Our most recent week was spent around Lake Titicaca. The highest navigable lake in the world (I suppose this means there are some lakes in the world that are higher, yet unnavigable) sitting at 3800 meters or 12,540 feet. A beautiful lake steeped in history of various indigienous groups predating the Incans as well as the Incans themselves. We hiked from north to south on Isla del Sol, an island where the Incans believed that the sun was born. We can vouch for the fact that the sun there was very bright and hot, although the average temèratures are still in the 70 in the day and the 40 and 50´s at night here.
On the Peru side of Lake titicaca we were able to visit the islands that we believe to have the most interesting story. These islands are man made out of reeds harvested from the lake. They float on the lake. Historically, the Uros people were being attacked by other groups and eventually got tired of being attacked. They built these islands, which are about 60x60 feet and began to live there, eating mostly fish from lake with some agriculture from the main land. The homes, kitchens and other areas on the island are made from reeds and have to be continuously renewed in order to keep the island afloat, making for a nice cushy walk. Now, the descedants of the Uros live on the islands and live from working as artisans and essentially being living museums of the way their ancestors lived. We also went to the island of Amantaní where we stayed with a local family. The island is 100% indigenous with the most common language spoken being Quechua, with some people speaking Spanish. It is very much an agricultural community. The women of the island wear the most beautifully emboirdered shirts, skirts and head scarves. Almost all of the women spend the majority of the day spinning wool. They walk about the village doing other things and spending time in the plaza with one another, all thewhile spinning wool, even while they are walking. They are also the most friendly people we have come into contact with, each person greeting us with a big smile as we huffed and puffed up and down the hills between 3800 and 4000 meters in altitude.
Other thoughts to wrap up Bolivia:
-Food in bolivia was wonderful. Lunch is the main meal of the day and we looked forward to finding a random restaurant packed with locals in order to order lunch. Lunch is not ordered from the menu, but is a set meal. The meal involves a soup, a main course, usually a meat with rice, potatoes and vegetables and often a dessert and fresh lemonade or other drink. The price of this multiple course meals was between $1.50 and $3. The food always tasted fresh and was delicious.
-On a similar note, Bolivia struggles with clean water issues. For this reason, every traveler you meet has some Bolivia food poisoning story. We were not particularly careful, and made it in and out with no stomach problems. This is not bragging, as we will most certainly get ours, but is an expression of thankfulness and perhaps reassurance that foreign food comes with some risk, but there is a huge reward.
-At last check (we dont follow the news very closely here, as it is difficult to do so) there was some sort of travel warning from the US Government regarding travelling to Bolivia. We take the opposite point of view and highly recommend it. We experienced warm welcomes, smiles, friendly people and breathtaking landscapes in Bolivia. The poverty (and the crime that often comes with such extreme need) and political issues should not be understated, but we had a wonderful experience in this country and are thankful we decided to pass through.
-The art that has been so carefully preserved over thousands of years in Bolivia continues to awe us. In our thoughts right now we think a lot about local communities and preservation of cultures. We strongly hope that the wonderfully strong communities in Bolivia, that have suffered so much exploitation, violence and racism since the arrival of the Conquistadors into present day, will be able to continue to take pride in the beauty of the cultures that have preserved with such perseverence. While we tried to soak in and learn as much about those cultures as possible, it made us try to reflect on those pieces of our own heritage that we want to hold on to and try to preserve, particularly the art of our relatives: art including the ability to grow a beautiful and delicious tomato, create abnd preserve beautiful music, and making a quilt or knitting or crocheting or any of the other beautiful things we see from our own families (blood families and others included).
Peru has given us a warm welcome (and a much simpler border crossing) thus far. We are happy to be here and are enjoying the new foods (a bit spicier is a nice touch...and is there anything better than corn on the cob and cheese?) and a new culture, though the similarities abound.
Farm update: We are having a really hard time setting up farms right now. We have tried to get in touch with many many farms and are mostly striking out. We believe we will be able to spend 2-3 weeks working on a farm in Colombia, but nothing is set in stone yet. This is getting a bit frustrating as we really want to learn and have these experiences, and travelling is tiring and we are feeling the need for a bit more balance. We have, however, been very thankful for being able to find ourselves in agricultural communities learning to plow with mules and how to harvest quinoa (anyone know if Quinoa can be grown in North Carolina, it is a good grain?) from strangers and our hosts. We have also been thankful for people allowing us to be in their homes, and have understood that they were only prepared for this arrangements for short periods of time, leaving us hoping for another good farm to work.
Helms: could you possibly post a link to the organization you sent me or maybe even the article in the comments section? This is an amazing organization in Colombia that we are attempting to contact, but at the very least deserves some publicity here for their ability to combine the meeting of basic human needs with wise agricultural and communal practices.
