite and desert willows. These native plants increase habitat by offering shelter and food for species. On cool spring days, you often see critters scurrying along the floor, including; desert cotton tails, gamble quails, and whip tails. If you’re lucky, you may even find a nest of one of these native species. Days at the farm were always full of surprises!
I remember my first day at La Semilla, a place where I would grow from a seed, into a sunflower who loves bees and sunshine. This non-profit is located in Anthony, New Mexico, about 40 min from El Paso, Texas, my hometown. I was only supposed to be an intern for 10 weeks. These 10 weeks turned into a friendship and I hope to continue my work with them, to better serve my community. This internship consisted of a variety of activities; reading, farming, learning, listening, participating, and educating. I discovered new knowledge, powerful individuals, empowering tools, and reconnected with a time that is not lost, but is the foundation of my life and culture.
One of the first lessons I was taught at La Semilla was understanding how to honor the land and the stewards who came before and will come after we are gone. Land, although said to be owned, is not ours to own. The soil breathes and contains life that we can either nurture or destroy, and it is our job to care for the land while we live on it. The land where La Semilla is located was home to the Mansos a group of indigenous people that lived along the Rio Grande, near Las Cruces, New Mexico in the 16th-17th century. As time progresses we sometimes forget that the land beneath our feet has been here for much longer than we have. Therefore, we must reflect and understand that many hands have touched the land.
I’d wake at the crack of dawn, hearing my neighbors’ roosters crowing, getting into my car and seeing the sunrise in my rear-view mirror, as I drove to La Semilla. Some days were spent pulling grass (so much grass), harvesting, spraying organic feed, sometimes even mulching. The days I loved most were the ones where I was given seeds to sow, because a few weeks later I would see them sprout then mature into plants. I learned about soil remediation, organic practices, food safety, insects, native plants, weeding, harvesting, and crop maintenance. I have never tied up so many tomatoes in my life, but I always got a little snack while working.
I rekindled my love for melons! Watermelon has been my favorite ever since I can remember. I already knew growing up that melons came in a variety of colors, but what I tasted at the farm blew my mind. Sugar babies, Kijari’s, petite yellow watermelons, Tigger melons, and Boule D’ore and many more. Sweet and aromatic, all unique in shape, size, and color, I no longer have a favorite melon but a favorite group of fruits!
Working for La Semilla I learned so much and gained many passions. I worked with the Farm Fresh Bus that attends the Saturday El Paso Downtown Farmers market and conducted a free activity for children to learn about pollination. I taught at their Weed & Seed program about gardening and cooking with fresh ingredients. I attended my first MALCS (Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social) conference (life changing), and learned to cook with native foods from Chef Antonio Eliaz Lopez. I also developed educational pamphlets and interactive materials in both English and Spanish for the farm. I even got to wear a bee suit, but that is another story! One of the most important things I learned about was the Farm Bill, and the importance it has to the everyday person. I, like many others was misguided by its name.
While La Semilla was teaching me all this, they were creating policies to help their community, planning for the following years school gardens in the Gadsen district, running workshops for local farmers, producing fruits and vegetables for their Farm Fresh bus, planning fundraising events, conducting their Raices youth program, and helping local farms sell their produce. Not to mention in all this craziness, they were also writing a grant proposal to support the next fiscal year’s endeavors.
The faces I met on my journey at La Semilla remain in my heart, because without people like this, who push for a healthier and sustainable future that can be managed by the community, we will not have a future with equitable access to fresh foods. If there is one place where you need to be as fluid as water, and as flexible as a sprout, it is at a non-profit like La Semilla. Here’s to planting more seeds!
Special thanks to the most amazing people! Cristina, Krysten, Victoria, Manny, Arlen, Viridiana, Jacob, Ivon, Alex, Marleen, Cat, Andre, Valerie, Debra, Beverly, Jessica, Allan and Cristobal.
More about pollinators, MALCS, desert foods, and my summer experiences coming soon! Thanks for stopping to smell the flowers!
