I haven't posted for a while, with the excitement of Thanksgiving and fieldwork. The last few weeks since I got back from the US I went twice out to the field, and have almost finished doing all of the surveys (I'm up to 100!). I might even do more than I had planned, since I now have a third assistant (the girlfriend of my current assistant, who studies political science/sociology). I have been feeling like I am not doing enough "other work" (ie reading, writing) besides collecting data and a professor friend here told me that you're not supposed to write while collecting data because everything gets clouded by your first-hand experiences before analysis. That made me feel better. So I write notes instead.
The whole urban-rural dynamic is so interesting here. There seem to be various forces acting on the demise of agriculture, including the lack of government support, high prices for inputs, low prices for maize, urban growth, kids not working in agriculture/wanting to build a house on the land, the shrinking of land area because of dividing it up for the kids, and overall laziness to farm (a farmer told me yesterday that although a farm worker gets double the pay, young people would rather work in a factory for less). All directions point to household food production diminishing rapidly as it already has in the last 20 years. However, there are definite cases of kids being into farming, people valuing local corn production and hand-made tortillas, and continuing pride to take care of the land. I'd say these cases are around 15-20% of the households I survey. I've heard from other sources in the communities I work that 25% or 30% of kids of farmers are farming. I have heard various farmers speak passionately and thoughtfully about the value of land, of growing food... one man yesterday said "we are not owners of the land, she is the owner of us." Yet in most of these cases the kids are not engaged in agriculture. They are looking for a "better" life, have different interests, don't want to toil in the hot sun and earn nothing. But that thought is always followed by "but if we don't plant, what are we going to eat? If we lose our jobs and have land, at least we can eat, we can eat nopales and greens and corn and eggs." I have not interviewed or surveyed the young people, that would be REALLY interesting. Hopefully I can do that when I return from break.
This is all to say that there is a strong pull taking people away from food production. But I do believe that the desire to be close to the land is something innate, and if it goes away it comes back because it continues to exist in the corners and shadows. Maybe it's reformatted or in different packaging, but the human connection to land will never be extinguished. At least I hope not.
For corn, that is. It is officially harvest time here in the State of Mexico, in the region where I am working. Most growers gather the whole family to go out to the fields and harvest the partially dried cobs, while others hire people to help them. The cobs are then stored to dry so they can be used either for animal feed or more commonly for tortillas. White corn (although yellowish in appearance) is used for household consumption, whereas yellow is for feed. The super advanced farmers use mechanical harvesters, but that is rare where I am working. Last week as I was doing surveys on a sunday in the most rural community I work in, I passed by the house of the woman who is my contact there (a student in the university where I'm affiliated) and she and her family were harvesting, so I asked to join. It was hot (I burnt the back of my neck) but a blast. We didn't stay long, as we wanted to keep on with the surveys, but they invited us in anyway to eat quesadillas with the cheese that they make there (the dad works as a dairy distributer). Amazing cheese. Also they invited us to an ice cream that they make in-house! A perfect dream. The family was very sweet to me and loved that I wanted to harvest. As we were leaving, the mother of the family said "this is your home!" I'd love to go back and spend some time with them. Pictures show me peeling a cob, and my friend Maribel's mother and 2 younger brothers.
In addition to the harvesting, I also met up with another contact in one of my communities to learn how to make tortillas! Senora Lorenza was gracious enough to show me how she makes tortillas on her wood-fired comal. Although she already prepared the masa (with their own white corn) she taught me how to knead, press the tortillas in the prensa, and then carefully peel them off and set them on the hot comal without burning my fingers or folding the tortillas. Took me a while to get it and despite my frustration she told me I had to keep going, otherwise I will never learn! I made several kilos of tortillas, while we chatted about family and diet, how all the modern processed crap makes us all sick. Her chickens and sheep sounding in the background the whole time. Her husband works as a groundsman at the university where I am affiliated and they have a very sweet family. Their daughter is studying to be a nurse and has no interest in making tortillas! Several family members (90 year old grandma, sister-in-laws) stopped in and saw me making the tortillas, and told me that now I can marry! It's the key, knowing how to make tortillas. I realized half-way in that I wasn't making tortillas for their home, rather they had made the masa just for me, just so I could learn and take them all home. That is how generous they are. What an experience, I can't wait to make them again someday. The pictures show Senora Lorenza making tortillas, then my attempt, and the last picture is of Lorenza, her mother-in-law (was out back grazing her lambs) and her sister-in-law. Note the beautiful nopal in the background. It's the kind that grows green (they say white) nopal fruit, totally delicious.