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4 comments:
You'll have to tell me all about Peru...
and please eat some cuy while youre there. How could anyone pass up the opportunity?!?
I hear kabobs of beef heart (anticuchos) are a hot commodity there too... mmmmmmm. :)
Can do...
Adam and Tracy,
My most recent Communities magazine featured a Eco-village called the Nashira Project somewhere between Cali and Palmira, Columbia. The place is called Asociacion Mujeres Cabeza de Familia, www.awhf.org.co. After reading about the organization, I thought I might pass the information on to you. I have typed the article out for you below. Maybe this'll be another option for a Columbia stop.
"On a three-acre property where lemon, orange, tangerine, plaintain and nonie trees are in full production, 88 low-income women and their families have been working the land during the last four years. They have built their own vegetable beds and compost heaps, and are in process of harvesting worms for organic feeding of poultry and fish. Through a government program, they ahve been provided with units to rear chicken, ducks, quail, poultry, and guinea pigs, which they use as a source of protein or barter with other neighbors. For African sheep are in chage of cutting the grass. The consolidated gorup is now building the first 41 housing units, distributed in groups of eight houses. The housing project is using ecological materials including empty plastic water bottles filled with earth and put together with mud. The beneficiaries are urban residents of cities or villages in Department of El Valle Del Cauca, who have come to the city running away from the war, and who live in dismal conditions within the poverty belt of Cali and Palmira.
The Nashira project goes beyond offering justa house. It seeks to provide a better quality of life, offering a secure and nutritions supply of food within the compound as environmentally friendly atmosphere, and a source of income through the development of workshops where women can manufacture their own products. Thanks to the help of "Change the World" from Norway, a solar restaraunt is being built where the women from Nashira hope to provide healthy and tasty food not only for the Nashira dwellers but also as a tourist attraction for visitors. The first Saturday of each month the Nashira Fair takes place, whree the different products are sold to visitors from the neighboring towns of Cali and Palmira. Nashira is trying to develop its own currency, which is used as an exchange model in the Nashira Fair. It is important at this stage that the women from Nashira will progress and have access to internaional markest not only to sell their products but also to promote the organic food produced in the compound and the unique development model which this project entails.
In Columbia, 32 percent of housholds are headed by women and depend on their work as the main source of income. A startling 72.5 percent of homes with women as head of houshold are below the poeverty line. The Association of Women Who are Head of Household is the main developer of Nashira.
Angela dometsch, PhD (writer of the article) is the director and mentor of the Nashira project. She was born in Cali, Columbia. She has dedicated her life to championing the cause of women, especially those whomen who find themselves in a disadvantaged condition due to poverty, discrimination, and abandonment."
Growing and Harvesting Quinoa & Amaranth
by Lynda Prim (Seeds of Change)
Quinoa was so vital a food for the Incas that it was referred to as chisiiya mama or "mother grain" in the Quecha language. The grain was so sacred that each season the first seed was planted by the Inca king using a golden spade. Today, quinoa is still a staple crop grown by farmers throughout the highlands of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. For the people of this region, quinoa is an important source of protein–a protein of such high quality from a nutritional standpoint, that it often takes the place of meat in their diets.
Note: Quinoa is especially well adapted to high altitude areas with warm days and cool nights and may not produce ample seed in areas with warm summer nights.
This year at the Seeds of Change Research Farm we grew trial plots of four varieties of quinoa: 'Dave (Four-O-Seven),' 'Faro,' 'Isluga,' and 'Temuco.' Quinoa plants are tall with broad leaves and large seedheads. Plants range in color from green to red to purple. Quinoa is in the same plant family as wild lambsquarters and appears very similar with larger, more developed seedheads. The quinoa seeds are usually pale yellow, but seeds can vary in color from ivory to pink, orange to red, or brown to black. The seed is round with its embryo forming a ring around the outside edge.
Nutritionally, quinoa is rich in protein (16 to 23 percent) and contains an amino acid balance high in the essential amino acids lysine, methionine, and cystine. Quinoa is traditionally toasted or ground into flour. Quinoa grain has a nutty flavor and can be ground into flour for baking unleavened breads or combined with other flours in leavened breads. It can also be popped like popcorn, prepared as a grain dish, breakfast cereal, or in soups and salads. The seeds of most quinoa varieties contain bitter-tasting saponins in the outer layers of the seed coat. Because of this, quinoa needs to be washed in water several times to remove the saponins. Quinoa can also be harvested as a green leafy vegetable when its leaves are young.
