A Visit to the Milpa with Don Fausto

 

Leaving for the Milpa with Don Fausto

It's 6 am in Nuevo Durango and dozens of roosters are announcing the dawn.  A sliver of moon hangs in the sky.  The chairs in front of the little store have been stored away for night, so Will and I stand in the road waiting for our visit to Milpa, a term used to describe the traditional farms of theYucatan region.  After a few minutes, Don Fausto approaches us and asks if we are going to the Milpa.  Then he nods toward the South and begins walking briskly, requiring us to maintain nearly a slow jog to keep up with him (perhaps a descendant of a Tarahumara, his son Enrique later joked).  The distance between us and Don Fausto only increases when the road ends - we're lagging behind as he agilely steps over and between the uneven rocks, chopping down wild chaya which his machete as he goes.  At one point, we duck between two barbed wires, a treacherous game of limbo.  "Don't worry, we're close," Don Fausto reassures.  "You walk very fast," I reply.  "T'hat's how you need to walk in the forest," he tells me, continuing his fast clip.  

 

A not-so-friendly tree along the pathway



Another day begins in the fields

We arrive to the Milpa as the sun is rising. This 12 acre plot of land is thriving in a rainier than usual season, and, pending no natural disaster, it will grow enough food to feed the village of more than fifty families next year.  For a week or so in April, many workers from the town help to plant the Milpa.  In February - the staples of corn, beans, and squash, - as well as other crops like jicama, amaranth, and melon - will be harvested and distributed to the people of the village.  The Milpa will be burned, covering the soil with nutrient-rich ashes and preparing it for another planting season.  Store houses will preserve crops like corn and beans in lime and families will return there weekly for their staples.  

"3 Sisters of the Milpa":  Corn, Squash, and Beans



Last season's corn, preserved with Lime

The Milpa is cultivated without fertilizer or pesticides in a field filled with rocks and trees, and everything is thriving.  One threat is the birds, Don Fausto tells us.  He will wake up as early as 4am in order to arrive to scare away the birds in the morning.  If they are really bad, he builds scare crows.  Other risks include hurricanes that can wipe out an entire Milpa in one evening.  Fortunately, growing is a long-term investment.  Some seasons, a good milpa will provide beans and corn for two or more years.
  

Stone markers every 20 meters measure the fields


Don Fausto seems confused when I ask him where he gets his seeds for the Milpa.  "From here, at harvest time" is the obvious answer.  This is a contrast to modern farmers in the region who receive sterile corn seeds, corn fertilizer, and about $100 U.S. dollars each season.  At the beginning of each season, they receive new seeds.  Many find that their land is stripped of nutrients after several years of corn farming and they are unable to return to growing other crops on it.  As of this post, beekeepers and farmers in the region are fighting with Monsanto to prevent the introduction of thousands of acres of transgenic soy and corn in the region.  Such a measure could destroy the honey industry in the Yucatan as well as the integrity of the heritage crops that grow there.

In terms of profit, Don Fausto says the goal is feeding the town, not making a large profit.  Nonetheless, the Milpa does allow him and those he shares the land with to survive.  He excitedly shows us the squash, which are spreading across the fields. "Look how well they're coming along with all of this rain" he tells us.  The flesh of the squash will be candied or eaten cooked.  The seeds will be dried on the the town's roofs and sold for more than 4 dollars/kilo.  When the harvest is good, this can mean a profit of $900 or more.


Squash growing over a bed of rocks


A healthy bean plant

Fausto, 60, has been coming to the fields each day since he was 8 years old.  Later in the day, he'll wrangle his 3 cows and return them to their pasture.  He used to have many more, he tells us, but he sold them for his son's two wedding parties.
  

Talking to Don Fausto about his lifetime of farming


As we leave the Milpa, the sun is shining brightly and the field is heating up.  H. Garrison Wilkes, a Maize researcher calls the Milpa "one of the most successful human inventions ever created".  The success of Fausto's Milpa is clear - likely a result of both his labor and love for the earth.

