+++++++++++++++ Huerto Cafe Despensa Day +++++++++++++++

My dear friend Rocio Meillon, owner of Huerto Cafe in Riberas Del Pilar,

called me to ask if I would help her coordinate giving away some food despensas

to our most needy families.

Rocio knows that I work with Poco A Poco San Pedro Itzican and that we are presently

delivering 5 tons of food to the villages east of Mezcala weekly.

Weekly Food Truck Delivery to San Pedro Itzican

Bambino and Despensas

Rocio thought I could identify the most needy families in our areas.

I also work with a bi-weekly despensa food group in Ajijic that brings much needed

food, originating from the Jalisco Food Bank.  Our group is "Mexicans Helping Mexicans" and has been working now completely voluntarily for 4 years...we are Axixic Michicihualli. 

With the help of my fellow Axixic Michicihualli co-founders Jaime and Raul, we identified families from Chapala, Riberas Del Pilar and Ajijic that truly needed assistance.

Despensa Package

We receive, inventory, sort and deliver our bi-weekly despensa at the

futbol field south of the Lienzo Charro, and Jaime was gracious enough

to lend us the same area for the Huerto Cafe despensas.

Raul and Paloma Waiting For The Despensa Families

Jaime, Rocio y Pao

At high noon the families started to arrive.  We took a few bits of information such as name and number of people in the households, what town they lived in, etc.

The families were very grateful for the food Rocio and her folks were providing.

In the end we counted 157 people who were helped that day by Rocio's kindness.

Gracias Rocio y Huerto Cafe for stepping up to make a difference in these difficult times.

Huerto Cafe

Hidalgo # 212 (carretera)

Riberas Del Pilar

(376) 108-0843

huertocafe@gmail.com

Rocio Meillon

Vivero In The Time of COVID-19

After 3 weeks of voluntary isolation from the Vivero La Esperanza in San Juan Tecomatlan

Brad and I decided to pay a "stealth" visit in the early evening this past Thursday to see how the plants were doing.  We figured if we went late in the day the odds of running into any of the Vivero kids or community would be low.

Potting Tables

Not knowing what to expect, we were pleasantly surprised to see the plants had been watered, albeit less than ideally desired, but nevertheless they had been kept alive.

 Bromeliads

 Cilantro y Calabaza

The anti-gallina structures had worked their magic and the plants had grown into adulthood.

Our girasoles, nasturtium and lettuces were growing well.  From the look of the lettuces I 

saw that the Vivero Kids had harvested them for their own use.

 Cotton trees in Keyhole Garden

Brad brought brown and green cotton trees that he had germinated

to plant in the garden.

Cotton Seedlings

3 weeks ago the kids had created this garden.  Due to the heat and lack of watering

the plants were stressed...so we watered everything profusely.

 "We Miss You!"

During our time in the Vivero a few community folk passed by and waved to us.

I knew the kids would notice we had been in the Vivero so I left a sign and some seeds

for them to continue their planting.

Vivero Gnomes

Honestly, this has been one of the hardest challenges about this "virus" time...

not being able to see the Vivero folk every week.

Our hopes are that this time of isolation will be over soon.

Stay Safe, Be well

The Crew of Vivero La Esperanza

San Juan Tecomatlan

++++++++++++++++++++++ Water Wise ++++++++++++++++++++

(Photos by E. Robinson and  F. Nava)

We've been planning for an Artisanal Paper Making Workshop in the Vivero

for a while now...and the Saturday had finally arrived.

Squash Blossom (behind anti-gallina protection) is growing nicely.

Being that our Vivero has no source of electricity, Maestro Brad Mowers prepared the pulp needed

beforehand...all week he boiled Banana, Agave, Grass and Lirio leaves, blendered them to pulp

and put them in plastic bottles for transport.

The problem was that when we arrived at the Vivero, the town of San Juan Tecomatlan

had not had any municipal water for 3 days, and our reserves for watering

had run dry.

How to have a Vivero and a paper making workshop without any running water?  Our volunteers were challenged with a dilema.  We met around the issue and an apparent solution was reached.

If we needed we could purchase drinking water to use for the workshop.

So off we went in search of garafones of drinking water.  We found enough water in 2 abarrote

stores to supply our workshop need.

Ready to start the workshop a few of our adult volunteers posed the question "Is this the correct

message to be giving the youth?"  We pondered the pros and cons of the solution and felt that although we had money and vehicles to be able to bring drinking water to the Vivero, it was not a good solution.  We could use the drinking water in better ways.  So we gathered as a group...youth, adults, community and voted to distribute the drinking water to needy community members and postpone the workshop until the municipal water returned.

Just then, Anita Torres Guerrero and the Brigadistas appeared as if by magic.  We discussed our point of view and Anita, in all her resourceful magnificence said "Why don't we go down to the lake for water for the workshop?"  Next thing you know the Brigadista truck had all the Brigadistas and Vivero youth piled into the truck.  They took our empty barrels and were off!

In a short while they returned with barrels full of lake water.

Like magic we had enough water for the paper making workshop to begin.

Brad showed us how to mix the pulp with water to reach the right dilution for paper making.

He also showed us from where the Maguey fiber came and how it was harvested.

And also what products can be made with the fiber...case in point rope.

Soon everyone was trying their hand at paper making.

The finer points of paper making were discussed and taught.

Brad showed us how to replenish the pulp once it was used up.

Soon paper was materializing.

Creativity took hold and the youth were adding natural elements to the wet paper.

Brad also brought samples of his hand made paper and projects that can be made with the paper.

 

Once everyone got the hang of it, the production line kept going.

The sun was all we needed to dry our paper.

Having had the epiphany of how difficult life can be without water,

our cleanup also included saving the left over pulp and used water.

The pulp will be used for next week's 2nd paper making class and the left over water

was used to water the very thirsty Vivero plants.

Our friend Mino, along with the Vivero youth, then took all the garafones of drinking water and distributed the water to needy community members...a woman just out of hospital, some of

the elderly, some of the poorest members.  With the help of our Vivero youth all

the bottles were given away.

Tune in next week for class # 2 of hand made, Artisanal Paper Making in

Vivero La Esperanza, San Juan Tecomatlan.

I want to thank you all for your continued support of our Vivero project, and especially the wise souls

who edited our actions this past Saturday, making us take a step back and ask, with sensitivity, if the plan was the correct action for the community....our community...the community of San Juan Teco and the world.

Water...so vital to all life...and yet, we forget sometimes the value of this amazing entity,

especially when we do not have it available.

And yet, we live on the shores of this large lake. 

I'm happy that she was able to provide what we needed

exactly at the perfect time.

We are 'germinators'...of seeds, of young lives and yet we rarely get to see

where our actions take hold and how they effect our world.

I believe at the Vivero La Esperanza we get a glimpse of this...such a rare thing.