December 21, 2012.... Do not be a fool!

As people who are rooted in our relationship with the Ancestors and Mother Earth, it is important for us to take some time to bring some clarity to the madness surrounding this date 12-21-2012.  

Neither our Taino Ancestors nor our African Ancestors had any specific prophecies or gave any special significance to this date, or the days surrounding this date.  Our Ancestors were profoundly rooted in Natural Phenomenon, including phenomenon that were visible in the sky, such as the movements of stars and planets.  Our Ancestors were deeply aware of, and very adept at taking advantage of cycles and seasons.  Naturally our Ancestors were aware of Solstices and Equinoxes, and these held significance every year.  Our Ancestors were NOT entertaining FANTASIES concerning these natural phenomenon.  Our Ancestors were NOT FABRICATING celestial events in order to profit from them.  Likewise our Traditions today should avoid these fantasies and fabrications in order not to empower the confusion and madness that these fantasies give rise to.  Our Earth and all her peoples are in a critical process of dealing with the devastation brought to her ecosystem through a process of industrial exploitation and the creation of violent and evil machines, chemicals, bio-weapons, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, and the list goes on.  We do not need to further burden her and our situation by endorsing or actively promoting lies and fantasies.  

December 21, 2012 is a date upon which hoards people in a new age fantasy will be focusing confused emotional and mental energy in various directions.  Some will be in states of fear, but most will be in a state of deep denial and ignorance... and some have already profited immensely in the selling of these fabrications and fantasies.  None of this is going to serve Mother Earth or Humanity.  

As a Taino Medicine Clan and also as Paleros, it is important to us that we make our position on this 2012 deception clear.  We in no way endorse or promote any aspect of the 2012 hoax, not the prophecy aspect, not the planetary alignment aspect, not the milkyway galaxy alignment.  None of this is at all factual, and all of it has arisen due to the devastation of Colonialism in this Continent.  The sad fact that some of our people have succumbed to this foolishness is a testament to the power of the mental and spiritual enslavement that the invaders have subjected our people to, and the effectiveness of the agenda promoted by Las Casas in the Caribbean and the many like him all over this continent, this being an agenda of spiritual enslavement and mental derangement.

If we look at what is actually happening in the sky on December 21, 2012, we do not see a exceptional planetary alignment, we do not see the alignment of the Earth, Sun and Center of the Milkway (that event is 4 million years or so away), we do not see anything unprecedented, other than the usual amazing dance of the planets within this Universe.  The Sun appearing from our perspective to be moving through a dark rift in the Milkway is indeed true however this has been going on for a couple hundred years and still has a couple hundred to go.  The 26,000 year significance is simply the amount of time it takes to complete a full circuit for this celestial dance with the Milkyway.  

It saddens us when we see Indigenous People give credence to this nonsense.  There has been a number of Indigenous People we have met or communicated with who actively promote this 2012 fabrication, all of whom are either profiting from it financially or egoistically.  Many cite the text of Chilam Balam as proof of the many prophecies, but this text was created POST the invasions of our lands and has the corrupting and distorting hands of christian priests in it.... some of it is outright christianity.  It can by no means be considered a reliable source of information concerning the Mayan's true understanding PRIOR to invasion and genocide.  

Let's look for some real life examples: Generally speaking we prefer not to name individuals, but in this case there is an excellent teaching example: There is a man out there (Ac Tah) who identifies himself as a Mayan on a special mission from the Ancestors, who claims that scientists are going to use the proton accelerator on December 21 (a real device, the largest one located in Switzerland) to cause a pole reversal.  However, Ac Tah reassures us that he has a solution and is working overtime to create proton de-accelerators that will prevent this pole reversal.  He is of course profiting from this enterprise by accepting "donations".   No doubt this proton accelerator is something that we should be concerned with as scientists are not known to consider the greater good of humanity when they conduct their experiments, and have a habit of creating monstrosities that wreak havoc in the world.   However as of December 17th this machine was shut down after a 3 year run, as it will be only doing a short run in 2013 and then be stopped for maintenance until 2015.  Ac Tah claims these scientists want to take advantage of the cosmic energies present during a critical 8 minute time period during the December 20-23 time frame, in order to energize their machines.  Of course all this is ludicrous, and obviously Ac Tah was not aware that the proton accelerator would not even be running as of 12-21-2012.  What is astonishing is the number of people giving an ear to this type of nonsense.  In fact Ac Tah has traveled fairly extensively around the country with his fantasy, selling it effectively, also meeting with other so called "shamans" selling equally false information under the guise of "Prophecies".

