DJ Duran, junior at West Las Vegas High School, is going for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place at the ¡ESE! (Espanola Showing Excellence!) Film Festival to be held FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008 in the ‘Cultural Documentary‘ category. His film is entitled ‘Cattle Driven’ and features information about his cattle ranching traditions in Chacon, New Mexico. In his film you will get to see rare footage of taking cattle to mountain pasture, acequia irrigation, and other cattle ranching traditions. Come to the film festival and vote for your favorite entries!
Date: Friday, April 18, 2008
Time: 7-9 pm
Place: Northern new Mexico College, Center for the Arts Auditorium
Episode 27 of ¡Que Vivan las Acequias! - produced by Miguel Santistevan of the NMAA in collaboration with Cultural Energy (www.culturalenergy.org). Made possible with a grant from the Panta Rhea Foundation.
This show features interviews of Sembrando Semillas members, mentors, and chaperones from a La Jicarita backpacking trip held July 16 & 17, 2007. In this program we talk about hiking to La Jicarita peak, the source of our water and the watershed, and being silent in nature. Participants include:
Celestino Chavez, Taos
RJ Chavez, Taos
Toribio Garcia, Chamisal
Joshua Rivera, Mora
Angel Martinez, Taos
Andrew Mascareñas, Urraca
Augustine Gonzales, Chamisal
Done Gonzales, Chamisal
James Duran, Chacon
Dominic Chavez, Taos
Mentor and chaperone Victor Mascareñas
Chaperone Reynaldo Santistevan
and
Mentor and chaperone Margarita Garcia.
A special thanks to The Center for Whole Communities in Vermont for helping to fund this backpacking trip. Additional thanks to Rocky Mountain Youth Corp in Taos for lending us backpacking equipment for this trip.
Theme music by Cipriano Vigil and this month’s musical selection, “Esperanza,” by the B-Side Players.
This show features a Sembrando Semillas workshop held on October 20, 2007 in Chamisal, New Mexico. In this program you can hear the Sembrando Semillas team learn how to make posole from blue corn. Featured in this show are:
Maximiliano Garcia: mentor in the making of posole.
Miguel Santistevan: recorder and interviewer.
Margaret Garcia: youth mentor.
Victor Mascareñas, Taos Sembrando Semillas mentor.
AND Youth participants:
RJ Chavez, Taos High School senior.
Juan Felipe Roybal, Peñasco High School junior.
Adam Casados, Peñasco High School.
Karen Mirabal, Taos college student.
Toribio Garcia, Peñasco High School junior.
Michael Fresquez, Peñasco High School.
Music by Cipriano Vigil and David Garcia y su conjunto.
On Saturday, October 20, 2007, the Sembrando Semillas team gathered in Chamisal to learn how to make posole from blue corn. This workshop was led by our mentor Maximiliano Garcia with great support from his family. The workshop was attended by Taos’ RJ Chavez, Karen Mirabal, as well as Questa’s Andrew, Samantha, Jordan, and Lauren Mascareñas. Penasco Semillas included Toribio Garcia, Michael Fresquez, Juan Felipe Roybal, Adam & Eric Casados, and Donne, Augustine, & Ignacio Gonzales.
We learned about the entire process of making posole, starting with the planting and harvesting of blue corn last year. The workshop consisted of desgranando el maiz, aigriandolo, lavandolo, and boiling the corn with cal (slake lime) until it turned orange and the seed shell started coming off. It then had to be rinsed several times to remove the cal. At that point it was frozen or could also be dried for later use. Posole, like chicos, is a fundamental food in northern New Mexico culture so having this knowledge is important. You will be able to hear about this workshop on the November edition of “¡Que Vivan las Acequias!”
The Sembrando Semillas team, with representation from Taos, Mora, and Peñasco areas, went on a three-day backpacking trip to hike to the top of La Jicarita peak. The trail to Serpent Lake begins at approximatly 10,800 feet. The hike to Serpent Lake was around 3.5 miles where we made camp at about 11,600 feet. The stretch to La Jicarita the next day and about 3.5 miles later, had us on top at over 12, 800 feet.
On the evening of Friday, July 6, Taos Sembrando Semillas members Andrew and Samantha Mascareñas, Martin Cardenas, and other semillitas got together to learn about garlic harvesting and storage from mentor Victor Mascareñas. We learned that garlic is ready when you can see purple coming through the seed scape on top. The garlic then needs to be hung in a cool, dark, airy place for two weeks to curar. It is then ready to eat, store, sell, or plant again in September or October.
During the months of May and June, Mora youth followed the traditions of their families and branded cattle, took their cattle to the sierra, and planted their gardens. On May 6th, with snow flurries falling throughout the morning, youth members DJ Duran, Josh Rivera, Diana Carrillo, LeAn Pino, Rory Pino, Christina Garcia, along with mentor Harold Trujillo planted nearly 400 pounds of four varieties of potatoes in LeDoux. They also helped Paula Garcia plant nine heritage fruit trees in Mora: three apple, three pear, and three cherry. Throughout May and early June, youth assisted their own families with branding. On June 3rd, Rory, Anna, and LeAn helped Antonio Medina, Marino Rivera, and Diego Rivera brand cattle in Encinal and take them to the sierra. Afterward, they planted their own garden at Paula’s in Mora.
Sembrando Semillas members Toribio Garcia (Peñasco), Angel Martinez (Taos), Diane Carillo (Mora), and Samantha Mascareñas (North Taos County) (pictured, left to right), participate in the 5th annual New Mexico Civic Engagement Summer Institute ‘07. This is the 3rd year of Sembrando Semillas sending a delegation to NMCE with Toribio Garicia and Angel Martinez being our 3rd year veteranos. Angel did a digital storytelling piece last year at NMCE ‘06 that was used in this year’s storyboarding training. Toribio also started his digital storytelling piece entitled “How My Family Makes Chicos.” He later made a 2nd edition that earned him 2nd place and a $100 at the ¡ESE! Film Festival. New Mexico Civic Engagement has been a chance for us to interact with youth groups from all over the State that have different issues they want to fix in their communities.
Props to the team for representing!
Sembrando Semillas takes a swing at river restoration. We help Steve Haris and Rich Shraider try to remove invasive plants. We were looking for pepper weed and the tamerisk.
After a long hard battle we took a river rafting ride down the Rio Grande. When the ride was over we messed around in the river.
That was where I met some of the coolest people, I now as my friends! I had so much fun with my homies Andrew Padilla, Andrew Mascarenas, Samantha Mascarenas and most of all the talks I had with Victor Mascarenas.
