So, here we are, sitting by the dry riverbed, making little terraces as the groundwater runs out, listening to stories of how the Rio Laja used to flow freely all year round, and wonderin’ bout the future, if we can possibly make any noticeable change in a dying river that stretches across the municipality.
We’d run into Augustine Madrigal, who works for Salvemos la Rio Laja, and he invited us out to Global Water Watch certification checking the health of bodies of water, and more generally, taking care of the cuenca (watershed).
Global Water Watch is a worldwide network of certified water monitors checking the quality of water and uploading their findings to an online website. Their mission is to give the power to the people to find out what is in their water and provide proof and strong data to present to authorities.
What we hadn’t realized was who else would be coming to the workshop. It was small, only a handful of people really, but among them were campesinos, gringos, government, and ecovillagers, representing projects all along the rio, from its beginnings in the small branching veins of tributaries in the mountains, to its end in the lake which neighbors the city.
Our teacher, a worm farmer from the south of mexico, led us through the process of giving rivers a checkup, measuring pH, checking for Ecoli, hardness, and turbidity. We met a new friend who works with the government, who offered to help us deal with the contamination Bachoco (a corporate chicken farm) causes.
The hacienda’s once more becoming a center for classes. Went by the secondary school a few weeks ago, where I met Randy Brohman, who beyond having a kickass name, is a cool old retired gringo who’s been giving computer classes to the kids (As he puts it, old men need something to do). They’re doing basic things like microsoft word and excel. Reminded me of teaching computers in Ghana. Myself being less than thrilled by excel, I approached him about working with some of the kids afterschool on using computers to make thumpin’ beats and such as a continuation of the class. The following week, I returned with my big travelling backpack full up of laptop, speakers, keyboard, and a microphone. After demonstrating a song off Ableton Live, I set a beat going, and had kids, teachers, and the Brohman lay down synth and vocal parts in real time. Shit was fun, by the end the doorway was packed with giggling kids who’d filtered in from the corners of the schoolyard.
Last Wedensday afterschool, 8 kids came to our studio for the first class. Going slowly, we went through the process of creating instruments, using drum racks and synths, and editing recordings into looped pieces. Rotating turns at the computer, we made a trippy lil beat together. I’m stoked to keep it going, and also for some extra helping hands (We’ve been trading time, classes for help with our project).
Also started guitar and keyboard classes with Gustavo and his friend, who are a bit older than me, helping them with basic chords, and learning a song together about smuggling coke (sorta a common theme, there’s a whole genre here called Narco Corriendo. means drug running. Think gangsta rap with accordions and phat tuba bass lines.).
Friday, early-early, on that get the worm tip, the hacienda came to life with another group of kids from the secondary school, who’d come out for a birdwatching course that Augustine had set up as a way to begin engaging the community with the local ecology and the rio.
After the water workshop, Augustine asked if we wanted to host a bird watching course here for 10 participants from La Cuadrilla. We agreed and I went about trying to find the 10 participants. Many couldn’t come so I finally went to the secondary school with mike and found 6 students, 2 boys and 4 girls that were genuinely really excited to get to come. I didn’t honestly think I would find that many but almost the entire classroom raised their hand when I asked who wanted to come! The course was for two days and the kids got friday off from school to come. We learned some interesting things about the physiology and the behavor of the birds that migrate on the River Laja and why it’s important to understand and monitor them. Birds serve as an indicator of eco-system health. Their peaks in population, daily habits, and numbers in diversity tell us many things. The kids amazed me at how interested they were in the topic, and even more, how much they already knew. The instructor was also very happy to have such excited students.
Saturday morning I joined them. Arturo was leading the course, a very calm, pleasant man who works on oak forest rehabilitation near Guanajuato. I was surprised how enthusiastic the kids were, roaming the banks of the rio in groups, checking out the birds in the binoculars. On the way back, I was walking with Arturo and one of the boys, and we saw 5 or 6 hummingbirds zipping through the mesquite. This whole place has been coming to life with the mesquites exploding in new green foliage. A hive of native bees have made their home in the wood above my balcony, and every day I see more and more of them carrying legfulls of pollen.
Saturday afternoon, I started recording these bees (for future whompage), and wound up following my ears on a two hour scramble through the campo that included recording a whole drumkit full of birds, frogs, and the shattered glass, stones, and resonant walls of an abandoned old shrine, and the discovery of a dusty one ring circus on the edge of La Cuadrilla which I returned to the next night with a beautiful neighbor.
Been pretty much living in the music studio when not working in the gardens or the hillside. In honor of the beez, here’s the first piece of a project I’ve been working on using monsanto advertisements, bee synthesizers (including some of the bees next door), samples, live instruments, and all manner o’ craziness…
McWagner’s Bad Medicine pt. 1 by Biomimicrant
Continuing work with Jaime, we’ve learned several ways to find the contour lines along our hill.
We used two tools, the water level, and the “agro-nivel”. The water level is fairly straight-forward: using a 14 mt. long tube full of water and two stakes with two marks placed at equal heights, we search for the contour line based on weather or not the water levels are aligned with the marks.
The agro-nivel is a tool to help find the amount of slope between two points. This helps us find out how far apart, or how high, our terraces need to be.
Tracing these, we’ve started terraces from stones and the abono (bonus) from the tree and cactus cleaning we’ve been doing (paistchle, dead branches, and dry sections of cactus). Smaller than swales, these terraces are not for water catchment as much as to slow the water down and give it a chance to infiltrate, and above all to prevent the soil from being swept away. It’s been remarkable to discover the rich tierra negra beneath the mesquite, to see how much the trees provide to the habitat. After seeing this, we’ve started planning an understory native herbs and tea garden for beneath the first section of grove we’ve cleaned and terraced. There’s been talk of a local organic tea co-op, which would be a perfect channel for the garden, It’s gonna be so beautiful. Thalia’s gonna help us make it happen.
Thalia’s a youngblood (meaning our age in the rather floridaish environs of San Miguel) from Massachusets who’s interning with Via Organica. Check out her dope blog at http://rawculturecollective.wordpress.com/ where she’s done writeups of via organica and our project here.
AND, we finally got the beds prepped in the Jaula (the soil looks way better than I expected, it’s amazing what water, mulch, leaf mold and compost can do.), and got most of it seeded and transplanted. Plenty of tomatoes interplanted with carrots, radishes, beets, and onions, several beds of greens, and 12 beautiful three sisters mounds of corn, squash, peas, and cosmos flowers. Also made a perimeter bed on the outside of the jaula, where I broadcast chives and flowers to attract beneficial pollinators and deter pests.
During the GWW course,
there was a moment,
It was something Eduardo said, brought it
Flooding my vision
With glazed eyes,
I looked across the serpent folds of a river
As all the people sweated
Not behind counters at gas stations
Or building forever empty hotels
Or sitting behind computers
No, their sweat fell from them
Joining with the waters of the river
As they worked in small groups
Isolated idioms
Joined together by the common urgency
Of our failing body.