At this point we want to make it clear that there is NO TAINO 2012 prophecy , this is a new age fantasy.  There was a time some years ago when another fake prophecy was being promoted as "Taino".  This prophecy was called alternately the prophecy of the white cemi and the prophecy of Aura Surey.  This prophecy was based on a fiction by an author Margerite Nogueira, which was later marketed as fact by a number of people, some of whom did not have a clue that it was a fabrication.  This type of unethical conduct when it comes to tradition is inexcusable.  Our Peoples have suffered extensively physically, emotionally, and mentally.  We have had our language taken from us, we have had our traditions outlawed, we have had our lands stolen from us.  When is enough, enough, and when will we demand that our Spirituality be respected?   Those Indigenous "Elders" who promote this type of new age junk are prostituting the memory of our Ancestors, defecating on our Ancestral Graves, and are attacking the integrity of our traditions.  They have become the lackeys of those who continue to want to see our traditions destroyed and our Spirits stunted.  They are Ndoki and Maboya (evil and destructive spirits) under a mask of new age mediocrity.  They are the spiritual descendants of the invaders of our lands, if not the physical descendants.  They are spiritual parasites.  

We are all aware that our traditions have been orally transmitted for generations, however, within the last 50 years or so, this fact has been used by certain unethical, selfish individuals to fabricate "traditions".  When these fabricated traditions are questioned, the individual resorts to saying "oh it was given to me via oral tradition", which of course is an outright lie.  It is a sad fact, since those individuals doing this are manipulating the history of europeans superimposing their lies on top of our truths through the permanence of written word.  Our oral traditions have been reduced to a second class status below written traditions, however when individuals use "oral tradition" to justify their fabrications, this is truly disgusting as they are playing upon our emotional feelings regarding oral traditions.  As Indigenous People we do not want to critically question oral tradition since we have been exposed to so much criticism and mockery due to having oral traditions rather than written traditions.  It takes a particularly disgusting individual to exploit this sensitivity.  

We encourage critical thinking in all things.  When one is in the process of beginning to come out of mental enslavement, it can be easy to fall into these new age traps, they pull good hearted people in through a manipulation of fact and fantasy.  They play on general facts while slyly introducing fantasy alongside the fact.  This is difficult for our minds to grasp, as we have been taught to either accept the whole package or to reject it.  As we mature within our process of liberating our minds, we begin to be able to separate the fact from the fiction and question those things that previously we took at face value.  One thing is absolutely true, and this is that the new age fantasies cannot stand up to careful, intelligent questioning.  The process of applying our common sense cannot be over emphasized and to protect our Traditions we must become critical thinkers!  We cannot continue to offer up excuses for misbehavior of people within our traditions, especially when those people are calling themselves "Elders", or proclaiming some kind of expertise.  While at one point ignorance was understandable due to our people's lack of access to information, today there is no excuse for ignorance.  It is a simple process to check anyone's "facts" to see if we are being misled.  

We trust that this clarification has been necessary and will humbly contribute to the protecting and strengthening of our Traditions!

The Spirit of the Plants: Herbal Medicines

In this sharing we welcome you into our home, as we record some medicinal cooking blends and a relaxing tincture.  This is a home that we have constructed ourselves and it reflects the forest around us, and as can be seen, the window reflects our admiration and love for Mother Earth and the Plants, and the power of the Sun and Moon.

