visiting farmers
It has been an exciting last few weeks. The farmers from Agua Buena (Puntarenas), Costa Rica, came two Mondays ago and stayed until Wednesday of this week. They are amazing! Roberto shared his experiences as a farmer, how hard it is to switch over sometimes when they are still learning everything they need to know. He was raised as a coffee farmer with his dad, but by the time he was into production, the government has certain things they told the farmers to practice, like shadeless coffee and heavy pesticide use. Both he and his wife Noemy are originally from Guanacaste - Noemy said that she came from a long history of seeing the land mistreated, and that it made her feel saddened and impoverished from an early age. Most of the Agua Buena community is from Guanacaste. Agua Buena is in the inside crook of the border between Costa Rica and Panama, nearby to San Vito.
Another person came with the farmers: Julieta, the intern coordinator from Agua Buenas. During the planning meetings leading up to their visit, I had gotten the impression from what others were saying that Julieta was very shy, was more withdrawn than the others. Yet when I met her, those impressions fell completely. I was met with a funny, fiery, thoughtful woman who engaged me in conversations each event we attended together. I was the shyer of the two, and Julieta approached me a few times and began speaking. One time, when I was carrying dishes and a pot in my hand, Julieta saw me from across the room and immediately took something. I was very grateful. Now I am so excited! We talked about whether or not I might come to Agua Buenas with CAN in the Fall, and what project I might work on if it were to happen. It looks like I might be able to work in her homegarden, and other gardens and places around Agua Buenas, identifying ornamentals, medicinals, and native plants, and making signs or a manual or a children's book, so that visitors can learn more about the plants. I am so excited! Now all I have to do is apply, and practice spanish, and keep planning.
I went to see them speak at a few different events. First off, when they came to the CAN meeting on Tuesday, they introduced themselves, and Roberto said he wanted to hear what everyone else had to say and speak last himself. We all went around the room - I felt so nervous when my turn came to speak. I didn't apologize aloud for my spanish, as most of the other CANistas did, but I wavered when I spoke. The farmers said later, to all of us, that they are used to bad spanish and would gladly help us - so don't feel intimidated to speak spanish with them. On Wednesday, they were at the Farmers' Market, giving a virtual tour of their coffee farm. I listened to Roberto at one point, by myself. He used his hands to illustrate what he was saying, and since I had heard the story before in english, I was able to understand whole sentences in spanish. On Sunday, after two more days of presentations and a day trip to San Francisco, they went to the Swanton Berry Farm for Mother's Day. Jim Cochran himself came to meet them and talked at length with Roberto. Cochran sells the coffee on a regular basis and has a map in his saleroom that illustrates the commodity chain of coffee: conventional, Fair Trade, and CAN's Fair Trade direct. When I met Jim Cochran, it was a bit like meeting a celebrity. For Borrego's class, I had interviewed Sean Swezey - my teacher for Sustainable Agriculture, who sits on the board of the CCOF. Swezey had mentioned his and Steve's groundbreaking study with Jim Cochran, how it was the first attempt to prove organic farming on a larger, commercial scale. Swezey recalled how he and Steve were laughed out of the room ...but Jim Cochran's business grew and got better, and it made the other scientists see the light. It was a very big deal to meet Jim Cochran at last, needless to say.
When we went out to the U-Pick fields, I noticed that the strawberries had whorls of 6 - 12 sepals (2 whorls of 6) and 6 petals (arranged in 2 whorls of 3). Most members of the Rosaceae have 5's. I wondered about it and was explaining it to Mandi, when I looked up and realized that Julieta was watching me, listening to what I was saying. I tried explaining it in spanish to her and Noemy, then switched back to english. Julieta translated for me to Noemy. When I went inside, I examined the beautiful watercolor tablets hanging on the walls and noticed that of the two species Fragaria chiloensis and F. virginiana hybridized to make F. ananassa, F. chiloensis, the one I spent years working with in the Presidio, is the one with the whorls of six. F. ananassa inherited that trait. I was very excited and babbled about it to Steve, who had come to the happy Farm event as well. Nevertheless, it was the first time I've gotten to reveal my new Ethnobotanical knowledge to an outsider of the class, and it was an honor that it should have been to Mandi, Julieta, and Noemy.
