Tag Archive for: environment

Monthly Newsletter – Vía Orgánica

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For organic regenerative agriculture, fair trade,
social justice, sustainable living and sustainable production 

Ranch news

EDUCATIONAL RANCH VIA ORGÁNICA

Vía Orgánica ranch was born as a connection space between producers and consumers. Its first space was a store designed to publicize local, wild, artisanal products, coming from the hands of guardians of some natural landscape. It was the producers who inspired this project and continue to motivate it, which is why we dedicate this newsletter to the families of organic producers who take care of the planet and feed the world.

The need we have as consumers to have healthy, seasonal, local, diversified food and above all grown with agroecological techniques; that improve the soil and preserve the species of flora and fauna, is increasing. The educational ranch concentrates and is an example of the different models of food production in semi-arid landscapes, expressing in a creative and beautiful way the work that many farmers carry out. We promote their wisdom and knowledge in activities that we spread through our tours and workshops. We allow to create a connection with what we consume and we offer the possibility of choosing and thinking about our consumption in favor of the solidarity economy, our health and the planet’s health too.

The educational ranch is a space to think about how our food gets to our table and the challenges that imply for each producer who resists and remains in their territory, which is why our relation offers another possibility to resume our food landscape with greater awareness.

Throughout our history, a network of more than 120 seasonal producers has been strengthened, who in small extensions of land, are given the task of maintaining traditional knowledge of food production, processing and conservation and offer their products in various stores, responsible in the region.

Choose your plan!

All November visit the ranch from Monday to Sunday and learn all about the Ofrenda that will be displayed with products from the milpa and the semi-arid landscape in tribute to the producers and leaders who have left.

Do not miss the whole month of hiking in the mountains! You can now come and collect your pumpkin to bake with butter, or make a pie.

Book your visit!

Billion Agave Project

Halfway through autumn, the Billion Agave Project advances with achievements and challenges, integrating more producers, teachers, researchers, environmentalists and decision makers to immerse themselves in this soil regeneration initiative with two dominant species of the semi-desert: the maguey plants and the mesquite trees.

Over two years we’re still learning about the nature of these species; the mesquites propagated by air layering and now distributed in the field while associated with native bushes and trees of the Jalpa Valley, show us their great capacity for adaptation and development.

As for the agaves, we learn about the management of this species, we have adapted tools such as clearings and coas for cleaning pruning and use of the agave leaves. We also explore the use of aggregation pheromones for the monitoring and control of the agave weevil (Scyphophorus acupunctatus), considered the main pest of the species.

Seasonal Crop

Guavas and the first tangerines begin to be harvested. Crops are raised for storage after the rainy season. The honey harvest begins in the region.

Do It Yourself

During the month of November, the temperature may begin to drop and you will receive the first frosts in your garden or orchard. Here we share some tips to maintain your plants.

– Water in the evening to prevent your plants from frost burn.

– If you have a blanket to cover your plants at night that can lower the temperature, take advantage of it, or use agrovelo or a sky blanket that allows you to lower the temperature below 0 degrees Celsius.

– Get ready to plant root crops that tolerate low temperatures such as radishes, carrots, turnips, garlic, onions, beets and also leaves such as lettuce, arugula and spinach. They love cool temperatures.

– Your orchard will be less colorful because the cold reduces flowering. But surely you can have a delicious salad harvested from your garden all year round.

Cooking Time

TAMALES DE MUERTO RECIPE

INGREDIENTS: 

– 2 kg of black corn dough for tamales
– 1/2 kg of pork lard
– Chicken broth (as needed)
– Corn husks for tamales

FOR THE SAUCE: 

– 10 ancho peppers without seeds hydrated in hot water
– 2 large garlic cloves
– 1 small onion
– 1 tablespoon of butter
– salt and pepper to taste
– 1/2 ranchero cheese

PROCEDURE FOR THE SAUCE

Grind the peppers, garlic and onion with a little of the liquid in which the peppers are hydrated, heat the butter and add the sauce. Cook for 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. The sauce should be thick.

PROCEDURE TO PREPARE THE DOUGH

Cream the pork lard with a little salt until it changes color, then add the dough and a little broth and stir until the dough fluffs and is smooth. Mix vigorously until when you put a small piece of dough into a glass of water it floats.

The dough does not have to be very loose. Once ready, pour half of this dough on a clean and damp cotton cloth, spreading the dough with your hands. Spread using a spoon, half of the sauce and half of the cheese. Roll up with the help of the cloth, cut into slices and put each piece on the corn husks previously hydrated with hot water. Prepare a steamer, arrange the tamales horizontally and cook for one hour.