Traditionally, of course, Bohitus and/ or Paleros, were adept at the use of many herbs and trees for medicinal purposes, and let us not forget that many of our Great Grandmothers, Grandfathers, Aunts and Uncles were also adept at using herbs and trees for healing.   Modern day Paleros and Bohitus/ or "Beikes" also use various herbs and palos in their work, however the deep relationship of the healer with the plants has been undermined and in some cases that relationship is nonexistent.  A Palero may simply go the botanica and request certain herbs with no knowledge of how the plant looks, the taste of it, the healing qualities of it, or how and where it grows.  Many of these Paleros and Tainos turn not to the tradition of herbal wisdom, but to chemicals or to highly processed materials when they or their loved ones become sick.  This is a sad statement as to the successful miseducation of our people.  However at any given moment we can begin once again to renew our direct relationship with the plants that surround us, the plants that our Ancestors have traditionally used, and the plants that have become available due to the unprecedented ability we have to easily acquire "exotic" plants from virtually anywhere on this Earth. 

We have been engaging this process of renewal for many years, and now, with our children growing rapidly in wisdom, it becomes even more essential to pursue the plant wisdom.  We do not just make the herbal preparations by following herbal "recipes" but also grow many of the herbs we use ourselves, and we approach the whole process in ceremonial and respectful ways.  Our relationship with our healing plant relatives has been compromised by the widespread exploitation and destruction of so many places upon the Earth, especially certain very sacred plant paradises, such as the Amazon Rain Forest, which of course is very significant within the Taino Ancestral Story.  We also have a situation where we have many plants that now grow wild around us, which have been brought in from places all over the world.  It is a complex situation, but the simple fact of it is that we need to heal the relationship we have to the plants and we need the plants to help us be strong and wise, and we have to consider that perhaps our children will need the  plants even more than we may think that we do.  We know that the plants are essential to our thriving.  We also know that working with the plants is beautiful and nourishing.

Here we share two blends of culinary herbs which are also medicinal.  One is savory, one sweet, and both can be used in a wide variety of dishes.  For us it is very important to incorporate herbs into our cooking.  Not only do the herbs give the food wonderful flavors, but they also strengthen us with their high level of nutrients and minerals, and they strengthen our immune system.

The first blend consists of toasted sesame seeds, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, dulse seaweed, and parsley in roughly equal amounts.  All these herbs have high levels of anti-oxidants and give us a wide variety of nutrients.  This blend can be sprinkled on anything or added to soups, stews, stir-fries, salads, and much more.  

We toast the raw sesame seeds ourselves in a cast iron skillet.  

The variety of herbs in the bowl are a beautiful blend of colors and textures, and of course smells.  All herbs are either ground or crushed.  

The herbs are blended, and then placed in glass jars.  We try to use glass as much as possible due to the concerns we have with compounds in plastic leeching into the herbs.  (We are especially concerned with not putting any medicinal liquids in plastics).  

Our daughter is always enthusiastic about working with the herbs.  She is learning at a young age, which is the best age to learn.  The children are able to have that natural relationship to the plants in ways that adults are often unable, because adults tend to take a very theoretical/ intellectual approach.  In this way we can often learn from our children, even while we are teaching them.  

We use 100% organic herbs in our blends.  In this blend we grew the rosemary, sage, and oregano ourselves, and purchased high quality thyme, dulse, sesame and parsley from the bulk bins in our local organic food co-op.  None of these ingredients have been "irradiated" and they are vibrant.  The more we can grow our own herbs or buy them from people who approach growing the herbs with love and spirituality, the more powerful those herbs will be for us, and the more our bodies will be receptive to the healing properties of the herbs.  There is a big difference in taking the whole herb, be that the root, leaf, flower or all three, rather than a compound that has been extracted from the herb.  There is also a difference, although more subtle, in taking a herb that we have grown in our garden where we live rather than a herb that has been grown in a completely different environment.  The herb in our garden is being exposed to the same water, weather, air pressures, and even toxins that we are, and therefore has a special place in our medicine!

Our second blend has cinnamon, ginger, and cardamon added to hawthorn berry powder (which is very good for heart health) and also has toasted coconut for flavor and texture.  All the spices are warming.  This is a blend that is great for oatmeal (and any hot grain cereal), great for deserts, especially anything with apple, and for warm winter drinks.  Not only is it highly medicinal but it is also delicious.  

