Roxanne Swentzell

by Jessica Brothers | Sep 6, 2022 | 2022 Conference Speakers, Field Days, Special Events

Roxanne Swentzell

Born in 1962 in Taos NM, into a family of Santa Clara Pueblo Artists (Naranjos), Roxanne grew up with her two sisters in a creative environment. As a young child, she wasn’t able to communicate due to a speech impediment, but her mother handed her some clay and Roxanne found a new language. She sculpted human figurines depicting something going on in her life that she wanted others to know. Meantime her parents were studying solar energy and as a family built themselves a solar adobe house in Santa Fe, NM. They had a small garden plot and fruit tree along with turkeys and chickens. Roxanne took it upon herself at an early age to be the caretaker of the gardens and animals. She also took over (from her mother) making the dishes for the household. Roxanne was able to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts while finishing her high school credits. She then went on to study at the Portland Museum Art School in Oregon but after a year she returned home to be closer to her Native Culture and raise her two children. She built a solar adobe house by hand for her and her children at Santa Clara Pueblo. During this time, Roxanne was introduced to Permaculture and with the help of her husband (at that time) Joel Glanzberg, and a like-minded friend (Brett Bakker), they started the non-profit, Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute in 1989. Roxanne’s home site was the place they would experiment with the practices of permaculture and teach. Soon it became obvious that Roxanne’s ties to the Pueblo culture steered the Institute into cultural preservation and ways to become more self-sufficient. She has written and had published, “Our Home” an experimental place in sustainable life-ways, “Droppings” an occasional newsletter for the community, “Extra-ordinary People”, (NM Magazine Artist Series), a number of “how-to” booklets, and her latest on the diet of her people, “The Pueblo Food Experience” Museum of NM Press. Roxanne also created The Tower Gallery in Pojoaque, NM where she shows and sells her artwork. These days, Roxanne homeschools her three oldest grandchildren, tends gardens and animals, makes sculptures, teaches building and gardening skills, and gives talks all around the country on her art, work in the tribe, and permaculture. Visit her website.

Field Day

Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute: Erosion Control and Land Health Workshop

Neil Thapar

by Jessica Brothers | Aug 18, 2022 | 2022 Conference Speakers, Plenaries

Neil Thapar

Neil Thapar (he/him) is Co-Director of Minnow. Neil’s role includes using his legal background to co-create legal entities for community ownership of land and financial resources that are democratic and participatory. Neil emphasizes collective action and cooperation as cornerstones in every project or policy he participates in. Prior to Minnow, Neil was the Sustainable Economies Law Center’s Food and Farm Program Director. Outside of Minnow, Neil is a parent member of a childcare cooperative for families of color in Oakland and he organizes with the Community Democracy Project to bring participatory budgeting, through a People’s Budget, to the City of Oakland where he lives.

About Minnow: Minnow shapes a world where all beings can experience joy and belonging with reverence for the land. Such conditions repair the harms of settler colonialism that persist under capitalism and white supremacy. By securing land tenure for California’s farmers of color and indigenous communities, Minnow supports the heritage and foodways of those most affected by state-sponsored dispossession. Through democratic ownership of land and food systems, colonized peoples can thrive in their cultural practices while contributing proven solutions to climate change.

Article: CivilEats: An Enormous Land Transition is Underway. Here’s How to Make it Just.

Plenary Speaker

Sergio Schwartz

by Lynne Whitbeck | Aug 4, 2022 | 2022 Conference Speakers, Special Events

Sergio Schwartz

My name is Sergio Schwartz, son of my Guatemalan immigrant father and my American mother. I was born, raised and have spent all but a few years of my life in New Mexico. I am beginning to actively pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a farmer and active advocate for food justice in NM after working for 10 years as a stay-at-home parent. In the middle of the pandemic I had the privilege of serving with Americorps Seedcorps at Road Runner Food Bank, and learned so much about our community and was humbled and awed by the pressing need to reimagine our food systems. I am in my second year of co-organizing a community farm hub in the South Valley called Del Cielo.

Special Event/ Field Day

Del Cielo Farm and Picaflor Collective Field Day

Becca Marshall

by Lynne Whitbeck | Aug 4, 2022 | 2022 Conference Speakers, Special Events

Becca Marshall

Becca’s past and present work centers around food justice issues in the United States and West Africa. Currently she supports Del Cielo Farm with community events and organizing, works as the farm manager for Tres Hermanas Refugee Farm, and stewards Yappy Dog Farm (a small flower + vegetable farm in the South Valley of Albuquerque). Working in community inspires Becca and she looks forward to cultivating relationships with others and the lands here in New Mexico.

Special Event/ Field Day

Del Cielo Farm and Picaflor Collective Field Day

Aaron Kauffman

by Lynne Whitbeck | Aug 4, 2022 | 2022 Conference Speakers, Special Events

Aaron Kauffman

Aaron Kauffman, originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, has over twenty years of experience analyzing and implementing simple and pragmatic solutions to watershed degradation. Aaron has a broad background in land management including reforestation projects as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic, monitoring and evaluation of pre- and post-fire erosion rates in oak savanna and ponderosa pine environments, and stream restoration around the Southwest. Aaron has also developed and taught community workshops and courses, including a Watershed Management class as part of the Sustainable Technologies program at the Santa Fe Community College. More recently, he has dedicated himself to addressing urban watershed issues such as stormwater pollution, urban heat island effect, and channel degradation from flooding.

Aaron completed his undergraduate degree in Ecological Studies at Seattle University and received a Master of Science in Watershed Hydrology and Management from the University of Arizona. He founded Southwest Urban Hydrology LLC in 2012. Aside from waiting in anticipation for the next rainstorm, Aaron dabbles in oil pastels, enjoys backpacking, and takes recreational soccer much too seriously!

Special Event/ Field Day

Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute: Erosion Control and Land Health Workshop

Ridge Shinn

by Lynne Whitbeck | Aug 4, 2022 | 2022 Conference Speakers, Webinars

Ridge Shinn

Ridge Shinn is the Executive Director of the Northeast Grass-fed Beef Initiative (NGBI). He also is the co-founder and CEO of Big Picture Beef, recently launched to produce Northeast grass-fed beef for Northeast customers. He has been a leader in the shift from feedlot production to raising cattle on a diet of 100% grass and forages – no grain. In addition to raising a large herd of grass-fed Rotokawa Devon beef cattle in Massachusetts, he was the Vice President of a Connecticut slaughterhouse and founded a successful meat company, Hardwick Beef. He has developed markets and distribution systems for 100% grass-fed beef throughout the northeastern United States and has consulted all over the US and for the Argentine government on the production and marketing of grass-fed beef. His work has been recognized in Time Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, Wine Spectator and Smithsonian.

Book: Grass-fed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World; How regenerative Grazing Can Restore Soils and Stabilize the Climate, November 2022, Chelsea Green.Economic

Webinar Week

Economic Success with Regenerative Grazing

This talk will focus on economic viability of grazing; creating 3-6 times more biomass per acre, improved animal health and reproduction, how management of the solar collector with ruminants creates consistent high-quality meat. Calve in sync with nature, winter graze and use limited structure to avoid concentration of nutrients. Measure success by evidence of rumen function (manure quality). Economic success with AMP grazing also creates resilience and combats drought and flooding.