  

Don Fausto in the field were he's worked for more than fifty years



Gardening on an Island: Casa Blat Ha

Entrance to Casa Blat-ha

"It did seem that there was a lot more going on in the garden than I'd expected to find" begins Michael Pollan in his book Second Nature: A Gardener's Education.  The quest to build a garden, or simply spending some time in a garden teaches one a lot about, well, everything.

Trellis work along the border of the garden

  Each day in the Blat Ha garden, I seemed to discover a new patch, or path, or plant, adding to my understanding of the garden's design and my understanding of how it's possible to grow food and medicine a block from the ocean.

Gardening just meters from the sea

On my last day at the garden, I went up to the roof, as I had the day I began.  I appreciated so much more the layout of the garden as well as how it was growing.  And, I knew a few of its secrets: the bright green lizards and orange birds who live there, as well as the fat iguanas who eat the passion fruit flowers.  I learned which plants were poisonous and which were delicious.  And still, there's so much more to learn.

Aerial view of the garden

Paths designed in a swirl

So far on this journey, I've been amazed by the willingness of gardeners to share their time, space and knowledge with me.  On Holbox -  Daniel, Viki, Sandra, Jesus, and Aida have all given freely of their time and knowledge to the project.  Aida, who was born on Holbox, describes herself as "a witch with degrees".  Her knowledge of medicinal plants as well as therapies from around the world are astounding.   She noted the value of preserving such knowledge.  Over the years, she's noticed that sometimes people know certain plants have medicinal properties, but do not know the specific plant part.  For example, many drink coconut water to treat kidney stones, while they should actually be eating the flesh of the plant.  Of course, this "partial-knowledge" can be dangerous:  the flowers of Vicario are used to treat diabetes, while its leaves are toxic.  After interviewing several medicine men for the project, it was great to meet a balance of "medicine women" on the island, who are continuing the tradition as well.  Aida gave me a book written as homage to the women of Oaxaca and their healing plants.  Certainly it will find its welcome spot on my classroom bookshelf.  If you'd like to contact Aida on Holbox for a massage or a number of therapies, you can find her by the Hotel Faro Viejo or call her at 984 87 5 20 01.



A sunset from Sandra´s garden



Tapestry of Community Garden, Izamal Cultural Center

In Terra Madre, Petrini reflects upon the synergy required for sustainable food systems.  Food communities require a synergy between involved community members, resources, and the environment.  Petrini writes of the art and science of food production, "Preserving this precious store of knowledge is a right, but also an obligation- for food communities, for indigenous populations, for all countries-because it is this knowledge that helps to save biological diversity, our heritage of local food skills, and the conservation of common goods..." (p. 110).  I think it is this attitude, or rather this necessity for preservation, that allows gardeners to share their knowledge and resources so eagerly with me.  And in the gardening community, it makes sense.  This synergy, free-flowing exchanges of energy between parties, means easy access to organic fertilizers, good food, and knowledge.  It's a good loop to be in.  If you're on Isla Holbox,  a stay at Blat Ha with a garden-fresh breakfast could be just what you're looking for.

Great white egret on the beach near Casa Blat Ha

A Visit to a Heritage Garden in Sisbichen

Danny (U Chicago Grad student) ponders the magic of the Saramuyo (sugar apple)

After about thirty minutes of driving on the tollroad from Valladolid to Cancun, we turn down a small dirt road.  We pass Uspibil, then Chechmil, finally arriving in Sisbichen, a town with about 1500 inhabitants, most of whom speak Maya.  Sisbichen is named after the Vanilla planifolia orchid that grows abundantly in the town's jungles, whose pods are used to produce vanilla.  The plant is called Sis bik in the region, which means "the one that moves like a snake in the shade.'  Chen means cenote or well.  