The herbs are dominated by the hawthorn berry powder (which does have a nice flavor) and the cardamon is the smallest component, as cardamon is very dominating.  We have a hawthorn berry tree and have plans to plant many more.  Our little hawthorn tree is quite old and must be a dwarf variety as it is small.  It has thorns all over its branches that are at least 1" long.  The berries ripen in the fall and are about the size of marbles.  For us this is a very spiritual tree, and one that we continue to deepen our relationship with.  By incorporating this plant into our regular diets we are bringing something into our bodies that cannot be found in supermarket spice blends (which rely heavily on salt and pepper for flavor).  

Again we toast the coconut ourselves in an iron skillet.  As Paleros we are well aware of the significance of working with iron.  These iron skillets are awesome and safe cookware which lasts lifetimes.  Our concerns with other "non-stick" cookware have led us to acquire an array of cast iron cooking pots.  These are naturally nonstick once they are correctly seasoned.  These pots become more than just tools.  We appreciate the fact that we can work with the iron and that the iron absorbs the energies of the many meals we cook, all the various ingredients and spices.  We also use these iron pots on the outdoor grill and so they have also absorbed the energy of the wood fire, the many different palos that have been burned in the fire, plus the sages, tobaccos and other aromatic herbs that we place in the fire.  All this magic and spiritual energy goes into these medicinal blends.

Again our daughter eagerly helps in this process.  We all took the time to taste every individual herb we used and discus the various properties of the herb, how it made us feel, where in our body we felt it move to.  In this way not only do we enjoy the benefit of the herbs but we also re-educate our minds to be more alert and sensitive to the most amazing tool that we have in relating to the plants, which is our own body.  Our own body can teach us so much about the plants as it responds to the various herbs.  As Paleros and Tainos, this ability to utilize our own senses to learn about a plant, is of vital importance, and of course is the way our Ancestors developed their profound knowledge of plants in the first place.  We also know that our Ancestors used ceremony to deepen their knowledge of plants, so we also emphasize the ceremonial approach to making herbal medicine.

Again we use glass to store the blend and clearly label it.  We have many herbal remedies that we have made so labeling them is very important.  We also place the Koki Medicine Symbol on them.  This is significant for us since it is the Spirit of the Koki Medicine that has lead us on this trail of reconciliation and renewal of the plant knowledge.  

All the elements that allow the plants to thrive are sacred, and we know that as the Earth Changes that we are witnessing continue to increase in severity, these elements are becoming more unpredictable.  Not only are these changes having an impact on agriculture and the food supply but also these changes effect our physical body, and we need to continue to strengthen our physical bodies to be able to adapt to the Earth Changes.  Herbs are vital in this process of strengthening as many of these herbs thrive in adverse conditions.  For example the sage that we have utilized in this blend grows in a very rocky area of the Land where we really never added manure or any other form of fertility.  This sage has flourished and embodies a spirit of being able to thrive in conditions that many other plants cannot handle.    Another plant that thrives right next to the sage in this rocky soil is lavender.  Lavender is an essential ingredient in the next medicine- a relaxing tincture...

Below several jars on the left side have the herbs that we have grown and dried (rosemary, oregano and sage- all with their labels).

The deeply relaxing tincture we share below is made from Valerian Root, Lavender Flowers and Hops Flowers.  This tincture is for relaxing and sleeping deeply, especially when under stress, overly stimulated or anxious.  All three herbs are deeply relaxing, and most of us are familiar with lavender and its immediately relaxing aroma.  Valerian root is a popular herb for aiding sleep.  Hops are of course key ingredients in beer, but are in and of themselves deeply medicinal and deeply relaxing.  While we can share the photos of this process, we cannot share the aromas that are so enjoyable and therapeutic.  Making these medicines is not only important for its end product but it is also important in the richness of the process itself.  Aromas themselves have powerful effects on our physical bodies, and on our minds.  We also know that aromas have powerful actions on the Misterios and the Ancestors.  Aromas are powerful attractors and can also be powerful repulsers.  All the aromas we are using here are very attractive.  