Amaranth is one of the most beautiful crops that we grow at the Research Farm. The broad leaves, stems, and spectacular flowers of the amaranth plants–in purples, reds, green and gold–create a blaze of color across the fields. This year we grew eight varieties of amaranth: 'Mercado,' 'Burgandy,' 'Warhiho,' 'Golden Giant,' 'Greek,' 'Manna de Montana,' 'Hopi Red Dye,' and 'Merah Coleus Leaf.'
Amaranth grows vigorously, tolerates drought, heat, and pests, and adapts readily to a wide range of environments. A staple grain of the Incas, Aztecs, and other pre-Colombian peoples, amaranth was once as widely dispersed throughout the Americas as corn. When I was a graduate student doing field studies in ethnobotany at the Pot Creek site near Taos, New Mexico, my research on the prehistoric agricultural fields at the site turned up fossilised amaranth pollen together with corn pollen indicating that the ancient inhabitants grew both crops.
Amaranth grains are slightly larger than poppy seeds with the flower heads of a single plant containing more that 100,000 seeds. Seed colors range from black to red to ivory. The seed is shiny with the embryo curved around the seed like quinoa. Unlike quinoa, however, the amaranth seed coating does not contain bitter saponins.
Nutritionally, amaranth is a very valuable food–higher in protein than the major cereal crops (13 to 18 percent as compared to 10 percent in corn and wheat) with a high level of the amino acid lysine, an essential amino acid that is usually deficient in plant protein. Amaranth is also a good source of calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, vitamin E, and B vitamins.
Planting quinoa and amaranth is easy. After danger of frost is past, the seed can either be broadcast and raked into the soil or sown in narrow, shallow rows. Amaranth and quinoa seeds can germinate in as little as three days. Be sure to keep the beds of new seedlings well weeded until the plants are established so that the new plants are not overcome by weeds that grow at a similar rate (including their wild relatives-lambsquarters and pigweed). Once established, quinoa and amaranth grow vigorously and can compete well with the weed species. Most quinoa varieties mature in 3 to 6 months and in some varieties, the plants mature at varying rates. Most amaranth varieties mature in 4 to 6 months. Usually, quinoa and amaranth are harvested just before the plants mature because the seeds are not held tightly in the seedhead and will scatter on the ground as the seedheads dry out.
Harvesting quinoa and amaranth is a simple process. Cut the seedheads just before they become dry and brittle. Lay the seedheads on a cloth or place them inside paper or cloth bags with heads down and leave in the shade to finish drying. When the seedheads are dry, the seeds can be removed in several ways: by rubbing gently with your hands (wearing gloves is recommended), by enclosing the seedheads between two cloths and treading on top without shoes on, by beating the seedheads inside of a bag, or by beating seedheads together over a cloth. Once the dry seeds are removed they can be placed into a shallow bowl and swirled around until the large pieces of flowers rise to the top where they are easy to remove. By tipping the bowl you can rake out much of the chaff that is left. Any small particles of flowers, chaff, or dirt that remain can be removed by shaking the seed through a small mess screen about the size of window screen. Winnowing the seed in a light breeze will also remove the flower and chaff effectively. The seeds are very light so it is important to winnow carefully in light breeze only.
Storage: Once the quinoa and amaranth seeds are dried and cleaned, it is a good idea to keep the seeds for several days at the temperature at which they will be stored, before putting them into a storage container. If the seeds do not feel damp and do not stick to each other during this time they are probably dry enough for storage. The length of time to dry seeds varies greatly depending on the air humidity, drying conditions, seed size, and how clean the seeds are. Store quinoa and amaranth as you would any type of cereal or grain in a sealed, airtight container out of direct sunlight and away from sources of heat.
Try growing Quinoa and Amaranth for their delicious, nutritious grains and greens and you'll be further rewarded with a garden steeped in the ancient cultures of the Americas.
IN THIS ISSUE
Dear Organic Gardeners
A time of abundance and winter preparations... Read>
Farm Report: Nov. '03
Selecting for the "perfect" slicing tomato... Read>
Storing Your Harvest Enjoy the fruits of your labor all through the winter... Read>
Quinoa and Amaranth Planting, harvesting, and storage tips from Lynda Prim ... Read>
Field Report: Flavor and Beauty A San Francisco showcase for some of our favorite Seeds of Change varieties... Read>
Kinship Gardening Alan Kapular discusses a key permaculture concept... Read>
Holiday Gift Specials
The holidays are here and we have some ideas... Read>
News and Events
Slow Foods, GMO crops and pesticide use, Organic Seed Growers Conf...Read>
Please send letters regarding this eNewsletter to:
Scott Vlaun, Editor.
We have not had cuy or anticuchos yet. The only places we have seen with cuy have been upscale restaurants, where we do not eat. And it usually cost upward of 15 dollars a plate.
Thank you Helms!
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