Enjoy your delicious tamales this Day of the Dead season with a delicious pumpkin atole.

Inspirations

This month in which we honor our deceased, we do not forget and honor those who gave their lives to defend the environment and therefore all of us. This 2022 they have been assassinated: Verónica Patricia Guerrero Vinueza, Francisco Vázquez Domínguez, José Trinidad Baldenegro, Néstor Iván Merino Flores, Patricia Rivera Reyes, Teófilo Barrera Herrera, Marcelo Carrera Reyes, Omar and Jesús Bañuelos Acevedo. We demand justice and an end to violence against defenders in Mexico and around the world.

November Activities

December Activities

DON’T FORGET TO VISIT US!

Remember that we are open from 8 am to 6 pm
Carretera México/ Querétaro, turnoff  to Jalpa, km 9
Agroecological Park Vía Orgánica.
For information on our products, seeds and harvest,
call our store at 442 757 0490.
Every Saturday and Sunday nixtamalized tortilla with Creole and local corn!
Enjoy our sweet and sour kale chips for children and not so children!

FOLLOW US!

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Regenerating Seed and Food Culture in Africa

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Production of culturally appropriate food, that is healthy, nutritious and abundant is slowly but surely making its sound known across the African continent. This is mainly due a wonderful collective of country, regional and pan African movement building towards influencing systems and policy.

For the longest time, the narrative of food and agriculture in Africa has been degraded, with African seeds being labeled as tired, ways of farming as backwards, and a chain of narratives that include Africa being poor and needing “new technologies”. However, farmers are putting their best foot forward in changing the trajectory by using natural, local and biologically regenerative practices to grow food and nourish their families. Most industrial agriculture approaches that are mostly linked with the green revolution in Africa are proving to lead to more hunger and crop failures in the face of unreliable weather patterns due to the climate crises.

Small holder farmer organisations are focusing on building soil health,  as a way of creating resiliency, and sustenance for the communities.  I am sharing some photos of a seed fair we recently had here in the communities of Hwange National park in Zimbabwe.  These farmers live in one of the most difficult landscapes, with about 350-400 ml of rainfall on a good year, a long dry and hostile season which makes it hard for them to grow crops for longer periods. The Seed fair was a celebration of seed, food, culture and indigenous wisdom on seed preservation.  It was attended by representatives from 6 villages, the Chief and different leaders.

The theme of this work is founded on generosity and abundance thinking, communities go through a lot of challenges and over time mindsets shift towards scarcity and less connections with the environment around them. Working with farmers to celebrate seeds and food creates a space for just reciprocal relationships between people and between people and their environment.

Farmers are continuously transitioning to growing small local grains that are resilient to the harsh weather and soil conditions.

We use mobile animal enclosures to enrich and build soil, plant mixed crops for resiliency and improved harvest. Farmers harvest 2 times more than they normally would in each plot that has been impacted. This is a win-win-win solution, it is locally cheap, builds soil and nourishes families. Our hope is that eventually farmers will be able to mobilise themselves into bigger groups and continue to impact the broader landscape.

There are a lot of opportunities for communities to connect at country level for cross learning. As we build up momentum to the People’s Food Summit on October 16th, 2022- we are excited that the voices of small holder farmers from across the world will be represented.  Regeneration is creating all the connection of the pieces in the puzzle of life, culture, ecology and economies.

Monthly Newsletter – Vía Orgánica

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For organic regenerative agriculture, fair trade,
social justice, sustainable living and sustainable production 

Ranch news

EDUCATIONAL RANCH VIA ORGÁNICA

Commemorating the International Day of Rural Women and their role in food, it is important to remember the work of the women who collaborate in the project: 

The team of women that work and create Vía Orgánica are distributed along most of the areas of the ranch: regenerative farm, care of sheep and goats, apiary management, reforestation, seed care, food production, food preparation, customer service, education, finances, social media, administration and maintenance. Their hard work is essential for the operation of the ranch, each one of them being fundamental pieces to make Vía Orgánica work. Demonstrating that field work can be and, in many cases, is directed by women, even if the opposite is thought. 

The women who work inside the ranch are only a small part of the great number of women who work and achieve wonderful things from their own spaces, being providers of food with love and strength. 

Choose your plan!

Visit the ranch and discover the trails to the mountain. Did you know that upon arrival you can rent a bicycle and ride on the ranch? You can also have picnics in one of our rest areas with incredible views and explosive vegetation that you can still see in October. Treat yourself to an adventure ride, if you wish you can stay in a thermal adobe cabin or simply eat a dish made with fresh ingredients from our garden at the restaurant. 

