Here in the Land of the Sacred Heart of Life, we are unable to grow Yucca because of the climate. Yucca takes a year to grow to its full harvest, if not longer, and we only have approximately 6 months available for our growing season for all frost sensitive plants. Since we are not engaged in fantasies regarding the Seasons and are not engaged in trying to contort our temperate seasons into tropical seasons, we had to face the FACT that Yucca can't be grown here (at least outside). However, the Potato can be successfully grown. The Potato was developed by our Ancient Ancestors of the Mountains of the South, Peru and Chile. The potato was and is a Sacred Food to the Ancestors, and was and continues to be, together with corn, a staple of the diet. This Sacred Food was scorned by the europeans when they first came in contact with it, and they continued to look on

it as a food for the "have nots" for hundreds of years. It was only recently, in the last couple hundred years that the europeans adopted the potato as the wonderful food that it is, they even had to manipulate the people to get them to eat it. The Potato is HIGHLY NUTRITIOUS, a valid staple food for anyone, if cooked correctly, (not fried fast food).

The Inca had cultivated over 240 different varieties of the potato, giving us an incredible diversity of potato that is NOT represented by the few varieties available in the supermarket. One of the most popular was a purple skinned potato with yellow flesh.

Potato is a very hardy plant, enabling it to be grown at the very high mountain altitudes in relatively poor soil.

We are in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, which were once very tall mountains, as talls the Rockies which have been worn down to their current shape. Our soil has a lot of limestone and is rocky but we add large quantities of horse manure (and now also Llama and Alpaca manure!) so it has quickly become good quality soil!

Potatos can be grown in a trench that as the potato grows gets filled up to promote the potato to grow LOTS of potatos. The seed for the potato is the potato. It is important to start with a good quality, disease free, seed potato, so we got our potatos from a organic grower up in Maine. This year the potato shipment was delayed because their number of orders went from 120 up to 400! (A

statement on the explosion of home gardens that we are seeing!) The local nursery sold out within a weekend back in April.... The Earth Changes are not a fantasy or words that we can throw around to sound good, they are a fact, and it is this fact that we were discussing at length in Maisiti Yukayeke Taino and calling for a preparation to be able to meet these Earth Changes with a plan of action, and not rely on fantastical ceremonies, internet cut and paste, or elementary school level arts and crafts.

Here we are putting the potatoes in the trench and stepping on them to give them good contact with the Earth below. These potatoes are "fingerlings" a very tender potato with exceptional taste!

Here is a view of the trenches ready for the potatoes. This garden was only created last fall, the magic of the manure has given us GREAT soil to work with in only a few short months. There are huge numbers of worms in the soil, which is always a good sign. You can see all the rocks that were taken out of the garden on the far side.

Close up view of the fingerlings...

Here the little hand is Anani's, she is very active in these plantings...

More potatoes...

PURPLE Potatoes! These are beautiful, and they are delicious and of course make exciting and colorful additions to the table!

Purple Potatoes on the soil. The color is much more intense than the photo shows. These potatoes have become very popular in farmer's markets and with certain potato chips since they retain their color when cooked.

Kathdin Potatoes, good for storage...

Yukon Gold potatoes....

Potatoes in the trench!

Potatoes in another trench...

View of the Potato Garden.

One of the discussions that we have engaged with ourselves over the years is the adaptation of the traditional Taino agricultural practices and the foods that were grown in the Caribbean to the very different climate we live in here. We have heavy frosts and freezing all winter long, giving us a growing season of about 6 months. Yucca is of course a unique root that cannot be "replaced" by ANYTHING! We look at storage Squash and Potatoes as the vegetable staples that can be stored throughout the winter. Both can be grown in Conucos. Our Conucos are for the Squash so we decided to go with the trench method for the Potatoes. The Potatoes are also a very Sacred Food as we mentioned above. The Potato is another Gift from the Ancestors, another amazing fruit from the agricultural

and botanitcal genuis of our Ancestors from the South! Another root associated with Deities/ Mysteries!