First we layer in the valerian root, then the hops flowers....

and finally the lavender flowers.  We look for bright colors in the dried herbs, which indicate that the dried plant has retained its vitality and therefore its medicinal properties.  We the add the alcohol, in this case we used 80 proof organic vodka for the tincture.  We will leave this for 6 weeks, shaking it regularly, then strain and rebottle it.  

Over the 6 week period the alcohol will extract (jala) the medicinal compounds from the herbs.  From the perspective of a Palero the alcohol is pulling the Spirit from the Herb into the alcohol.  

Again we clearly label it, with details such as date, type of alcohol, and herbs.  Below are the medicines we made on this particular day. 

Below all the bottles of medicines are ones that we made this year, some are also culinary, all are powerful healers that assist us to stay healthy and mentally strong.  As Paleros and Tainos we continue to empower our Ancestral traditions and continue to honor the many Curanderas and Curanderos of our Ancestral Tree. We also continue to honor and bring forward the legacy of those herbalists who delighted in the growing of the many herbal plants and flowers.  Many of our brothers and sisters today have become distracted by the many power struggles that have arisen out of the curse of colonialism within our traditions.  It is our wholehearted understanding that we must, as a whole, return to our ROOTS and our ROOTS are deeply intertwined with the Roots, Leaves, Flowers and Seeds of the many Plants of Mother Earth.  

Building Conuco Gardens- INDIGENOUS PERMACULTURE

In our working with Ntoto (Atabey), we are coming from the Essence and Memory of the Sacred Ancestors in moving within the vibrations of today towards a more sane and sustainable and spiritual way of walking upon the Earth.  Our Taino Ancestors created their Conucos to serve the needs of the Communities within our Caribbean homeland.  They utilized the raw materials, fertilizers, and techniques that they had developed over generations that resonated with the Spirit of the Land of Boriken, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and so on.  They walked with sensitivity, understanding and great wisdom within the garden of Mother Earth, and understood the wisdom of working with her natural cycles and the wisdom in observing everything that was in front of them.  They had the flexibility and ability to adapt that had enabled them to migrate over time into different environments and still be able to not only survive, but to thrive.  Through working with the Ancestors closely through the Cohoba ceremony and other Ceremonies, they were able to be in communication and resonance with the many plants around them, knowing which would heal, which would poison, which would nourish, which could be used for making tools...   They perfected the technique of researching plants without the need for test tubes and microscopes in a laboratory, without the need to dissect the plants into their smallest components to attempt to understand them.  They knew that a profound relationship and communication exists between plants and human beings.  This relationship, like so much in this modernized, industrialized society, has been badly damaged.  Many of us do not even know what the plants look like that give us our common foods such as fruit, vegetables, and grains let alone the plants that give us medicines such as Echinacea, Yarrow, Elderberry, Marshmallow, Goldenseal, Ginseng, Ginger, Tumeric, and the many, many others.  Clearly there has been a breakdown in the relationship with not only Mother Earth but also with the Ancestors.

At one point our Ancestors knew how to live within Mother Earth without the many crutches and conveniences that are made possible through the devastation and poisoning of Mother Earth.  They knew how to eat, create shelter, and heal without relying on plastics, vinyls, electricity, oil and gas.  We are not suggesting a return to living without the many modern conveniences that we are allegedly "enjoying", however we do need to honestly asses what we are doing with the resources available to us, and how that is affecting our relationship with Mother Earth and within our own Ancestral Tree.

We have the blessing of having a large amount of space to caretake, space which has had the double assault of logging and chemical farming on it, and which is surrounded by chemical farms on all sides.  We are in a place where much quarrying of stone is taking place around the clock.  Some of the quarries and cement plants never shut down, never stop, just keep tearing the stone from our Mother Earth every day and every night.  Witnessing the huge volume of stone that is being taken day in and day out from Mother Earth, we have to pause and consider what all this stone is serving, and we have to realize that a lot of the stone (and oil, coal, "so called natural" gas, minerals and metals) that are being taken from Mother Earth is being used for anything from weapons of war, to building materials.  However when new houses are being built or old ones remodeled, dumpsters get filled with good materials (even very valuable ones such as cedar boards and expensive tile) and stones that have been dug up in the excavation of these homes are simply re-buried as "trash".  The madness in the misuse of resources has reached a peak, and we are concerned that one day we collectively will profoundly regret the amount of abuse and misuse of resources that has occurred as well as our individual roles within that misuse and abuse.