In October, come and harvest your own pumpkin from the milpa and cook it as you like, in a rich pumpkin cream, in a delicious cake or pie. 

Come as a family, ask about our packages and book your visit!

Billion Agave Project

Since the Billion Agave Project was created, one of the objectives was, to create a course called “Agaves and Mesquite: Regenerating semi-arid land”. This diploma course was seen since the beginning, as a tool to spread and motivate the regeneration of the landscape with these two crops. It was designed a year ago in collaboration with the University of Guanajuato. The scope of this course was 60 people from all over Mexico and Ecuador, where 50% were women. It was attended by activists, students, producers and environmentalists determined to recover properties, mountains, hillsides, communities or colonies and to contribute to generating change with actions. The diploma course had more than 15 speakers: researchers, committed teachers from different instances such as the University of Chapingo, UNAM, University of Guanajuato, INIFAP, and others. 

The agaves and mesquites have been the perfect pretext to unite, make a community, listen, connect, add, sow curiosity, will and impetus in each of the participants. And with their way of being, strong and resilient, giving more than they take, they give us a life lesson, we just need to understand it. 

Seasonal Crop

Autumn has begun and it is the perfect time to raise some seasonal crops, the milpa is forming the fruits that come from there, such as the pumpkins that are at their maximum growth and mature and can be stored for months. The bean pods along with the cobs, broad beans and everything that the milpa gave us. Let’s not forget the delicious seasonal honey. 

We advice to consume according to the season, take advantage of the gifts that nature gives us full of colors and varied flavors. 

Do It Yourself

Arriving October the temperatures drop down during the nights and sunrises. If you started your garden at the beginning of the year, it probably now has brown and yellow colors, which indicate that your crops are physiologically mature, that is, they are in their reproductive stage and surely full of seeds. If this is your case, we recommend to do the following:

1.- Harvest some flower or fruit seeds that may have formed and store them for the next heat cycle. 
2.- If you have any empty space to cultivate, we recommend to recover fertility in the soil with donor crops (legumes) and some cereal such as wheat or barley that will be sown and integrated into the soil when it has 10% flowering to increase organic matter, fertility, microbiological life and symbiotic activity in it. This will also allow you to give your planter a break and prepare it for the next cycle. 
3.- Plant your mix of salad leaves such as lettuce and spinach, which grow well on cold days. 
4.- Take the time to monitor your plants, check which ones grew better, and write down which ones called the insects, and which crops grew more difficult and easier. It is important that you take note, you will learn from each cycle.

Come and Visit

October Activities

November Activities

DON’T FORGET TO VISIT US!

Remember that we are open from 8 am to 6 pm
Carretera México/ Querétaro, deviation on the way to Jalpa, km 9
Agroecological Park Vía Orgánica.
For information on our products, seeds and harvest,
call our store at 442 757 0490.
Every Saturday and Sunday nixtamalized tortilla with Creole and local corn!
Enjoy our sweet and sour kale chips for children and not so children!

FOLLOW US!

FACEBOOKFACEBOOK    TWITTERTWITTER    INSTAGRAMINSTAGRAM

SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER!

CompartirShare       TweetTweet             forwardForward 

El camino de Uruguay para ser pionero en carne carbono neutral

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MONTEVIDEO – «El ganado no es el problema, es parte de la solución; el ganado come pasto que vuelve a crecer y en ese proceso fija carbono en el suelo”, afirma Sebastián Olaso, mientras se calza las botas para salir a recorrer su campo de Rincón del Sauce, en el departamento de Florida, en el centro-sur de Uruguay.

En sus 1300 hectáreas Olaso engorda cientos de novillos Angus, la etapa final del proceso de producción de las primeras carnes certificadas como carbono neutrales en Uruguay y las primeras en el mundo en ser exportadas bajo este sello. La escala por ahora es pequeña: unas 60 toneladas anuales.

El concepto “ganadería climáticamente inteligente” define a los proyectos públicos y emprendimientos privados que apuntan a mejorar el balance de gases de efecto invernadero en el sector ganadero, a certificar procedimientos y generar productos con mayor valor agregado.

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The Onslaught of Genetic Engineering 2.0

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Over the past 30 years OCA and our allies across the world have fought hard against gene-spliced GMO foods and crops and the toxic pesticides and chemicals that always accompany them, exposing their dangers, limiting their market share, and in some countries bringing about mand

atory bans (Mexico) and/or labeling and safety-testing. (USA and Europe)

But now Bill Gates, the gene-engineers, the World Economic Forum, and the Davos “Great Reset” technocrats and authoritarians, the folks who anticipated and profited off of COVID and the lockdowns, have a bold new plan to shove down our throats: get rid of animal agriculture, ranching, and small farms entirely. Make lab-engineered fake meat, fake milk, and fake cheese the new normal. Pretend they’re not genetically engineered and therefore they don’t have to be properly safety-tested and labeled. Divide and conquer vegans and carnivores, urban consumers and rural communities.  Drive into bankruptcy and off the land the billion ranchers, small farmers, and herdsmen/women around the world, who depend on raising animals and livestock for their survival.

