Summer-Peru:
Eight-Week Certificate in Global Agroecology and Local Food Systems
in Peru from June 24th-August 18th

Inspired by the efforts of MESA's robust Alumni network to further advance sustainable agriculture and farmer-to-farmer exchange in Peru, MESA’s Summer-Peru Program aims to connect allies in food justice and global stewardship for a reciprocal, cross-cultural exchange of innovation and ancestral knowledge. 

The Eight-Week Program spans from June 24^th to August 18^th, ideal for students, recent graduates, and aspiring farmers who are not yet committed to land during the northern hemisphere’s summer months. Program highlights for Stewards participating in Summer-Peru include:

• Pre-departure Urban Agroecology Short Course with UC Berkeley Professor Miguel Altieri in California’s Bay Area*
• Workshops and trainings alongside Peruvian MESA Alumni and partners at the National Agrarian University – La Molina in Lima, Peru 
• Language study and cultural immersion
• Historic and agrarian tours in Lima and the nearby coastal town of Mala
• Compelling academic curriculum exploring traditional Peruvian agriculture, farmer-to-farmer exchange, agroecological practices, local market drivers, social movements, and agricultural reform
• Rural homestays with Peruvian MESA Alumni and their communities ranging from the Peruvian highlands to the biodiverse rainforest 
• Project-based education and community fieldwork projects in farmer cooperatives, organic dairy and cheese-making, farmers markets, biointensive greenhouses, agroecological self-sufficiency, or women farmer associations 

*optional shortcourse June 24th-June 28th

MESA Alumni Jose Ccalla and Maria Fernandez, respectively, are responsible for the latter two projects in agroecological self-sufficiency and women farmer associations.

Jose, a 2010 Alumni from Pike Valley Farm in Kentucky, is uniting ancestral farming techniques with agrotourism in Cochiraya, located in the Puno Region of Peru. He and his community of 30 families farm three hectares, sharing in farm labor and animal duties. They grow quinoa, barley, potatoes, fava beans, wheat, oats, carrots, onions, herbs for tea and several types of tubers. Summer-Peru Stewards placed with Jose will not only partake in daily farm and animal chores, but they will also contribute to the community’s agro-tourism vision. The participatory-project will focus on improving the current infrastructure for agro-tourism by designing and building a community garden demonstrating organic and indigenous practices. Increasing the visibility of the community’s time-honored, farming techniques will provide additional revenue streams for the area and further incentivize the preservation and perpetuation of these traditions.

After working at Ecology Action in California in 2006, Maria organized a women’scooperative in the Amazonas region of Peru. The organization, “Club de Madres Emprendedoras de la Agrobiodiversidad” (Entrepreneurial Mothers Club of Agrobiodiversity), initiated a monthly community farmer’s market called “Frutos de la Tierra” and holds workshops for other women.

 In these workshops, Maria addresses how to overcome challenges faced by females in agriculture, provides tips on small-scale organic farming, and stresses the importance of organization among small, organic producers. Marie and Summer-Peru Stewards will partner with the women’s cooperative to build biointensive backyard gardens and to improve local market outlets for members’ produce. This participatory project aims to expand growing space, cultivate market outlets, and thereby create greater opportunities for female farmers who are generally disadvantaged and marginalized because of their gender.

For more information about the program offerings and how to join MESA’s network of global agrarians and food justice advocates, please visit the MESA-Peru webpage. New spots available - Applications now due by May 24^th. Please contact jaclyn [at] mesaprogram [dot] org ( Jaclyn) with any questions.

During orientation week, Stewards from Ecuador, France, Georgia, Ghana, Mexico and Thailand quickly became close friends and colleagues dedicated to repair our broken food system and share their skills and culture. For the past nine seasons Hidden Villa has been MESA's cherished annual orientation site, offering farm splendor, wilderness trails, an inviting, cozy hostel, and like-minded stewards of the earth to help MESA welcome first-time Stewards to the U.S. Unable to attend the orientation, but arriving this very week, MESA also welcomes Stewards from Peru and Sri Lanka to the 2013 Program season.