We have "fallen" so far from the wisdom that our Ancestors lived that it can seem an immense journey to regain that wisdom, and more that regaining the wisdom, be able to transform our lives with that wisdom.  Wisdom that does not transform our lives in tangible ways is idle wisdom or stagnant wisdom and before long it is no longer wisdom but foolishness.  Here on our Land that we caretake with our beautiful Mother Earth, it has been a journey that continues to renew and transform year to year as the Ancestors take us deeper into the pathway of waking up to the voices of the plants and to the voices of the Ancestors whose bones we tread upon and also those Ancestors who live inside our blood and bones.

We have been working with Conucos for many years, and our work has evolved to create a Conuco that is quite different from the simple mounds of soil that we began with.  In this post we share the first steps in the creating of our latest Conucos upon the Land...

From the photos you can see that the latest Conucos are long, and much taller than our original ones.   These conucos have several important aspects which address several issues.

The Conucos are on "contour" which means that they will capture and absorb most of the water that is running down the hillside during a heavy rain.  This water will be absorbed by the Conuco, making lots of moisture available to the many plants that will be planted on the Conucos, eliminating the need for us to water the Conucos.  This water will also not be running down the hill eroding the topsoil as it creates deeper and deeper gulleys.  The Conuco in the first two photos is right below our animal pens which tend to have little grass as the animals eat it and their feet prevent it from growing.  This means that the water runs over their pens washing the manure down to the Conuco which is going to gather all that manure and put it to good use in nourishing the plants.  This way we are also not allowing the manure to simply wash all the way down the hill into the stream below.  (The washing of manure and chemical fertilizer into streams is a major issue that effects water quality, fish and plant life of the streams, rivers and bays).  

Prior to building this Conuco the water was creating gulleys through this field and washing all the top soil all the way down the hill.  In the photo below you can see the hill sloping down to the right, and how the Conuco is now absorbing the waters that come down the hill.

Another important difference in this Conuco is the way that we have built it.  Above the Conuco appears to be all soil, however, below you can see a different Conuco that we are building and what is visible is piles of woody debris.  

 

Since our objective is longer term sustainability we are using a base of woody debris from logs, branches and brush to leaves, grass clippings and even herb and flower clippings, plus old oak pallets.  This base will be covered with manures and soils and then it will look like the Conuco in the first set of photos.  The heavier branches and logs will decay slowly over a number of years, releasing their energy to the plants growing on the Conuco for many years.  The lighter twigs will decay more rapidly giving those initial added nutrients to the baby plants and seeds to establish themselves.  The wood will also create soil very high in organic matter which will be able to hold water very very well, so when it does rain, these conucos will absorb all the water, then release it to the plants as needed, without getting saturated with water and rotting the plant.  The wood also is a perfect medium for the mycelium which is essential for plant growth!

These woods are coming from all kinds of sources.  Some are logs that have been already decaying which we have cleaned up from the forest floor.  Others are old plant material that has come from the garden when we cleaned it up at the end of the growing season.  Other brush and leaves have come from other locations from homes that do not have the space or inclination to create compost piles or Conucos, in other words some of this brush comes from sources that typically would bag it into plastic bags and send it to the dump.  (And for those who have not actually been to a "landfill" or "dump", it is an experience that is important to have and one that is important for your children to have, because it raises important issues of "waste", and the shear quantity of "trash" going into the dump is mind blowing.

This second Conuco is on the edge of our vegetable garden and will become an edible hedgerow filled with edible, medicinal and culinary herbs, flowers and plants that are appreciated by birds, bees, butterflies and animals.  We approach our garden with the understanding that "everybody needs to eat" and rather than build up fences against animals, and spray against insects, we plant more than we need so that all the animals and insects can eat too.  It is our offering to the greater Community of Life itself.  We also always seek to have an abundance so that we can make abundant offerings to the Ancestors during Ceremony, and that some of the fruits and plants can also be offered to Mother Earth and re-absorbed into her.  We also think about our chickens, goats, horse and dogs, who also eat from the garden.  

