Every night now the frost sweeps through the hills and forests around us. All the tender plants have collapsed, discolored to the Earth, returning quickly to her to become soil as the freezing temperatures destroy their delicate leaves and stems. The trees stand naked, stretching upwards with their expressive trunks ranging from deep brown to grey and silver and even purplish hues. We watch carefully the depth of the frost every night to determine when to pull out our potatoes whose delicate stems and leaves have long since disappeared to the chill of winter. We consider whether to mulch over them with straw and leaves and leave them within the natural winter refrigerator of Mother Earth or to pull them out before the frost penetrates to their depth and store them in a cool room or basement.
Meanwhile behind a crate of potatoes the garlic begins its cycle of growth, just pushing up above the compost, impervious to the chill of winter. Little by little we pull the potatoes from the Earth, looking to see what condition they are in. They are crisp, with perfect skins, red, purple, yellow, delicate fingerlings, russets. They are the legacy of Indigenous Wisdom and generations of careful plant selection from our Relatives of the South- Genius Gardeners, Genius Plant Breeders, Genius Botanists, who continue to gift us the Potato which embodies not only incredible nutrition but also the wisdom of these generations, the Ancestors!
For us Sustainability is not only an ideal, but it is also deeply ingrained within the choices and actions that we take everyday. These purple Potatoes skins glisten with a deep purple color and when cut open an intense purple with fascinating designs within it is visible. The energy of them is striking. Although purple potatoes, red potatoes, yellow and fingerlings can be purchased at a health food store or in the gourmet section of the not so local supermarket at times, the texture, the crispness and the earthy smell of these freshly dug potatoes is in a world of its own in comparison. The difference is in the Spirit, the Vitality of the potato itself. While research has shown that organically grown food and specifically homegrown food is in general more nutritious than the ordinary supermarket equivalent, this does not acknowledge the Spirit. What we eat becomes incorporated into our physical, mental and spiritual bodies, and food that is produced by machinery, by chemical onslaught and then shipped thousands of miles has a depleted Spirit, and then we eat that depleted spirit. Our vegetables are complete hand raised! Our garden beds do not see a plow or chemical and we incorporate spiritual practices directly into the growing of them.
It is common knowledge (to many) that our Taino Ancestors buried medicine right with the plants in the form of stone Cemis, directly linking Spiritual-Ancestral Power and Wisdom with the Agricultural process. This was in addition to other natural additives that they enhanced the soil with (bat feces, etc). This was (and continues for us to be) all about bringing the Ancestral Spirit, Mpungo and the Spirit of Mother Earth together along with our own Spirit and Energy within the planting and harvesting process. Additionally attention is given to the Moon and other Celestial movements to bring further vitality to the food which will nourish the body, mind and Spirit!
Rather than fighting to grow tomatoes in a green house with all kinds of burning of fuels to heat it and bring light to it to force a tomato to grow in winter or to burn fuels bringing a hard, flavorless tomato thousands of miles, we "GROW WITH THE FLOW"! Here we harvest arugula and mustard greens which will survive many nights of frost before succumbing to the cold much later in the winter. While these plants struggle to survive the onslaught of bugs in the spring and turn bitter and stringy in the heat of summer, they stay tender and crisp at this time of year, totally free from pests.
Meanwhile in the cold frames our lettuce is growing in abundance interspersed with cold loving greens like mache, endive, cress, strawberry spinach, spinach, swiss chard and cilantro. These will continue to thrive throughout winter and as soon as the light starts to return in the new year they will resume their rapid rate of growth. The cold frames allow us to eat fresh greens all through winter with no fuel input other than the radiant heat of the Sun! (Below: dark green spinach in the center, lettuce to the left and mache to the right).
While as adults our sensitivities may have become numbed due to years of consuming spirit-less highly processed foods or limp tasteless vegetables, canned veggies or frozen veggies, we can see in our children a sharper mirror image of the vitality or lack of vitality of the foods that are eaten. In an infant who is first eating vegetables after months of only Momma's Milk we see a Spiritual-Mental Leap that takes place in the child's development when they begin to taste the various vegetables! And it is a well known fact to those who follow the research that children who eat wholesome organic and homegrown or garden grown vegetables, meats, eggs and fruits are healthier and more mentally alert, more able to learn and develop. The children are a sensitive mirror of the facts of healthy living, and healthy living IS Natural Living, IS Sustainable Living, IS Living with Sensitivity to Spirit within the continued movement of the Spirit of Our Ancestors!!!
There is an prevalent arrogance especially in so called "developed" countries where some people look down at those who "Live from/ with the Earth", derogatory phrases such as "subsistence farming" are utilized by ignorant and arrogant people. These people forget that their sustenance also comes from the Earth although they may be desensitized to this fact through distance from the source of their food and an array of plastic and metal barriers between themselves and the Fertile Earth! Working as Tainos and as Paleros with Our Mother Earth directly is a great blessing in multiple dimensions, from an abundance of vital nutrients, rich and vibrant textures and colors year around, the beneficial exercise and mental stimulation (positive vibration!) that comes from working with Our Mother, and an Ancestral Connection to all those Ancestors stretching back generations who also worked with the Earth directly. From the most miniscule of soil bacteria that is invisible to our eye (Mycobacterium vaccae) we learn what we already know: working with the Earth stimulates Serotonin (hormone linked with feelings of well being, decreased stress and anxiety and increased ability to learn) (Note to Paleros: Think FUNDAMENTO)! Our Camino within this Physical Experience of Atabey (Mother Earth) is inextricably linked to growing that which Nourishes us directly from her rich, fertile soils! The ignorant term "subsistence living" gives us images of depressed people struggling to grow a straggly bunch of crops from poor, abused and compacted soil. Nothing could be further from the Truth as Our Taino Ancestors and all Our Ancestors from this whole Continent understood very well, Growing "crops" in the permaculture style of the Past and utilizing the Indigenous Practices of Agriculture contains within it a whole University of Wisdom, Knowledge and Positive Spiritual- Mental Development; a healthy body, mind and Spirit!!!
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