Endings and Beginnings

Full Circle

Our final days in the Baja sierra were marked by a return to Las Animas, the community we visited for a week back in January. It was a great way to end our summer journey, returning to the place where we first began our field work over six months ago. It felt wonderful to reunite with the familiar faces of a community who remembered us well and had been expecting our return. However, while this provided a sense of closure and a feeling of coming full circle, we remain fully aware that the end of our summer in Baja is only the beginning for Living Roots.

Above: Mini tortilla made special for our last breakfast in Las Animas

Arroyo crossing heading into Las Animas in January (middle) and in July, the dry season (bottom)

What's in Store

The next six months has a lot in store for the team: preparing and presenting our summer report (Professor Turley, does our blog count?), finishing up our final semester, beginning the formation of a Mexico-based non-profit, and planning for a significant UNESCO grant in the first half of 2011. In the midst of it all, we'll also be coordinating a market test of mission-era regional foods such as wine and olives, as well as local artisan crafts from both the San Javier and Las Animas areas at a festival in Loreto at the end of October. We will also be participating in a mule pack trip with a group of passionate advocates and experts in the field of conservation and arid land management. To finishing off the year, we will be conducting our first sales trial testing out the Living Roots label in December at the locally famed San Javier Days, where thousands of people make a pilgrimage of sorts to the three day cultural festival in the mountains.

Mission period remains in Comandu

Nopal cactus fruits

Mucho Gracias!

We wouldn't be able to do it all without the hard work of our in-country partners who are helping us on the ground. Many thanks to Fermin Reyagadas, Diana Espinoza Memeza, Christian Higuera, Eduardo Martinez Martinez, Javier "Richie" Arce, Fransisco Olmos and Leonora Morales (and the rest of Niparaja), Refugio "Cuco" Balarezo Vasquez and Alberto Valle Fonesca (and the rest of the Baja Rotaria 4100), Trudi Angel, Cynthia Mayoral, Miguel Angel de la Cueva, and the folks at Baja Paradise. And of course, without the trust, enthusiasm, and support from the sierra ranching communities of Las Animas and in the San Javier area, none of this would be possible.

Our last few days in La Paz have been a whirlwind of decompressing, focusing, tying up loose ends, and squeezing in last minute meetings with our growing list of contacts. (We admit that there has also been a good amount of fantasizing about cooking in our own kitchens again soon. As much as we LUV beans, cheese and lard torillas everyday!)

The Next Chapter

We'd also like to send out a sincere Thank You to all who have been following and supporting us from afar. A special thanks goes out to Tony Dimas, who ventured all the way from Fort Collins to help us for several days in the field, bringing his humor, ranching expertise and outside perspective, all of which was a breath of fresh air at our halfway point. Of course, there were moments along the way when we felt like "wilted roots," but we persevered and feel good about our accomplishments and the many seeds planted. The last half of our trip has flown by, and while we are heading back to the states this week, we are excited about all that is ahead of us and invite you to continue following our blog as we transition from one Living Roots chapter to the next.

Best wishes,

Raices Vivas (Living Roots sounds good in Spanish, too!)