Why We Began

Our Family

The grandparents of our family were born in South Texas during the early 1940s; a time of segregation, hard work with little pay, and a strong hope for a semblance of equal opportunity. Our grandmother tells us stories of waking up with the sun to travel and work in the agricultural fields until the first stars finally showed at night, all before she had even reached her 10th birthday. She also tells us about our great-grandmother finally getting a job at a restaurant, but having to go through the back door because she didn’t qualify for the front entrance where the, ‘Whites Only,’ sign was plastered. Similarly, our grandfather tells us stories of the realities of racism and having to focus on working every single day just to ensure your families survival. He tells us how injuring his back one year almost made him ‘lose it,’ because of the fact that our people’s only option for work was hard labor with long hours, and he thought it was the end of our family being able to eat. But they made it through the years regardless, and they did it just like this…

Their Way of Survival

“So how did you make it through all of that?” the seventh generation of our family naively asks, “how did you have enough to eat?” It seems that even through the hardships our elders still have a sense of humor as they chuckle out the simple response, “M'i’ja, solo crecimos todo lo que necesitábamos.” ‘We just grew everything we needed.’ It’s as if we can see the memories flooding back with the stories of our ancestors growing tomatoes on their ranch for the purpose of trading a portion to another ranchero for some potatoes from their family’s crop. We then see the wonderful reminiscing continue with stories of our great-grandmother caring for her chickens to ensure the family had meat and eggs, or of our great-grandfather feeding another ranchero’s goats in exchange for milk or more meat. It’s almost like a dream-world to us now. There was no need for huge and destructive agricultural companies which sprayed everything in pesticides while keeping us disconnected from our food and each other. Of course there were struggles and hard work, but there were also two aspects of a healthy life which kept the sacred cycle of Mother Earth in tact. Plants and Community. It was beautiful. And we’ve come to learn that this way of life wasn’t just true to those of us indigenous to Mexico or other areas of what is now called North America. We are all of Earth, and have therefore all tended to the Land in our place of origin which gives greater reason to why we begun…

The Connection

Even though our family oftentimes found blissful reprieve in their small community of Indigenous rancheros, one fact remained; Southern Texas was keeping them poor. Wages were less than mediocre which made saving money for items that couldn’t be traded seemingly impossible. “El poco dinero que ganó mi papá, tuvo que volver al banco por nuestra deuda,” our grandmother exhales in agitation. ‘The little money our dad made had to go right back to the bank for our debts’. So, when our family got the opportunity to work in the fields of what is now called Colorado, they not only took the opportunity to do so, they moved for good. “Y aquí nos hicimos ricos,” our grandparents say with satisfaction and relief. ‘Here, we became rich.’ And they weren’t the only ones that found a better life. 30 miles east of where our family found their home, the Black farming community of Dearfield had previously been established. Here, Oliver Toussaint Jackson envisioned prosperity for his community due to the fertile Land available to grow everything that was needed. But something other than the plants was simultaneously cultivated here. Over time, members of Dearfield built a school and held annual festivals, as well as get-togethers at the ‘Lunchroom.’ Similar to our family story, there was a profound sense of community, which all begun with the Land.

This is for all of us. This is why we began…

These connections helped us realize that connection to Land isn’t exclusive to Indigenous communities or Mexicanos. Connection to Land has been the foundational base of the human experience for time immemorial and allows us all to exist via our own self-determination by physically growing what we eat and the medicines we use for health or spirituality. This way is still alive and breathing, and our elders have many stories to guide us right back there; we need only listen.