They came to Monday's Ethnobotany class and gave a presentation on their farming. It was perfect - the student who had been assigned to present on coffee, from her chapter of "Stimulating Beverages", presented first, and afterwards Roberto and Noemy responded. Roberto started off by saying how impressed he was with Maria's presentation and mentioned that though he had been a coffee grower for 47 years, he had never known coffee's origins before. Then, with that introduction, he and Noemy once again told their powerful stories. I heard it again later that night at ESLP. After hearing it so many times, using slightly different words ...during Ethnobotany, suddenly, without any idea that it would come, my ear switched. I began listening in spanish, without needing the translation that followed. Sometimes, I would miss a few things, and Steve's translation would help me piece out the exact word I had missed. But largely, albeit temporarily, the switch happened. I was able to appreciate the original poetry of the language without translating.
In Ethnobotany last Wednesday, Mike gave a presentation on agaves - blue agave and henequen agave. At that point, I was reminded that Steve had in fact spent a lot of time in Merida. Marley had gone there for his work in the Yucatan learning about milpas, and I had later found out that Julio, Dad's tequilero friend, is from Merida. I've been encountering many uses of agave in my readings about the Mejica (so both the Mejica and Maya used it) - so it's been on my mind a lot lately. It might be good at some point to either call Dad or Julio and ask either one to tell me more about Merida, and about the Bermejos' hacienda. Steve says that there are no more haciendas in Merida, that the ejido system broke them and that PROTROPICO, in fact, is trying to help people reclaim their land and farm it sustainably to their own livelihood. Francisco Rosado-May is on that same path, right now in Quintina Roo.
There. I just did some research. Tomas Bermejo, Julio's father, "is a success story among Maya immigrants. He rose from picking row crops — tomatoes — in Yuba City in the l960s, to tree crops — oranges in Santa Ana — to dishwashing, and finally became the owner of a popular San Francisco restaurant, Tommy’s. He said he “helps out” new Maya arrivals looking for jobs and other Maya. [He] returns frequently to visit his home village in Mexico’s Yucatan. His life here is a far cry from his early village days... when he sold water from a horse-drawn carriage at a penny a bucket..." Wow. So, maybe I was wrong to judge. I thought for the last year or so that their hacienda was one of those that exploited people. But maybe it is really just a big house, one that they earned after having nothing. Maybe - and this is my hope - Dad's been throwing around the term "hacienda" loosely, that, instead of describing a big piece of land, describes a big house. Or who knows - maybe Julio and his family still use the term 'hacienda' to mean the way the land was before - or maybe they use it jokingly to refer to their homes? Either way, what right have I to judge? I should probably go visit there someday; Dad might let me come down with him at some point (he traditionally hasn't, but I'm much older now and that could change). I will probably be going there at some point anyway: PROTROPICO's work sounds interesting enough that I will want to see it, and besides Francisco extended me an invitation to come down, stay, and even work with him a little in his university. I should pay him, and Merida, a visit.
So strange: the situation reminds me of a book I read last summer: The House of the Scorpion. Speaking of which, summer's coming... I should get ready soon, to think ahead of what I might do in this world, not only in this season.
It definitely looks like we're heading towards a Central America theme nowadays. My Ethnobotany presentation's coming up; it's about tropical fruits and nuts. Throughout the Ethnobotany presentations, my one critique has been that although it is very interesting to learn about the many travels of a single crop, it rarely gives me an idea of what an entire cuisine might have been of a single ancient people. I had chosen five plants specifically - durian, white sapote, tomato, eggplant, and chile - and through research I suddenly found out that sapotes, tomatoes, and chiles were all part of the cuisine of the Mejica. So naturally I'm leaning towards doing research about the whole Mejica cuisine-agriculture (Note: 'culture' is implied in both those terms) and doing my presentation on that. I've already read a book called The Aztecs and looked online for more of the Nahuatl translations for the main plants: xitomatl, or tomato; chayotli, squash; elotl, corn; ayacotli, beans; chilli, chile; huauhtli, amaranth; tzapotl, sapote, or soft, sweet fruit; xocotl, bitter fruit; xocolatl, bitter water ("chocolate drink"); cacahuatl, chocolate... It would very much intrigue me to see some of the chinampas that the Mejica built and used to use. Better still, maybe I will have a chance to help out with them at some point, during my travels. Ahhh. The farming world holds so much! It is worth it to explore, and to hope to become a farmer for life.