Dia de los Muertos is so far my favorite thing about Mexico (besides the food, landscapes, and people). I have already posted it as a miracle, but I want to dedicate some more time to it. As with many Mexican holidays, one day sort of turns into like 3 or 4 days of celebration. This also includes the mixing up of Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, which results in lots of kids in costumes asking for candy on the street, witches and spiderwebs on people's doors, plus the traditional decor of marigolds, amaranth, offerings for your dead loved ones in the form of sugar (see picture of candy skulls) or chocolate or bread (pan de muerto, yum), papel picado (the thin crepe paper with cool decorations carved into them), and lots of super colorful adornments of skeleton and Catrinas.
My friend and sister Mara came to check out the celebrations! We went all over the city (downtown, Condesa, San Angel, and mostly Coyoacan) meeting with friends, checking out the altars and offerings, and eating. The center of Coyoacan had some great altars that we browsed, and the markets were filled with decorations. My favorite was the one with the skulls that says "todos somos Coyoacan" or "we're all Coyoacan" with the skulls representing anarchists, hippies, communists, etc... We all belong!
It's true, this is the land of miracles. Besides the Virgen of Guadalupe, of course, one can witness miracles in many forms. Some things in Mexico City warrant as miracles, for example the once a week closing of various parts of the city to bikers, and the free renting of bikes to travel the routes. I took advantage of the downtown bike circuit with friends Paola, Nadia, and Sergio (and puppy Frida) last weekend. The free bikes are not the best quality, but they are free. It was a great tour, going all around the Zocalo and behind Bellas Artes to Reforma, up to the Bosque de Chapultepec and back around to the Alameda. Frida enjoyed it too. What a great idea for a city to do!
Another miracle is the finding of organic greens being sold 2 blocks from my house, at my yoga studio. This guy comes once a week and sells arugula, mixed salad greens, mustard greens, bok choi, and chard. They also deliver! I couldn't believe it. Some of the finest arugula I've had, too. I threw a little chilean organic olive oil and lime juice on it and was in heaven.
The third miracle was climbing to the top of the crater of the Nevado de Toluca, which I see outside of my window in Toluca (see pic in entry below). There are two peaks, and we got to the first one at 15,223 ft! The highest I've ever been. The peaks are on the ridgeline of the volcano overlooking two beautiful lakes (see picture to right). And I did it while guiding a mostly blind student from Mexico City, who was training for a more extreme trek with the non-profit I work for, Global Explorers. I felt like I was going to die, but it was way worth it. Thanks to my friend Santiago for inviting me!
The fourth miracle is Day of the Dead, which hasn't happened yet (it's November 2) but I think it's a great idea. People actually go eat and drink in graveyards with their dead. I've been getting flowers to prepare, marigolds and these other fuzzy red ones. It's such a bright holiday celebrating our loved ones who are no longer with us.
Viva México!
The time has come for me to start the next phase of research: my surveys. This means that I will be spending a good deal of time out in the Toluca Metro Area, around an hour or so to the west of Mexico City. I chose this region because my advisor, Hallie, had worked here and also because I was interested in the interface of rural and urban, which is pretty evident here, and also because it is relatively close to Mexico City. Most chilangos (from Mex City) make fun of me because driving through, Toluca is pretty ugly, industrial, urban sprawl, townie, not as cool as Mexico City. But I have to say I have a pretty nice life here. I am staying (part of the week) in a subdivision next to a fancy private university, the Tecnologico de Monterrey, which has all sorts of resources and beautiful sports fields. Then across the other way is an enormous park called Parque Alameda 2000, which has horse-back riding trails, lakes, forests, picnic tables equipped with a bbq, and all sorts of biking and hiking trails. On the other side is an amazing view of the Nevado de Toluca, the volanco that looks down on the city. And I pay $10/night to stay here! Good deal. There's nice CA weather which means I can sit outside and work, while tanning. Not too long though, because I'm at 8,750 ft. Pictures show the view of the fields and Nevado from my window, the Parque Alameda 2000, and a view of the Nevado from the Tecnologico Monterrey.
