CONUCO!

This photo journey takes you from seeding time to the full expression of the Conucos within our gardens.  The magic is in the fertility of the Conuco itself.  The seeds are the biological Ancestral line but the myriad micro-organisms plus the magical ingredients of the brujo allow these seeds to grow and thrive.  

Corn Seeds

Seed Potatos

Alpaca Manure

Time Passes, the Sun Shines, the Rain Falls, we remove weeds....

Minuscule Tobacco Seeds grow to these huge plants, sweet smelling flowers, sticky aromatic leaves!

Tobaccos include VA Smoking, Huichol, Aztec, Oneida, Flowering

White sage, tobacco, corn, potatoes and sunflowers!

Corn, Potatoes, Elderberry, Beans and Squash...

Our Greenhouse....

Corn and Potatoes

Beautiful View of a Conuco

The Ancestors are Happy!

The Elderberry, a plant we have come to LOVE, who also Loves Us!

Mammoth Sunflowers, for seed through the winter!

Elderberry Patch, the Catbird Sanctuary

TOBACO 

Somos Tabaqueros

Another Concuco forming...

And once we get our harvest, our Blackbelly Barbados sheep will enjoy the pasture!

Some people call this 'subsistence', we call it thriving!

Valuing our Sacred Waters- Rain Gardens

Many of us already understand that rainwater runoff is a serious problem, that leads to stream, river, lake and bay pollution.  As Indigenous people we understand that Water is a sacred Spirit, who is essential to our life on this Earth.  Traditionally our people honored water in multiple ceremonies, used water within Ceremonies, and took care of the waters as a form of Ceremony!  The wisdom of our Taino Ancestors ensures that we always value water as a LIVING SPIRIT.  Water is certainly not an object or "thing".  


Soil should be stabilized by an array of plant roots.  Industrial agriculture creates runoff that not only contains lost topsoil, but also dangerous chemicals.  Urban storm water systems are overloaded with increasing rainfall levels that we are experiencing through these increasingly dramatic Earth Changes.  Flooding is becoming more devastating.  Meanwhile water tables in many areas are dropping to dangerously low levels, and wells are running dry.


Rain gardens are even more appropriate in urban settings where concrete covers most of the Earth.  They can contribute to increasing water tables, cleaning the water, greatly reducing erosion and runoff, as well as contribute to carbon sequestration.  


Although we live in a rural area, erosion is still an issue, as during rainstorms water gushes down our driveway past our front door and down the hill to the little stream below.  We have created an Earthen bowl which catches the water with a berm (Conuco) to absorb the extra water.  Plants are in it who like to have wet roots and flourish in these saturated conditions that would kill other plants.  On the Conuco other plants grow that prefer more drainage.  The rain garden provides multiple micro ecosystems for a great variety of plants.  By stopping the water from running off down the hill, we contribute to raising the water table and protecting our well's water supply.  Rain gardens are usually filled with Native Plants as a way to also protect and value the native flowers, shrubs and trees, as well as provide food and habitat for birds, insects and butterflies.


The video gives a tour of the rain garden, including focusing on the various plants growing in and around the rain garden.


These include:

Mullein- great medicinal plant, 

Stinging Nettle- tonic tea, spring restorative green, great sautéed

Equisetum - horsetail, contains silica, historically contributed to coal reserves

Witch Hazel (Hamamellis virginiana) great astringent

Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower) superb immune boosting herb

Rudbeckia subtomentosa (Sweet Coneflower)

Eryngium yuccifolium (Button Eryngo)

Penstemon digitalis (butterfly attractor)

Monarda didyma (Bee Balm) great herbal tea

Amsonia hubrichtii (narrow leaf blue star)

Amsonia taberbaemontana (eastern blue star flower)

Liatris spicata (blazing star)

Lobelia siphilitica (giant blue lobelia)

Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal Flower)

Coreopsis verticillata (Threadleaf Coreopsis)

Asclepius tuberosa (Pleurisy Root) root medicinal for chest complaints,  host of many species of butterfly.

Eupatorium purpureum (Joe Pye Weed) famous medicinal as well as the "Abre Camino" Plant of our Palo Tradition!