Early 2011 we had a snow storm which created a phenomenon on the roads which we witnessed as we were immersed in it, which we shared in this post:

Winter Storm lack of Self Sufficiency

And now of course, we have recently had Huracan visit us in the East Coast.  Many years ago within the Taino community there was discussions concerning the "Earth Changes" which realistically we should all be able to agree are definitely upon us and gathering force.  As time passed the energies of these discussions scattered their seeds but failed to produced a sustained effort at developing stable communities that are self sustainable.  As the years passed, although individuals and families became involved in either gathering information concerning sustainability, or developed gardens, and so on, there was not  (more or less to this day) a larger community that was able to come together to thrive and create a strong foundation for sustainability.  In fact among certain circles seeking self-sustainability and seeking to walk gently on Mother Earth was mocked and degraded and depicted as a pathetic endeavor, as if being a mindless consumer is somehow a higher calling!

Among Paleros in the North, Communities are generally focused on survival in difficult conditions, and in general discussions concerning creating self-sustaining communities rooted in Mother Earth's abundance are mostly absent, although ironically the Palero (and Taino) should naturally gravitate towards these types of communities since both Spiritualities work directly with the natural forces of Mother Earth and the Cosmos!

In our garden design the Conucos and other planting areas are the "foundation" or "Fundamento" for the plants that will grow upon them.  The plants will flourish based on the power of the Conucos. There are many ingredients that we utilize to empower the Conucos, that ensure that when we plant a wide variety of plants and trees in the Conucos, they will thrive.

A vital ingredient is Mycelium, which is a magical fungal network found in all healthy soil.  It is the fungi that is the Spirit responsible for beginning the process of decaying of the Palo.  We utilize fungi to decay these poplar logs in these photos, and through the decay of the poplar logs the mycelium "fruits" and we harvest and eat those fruits, which are Mushrooms, in this case Oyster Mushrooms!

Once these logs have been "eaten" by the Mycelium, they will also go to the Conuco and will enhance the soil and plant growth.

One of Mother Earth's principles is multi-functionality and multi-dimensionality, which is something that I expect, as Tainos and Paleros, we can understand, as it is also an attribute that the Muertos and Mpungos/ Cemis have.  As we transition from dogmatic "reglas" / "rules" to understanding and embracing "Natural Principles" we embrace this multi-functionality and multi-dimensionality more and more.

The mycelium is a very mysterious organism as its vast networks are under the earth; only the fruits rise above the surface.  It is certainly a Spirit that is very much about the "Dead" and Death!

Inevitably in the process of growing, harvesting and eating plants there is a lot of plant material that does not end up on the table.   In the conventional process of agriculture, this waste ends up in trash cans from the dumpsters in supermarkets to the trash cans in homes.  When we are able to grow our own food that food travels from the garden to the table, and any "waste" ends up in the compost.  No plastic packaging, transportation etc.  We are able to utilize some of the plants as mulch, others are fed to the chickens or goats and their manures are returned to the Conucos.  In some cases we let the chickens into the garden to eat up the old plants, they particularly love kale, collard greens and broccoli.  
The Children also benefit greatly from the garden.  Our daughter learns all the plants, how to prepare them, whether as food, tea, tincture, poultice, bath, and also which plants have poisonous parts.  Our daughter can intuitively make anyone a healing bath.
Our garden in front of our house has all been built on contour like the larger Conucos.  We planted an abundance of winter squash, which thrived from the rich soil we had created through the use of our animal manures, decomposing leaves and the various additional ingredients and brujo's potions that we added to it.