Close to my house is a little cafe that has lunches at around $3, including soup, rice, main course, and dessert. I go running in the park, I go to meetings, I am starting my surveys...all I need is a pool and it would be perfect. The downside is the urban sprawl, and it is hard for me to get anywhere so I'm spending all my research money on taxis. And I don't have mom and pop stores down the block like I have in Mexico City so that means I shope at ... wait for it... that's right. Walmart. I shopped at Walmart yesterday for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE! It was like any other place, really. And more expensive than the small stores in my neighborhood. But if you don't want culture shock, that's the place to go. Although they do have a tortilleria.
I will add pictures in a few days when I get back to DF, but for now I'm enjoying the blue skies and fresh air around here. Amazing skies. In the mean time, here are some funny things to think about (mostly about food):
1. They don't sell bread yeast in stores in Mexico. Where to get it, I don't know. Strange. Where you'd find bread yeast in a supermarket instead are shelves of corn starch. ??
2. White corn in central Mexico looks yellow. I don't know why it's called white corn, but it is.
3. People prefer to buy US stickered apples, pears, etc.. than national fruit which tastes a hell of a lot better. Not sure what's up with that, except for thinking that the shiny perfect stickered gringo fruit MUST be better.
4. People below the age of 25 can say my name because they know Amy Winehouse. Above 25 have trouble.
5. I miss my car a lot. Something about the suburbs stirs a car obsession in me.
6. It's somewhat hard to find good butter. Not a big part of people's diet, not like lard or margarine. Consequently, when I bake people think I'm some sort of genius. But butter's the real genius!
Happy new year 5770. To celebrate Rosh Hashana my landlord and I had a new years dinner in her house, equipped with chopped liver (made by a friend of hers), brisket, matzah ball soup, Manischevitz wine, challah, apples and honey, and noodle kugel. Just like my childhood. I made the brisket and balls and some asparagus, and she made the kugel and also a salad with some arugula I harvested from the pots on our roof. She had her son Julio, his friend, and a few other non-Jew-but-appreciative-Mexicans come over and talk Judaism and Mexican politics (no gathering is without political talk). My brisket turned out really well despite us not even knowing if it was the right cut of meat. We had some leftover and of course my most logical use is... tacos! Yum. I think I ate leftover kugel for a week too and can see the results in my thighs. Picture is of some of the veggies, the table, and Trisha (my landlord) and I serving kugel.
Last week I spent 2 days in the area where part of our maize project is working, to the north of Toluca in the State of Mexico. Beautiful wildflowers and green landscapes permeate in rainy season which makes it a wonderful time to go. Unfortunately here we've had too much rain too late, and there was a drought at the beginning of the season, so a lot of the corn is ruined. In one of the little towns outside of Ixtlahuaca I spoke with a woman making homemade tortillas. Had to get some too, they were amazing. I'm getting to be a real tortilla connoisseur! The zone is traditionally rural and becoming urban really fast, hence some of the interest for my own work and the larger project. Pictures show wildflowers, tortillas, and flooded maize.
I've been getting back to my roots lately. This past week I visited a really cool urban gardening organization called Sembradores Urbanos who has a demonstration garden in the Roma neighborhood. There are 3 ladies in charge, and I met 2 of them, and they look like they are urban gardeners. One of them, Caro, looks an awful lot like various people I know, and it ends up that her mom is from the US and she was "raised as an American but in Mexico City." You can tell. They have great raised beds and all sorts of potted edibles and herbs, and shelves for their store built out of cob. They hold workshops and meetings there and hopefully I'll start as a volunteer soon. Here are some pics of their really cool work.
Back at home in my apartment, various fun plants are taking off. There's arugula on the roof, along with chives, strawberries, jasmine, and hibiscus flowers. I also have lemon verbena and basil plants. And, most excitingly, I got a wormbin and worms today! Through the greenpages (like yellowpages) I found a guy that builds wormbins and sells worms. I was going to make the bin myself, but I figured I'd support the cause and make life easy for myself. It ends up that the bin is not much more advanced than I could have had made it, but the man was so sweet and excited for my worm interested that I feel okay about the high price. Check them out!