Clethra alnifolia (Summersweet)

Ilex glabra (Ink Berry)

Ilex verticillata (Winterberry)

Iris cristata (Crested Iris)


All of these, with the exception of Mullein and Stinging Nettle, are native plants, and all contribute to this healthy micro ecosystem.  The rain garden is very beneficial for bees and butterflies.  When it rains, it floods, then the water is absorbed into the soil and Conuco, where it filters down to the water table.  


The beauty of a rain garden can benefit us all whether we live in the city, the suburbs or the countryside or wilderness!

Taino Conuco

With the wisdom and love of the Ancestors, the blessings of the Rains, the blessing of the Sun, and the fertility of the Earth, our Conucos have flourished.  They include Corn, Beans, Squash, Sunflowers, many medicinal herbs, Elderberries (which are currently green), and Black Berries (just starting to ripen).  The Conucos are created utilizing the Wisdom of our Taino Ancestors.  Sacred ingredients are added, not visible to the casual onlooker.  Ingredients of fertility and energy give the Conuco the capacity to produce abundance year after year. (For those familiar with the term, they are a "Fundamento").



In this day of sweeping dilution and misrepresentation of our Traditions, it is important to become rooted once again in the profound and raw energies of our Mother Earth. The years of ceremonies has given us the wisdom and knowledge to manifest the magic within these Conucos.  We understand that ceremony without manifestation is an empty fantasy that leads to the revolving doors of endless stagnations and "crop failures" (meaning actions with no results of abundance).  



Ancestral wisdom leads us to abide by the principle of biological diversity within our Conucos.  In them you see medicinal plants, spiritual plants, food plants, healing plants.  Not only do we (human people) benefit but our relatives also do, including birds, insects, butterflies, bats, moths and very importantly bees (who we know are in a crisis of toxicity) and spiders, our profound relatives of communication.



At night, the bats swoop around the Conuco, and moths pollenate the tobacco flowers.  It is at this time of the sacred cycle of day and night that the Tobacco flowers release their most potent, sweet smell. In this sense the Conuco is also a "Moon Garden."  The silvery foliage of the white sage has so much resin within its leaves that it is sticky to the touch. 



These Conucos have stored within them fertility from old branches and other woody debris that will release slowly over many years without the need for us to add any chemical fertilizers (that are causing so much damage to our sacred Rivers and Oceans).  



The Conucos are the ultimate "raised bed" garden which is essential in our climate where summers can range from hot and dry, to humid and wet.  This year we have an abundance of rain, which can create fungal issues which can destroy plants, however the Conuco creates the perfect balance of drainage and moisture retention that most plants crave.    It is perfect for both extremes.  In this time of escalating Earth Changes, it is essential that our ceremonies create real resilience and adaptation that is so important for our generations, as well as our future generations!  



For us the Conuco is a sacred connection with our Ancient Taino Ancestors, and we are humbled and amazed that their wisdom is so applicable today!  Their wisdom holds the keys to the healing of Mother Earth that is essential NOW!



The wisdom of the Elders/ Ancestors, and our Common Sense, tells us clearly, without a doubt, that water is NOT a "thing" but is rather a SACRED SPIRIT, a SACRED MPUNGO, a SACRED CEMIS! The Conuco is able to absorb water and release it over time.  These particular Conucos are built along contours in the land, which further harvests the water from the hill and stores it in the Conuco.  For anyone who struggles with hard, compacted soil, you will know the benefit of raised beds.  The Conuco is the Mountain of all Raised Beds!



The Conuco also provides multiple microcosms within it.  There is a dry side, and a wet side.  Depending on its directional orientation, there is a dry and sunny side and a wet and shady side, or the opposite, a sunny and wet, and shady and dry.  These Conucos are sunny and dry, shady and wet.  



The traditional 3 (4) sisters garden is present here as we show respect to our Sisters and Brothers and Ancestors of this land.  The Corn is the first sister, who creates a trellis for the Beans (the second sister), the Beans draw nitrogen from the air and root it into the Soil.  Squash (the 3rd sister) runs along the ground shading the roots of the corn and beans.  The 4th sister is Sunflower who attract beneficial pollinators.  In truth there are many sisters present here, as the Yarrow, Red Clover, and many other medicinal herbs attract beneficial insects and bees.  We also plant potatoes below the corn as an essential aspect of our staple diet.  There is a couple sour cherry shrubs planted within the Conuco!  The limit of the Conuco's capacity only lies within the lack of creativity of the sacred herb bohitu!  This creativity develops over time through the continual practice of ceremony connected to Earth.