Other exciting things have happened in the last few weeks. A few Saturdays back, on April 21st, I gained a small puncture wound on my right hand while sifting compost. I closed the wound with Yarrow, put hydrogen peroxide on it, and left it. Later that night, my ring finger had swollen up and could not move - it was stuck bent at an angle. I went to the urgent care clinic, where they gave me a soft-tissue X-ray exam and told me that nothing had gotten stuck in there. The extremely mellow doctor gave me Vicotine for the night. Well ...so yeah, later that night, after the pill had started taking effect (I only had half of one), I was online briefly, and a friend had written me a drunk email! Cracking up, on Vicotine, I responded with my one good hand. I got two phone calls shortly thereafter, and I think both speakers were a little weirded out. I have never taken Vicotine again. The following day, the pain and swelling had gotten worse, so I went to Dominican's. The doctor reopened the wound, and a whole lot of blood came out. As it turns out, I had nicked an artery, and even after I closed the wound it had continued bleeding into the inside of my hand. Well, that caused it to swell and backed up everything else. So when he reopened it, it released pressure. Hah! so funny to think that this little wound, barely the size of a pencil's point, could cause that much fuss. He bandaged my hand and told me to keep it elevated. My finger was normal within a couple of days, although there are still sharp pains when I bend it sometimes. My family called me up a lot during those days to check up on me; it felt really good to talk with my family and take the time to catch up.
The most hilarious message came from my Dad: "Uh, I was just thinking about a- a gal named 'Fingers' or maybe that's '9 healthy fingers and one finger that's not so healthy'... it was good to hear your voice last night, you sounded like you were in a bit of a hurry. Maybe that's because you were knocked out from the Vicatine... Take care, darlin'. Love you."
Another person came with the farmers: Julieta, the intern coordinator from Agua Buenas. During the planning meetings leading up to their visit, I had gotten the impression from what others were saying that Julieta was very shy, was more withdrawn than the others. Yet when I met her, those impressions fell completely. I was met with a funny, fiery, thoughtful woman who engaged me in conversations each event we attended together. I was the shyer of the two, and Julieta approached me a few times and began speaking. One time, when I was carrying dishes and a pot in my hand, Julieta saw me from across the room and immediately took something. I was very grateful. Now I am so excited! We talked about whether or not I might come to Agua Buenas with CAN in the Fall, and what project I might work on if it were to happen. It looks like I might be able to work in her homegarden, and other gardens and places around Agua Buenas, identifying ornamentals, medicinals, and native plants, and making signs or a manual or a children's book, so that visitors can learn more about the plants. I am so excited! Now all I have to do is apply, and practice spanish, and keep planning.
