Local Agricultural Group Connects with Quechua Natives in South America

Leaders of the local agricultural organization Kanenhi:io Ionkwaienthonhakie (We Are Planting Good Seeds), are now working on several ideas for projects with the Quechua natives of Bolivia and Peru. Kanenhi:io’s Project Manager, Lorraine Gray, recently returned from a three week fact-finding and agricultural exchange with several groups based in the Andes’ Mountains of Peru and Bolivia.

“It was a life altering experience,” recalls Gray, “I met amazing people, doing incredible agricultural restoration, and cultural preservation work on their ancestral lands.” Gray was impressed by the stamina that these natives of the highlands possess. “Very few people own cars. It is commonplace to see even 70 and 80 year old women walking miles every day, carrying packs on their backs twice their size.”

In a region where the altitude can be in excess of 12,000 feet above sea level, just walking alone can be a challenge to those of us from the North Country who are not used to the lower levels of oxygen at those heights. “Chewing coca leaves helps tremendously with altitude sickness,” advises Gray, “but I still awoke every night, gasping for air, when the oxygen levels were at their lowest.”

Most of her work was done through the organization “Ayllus Ecologicos Del Cusco,” operated by Alejandro Trevisan and Lila Manjar. Ayllu is a word in both the Quechua and Aymara languages referring to a network of families in a given area. Gray assisted Ayllus in conducting workshops on health, using herbal remedies and cultivation of traditional foods. They also worked on improvements to a farm site that will be the basis for an education center for both children and adults in the village of Ocongate. The small town of Ocongate lies about 11,000 feet elevation and is a small commerce center for remote villages in that region. The Ayllus Association expects these projects to become models for other communities to help them become more self-sufficient. The site includes over two acres of excellent river bottom soil close to a river, as well as the Ocongate House, a rustic two-story adobe building with five rooms. There is limited outdoor plumbing and a humble kitchen with a dirt floor, no refrigeration and a clay horno (oven) for preparing meals.

The property also has a greenhouse, chicken coop and outhouse all constructed of adobe bricks. Plans for the future include a reforestation nursery; a fruit orchard; greenhouses for a variety of foods; a carpentry workshop for income and training; tourism experiences; a museum of traditional medicines, foods, and arts; and a holistic school for village youth.

Board members of Kanenhi:io appreciate the similarities in Allyus’ work, and the work Kanenhi:io is doing for the Akwesasne Freedom School and the general community of Akwesasne. They hope to work closely with these communities to share knowledge and resources to develop a network of indigenous people with similar goals of restoring and preserving traditional agricultural practices.

They have already established a relationship with the Pueblo of Tesuque, in New Mexico. Kanenhi:io leaders stay in close contact with Clayton Brascoupe, a Mohawk permaculture expert, who has been living and working in Tesuque for the last 30 years. Brascoupe helps run Traditional Native America Farmers Association (TNAFA). TNAFA organizes a 2 week permaculture design course which is held at the pueblo each summer.

Working in close contact with Pueblo of Tesuque Agricultural Director, Emigdio Ballon, a Quechua native of Bolivia, Kanenhi:io is establishing a network of indigenous agricultural resources that currently spans from Akwesasne, to New Mexico, Peru and Bolivia. Ballon, along with TNAFA, the Pueblo of Tesuque, the Institute of Natural and Tradtional Knowledge (INTK) and other supporters are in the process of organizing the 3rd Annual Symposium on Food & Seed Sovereignty, to be held in September of this year. Members of Kanenhi:io will actively participate in this important event.

For more information on the work that is being done with Kanenhi:io Ionkwaienthonhakie (We Are Planting Good Seeds). Call 518-332-3156, or email [email protected]. The group will be holding its annual meeting in the coming weeks, which will include a membership drive. Organizers will inform the local media of the time and location of the event.