Sis bik growing on a tree

We've come here to meet Don Antonio, a man with great connection to nature and plants.  "Don Oxte?  Is it Don Oxte...Abuelo?" she asks another woman in the group that is gathering.  Several other women walk across the square to see what we're looking for.  They begin to speak to each other in Maya, and Danny and I anxiously exchange smiles with one another, waiting to see what the verdict is.  She tells us that we'll need to go to Rancho Yokdzonot, several kilometers down the main road.  As we pass through the gates, we enter a sort of paradise, home to an unusual mix of plants and animals and a man with a vision for harmony with nature.  

Don Antonio and Cintia

Don Antonio and his wife Cintia direct a non-profit called Jardines del Colibri Dorado (Gardens of the Golden Hummingbird) dedicated to reforestation of fruit and lumber trees, as well as jungle reforestation.  In the town of Sisbichen, they run a teaching project, giving lessons on organic gardening.  Today, Cintia is waiting to hear back from a man who will deliver many gallons of paint, which will be used to paint the local school.

The Entrance to Don Antonio's Ranch

Antonio Oxte is returning from a swim in a cenote when we meet him.  He begins the interview by introducing himself and labeling the small Maya pueblo where he's from on my map.  He's been at the ranch for 7 years, and in this time, has cultivated plants that he brought as plants and seeds from around the world - including the Andes, Greece, Africa, the Amazon, and Canada.  His vision is to have a place where he can grow plants to eat and to cure. "How did you come to travel to so many places?"  I ask.  He chuckles and begins a story that is so far-fetched, you'd need to hear him tell it yourself to believe it. From an early age, Oxte learned of his talents as a healer.  He spent many years walking across the globe, once all the way from Canada to South America, where he stayed for 7 years in the Amazon.

Rare orchids

Papalo

As we walk around the property, their knowledge of plants and their commitment to living off of the land becomes very clear.  It seems that after almost every plant we see, Cintia adds "we eat this almost everyday," and tells us how it is used.  Each plant has a story - where it came from, why it's important, and how brought it to the ranch.  There's a pine seedling from Canada that's struggling in the Yucatan heat.  Don Antonio is sure it will live: "It's already taken to the soil.  A little stressed out from when I moved it, but doing really well now" he reassures.  A bean plant from Peru is thriving, spreading out over a trellis and a nearby tree.  The seed it grew from was hundreds of years old, dormant when found in a cave.  In about a month, the plant will be filled with half-dollar sized beans, half-white and half-black.  There's cucumber growing on a tree, and an orchid yet to be classified, and a healthy bush-like papalo, which Don Oxte uses to treat anemia.  Cilantrillo, a plant with delicate flowers, he tells us is the most powerful antibiotic.  La hierba del zorillo (skunk) (in Yucatec Maya: Payche) can be inhaled or rubbed on the skin to treat bronchitis and muscle aches.

Cilantrillo's small white flowers

Evidence of an earlier ceremony

Walking around the property, we come to a huge cenote, with birds flying in and out of its cave-like walls.  A blue butterfly flutters by.  The cenote is virgin, used only for bathing and drinking water.  Candles from a ceremony the night before form a shape along its edge.  It's a perfectly balanced ecosystem.

One of don Oxte's virgin cenotes

With doña Cintia on the Sac-be

Walking back towards the house, we begin to meet many of the beautiful chickens and ducks that call the ranch home, as well as a deer who was raised from a baby after her mother was killed, and several pets who are half coyote/half dogs, whose coyote-ness becomes evident when they begin to howl at a visitor.  The road we're walking down is a Sac-be, one of many sacred Maya roads which remain perfect preserved after thousands of years.  In many ways, the scene is surreal.

Patricia

The coyote dogs

For the moment, Don Oxte is looking to partner with an organization or university to create a survey of the Flora and Fauna on his property of more than 100 hectares.  "There are so many unidentified species here.  I'd really like to know exactly what I have"  he says.  I'm in agreement.  From green bees to rare orchids, a day on the Ranch leaves me wondering if I've imagined some of things I've seen.

Looking up at a pich tree in amazement

Thanks Fund For Teachers!

Here's a little bit about my grant and the Mexican Heritage Garden project.