Notable EA Awardee Reports Angel Lopez, Tecate, Mexico As weather begins to slowly change to warmer days but still cool nights we've been taking full advantage of our new greenhouse. We started flats for some of our last cool-season crops, but also a bunch of new warm season crops: broccoli, spinach, four varieties of squash, tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumbers, sunflowers, chiles and herbs/flowers such as basil, lemon bee balm, lavender, zinnia, cosmos, alyssum and more. Our winter fava beans (San Ildelfonso) from Native Seeds [a company that sells arid-adapeted heirloom seeds from Mexico and the Southwestern US] have started to fruit and we can see the complete fava bean forming. This is a small bed (2m2) because it was all I was able to get in 2023 from Native Seeds, so this whole harvest will be saved to plant a full bed at the end of the year.
April 14 we planned a GB activity at our friend Jorge’s. He has been participating at our volunteer GB events for the past few months and it was our time to help him with his garden. Twelve people signed up, but many canceled due to rain the previous night. We still were able to get a group of 8 involved which was plenty to get two beds double-dug and transplanted. Our communication with Jorge is strong and we have accepted him as part of our family and of the community that’s forming because of their continued interest in sustainable agriculture.
On April 21, we planted our corn directly on the bed in the form of a ritual where we were also able to cook and eat some of last year’s corn in the process. We planted 9m2 in total, the first of three varieties of corn we are planting this year. It is a white corn, the same we planted last year with seeds from Native Seeds, but this time we were able to mix our own seeds saved from last year’s harvest.
Since we are opening garden-space for ten new 100 sq. ft. beds we hope to test the soil if funds are available. In May we will visit The Jeavons Center and VGFP, and look forward to seeing you and meeting the whole team. May 18 is our first public event "Introduction to GB" with brief topics of DD, flats, transplanting and compost, will report how it all goes. Also, our 3-day training at the university is at the end of May! So happy to be doing this work. Thanks John, big hug! Nereida Sanchez, Jalisco, Mexico
April 12 A school visit from an area in Guadalajara City with greater economic resources; we agreed on a cost affordable to them and good for us, so we can continue providing free activities for children in our community. 21 girls, 17 boys (13- 14 years old) and 5 adults attended, and learned about GB.
April 11 & 18 University students studying agronomy, economics and sustainability at the Technological Institute of Tlajomulco visited (39 men, 15 women and 1 teacher). Their ecology teacher brings students every semester, so they can see a self-sustaining project. They are taught to work for companies that use agrochemicals; that the economy lives at the expense of farmers; and that "sustainability" is producing cheaply—so they normally do not think in the long-term. So, we want our time with them—the garden tour, tasting our products—to be meaningful, and for these future professionals to see value in ethics and ecology. The support Ecology Action gives us enables this teacher and her students to visit us for free, as the students can't/ won't pay. In contrast, agrochemical companies pay students to visit, and give them gifts, hoping for future employees. Against this, the teacher looks for alternatives. April 19 & 25 A primary school in the community heard from the preschool about our activities which led to four groups of 6-13 years visiting us (60 girls, 59 boys, 48 adults (teachers and parents, also interested in our work)). The younger ones toured the farm and tasted garden produce. The older ones learned and practiced GB: viewed and smelled compost, learned about planting in growing beds, tasted leafy vegetables, and ended with a dialogue about our community, how to care for it and contribute to improving our health and our environment.
