Cultivating a Garden of Peace and Justice

Beata Tsosie-Pena.jpg

Free online event Thursday, May 20, 2021  5 p.m.

How do a people who have endured generations of oppression survive?  It’s a question Beata Tsosie-Pena of Santa Clara Pueblo and El Rito is often asked.

Historical trauma and inequities and living in the shadow of a nuclear production facility motivated Beata to work in environmental health and justice with the non-profit Tewa Women United program for over a decade.

“These the are things our people have faced. But that doesn’t negate our strength and power,” Beata said.  “We are resilient.”  Her activist concerns led her to become a full-spectrum doula and breastfeeding support counselor as well as infant massage specialist. Even her poetry reflects a deep commitment to the land and its people and is evidenced in the Healing Foods Oasis Garden which she coordinates.  The Garden is a project of TWU and the City of Espanola.

Resiliency—that’s at the heart of the many stories that are lived and shared at the Garden.  On Thursday, May 20 at 5 p.m., Beata will conduct a free public online storytelling and dialogue which will highlight the collaboration between art, science and indigenous wisdom.  It’s a collaboration that offers a model of sustainability critical in this Anthropocene era of climate change, she believes.

(To register, contact:  earthwalks1@yahoo.com)                     New Mexico's Community Garden Revolution

The Garden is both a symbol of the traditional Tewa Pueblo values of place and the teachings of water and a grassroots act of prayer, ceremony, song—as well as resistance and survival.  “It’s about building the beloved community,” she says.  For her, that community is both local and global.

Heirloom seeds hand-harvested at the Garden are donated to the Espanola Public Library next door and available to the public. Seeds are kept in a refurbished card catalog cabinet. After picking which types to grow, patrons fill out a “seed caregiver sign-up” form and become part of a growing cadre of those planting and caring for heirloom plants.

Children participating are taught how to use the library and learn about local farming practices.  It’s ecological literacy, what Beata calls “voices of the plant elders and relatives.”

The online presentation will be followed by a series of volunteer days at the garden for those who wish to help.

The event is being sponsored by Earth Walks, a cross cultural education program based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, original homeland of the Tewa Pueblo indigenous people.    https://earthwalks.org/   To register, contact earthwalks1@yahoo.com

                                     Environmental Health and Justice Program | Tewa Women United

 

Earth Walks to Jemez Pueblo May 31-June 3, 2018

THE END IS NEAR…AND SO IS THE BEGINNING!

“Tending the Garden”

Fields and Lands of Jemez Pueblo

As one seasonal cycle ends, another begins. Join Earth Walks for this exceptional opportunity to experience the time honored traditions of Jemez Pueblo and Bodhi Manda Zen Center. Both foster a vision of culture and life that nourishes body, mind and spirit.

Learning through service, Earth Walks will join hands and hearts with Flower Hill Institute in their fields at Jemez Pueblo and in the nearby Bodhi Manda Zen Center community garden to help prepare and plant for the summer crops. There will be a way for everyone to participate, regardless of physical ability or age. Pueblo elders and community members will guide us in their ancient traditions and Abbess Hosen will offer the contemplative Zen Buddhism experience. Children from the Pueblo will perform a Butterfly Dance to encourage pollination of the newly planted gardens.

Remarkable dialogues, laughter and sharing meals of food from the garden will accompany time alone for quiet reflection and enjoyable soaks in the hot springs at BMZC alongside the Jemez River. Bring instruments for music making and your favorite memories for storytelling!

Lodging: Dormitory style. Limited number of private rooms available for additional cost on first come basis. Delicious vegetarian home cooked meals.

Registration: $375 Includes: Nine meals from Thursday dinner through Sunday lunch. Lodging, dormitory style (additional cost for single room, limited availability). Access to hot springs pools. Honorarium to Pueblo elder. Workshop materials. Optional: instruction and participation in meditation practice. Transportation by carpooling or on own.

For information/registration:  info@earthwalks.org

Flower Hill Institute:  Flower Hill is a native-owned, community-directed nonprofit. Its objectives include preserving and enhancing cultural resources, preparing youth to inherit leadership, improving economic self-sufficiency, organizing inter-tribal movements, and improving climate change resiliency through experimental farming, seed banking and youth science camps.  Flower Hill organized an effort by the All Indian Pueblo Council of Governors to publish a response to the encroachment of oil and gas development into the area surrounding Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, an area of utmost cultural importance to the Pueblos.

Bodhi Manda Zen Center: The philosophy in the Bodhi garden recognizes and supports interdependent roles played by a range of organisms in a natural environment. Modern tools used employ practices that hearkens back to indigenous peoples throughout the world. Fresh healthy vegetables from the garden are shared at mealtime to honor all those who help provide sustenance for the health of our bodies and minds and support Buddhist practices of mindfulness and compassion for all beings.Visitors may enjoy the hot springs on site adjacent to the Jemez River.
Roger Fragua, Flower                                          Abbess Hosen, Bodhi
Hill Institute Director                                            Manda Zen Center

                                           
 Greenhouse seedlings at Bodhi–         Preparing plant seedings for fields            
 
       Diggin’ it at the community garden                   Hot Springs at Bodhi 
         
                                                   
                                                       Clearing the fields                                                                                                                                                               
                                      Doug Conwell, Earth Walks Director
                                                       Come Join Us!