ENGAGED and ENTHUSIASTIC

Engaged and enthusiastic may best describe the Stewards' participation during orientation week, from digging in with various farm activities, chatting with MESA supporters at our annual orientation dinner, reviewing program questions with MESA staff, meeting with urban and sustainable food activists in Oakland, CA, or receiving useful cooking tips from MESA's guest chef, Aileen Suzara. A sample activity that helped overcome initial language barriers would go something like this: start conversations on naming foods such as tomato and bread in everyone's respective languages, sparking the Stewards and MESA staff to engage in cultural learning. Once again we are reminded that good food is the universal language that we can all instantly speak! 

AN ACTION-PACKED WEEK

In five activity-packed days, the Stewards were showered with many exercises introducing them to MESA's program. Guest presentations and activities were led by Hidden Villa farm staff, Golden Rule Farm and Ecology Action friends, and key spokespersons for Phat Beets, Planting Justice, NCAT, and Groundwork Opportunities. Role-playing activities were also a key "ingredient" to help prepare Stewards with unfamiliar situations and cross-cultural miscues. At MESA's special Farm-to-Fork Dinner, several Stewards overcame stage fright to share their personal stories of how they came to join MESA's community. 

In just one short week the MESA Stewards forged allegiances with new friends from countries around the world. On the last Friday in March the Stewards travelled to their respective U.S. Host assignments across the country with an assured confidence of meeting more friends and gaining new perspectives and skills in the months to come. MESA looks forward to reuniting the group and sharing new stories when the Stewards return to California in November. 

SINCERE GRATITUDE TO OUR 2013 DONORS!

FOOD DONORS: Trader Joe's - Rockridge, Earl's Organic, GreenLeaf, Natural Grocery Company, Alter Eco, Veritable Vegetable, Straus Family Creamery, Clover Stornetta Farms, The Acme Bread Company 

BEVERAGE DONORS: Gordon Biersch, Cafe Mam, Traditional Medicinals

GEAR DONOR: Patagonia

Last but not least our amazing Orientation host, Hidden Villa Hostel and Farm!

MESA's long term global partners at Earth Net Foundation (ENF) have been busy with this winter's three-month Certificate of International Training in Agroecology (CITA) program. The program began in early November with a two-week orientation and will continue through the end of January, closing with a 3-day debriefing session. Highlights thus-far include several workshops and successful Thai language immersion during the orientation at Wanakaset Learning Center, and new experiences in the rice harvest season at "Arom Dee" (Good Feeling) host farm in Mae Tha.

The Wanakaset Learning Center is famous for its dissemination of the Wanakaset (organic agro-forestry) principles and practices, which look not only at growing multilevel food and herb forests, but on how to use and transform one’s natural resources to meet all of the basic human needs, food, medicine, household goods, or to improve the soil’s fertility. CITA Steward Josh from Berkeley, CA and two beginning farmers from Sri Lanka and France learned the concepts and practices of using natural resources in an ecologically managed forest. The group participated in hands-on workshops learning to make soap, body balm, rice tea and several other traditional Thai food preparations.

Watch this video to meet the group of international farmers!

Leaders for the workshops included Earth Net coordinator Michael Commons along with 2010 MESA program alumnus Kapook "Pookie" who trained on farms both in Hawaii and Minnesota. As a conclusion to the orientation, the group joined a few locals for a forest walk. This was the beginning of a long walk by Wanakaset members to travel all the way around the Eastern forest to examine its ecological health and to connect with the many communities that live next to this forest. The group spent nights at monasteries in villages along this route also allowing for the opportunity to exchange and connect with these villagers. After this cultural and ecological immersion, CITA Stewards live and work in the field with some of the most recognized and respected new generation organic farmers, many of them MESA alumni, and their farming organizations. Click here to read Josh's blogs from his host farm in Mae Tha.

At the end of January, the program will conclude with a 3-day exit seminar and debrief at Khao Kwan Foundation where CITA Stewards will have the opportunity to share stories and celebrate the completion of the program with fellow CITA participants.