Meet Your Local FarmHer – Yvonne Diaz of De Colores Farms & Foods
Michelle E. Carreon, Food Justice Storyteller Meet Yvonne Diaz, local FarmHer and founder of De Colores Farms and Foods! Born and raised in El Paso, TX, Yvonne has been in […]
Author: La Semilla Staff
Meet Your Local Farmers – Andras Godina and Tessa Bianchet of Fossil Face Farms
Meet Andras Godina and Tessa Bianchet, farmers at Fossil Face Farms in Northeast El Paso! Andras and Tessa have been managing and building Fossil Face since 2019.
Meet Your Local FarmHer – Ximena Zamacona of Full Circle Mushrooms
Meet Ximena Zamacona, local FarmHer and founder of Full Circle Mushrooms! Primarily raised in Querétaro, Mexico, Ximena has always had an interest in nature.
“Food, Land, and Us”: La Semilla’s Farm Bill Zine Offers a Tool for Change
One week out from the release of our Farm Bill zine, we reflect on the purpose and potential impact of this collaboration as we move forward in our work on the ground.
Growing Leadership: Krysten Aguilar Transitions Out of La Semilla to New Director Role at Castanea Fellowship
On behalf of everyone at La Semilla, we invite you to join us in congratulating Co-Executive Director Krysten Aguilar on her transition to an exciting new opportunity in the food systems world.
Life Origins: Painting, Place, and Culture
Al Woody is a Diné artist living and working in El Paso, Texas, in part of the river valley we currently know as the Paso del Norte Region, which also includes southern Doña Ana County, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Originally from Lukachukai, AZ, Al has lived in various states, including Colorado. Through his company, Healing Ways Artistry, Al offers people aesthetic beauty, stories, and—perhaps unexpectedly—heart-to-heart counsel.
Breaking the lawn: Grow more than grass
On Highway 28 south of Las Cruces, a farmer faces a thousand-dollar fine for allowing wild greens on his front yard. “I eat them; they’re great in salads,” he says. He’s not alone. Despite the ubiquity of lawn culture in North America, there have throughout history been people who resist the concept.
Picking our poison: The trouble with pesticides
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “pesticides” include products developed to kill anything considered a pest — insects, worms, plants, fungi, and rodents. It’s worth examining how much risk to the planet and our health we are willing to pose for the elimination of a plant or bug.
Amaranth, purslane and dandelion are more than ‘weeds’
Have you ever considered who defines a weed, or how plants get demoted into that category? It seems any plant that survives human “progress” is called a weed, but a little digging reveals a more alarming origin.
Meet your neighbors: Key plants of the Chihuahuan desert
Established in 1852, the City of Las Cruces is a relatively new member of the Chihuahuan desert, the largest desert in North America and the most biologically diverse desert in the Western Hemisphere. Here, we introduce you to just a handful of the many resilient, drought-tolerant plants that give our region its unique character.