Ana Lu Caro es una chef comunitaria originaria de Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México, con sede en Berino, Nuevo México.
Durante su participación en la Beca Cultural del Desierto Chihuahuense, Ana Lu fue jefa de cocina de la Iglesia Metodista Unida El Calvario, un santuario histórico que sirve como refugio temporal para refugiados de múltiples países y culturas, en Las Cruces, Nuevo México.
A member of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, Patricia Riggs is a writer, poet, consultant, and community-based educator. She writes short stories and poetry about her experiences as an Indigenous woman. Through her cultural practice, she focuses on the native viewpoints of history and colonization, the struggles to retain community and culture, and the successes of maintaining identity and traditions.
Crys Ganatra is a textile and visual artist currently based in El Paso, TX and one of the members of the second cohort of La Semilla’s Chihuahuan Desert Cultural Fellowship. Not wanting to limit herself to a particular place, she is an artist deeply committed to community and creating a sense of “home” wherever she goes.
We cannot separate food from land, history, family stories, and cultural expression. As a land-based organization deeply rooted in our community, our cultural practice is closely tied to our region’s history and diverse ecosystem and the countless human and non-human relationships we have forged over the years.
This month marked the 2-year anniversary of the pandemic lockdown in the Paso del Norte region. Among other things at that time, we had been getting ready to host two community listening sessions to learn how people access food, grow food, and share food traditions with their families.
At La Semilla Food Center, we view the act of storytelling as a vehicle for change that works to shift power, uplift inherently healthy food traditions and practices, and increase connection to the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem.
As the Spring 2022 Raíces series is approaching the end of its 6-week program, the cohort will be graduating soon and learning some final lessons to carry forward.
We are taking a moment to highlight one of the youth participants, Lajward Zahra.
Cultural practice is embedded throughout all dimensions of our work at La Semilla. The interconnectedness of all six of our programs is visible in both cross-collaboration and a commitment to cultivating a just and sustainable food system on all levels.
What does culture mean to you, and how does your cultural practice shape our community?
Throughout our 11+ years as an organization firmly rooted in our community, our cultural practice at La Semilla Food Center has been influenced and inspired by both our region’s history and the countless human and non-human relationships we have nurtured over time.
For more than 10 years, La Semilla’s farm team, led by Co-founder and Director Cristina Dominguez, has been steadily building from the ground up.