Our daughter eats squash flowers that are very nutritious.  Another loss we have been subjected to as a society is the loss of connection with the whole plant.  We are accustomed to eating just one "part" of the plant, that being whatever part can be most easily marketed.  The winter squash has a great shelf life and is loved by markets as there is very little waste.  However when we live with the squash we are also able to enjoy its more subtle attributes, those attributes which draw in the bees and insects and the humming birds.  While eating the winter squash itself provides a whole meal, we loss something when we never have the opportunity to eat the flower that becomes that squash!   We also are accustomed to only eating things either "raw or cooked" depending on how we have been taught to categorize them.  Pumpkins are generally considered cooked pie items, however they are sweet and fresh and unbelievably nutritious when juiced.
One of the favorite child activities during the fall is finding all the ripe squash and seeing all the different colors, textures and shapes. Below our daughter carries a large squash she found through the garden.
This connection with the harvesting of the squash also encourages the children to want to eat the squash.  It is a well known fact that children who have the opportunity to be in the garden are much more willing to eat vegetables, especially those vegetables that can be picked and eaten immediately raw.
Below you can see the diversity that grows in our method of gardening which not only is fully edible but also looks beautiful. The little red flowers on the left in the photo below are nasturtiums which are spicy and which we add to our salads all summer and fall.  It is one of those plants which become more colorful in the colder weather, but which dies as soon as we get a frost.  So we enjoy beautiful yellow, red, salmon pink, orange, flowers which deepen in color everyday until one day they become a dead matt on the earth and our salads no longer have their beauty until the next year.  It is one of those flowers that is impossible to transport and will not last more than a couple hours from picking, which therefore means it never reaches the market, although its spiciness is a great attribute to salad and its beauty alone makes the meal more attractive.  The large basil in this photo was made into a pesto and sofrito which we have preserved in the freezer for use all winter.  
Our daughter arranged the first harvest from the winter squash.  At this point the cart is totally full, overflowing in fact, and will feed us all winter.  

We also grow many other vegetables among the squash, such as beets (see below).  Diversity is a principle that Mother Earth shows us everyday.  She always covers herself with many different plants which all contribute different energies and nutrients to the soil, and who also act as healers in places where Mother Earth has been attacked and left scarred.  

This view is the entrance to our Garden, and we do work spiritually with the garden, as it is our understanding from an Indigenous perspective that the spiritual aspect is what brings about a long term thriving.  Many people are out there "doing permaculture" but they completely lack the Spirit, and so the outcome is dry and stale; it is all theory and no Spirit.
We also spend time gathering both the herbs that we grow in the gardens and the wild herbs that grow all around us.  These herbs below we dried for winter teas and medicines.
Our potato harvests are abundant.
A mixture of nasturtium leaves, flowers, basil leaves and cherry tomatoes, all for the salad.
An heirloom tomato is sliced open to reveal its beautiful interior.
We also keep many pigeons, which no only are used for spiritual purposes, but who also feed us.  A pigeon soup is excellent for times of sickness, for winter colds, and for general nourishment.




We also have our chickens which we eat, and who lay eggs for us, keep the bug populations down and scratch up the soil, plus they transform kitchen scraps into eggs.

Our goats are for meat and dairy purposes.  We eagerly await the first kids and the first goat milk we will be able to get from them.  We will then be able to make yogurt and goat cheese.  Goats are particularly useful in that they like to eat weeds, and can be used to clear areas that have become overgrown with weeds and briars.

There is a strong permaculture movement worldwide that has been gathering momentum and it is wonderful that so many people have been coming back to ancient principles and indigenous agricultural practices, such as using Conucos.  Many within the permaculture movement do acknowledge the wisdom of the Indigenous Cultures that have given rise to the practices that are now called "permaculture" long before anybody coined that term.  However there are certain tendencies within the movement that are very euro-centric, and some who want to imply that permaculture was "discovered" or invented recently.  Of course all over the world there are those Indigenous Communities who either never stopped their indigenous (permaculture) practices or who have gone back to them, realizing that modern agriculture- monoculture- chemi-culture does not work for them financially or practically and takes tremendous health tolls on their families.  

On a personal level it saddens us that there are not more Tainos and Paleros who are reclaiming the indigenous principles that are now called "permaculture" and becoming active in creating gardens that show the Spirit of our Ancestors, be they urban gardens or rural finkas (such as ours).  We look forward to the resurgence of these wisdoms among our own peoples and the reclaiming of our Ancestral Prominence in these practices!