April 19 We formalized a group from the Mujeres de mi Tierra Community Center of more than 20 mothers of preschool and primary school students who have visited us. We are preparing space to receive them, starting with making compost in the Center's garden and each woman starting to compost at home. We begin May 18, meet every third Saturday of the month, a class on Biointensive cultivation and garden work, and follow-up every week. April 23 Monthly preschool visit (82 girls and boys, 6 teachers) prepared a gift for Mother's Day (plant a pot with fast-growing flower seeds) and to learned with this activity. The theme of the day was LOVE: love for our mother, our land, and everything that surrounds us. The visit raised awareness about plant care, the constancy of love and constancy in watering, and that love and plants grow—and we have replacement plants just in case. April 27-28 Invited to give two children's workshops at the Native Fruits and Seeds Festival in El Limon. Adults participate too, and learn to protect our environment. We made seed bombs with native local flower seeds and clay, and discussed how they could fill the town with native flowers and provide food for pollinators. In El Limon, diseases caused by agrochemical use have been detected in children, and several people already promote GB constantly and locally to improve their diet and health. Also in April I had the opportunity to go to Costa Rica, and visited [2014 EA Intern] Ligia Espinoza, who showed me her farm and all her great work in her garden, getting to know her climate and ways of working in her community. This thanks to the International Meeting of Biointensivists. In April we trained a total of 376 people. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT TO MAKE THESE ACTIVITIES POSSIBLE. Hermana Esperanza, Tijuana, Mexico
Additionally, this month we were fortunate to receive a group of 80 students from the Madre Teresa de Calcutta Free University in Tijuana, Baja California, who are preparing to be primary and secondary teachers. We teach them the basic principles to make Biointensive school gardens. We feel very satisfied to see them so happy and eager to teach this to their students in the school program.
We continue to marvel every day at everything that God gives us in nature, and we do not stop sowing these seeds of love, culture and ecology in others, especially in those who are less favored in the eyes of the world. Thank you, John Jeavons and Ecology Action, for being part of our noble mission. Thank you for letting God act in us through your valuable support. God bless you; we love you very much. We hope to see you soon.
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We took a trip to the city of Tijuana to visit the university
where we planned a 3-day GB workshop.
We thought it’d be important to grab some soil and
check out the quality and type of soil we’ll be working
with. This soil has very little organic matter,
there’s a big layer of small rocks (maybe from pre-
Notable EA Awardee Reports vious constructions that took
place there), and the soil has a
silty-clay texture from immediate
observations. We took a
bucket of the soil to start testing
with added compost so we
can start flats for their future
garden at the end of May.
Jerusalem artichoke planted
(6m2 bed) in February during
the rainy days is is now 3 inches
tall, doing great with no water
added yet. This crop does really
well with no water in its first
growth phase, will keep monitoring
to see when it starts to
need water. 
We spent
the day working the soil doing the double-dig, adding
compost and amendments. Once the soil was
ready, we started cooking in
our wood-fire kitchen. We
made tostadas, sopes, tortillas
and tetelas all from last
year’s harvest of corn with
the “Nitxtamal” technique.
It was quite a spiritual experience,
because last year’s
labor finally paid off in this
meal, and to be able to share
it with some of our closest
friends made this event
more significant, and to say
the least it was delicious. 
April 3-6 Our first free
Biointensive course
was attended by three
university students
on spring break. This
“learning experiment”
helped us encourage
students to apply to
learn over the summer.
It also provided data to
plan for future courses:
some people are unfamiliar
with fieldwork,
lack strength to double-
dig, or don’t know
about compost piles. What was good is the great
interest young people have in cultivating the land;
growing food to improve their health; concern for
the environment and a desire to improve it—and
that they realize GB is a good solution. We wanted
to test this 5-day workshop model to see if we
can teach GB principles and have everyone finish a
growing bed. In 4 days, we went through compost,
germination, growing bed preparation, transplanting,
and open pollinated seeds, and shared this free
online manual: .jpg)
In this month of
March we were able
to continue with the
spring-summer rotation,
since this year the
winter has lengthened,
which has allowed us to
have more time for the
seeds and tubers to be
ready for transplanting.
We prepared the
beds for planting potatoes,
radishes, peas
and tomatoes. We have
been taking care of
our chili, cilantro, pea,
and lettuce seedlings,
which still need to be transplanted.
In each workshop we make layers of compost, so
children and adolescents already know that in the
garden everything is
used and that compost
is essential to
have good harvests and
helps us to be grateful
by returning to the
earth what it gives us.
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