The powerful Lab Meat and Lab Dairy lobby, funded by Bill Gates and a growing number of Silicon Valley tycoons, pay lip service to reducing the CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions from factory farms, and rhetorically decry animal cruelty, but their highest priority seems to be undermining and destroying organic and regenerative farmers, especially those practicing holistic grazing and pasturing, those raising animals without glyphosate, neonics, GMO grains, or other chemical-intensive inputs.  Gates and the Great Resetters seem hell bent on establishing a new, unregulated monopoly of lab engineered (and of course patented) Frankenfoods. Tellingly enough the Big Meat giants (JBS, Cargill, Tyson, et al) and the Dairy Giants (Unilever and Nestle) are all now investing in fake meat and dairy as well, hedging their bets and diversifying their greed.

The cheerleaders and fake-hip entrepreneurs of Frankenfoods 2.0 claim their products are not really genetically engineered (a lie); that they are entirely plant-based (a lie); and that they are safe (the government allows these companies to self-declare their SynBio products as safe), nutritious (a lie), ethical (a lie), and basically equivalent to real meat and dairy (another lie).

As Organic Insider points out:

“In recent years, ‘animal-free’ dairy proteins have found their way into everything from ice cream to cream cheese to snack bars, but many shoppers, food manufacturers and retailers are unaware that these are actually unlabeled and unregulated GMOs. Further compounding the problem is that consumers may be misled into thinking that these products are ‘natural,’ which could potentially take market share away from the organic industry.”

“‘Companies call these things ‘synthetic biology’ and ‘fermentation technology,’ but these foods are all just GMOs,’ said Michael Hansen, Senior Staff Scientist at Consumer Reports. ‘They are using terms people do not understand, so that people will not realize these are GMO ingredients.’”

A recent poll in the UK indicates that 60% of consumers do not want to eat GE lab meat.

The cabal pushing lab meats and dairy, and their Monsanto/Bayer/Syngenta/ Dow/DuPont counterparts pushing pesticide-drenched, first generation GMOs (1.0), claim that organic farming and holistic grazing and the pasturing of animals are inefficient and even dangerous, and that in our Brave New World of gene-splicing, gene-editing, and so-called precision fermentation, only elite lab engineers, large corporations, and technocrats can feed the world and mitigate the environmental and climate crisis.

But in fact there is a growing body of evidence that these 21st Century Frankenfoods are neither safe nor nutritious. SynBio Frankenfoods are neither sustainable nor-plant based, nor by any stretch of the imagination equitable for family farmers, ranchers, and indigenous/traditional communities. SynBio foods are not properly safety-tested nor labeled. Indeed upon closer examination, looking at the official risk disclosures that publicly-traded SynBio manufacturers such as Ginko Bioworks are required to provide to investors, this new generation of GE foods pose a potentially catastrophic threat to our health, environment, and the livelihoods of the world’s three billion small farmers, ranchers, indigenous herders, and rural villagers.

As Ginko admits:

“The release of genetically modified organisms or materials, whether inadvertent or purposeful, into uncontrolled environments could have unintended consequences… we cannot guarantee that these preventative measures will eliminate or reduce the risk of the domestic and global opportunities for the misuse or negligent use of our engineered cells materials, and organisms and production processes.”

Although there has been a small but longstanding resistance to Synthetic Biology, spearheaded by public interest non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as ETC Group, Friends of the Earth, and the International Center for Technology Assessment, which we have supported in the past, OCA believes the time is ripe to build up a new, vastly expanded U.S. and global campaign of farmers and consumers to stop the Frankenfoods 2.0 fake meat, fake dairy onslaught.

Through mass public education, litigation, boycotts, and protests, the goal of this revitalized farmer/consumer campaign will be to drive these genetically engineered Frankenfoods (fake meat, fake milk, fake cheese) off the market, and, in the process, turn back the planned demolition of our organic and small farmer-based food and farming system by Bill Gates, the Rockefeller Foundation, Silicon Valley Big Meat, Big Dairy, and the Davos Crowd.

Learn more: The Playbook for GMO 2.0 Is Going Exactly To Plan, Brands Step in to Combat It

Read lots more articles on SynBio by going to the Real Farms, Not Fake Food campaign page.

