About

Cultivando Comunidad, Cultivating Community is taking place in San Francisco, Riviera Nayarit, Mexico (San Pancho for short). Cultivando Comunidad began in December of 2014 as Paloma Sanchez's senior thesis. This project is all about creating healthy webs of exchange within the community in order to educate and inspire families to participate in sustainable practices. Our hope is that these exchanges will lead to a deeper connection with the natural world.

The purpose of this project is to develop a interactive edible garden for the community center of Entre Amigos (http://entreamigos.org.mx/). The connections that have been made with the local people of San Pancho have proved the importance of strong human relationships and the holistic approach toward rejuvenating the environment while empowering its people. Through the process of building strong bonds with the people of San Pancho, the freedoms of sustainable garden design have become possible. The trust that has been gained not only with the staff of Entre Amigos but with their families has opened doors of support and resources in order to fully develop the sustainable garden space.

Our mission is to finish the following tasks in 3 months, late November to the end of February:

-Design and create butterfly garden: This area will contain a small pond as well as a variety of flowers which will attract beneficial pollinators.

-Design an educational plan/work shops for kids to interact in the garden: One main goal of this project is to educate and promote community, through these work shops there will be opportunity for hands on learning.

-Design an efficient irrigation system: This system will also be sustainable and educational.

-Establish tree nursery: This has been an ongoing project at Entre Amigos, but there haven't been enough hands to make it a reality until now.

-Build a small shed: This will be a useful storage space for tools and materials.

-Create a beautiful garden plaque: The plaque will describe the garden, who created it, and who made it possible.

We need your help! In order to get our team to Mexico as well as raise money for the materials needed to complete this new interactive space, we will be designing t-shirts, totes, posters and stickers, which will be printed with recycled ink. These t-shirts and totes will be hand printed by part of our team at the 111 Media Collective (http://111mediacollective.com/) , in Albuquerque, NM where Paloma resides.

Why should you help? Other than the fact that you will receive some rad rewards, your help will provide fresh organic produce to the community center of Entre Amigos and an environmental educational space for the children of the village.

Cultivating community through the development of urban, agricultural environments has become key to the rehabilitation and reconnection of environment and people. In fact there has been discussion on urban agriculture and it’s positive effects on urban development, this includes providing affordable/free food for those with a low income or for those who are homeless. Urban farms/gardens are also beneficial to the environment, which lead to healthier communities (Irvine, S.1999).

Our Team

Our core group consists of some very passionate, talented, driven individuals.

Paloma Sanchez: Hello, I am an urban farmer in Albuquerque, NM and have always been very passionate about the natural world. I graduated May 2015 from the University of New Mexico with a BA in International Studies with a thematic concentration in environment and society/ sustainability as well as an area studies concentration in Latin America. The community of San Pancho taught me that a strong connected community is capable of anything. In their interactions as a community I witnessed efficient communication between neighbors in order to resolve conflicts. I saw people reaching out to help one another without asking for anything in return. When I departed the director of Entre Amigos and the director of Environmental programs assured me that they would support me 100% in anything I would like to continue in order to create an education agricultural space for the center. I left San Pancho with hope in my heart.

Mariel DeLacy: Hi all! I garden and landscape professionally in Boulder, Colorado and near my town at 8500ft. I am currently studying permaculture for many reasons - to better grow food, build houses, understand nature, and generally live better. I also volunteer at a local ecology center for kids where we study science and art, craft and adventure . I am thrilled to come on this team and grow food for a community while also working with kids. It is truly a dream to work with a community like San Pancho and I thank you for the opportunity. Here's to learning and working together!

Austin Wolff: I'm thrilled to be part of this sustainability movement. Within the past three years, I have implemented small-scale sustainability efforts at my Albuquerque home, and can't wait to pour my energy into the San Pancho community.

Tanner Morris: I am excited to be apart of this project. I love helping people and driving sustainability. In the past I have volunteered and worked as a GED and ESL reading and writing instructor at the Dona Ana Community College in the Quintana Learning Center. I also have experience with wildlife, botany, and woodworking. I am excited to use these skills to make this project come to life!

Mariah Dorner: I am currently working as a contractor in fermentation science in Saint Paul, MN. My interest in sustainable food systems began during my time working for the Student Office of Sustainability at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. I also spent three months volunteering at an ecological reserve and permaculture site in Ecuador during the summer of 2013. I am very excited to humbly serve this community and help to build an environment for learning and practicing sustainable food production.

Mark Goldblum: Hi, My name is Mark, and I have spent my lifetime pondering and experimenting to find out just what is really important. So far what I have distilled it down to is this: All we really have in this life is Love, and the people we share it with. So, obviously community is an important part of that. Then come the things that support the community around us. What supports our communities are the gifts we are given from the natural world. Everything we need, indeed everything we have, comes to us from the Earth. The water, plants and animals that are our friends and feed us are what make life possible. So this project is an important one, and excites me. If I can assist in creating water systems and gardens for the children and other folks of San Pancho, then I will feel as if I have done some good. I have friends who live in San Pancho, and I want to help in any way I can. It is the least I can do since they have helped me so much through the years. I have been taught that gratitude is the most powerful way to connect to the world around us. To all of creation I send my greetings and gratitude, and to you, I send special words of thanks for your help in making this project possible.

Entre Amigos Staff: The Entre Amigos staff has been a huge help in planning out our route and stay in San Pancho. We will be working closely with Alan and Indira Santos. Alan works at the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens and has wanted to create a tree nursery at Entre Amigos for a while. Alan's wife Indira is the Environmental Coordinator of Entre Amigos and has been a mentor of mine in the general design of this project, she knows what the community needs and wants. We are very excited to work with this staff.

Indira Santos: I am an enthusiastic educator, co-founder of Entreamigos and other educational and community projects, Recycle San Pancho, World School. Environmental activist. Creator of environmental education programs for the region of Nayarit, these programs are currently being taught by university students in public primary schools with the objective of creating environmental awareness and making children into responsible consumers through an environmental education. Teacher of Arts with a focus on the development of art from recycled materials. Teacher of Applied Ecology through school gardens and community gardens where children and families become closer to the cycles of nature in order to enhance the care of our mother earth.