Women of Mezcala Jewelry Workshop & Garden Visits 3-30-18

In Mexico there is always something to celebrate. Whether it be the new birth of a baby burro or the birthday of a Brigadista, we are always ready to acknowledge these milestones.

Baby Burro

Today we arrived in La Cuesta/Mezcala to work with the 'Women Supporting Women' jewelry making group, bringing expert jewelry makers and teachers to hone the women's jewelry making skills.

Our dear friend and jewelry maker extraordinaire, Mary Ellen Rushworth, visited with us to teach the finer points of jewelry making to the women of Mezcala.

Donation Items

We were also gifted wonderful items from jeweler Darlene Dehlin.  Thank you for your gifts and support!

Jewelry Stand at Diane Pearl's in Ajijic

The women's jewelry is now being sold at Diane Pearl's and I Cugini shops in Ajijic.

This day we were also visited by Doris Wakeman's Mom, Dori.

And as it so happened today was also Brigadista Olga's birthday, so we brought along a 

cake, song and well wishes.

Everyone participated in the fun.

Chia Planters

I love visiting the Brigadista home office...there is always something new.  

This day the Chia egg carton planters were displayed.

Memories were made.

Then it was time to visit two of our pilot gardens.  First up was Jorge's family garden.

Everything was growing well, albeit a bit stressed from the mid day sun and watering challenges.

Next was the Chayote field.

Chayote P.O.V.

A beautiful harvest was had and Jorge's family gifted us with veggies to take home.

Laura's Family Garden

Laura's family plot was filled with lovely squash...it was harvest time.

We also were excited to see the progress on the land that was selected for the family's vegetable plot.  The land had been prepared.  We awaited additional fencing to finish the perimeter.

We were invited to walk down to the lake for a view.

And we were not disappointed....beauty was everywhere.

La Cuesta y San Pedro Itzican Projects Update - March 26, 2018

(Photos by Kari Higgins & Fco. Nava)

Virgin of Sorrows

The week leading up to Easter is always a solemn time.  It is a time of reflection, of going into our deeper selves, leading toward a resurrection of sorts, the start of spring.

Our weekly trips to the San Pedro Itzican area are always eagerly anticipated.  We always look forward to the progress that our 'cottage industry' projects bring.

The knitting workshops, led by Kari Higgins are showing great promise and product.

And as always, we welcome guests who bring their curiosity and support of our projects.  This day we were joined by Margaret, Kathleen, James and Patsy.

Donation Box

Beautiful Shawl

Even our own Xochitl and Anita became students and are enjoying their new found skills.

Then it was off to visit our gardens.  We started with Reye's container garden, to see what had transpired.  We were happy to see that the grow bags, donated by Jan Clayton-Miller were in use.

 Doris, Kathleen and James

Reye's mother played hostess and showed us her new plantings.

Happily updated we headed over to Xochilt's family garden.

The front garden was growing wonderfully...so much so, that Xochitl's mother asked if we might continue the garden into the back of the house.  She said she had a small plant area to use.

The brick raised bed area is in part sun/part shade, so we discussed which plants would do well in the area and agreed to start the new garden next time around.

We will be updating you on the garden's progress.

Off we went to the Brigada Home Office in Mezcala to see their new work.

The Brigadistas are nothing if not resourceful!  They took recent wood donations and made them into a lovely raised bed box.

The recycled plastic bottles became vertical garden macetas (pots),

and wooden drawers became window boxes.

New Product

We were also in Mezcala to speak with the Women of the Jewelry Project.

As always, we were well attended by the untiring Brigadistas.

Laura, Carlos y Jesus (our youngest Brigadista)

 Watch Us Grow!

Tune in next week for more updates.