Stay tuned for future developments.

Ronnie Cummins is co-founder of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and Regeneration International, and the author of “Grassroots Rising: A Call to Action on Food, Farming, Climate and a Green New Deal.” 

Avanza la agricultura regenerativa en la Cuenca Copalita-Zimatán- Huatulco

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De acuerdo con la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO), los bosques son importantes proveedores de recursos naturales al ser una fuente tanto de agua como alimentos y fungir como acondicionadores naturales del aire, ya que ayudan a enfriar la temperatura entre 2 y 8 grados.

Por ello, la conservación de bosques y ecosistemas es importante en la lucha contra el cambio climático, mismo que representa el reto más apremiante de la actualidad. Así lo señalaron los expertos en el AXA Future Risk Report 2021, en el cual destacaron el cambio climático por delante de riesgos a la ciberseguridad, así como de pandemias y enfermedades infecciosas.

En este sentido, es importante señalar que México ocupa uno de los primeros lugares en tasas de deforestación en el mundo, según la Comisión Nacional Forestal (Conafor). Para 2018 se estimaba una tasa anual de deforestación de 166 mil 337 hectáreas, lo que representa más del doble que 17 años atrás.

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Lanzamos Semillera: primer concurso de crónica sobre mujeres que defienden el derecho a la alimentación, el medioambiente y la tierra

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En el marco de #SemilleraLATFEM y junto con WeEffect hoy lanzamos el 1er Concurso de Crónica latinoamericana y caribeña sobre mujeres indígenas, campesinas y afrodescendientes que defienden el medioambiente, el derecho a la alimentación y la tierra 🌱🌎

Se trata de una convocatoria para la realización de un trabajo original, con un incentivo de US$ 1000, mentoría a cargo de un equipo especializado y la publicación final en un medio de la región y en un micrositio web interactivo.

Pueden ingresar a la web para ver los detalles de inscripción y requisitos. aplicaciones desde el 5 y hasta el 22 de agosto.

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Agricultura libre – semillas

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Recuperar los videos de los diferentes eventos que han visto la luz en Sembrares es una experiencia única para mí. A veces, alguna cosa que ocurre a mi alrededor me recuerda a alguna de las personas que nos han obsequiado con sus experiencias y su sabiduría a lo largo de estos dos años de andadura. Y vuelvo a sus enseñanzas, y entonces descubro nuevos matices que me hacen crecer como agricultor y, creo, como persona.

Hace unos días, en un programa de la radio de mi zona recordaban el maravilloso disco que publicaron Willie Colón y Rubén Blades en 1978, llamado “Siembra”. A parte de ser espectacular a muchos otros niveles, la canción que da título al álbum me hizo reflexionar sobre los motivos de nuestro trabajo, sobre por qué estamos aquí.

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Qué se necesita para lograr la agricultura regenerativa

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La agricultura es una de las actividades más vulnerables al cambio climático, esto se debe a que el aumento de temperatura reduce la producción de los cultivos, a la vez que provoca la proliferación de las malas hierbas y pestes.

La FAO —organismo especializado de la ONU que dirige las actividades internacionales encaminadas a erradicar el hambre— afirma que los cambios de temperatura también son provocadores de lluvias extremas, las cuales aumentan las probabilidades de fracaso de las cosechas a corto plazo y de la reducción en la producción a largo plazo, hecho que amenaza la seguridad alimentaria mundial.

En la actualidad es urgente mitigar dicha situación y procurar el bienestar de los campos. Una alternativa para hacerlo es capacitando a los agricultores y transformando la agricultura común por una en la que se vigilen todos los recursos. De esto se trata la agricultura regenerativa.

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Farmers in Mexico Fight Coffee Disease With Resistant Varieties and Agroforestry

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  • Indigenous Mixe farmers in Mexico’s Sierra Norte highlands are testing dozens of coffee varieties and developing agroforestry systems in order to combat coffee leaf rust, a fungal disease that spread to the region and devastated coffee production.
  • The project tests the resistance of over 27 different varieties of coffee within a shaded agroforestry system that helps decrease temperatures and create drier conditions – reducing the fungi’s spread.
  • Cultivating organic coffee in times of unpredictable weather is risky, costly and a laborious exercise. The cost of production is also growing, affecting farmers’ eagerness and capacity to cultivate.

SANTIAGO ATITLÁN, Mexico – Lucio Jimenez Ocampo is always surrounded by coffee. In the yard of his house in Santiago Atitlán nestled in the Oaxaca state’s Sierra Norte highlands, there are about a hundred organic coffee plants of different varieties packaged in plastic bags.

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Tag Archive for: environment

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