Reading · Unbracketing the possible

Hello!

Happy week 6! A lot of assignments? Want to take some breaks from your reading assignments? Here is another reading for you! Give this a read and let us appreciate the local Zócalo permaculture movement!

This is Chihaya writing. By the way:)

Zócalo is a permaculture farm located in Goldsboro ME run by the lovely couple Jon and Irene (who are more than happy to host guests!). Their journey for permaculture with this sacred place started about 40 years ago, and continues in the complex task of lowering their carbon footprint.

Permanent agriculture integrates land, resources, people and the environment through a multidisciplinary approach from agriculture, hydrology, and forestry, to natural building, and energy management. Those multifaceted approaches help cultivate diversity, stability and resilience in the surrounding ecosystem. One of the many lessons learned at Zócalo is that permaculture is not just a method, technical/practical style of farming and gardening, but it is the philosophy of how we envision our lives in the environment that welcomes us and allows for “mutually beneficial synergies” emerge, by paying close attention to what is and is not permanent. (Reference here)

After an introduction of the gathering by Isidora Muñoz, former COA alumni and [Earth] member and current Rural Youth Organizer on Climate Justice with JustME for JustUS, and a warm welcome by Jon and Irene (and a cute little dog!) , they gave us a tour around their farm.

The off-grid farm has has multiple different functionalities and a whole ecosystem within itself. There are farm garden, maker space, communal area, residential cabins, cob pizza oven, underground greenhouse, dance field and so much more! The hosts took us on an exciting adventure, explaining what they are and how they work with so much care and love for the space they have built and let evolve for 40 years. As a student learning sustainable architecture in this fall term, it was also super fascinating to learn about multiple passive design techniques applied everywhere in their built environment. Everywhere in the space, there was care, respect and integration.

As the hosts expressed, a full comprehension of how these different functions work together in everyday life in the scope of permaculture is hard to achieve just by visiting their farm for a day. It requires at least two or three weeks of living and working within their ecosystem.

After the farm tour, we went inside the “heart” of Zócalo to have some open discussions on climate justice, and connection with the environment, specifically land and water. The very cool building, what I call the “heart” of Zócalo has an underground greenhouse, some storage space downstairs (that used to function as a livestock cabin in the past), a gathering space with a tall ceiling, and the observation point at the top!

Thanks to the partnership with JustME and JustUS through Isi, we had two wonderful special guests as well, who are also active in climate justice work in Maine and beyond; Tanvi Koushik and Luke Sekera. Tanvi is a former [Earth] member too, who is currently doing her training to become a certified clinical herbalist and has been actively involved in activism for solidarity on political injustices tearing people and land apart. Luke works with the Community Water Justice organization and has been working to improve clean water access for different communities throughout the state of Maine, including supporting the water issue at Sipayik.

Facilitated by Isi, our discussion covered multiple different topics that are closely interconnected with each other;

Connection with land and water
How nature and its elements are being used as a weapon in a form of oppression in different places in the world. (eg, deprivation of water access of people in Gaza, contamination of water in rivers and lakes with which Indigenous communities in Maine have years and years of connection)
Militarism (production of inhumane, destructive weapons) prevalent in Maine has been directly contributing to the ongoing genocide in Gaza
The beauty of observing the environment and finding what is permanent
“a stool theory”
As the concluding story, Jon gave us a piece of advice for the climate justice discourse. Let’s imagine a stool with three legs. One representing vision, one representing action and the last representing celebration. Vision is our goals and what we envision our world to look like, and we put those vision into an action by actually doing work. And then, we celebrate our work at the end with whichever way you want. When our lives are getting stressful, overwhelming, or unstable, that means the stool is stunted as there is no balance among these three elements. So we should try to find a good balance by asking ourselves “Am I dreaming too much?” “Am I doing enough work?” and (most importantly) “Am I celebrating my actions enough?”. Everything is about balance. This reminds us of the importance of both facing challenges and problems, and celebrating our work especially in climate justice discourse where things can look hopeless and negatively overwhelming for individuals.

After the discussion, we had some celebration aka a snack break with lots of fruits, chips, carrots with hummus, baguette with cheese, and homemade kombucha! And we moved on to the “action” part of the stool, cutting some bushes with tools for a better, convenient living environment around one of the cabins for internships. After the work, here comes the real celebration!

After working on the field, Jon and Irene took us to a dance field and we danced all together in a circle for a little while, paying attention to the trees around us and the people we embrace and share the moment and the wonderful place with.

Aaaand the wonderful field trip came to an end…

Thank you for reading, I hope you all enjoyed it!

If you are interested in internships, wwoofing, or a visit, reach out to Irene Cortese at codi_57@yahoo.com

If you have any thoughts or comments on this topic, please leave a comments from here or come to a [earth] meeting every Wednesday 6:30 PM in TAB to share your amazing ideas!

Field trip to Zócalo!

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