I went to see them speak at a few different events. First off, when they came to the CAN meeting on Tuesday, they introduced themselves, and Roberto said he wanted to hear what everyone else had to say and speak last himself. We all went around the room - I felt so nervous when my turn came to speak. I didn't apologize aloud for my spanish, as most of the other CANistas did, but I wavered when I spoke. The farmers said later, to all of us, that they are used to bad spanish and would gladly help us - so don't feel intimidated to speak spanish with them. On Wednesday, they were at the Farmers' Market, giving a virtual tour of their coffee farm. I listened to Roberto at one point, by myself. He used his hands to illustrate what he was saying, and since I had heard the story before in english, I was able to understand whole sentences in spanish. On Sunday, after two more days of presentations and a day trip to San Francisco, they went to the Swanton Berry Farm for Mother's Day. Jim Cochran himself came to meet them and talked at length with Roberto. Cochran sells the coffee on a regular basis and has a map in his saleroom that illustrates the commodity chain of coffee: conventional, Fair Trade, and CAN's Fair Trade direct. When I met Jim Cochran, it was a bit like meeting a celebrity. For Borrego's class, I had interviewed Sean Swezey - my teacher for Sustainable Agriculture, who sits on the board of the CCOF. Swezey had mentioned his and Steve's groundbreaking study with Jim Cochran, how it was the first attempt to prove organic farming on a larger, commercial scale. Swezey recalled how he and Steve were laughed out of the room ...but Jim Cochran's business grew and got better, and it made the other scientists see the light. It was a very big deal to meet Jim Cochran at last, needless to say.
When we went out to the U-Pick fields, I noticed that the strawberries had whorls of 6 - 12 sepals (2 whorls of 6) and 6 petals (arranged in 2 whorls of 3). Most members of the Rosaceae have 5's. I wondered about it and was explaining it to Mandi, when I looked up and realized that Julieta was watching me, listening to what I was saying. I tried explaining it in spanish to her and Noemy, then switched back to english. Julieta translated for me to Noemy. When I went inside, I examined the beautiful watercolor tablets hanging on the walls and noticed that of the two species Fragaria chiloensis and F. virginiana hybridized to make F. ananassa, F. chiloensis, the one I spent years working with in the Presidio, is the one with the whorls of six. F. ananassa inherited that trait. I was very excited and babbled about it to Steve, who had come to the happy Farm event as well. Nevertheless, it was the first time I've gotten to reveal my new Ethnobotanical knowledge to an outsider of the class, and it was an honor that it should have been to Mandi, Julieta, and Noemy.
They came to Monday's Ethnobotany class and gave a presentation on their farming. It was perfect - the student who had been assigned to present on coffee, from her chapter of "Stimulating Beverages", presented first, and afterwards Roberto and Noemy responded. Roberto started off by saying how impressed he was with Maria's presentation and mentioned that though he had been a coffee grower for 47 years, he had never known coffee's origins before. Then, with that introduction, he and Noemy once again told their powerful stories. I heard it again later that night at ESLP. After hearing it so many times, using slightly different words ...during Ethnobotany, suddenly, without any idea that it would come, my ear switched. I began listening in spanish, without needing the translation that followed. Sometimes, I would miss a few things, and Steve's translation would help me piece out the exact word I had missed. But largely, albeit temporarily, the switch happened. I was able to appreciate the original poetry of the language without translating.
In Ethnobotany last Wednesday, Mike gave a presentation on agaves - blue agave and henequen agave. At that point, I was reminded that Steve had in fact spent a lot of time in Merida. Marley had gone there for his work in the Yucatan learning about milpas, and I had later found out that Julio, Dad's tequilero friend, is from Merida. I've been encountering many uses of agave in my readings about the Mejica (so both the Mejica and Maya used it) - so it's been on my mind a lot lately. It might be good at some point to either call Dad or Julio and ask either one to tell me more about Merida, and about the Bermejos' hacienda. Steve says that there are no more haciendas in Merida, that the ejido system broke them and that PROTROPICO, in fact, is trying to help people reclaim their land and farm it sustainably to their own livelihood. Francisco Rosado-May is on that same path, right now in Quintina Roo.
