SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 GROWING A REGIONAL FOOD SYSTEM THE RETURN OF TRUE AGRICULTURAL LOCALISM VOLUME 12 NUMBER 4 GREENFIRETIMES.COM PUBLISHER GREEN EARTH PUBLISHING, LLC EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SETH ROFFMAN / [email protected] PLEASE SUPPORT GREEN FIRE TIMES GUEST ASSOCIATE EDITOR ERIN ORTIGOZA Green Fire Times provides a platform for regional, community-based DESIGN WITCREATIVE voices—useful information for residents, businesspeople, students and COPY EDITOR STEPHEN KLINGER visitors—anyone interested in the history and spirit of New Mexico and the Southwest. One of the unique aspects of GFT is that it offers CONTRIBUTING WRITERS ANITA ADALJA, JAIME CHÁVEZ, JULIANA multicultural perspectives and a link between the green movement and CIANO, VANESSA COLÓN, MARTHA COOKE, ZOE FINK, LUCY GENT FOMA, LISA traditional cultures. B. FRIEDLAND, ROD GESTEN, ISABELL JENNICHES, GILLIAN JOYCE, MELANIE MARGARITA KIRBY, JACK LOEFFLER, FAITH MAXWELL, RACHEL MOORE, KYLE Storytelling is at the heart of community health. GFT shares stories MALONE, MIKE MUSIALOWSKI, SAYRAH NAMASTE, ANDREW NEIGHBOR, CORILIA of hope and is an archive for community action. In each issue, a ORTEGA, ERIN ORTIGOZA, SONORA RODRÍGUEZ, ERNIE RIVERA, SETH ROFFMAN, small, dedicated staff and a multitude of contributors offer articles CHRISTINA M. ROGERS, MICAH ROSEBERRY, MIGUEL SANTISTEVAN, MELYNN documenting projects supporting sustainability—community, culture, SCHUYLER, JAMES SKEET, NINA YOZELL-EPSTEIN, MARK WINNE environment and regional economy. CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS ROSE CARMONA, JAIME CHÁVEZ, Green Fire Times is now operated by an LLC owned by a nonprofit VANESSA COLÓN, CORE VISUAL, BYRON FLESHER, MARY GAUL, GABRIELLA MARKS, educational organization (Est. 1972, swlearningcenters.org). 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(SEE ARTICLE, PG. 8) PHOTO © JAMES SKEET Accredited, Affordable and Fully Online for Fall 2020 n BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, FIND YOUR FUTURE @ RADIATION PROTECTION n MANAGEMENT, ACCOUNTING, NORTHERN New Mexico Offering most affordable bachelor’s PROJECT MANAGEMENT programs in New Mexico College n FAST CERTIFICATES IN: MICROSOFT OFFICE SUITE, OFFICE ADMINISTRATION & a PROJECT MANAGEMENT n COSMETOLOGY / BARBERING n ELECTROMECHANICAL & INFORMATION ENGINEERING n EARLY CHILDHOOD & ELEMENTARY EDUCATION n ARTS, FILM & DIGITAL MEDIA n LANGUAGE & LETTERS, SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES n MATHEMATICS & PHYSICS n ASSOCIATE DEGREE NURSING & RN to BSN (NOW FULLY ONLINE) APPLY TODAY! 505.747.2111, nnmc.edu FALL 2020 8-week classes start October 19. 2 GREENFIRETIMES.COM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 GREEN FIRE TIMES News & Views from the Sustainable Southwest VOLUME 12 NO. 4 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 CONTENTS VALUE CHAINS – COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE AGRICULTURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: FORGING THE VALUE CHAIN THE RETURN OF TRUE AGRICULTURAL LOCALISM – ERIN ORTIGOZA / 10 CULTIVATING A SENSIBLE FOOD SYSTEM – MIGUEL SANTISTEVAN / 4 THE FARM STAND & MARKET AT LA ESQUINITA ALIANZA AGRI-CULTURA DE TAOS AND LANDLINK NM – CHRISTINA ROGERS, KYLE MALONE / 22 – CORILIA ORTEGA AND GILLIAN JOYCE / 5 MILPA ECOLOGY: ROOTS OF AGRO-ECOLOGY – JAIME CHÁVEZ / 6 ENTREPRENEURS PERFECT STORM ON THE NAVAJO NATION – JAMES SKEET RISING TO ACTION: OUR LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM IN THE AGE OF CORONA-19 FIRST NATIONS’ FARM-TO-SCHOOL AWARDS / 10 – NINA YOZELL-EPSTEIN / 24 COMMERCIAL AQUAPONICS COMING TO SANTA FE – ANDREW NEIGHBOR / 26 FOOD SECURITY AND PANDEMIC RELIEF IT’S NOT EASY BEING A BIG EGG FARMER – MARK WINNE / 28 USE CHESS STRATEGY TO WIN IN FOOD-SECURITY CRISIS IN TAOS THE LAMY HOMESTEAD: AN URBAN FARM PROJECT – VANESSA COLÓN / 29 – MIKE MUSIALOWSKI / 10 BEAT THE SUMMER HEAT WITH A FOOD FOREST – MIKE MUSIALOWSKI / 31 A.I.R.E.’S GROWING COMMUNITY NOW PROJECT – MICAH ROSEBERRY / 12 NORTHERN YOUTH PROJECT – FAITH MAXWELL / 13 REFLECTIONS AND VISIONS CULTIVATING HOPE IN HARD TIMES – JULIANA CIANO, MELYNN SCHUYLER, RACHEL RIPPLES AND RIBBONS – MELANIE MARGARITA KIRBY / 32 MOORE / 15 EMIGDIO BALLÓN: “BUY LOCAL AND PAY FARMERS A LIVING WAGE” / 34 FARM-TO-FOODBANK PROJECT – SAYRAH NAMASTE / 16 TENDING THE GARDEN – JACK LOEFFLER / 35 LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM RESILIENCY DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC – ANITA ADALJA / 18 HEALTHY KIDS HEALTHY COMMUNITIES NEWSBITES / 19, 24, 27, 37, 38 SAN ILDEFONSO PUEBLO – MARTHA COOKE / 19 WHAT’S GOING ON / 39 INTRODUCTION he September–October 2020 Green Fire Times—Growing a Regional Food System—is a tribute to the people of New Mexico. The life, work, heart and soul reflected in T these pages demonstrates the strength and hope alive in our communities. These stories link system-level concepts with entrepreneurial and community experience. They speak to the food value chain and what that means to us as we seek to co-create a revolutionary and resilient systemic response to the culmination of these times. We witness shifts that have happened through the eyes of the many contributors, and are also made aware of changes that are still needed to rebuild our regional food system. There is a new order developing. Equitable access through the localization of agriculture rings loud and clear. These articles explore the specifics of various organizations’ and food/agricultural entre- preneurs’ journeys and what it takes to work with mission, purpose and passion through unprecedented challenges. The tenacity showcased underlies work borne out of collab- oration among groups, some which have built bonds over many years and some that are discovering new ways of working together. This is an important theme as we move forward together. We are reminded that food is essential to being in alignment with our ancestry and envi- ronment. We are also ancestors for our future kin; the way that food is grown today lays groundwork for that future. Thank you to everyone working in our food community and to those who have shared their information and views through this publication. Also, thank you to Farm-to-Table New Mexico, the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council and ESHIP Río Grande for your support and assistance. Estela Alcantar’s booth at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market, Aug. 2020 © Seth Roffman ERIN ORTIGOZA GUEST ASSOCIATE EDITOR GREENFIRETIMES.COM 3 THE RETURN OF TRUE LOCALISM AGRICULTURAL likely get serious about cultivating insects for protein, either for ourselves or for CULTIVATING A SENSIBLE animal feed. FOOD SYSTEM All food ultimately comes from seed, so in order to have a strong, resilient food system, we must have strong, resilient and localized seed stock. Unfortunately, BY MIGUEL SANTISTEVAN seed is often produced separately from the farms that produce food, which is transported all over the world using fossil fuels. We need local farms dedicated Our relationship to food is the most intimate relationship we have with the to serving local farmers for seed production and agricultural research. Initially, Earth. Our flesh and bone are made of elements of the Earth, recycled food from those farms needs to be mostly grown to feed the children in schools, through the influences of sunlight, wind and water, becoming part of us seniors in our communities, and those who find themselves hospitalized or oth- through eating, drinking and breathing. In times past, we worked together in erwise in need. relatively isolated communities to procure the essentials of life. Our survival and sustenance required cooperation through collective organization and To produce this food, labor. Life was often tough and uncertain, but we relied on each other, and We need to expand our ideas we need to expand in the process, humans created cultures—represented by diverse cuisine, our ideas of agricul- art, dance and folklore. As a result of the survival of Puebloan and acequia of agricultural production tural production and culture in northern New Mexico, we are lucky to live in a place where that techniques. We need to history is still remembered and practiced. and techniques. rely on crops that are adaptable to the ex- Our ancestral relationship with food eventually resulted in the development tremes we are increas- of agriculture, which allowed us to grow and thrive. An abundance of food ingly seeing with climate change. I have been