The Essence of being Taino is in the principles of Taino, not only in the appearance or titles of it all. The Essence of our Taino Ancestors is Sustainability, Agriculture, Community, and Spirituality (relationship with the Living and Dead), and all of these things were and continue to be intertwined. For us to go out and plant Yucca would be down right stupid and a waste of valuable energy, and something our Ancestors would never have done, as they understood from their own story of migration the need to change and adapt to the places that they moved to. They were not rigid in their thinking. It is an unfortunate travesty that today's Tainos of SOME circles are very rigid in their thinking, very much locked into their personal fantasy of Taino, and are not clear on the principles embodies by our Ancestors. There is an attempt to replay everything as if 500 years has not passed. There is an attempt to simply feel that dressing and talking as if one was Taino is enough to bring that Spirit forward.

We know that the economic situation in the Northern part of this continent is "bad" but how about in the Caribbean, it is worse. When there are organizations out there who claim that they are the leaders for the whole of the Antilles, or are the group of organizations for all things Taino, we have to ask them what are they doing for this desperate situation in the Caribbean, including Boriken, Cuba, Jamaica, Kiskeya, Haiti, and all the other Islands where Tainos were and are living? Additionally since there is a

alleged "beike bo" ("great, big beike/ medicine man) the question arises, "What is this great, grand medicine man, leader of all other medicine people, doing for this situation Spiritually and Ceremonially?"

At some point we HAVE to stop talking all this nonsense, we HAVE to get back to reality, we have to truly EMBRACE the SPIRIT of TAINO and not just settle for the appearance. Like it or not the chains of christianity and colonialism MUST BE BROKEN. Either we are Indigenous Children of the Taino Ancestors or we are slaves within the system of colonialism and christianity. We cannot be both.*******************************************************

Planting the Conucos!

Conucos are of course Traditional Taino methods of agriculture. They are what we would call a form of raised bed, where the soil is elevated above the rest of the grade.

Conucos are excellent for many things, including Yucca, as well as sweet potato and squash. We use them for our Winter storage squash. They have lots of space for the vines of the Squash to travel, and travel they do.

We begin by clearing the Conucos from all the weeds that have grown over the winter. Then the Stone Cemis which have spent all winter on top of the Conucos are placed once more within the Earth of the Conuco to stimulate the growth and strength and fertility of the plants that will be planted on the Conuco. These are placed in the Earth in a Ceremonial Process.

This Winter we will begin the process of Carving these Stone Cemis to bring out their Spirtual Expression more strongly. They have already been active on the Conucos for two full yearly cycles, this is their 3rd.

Now the Cemi is within the Conuco and will stay there until the Squash have been fully harvested and the frost once again visits us!

This photo was taken BEFORE the Cemi went into the Earth. The Cemi stimulates the growth of the Plant as well as stimulates the nutrients and forces which the Plant needs to flourish.

Important Note: The Conucos are planted at the SAME TIME the Cemis go into the Earth.

A short note on the title of this post: I have been accused of "pontificating behind a computer", while I find this accusation humorous, especially coming from someone who has actually visited the land and SEEN the hard work that has gone into it, I felt the need to reflect that accusation back to its source. The fact that the accusation is blatantly untrue and ridiculous is an unfortunate reflection of the jelousy and envy that the accusee suffers

from. If we are to have arguments, let the arguments at least be based in truth and not in the habitual fantasies that are all too prevalent in this individual's head, especially concerning our Spirituality.

Photo of the squash seeds to be planted...

More squash seeds on the Soil.

These are various different varieties that we plant, all of which are HEIRLOOM and many of which are INDIGENOUS!

More Sacred Seeds!

Planting...

These are Indigenous Squash Seeds! Their shapes are very different than your typical "butternut or acorn squash" and in our view have more Spiritual Expression!