There. I just did some research. Tomas Bermejo, Julio's father, "is a success story among Maya immigrants. He rose from picking row crops — tomatoes — in Yuba City in the l960s, to tree crops — oranges in Santa Ana — to dishwashing, and finally became the owner of a popular San Francisco restaurant, Tommy’s. He said he “helps out” new Maya arrivals looking for jobs and other Maya. [He] returns frequently to visit his home village in Mexico’s Yucatan. His life here is a far cry from his early village days... when he sold water from a horse-drawn carriage at a penny a bucket..." Wow. So, maybe I was wrong to judge. I thought for the last year or so that their hacienda was one of those that exploited people. But maybe it is really just a big house, one that they earned after having nothing. Maybe - and this is my hope - Dad's been throwing around the term "hacienda" loosely, that, instead of describing a big piece of land, describes a big house. Or who knows - maybe Julio and his family still use the term 'hacienda' to mean the way the land was before - or maybe they use it jokingly to refer to their homes? Either way, what right have I to judge? I should probably go visit there someday; Dad might let me come down with him at some point (he traditionally hasn't, but I'm much older now and that could change). I will probably be going there at some point anyway: PROTROPICO's work sounds interesting enough that I will want to see it, and besides Francisco extended me an invitation to come down, stay, and even work with him a little in his university. I should pay him, and Merida, a visit.
So strange: the situation reminds me of a book I read last summer: The House of the Scorpion. Speaking of which, summer's coming... I should get ready soon, to think ahead of what I might do in this world, not only in this season.
It definitely looks like we're heading towards a Central America theme nowadays. My Ethnobotany presentation's coming up; it's about tropical fruits and nuts. Throughout the Ethnobotany presentations, my one critique has been that although it is very interesting to learn about the many travels of a single crop, it rarely gives me an idea of what an entire cuisine might have been of a single ancient people. I had chosen five plants specifically - durian, white sapote, tomato, eggplant, and chile - and through research I suddenly found out that sapotes, tomatoes, and chiles were all part of the cuisine of the Mejica. So naturally I'm leaning towards doing research about the whole Mejica cuisine-agriculture (Note: 'culture' is implied in both those terms) and doing my presentation on that. I've already read a book called The Aztecs and looked online for more of the Nahuatl translations for the main plants: xitomatl, or tomato; chayotli, squash; elotl, corn; ayacotli, beans; chilli, chile; huauhtli, amaranth; tzapotl, sapote, or soft, sweet fruit; xocotl, bitter fruit; xocolatl, bitter water ("chocolate drink"); cacahuatl, chocolate... It would very much intrigue me to see some of the chinampas that the Mejica built and used to use. Better still, maybe I will have a chance to help out with them at some point, during my travels. Ahhh. The farming world holds so much! It is worth it to explore, and to hope to become a farmer for life.
Other exciting things have happened in the last few weeks. A few Saturdays back, on April 21st, I gained a small puncture wound on my right hand while sifting compost. I closed the wound with Yarrow, put hydrogen peroxide on it, and left it. Later that night, my ring finger had swollen up and could not move - it was stuck bent at an angle. I went to the urgent care clinic, where they gave me a soft-tissue X-ray exam and told me that nothing had gotten stuck in there. The extremely mellow doctor gave me Vicotine for the night. Well ...so yeah, later that night, after the pill had started taking effect (I only had half of one), I was online briefly, and a friend had written me a drunk email! Cracking up, on Vicotine, I responded with my one good hand. I got two phone calls shortly thereafter, and I think both speakers were a little weirded out. I have never taken Vicotine again. The following day, the pain and swelling had gotten worse, so I went to Dominican's. The doctor reopened the wound, and a whole lot of blood came out. As it turns out, I had nicked an artery, and even after I closed the wound it had continued bleeding into the inside of my hand. Well, that caused it to swell and backed up everything else. So when he reopened it, it released pressure. Hah! so funny to think that this little wound, barely the size of a pencil's point, could cause that much fuss. He bandaged my hand and told me to keep it elevated. My finger was normal within a couple of days, although there are still sharp pains when I bend it sometimes. My family called me up a lot during those days to check up on me; it felt really good to talk with my family and take the time to catch up.
The most hilarious message came from my Dad: "Uh, I was just thinking about a- a gal named 'Fingers' or maybe that's '9 healthy fingers and one finger that's not so healthy'... it was good to hear your voice last night, you sounded like you were in a bit of a hurry. Maybe that's because you were knocked out from the Vicatine... Take care, darlin'. Love you."
posted by Yvea at 9:33 AM
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