I went out to the region I'll be doing my household surveys (Toluca region) and near the university that I work with (Colegio Mexiquense/Urban Observatory) we saw a sign on a house for homemade tortillas. We went in and found some ladies with a huge comal cooking up lovely large tortillas. We asked and they told us the corn came from right around where we were standing. I couldn't help but buy a kilo of steaming tortillas (for 75 cents) which I have been eating consistently ever since. There ain't nothin' like a real, homemade, corn tortilla. Hopefully I will be a regular customer. The picture of the stack does not do it justice.
For my birthday the last weekend of August I gathered some friends here in my apartment for snacks and drinks, which came equipped with a cake made by my friend Maggie. A really good cake too! The rest of the weekend I was mellow at home and the actual day I spent lunching at a friend's house. A really fun gift was that the following week my parents came to visit! I had a great time taking them around my neighborhood (Coyoacan) and to the nicest parts of the Beast of Mexico City, including San Angel (where Diego Rivera's studio is), Condesa (hip neighborhood like Soho), downtown (government buildings, beautiful old buildings, Aztec pyramids, museums) and Polanco (upper east side of NYC, very posh). They were impressed at the beautiful buildings and parks eveyrwhere, which is normally shocking when you get to Mexico City. I had the expectation of seeing a dry dusty dirty hellhole. It's much nicer than that, especially if you move in the nice parts. I wanted to take them on a subway ride but I sensed some nervousness at the prospect. The biggest adventure was getting to the airport after heavy rains that caused flooding on the way- traffic was stopped so we got out and walked along the highway, which was totally flooded, even to pedestrians. Government trucks hauled us across in the back, which was the first time my parents rode in the back of a truck! I announced to all in the truckbed that my parents were visiting, and they felt bad for the terrible circumstance. But my mom and dad laughed the whole way! They got to the gate with 20 minutes to spare and my mom's pants all muddy from the river crossing. A good time. Anyone else want to visit? You never know what can happen here! Pictures show me blowing out candles and serving cake, and also my parents in front of the Coyoacan coyote statue in the main plaza, and the three of us in the Popular Art Museum downtown (a really beautiful museum of modern craft and popular art).
There is some sort of fall here in Mexico City. Apart from rainy season moving into a bit of a colder place, there are different seasonal fruits and vegetables that accompany the rain. The most popular and prominent in this region is Huitlacoche/Cuitlacoche which is a fungus that grows on corn cobs, usually thought of as a pest in northern Mexico/rest of world. Here in the center of Mexico it is a delicacy and people love to eat the stuff, and it is usually sauteed with onions, garlic, corn kernals, and put into quesadillas or stuffed into enchiladas or made into sauces. It's a very interesting flavor, definitely worth trying. It's a truffle at a whole new level. Also in season are pomegranates, pears, corn on the cob (versus corn used for tortillas), various types of wild mushrooms, walnuts, and a green prickly cactus fruit called tuna (the red are more common and also good but are in season at a different time of year). Mangos are slowly going out of season, although I've heard you can find them all year long here. Most other veggies stay the same, but look a lot nicer with the rain. I took a picture of some I had here in my kitchen.
It is also getting close to independence day, which is actually September 15 instead of the more commonly thought of May 5 (cinco de mayo). The 16th is a crazy time, with lots of festivities and faires in the central plazas. A popular dish that is eaten all year long but particurlarly at this time is pozole (a brothy spicy soup with hominy corn, shredded pork, topped with shredded lettuce or cabbage, radishes, onions, cilantro, powdered oregano, and sometimes cream, also served with whole fried tortillas) and chiles en nogadas (large pepper stuffed with a mix of ground meat, dried fruits like raisins, apricots, prunes, chopped nuts, cinnamon, then the whole thing is covered with a walnut cream and topped with pomegranate seeds - they look really pretty but it's not my favorite thing). See picture of pozole that I indulged in last weekend. It's my favorite! I will definitely have some updates later on after the 15th. Another great thing I've been seeing lately is public display of affection for Michael Jackson. Last weekend while wandering the Monument to the Revolution there was a dance class with the young and old learning the moves to thriller! It was fabulous. See picture to the right.
I've been back here 9 days and have been in the throws of work and, well, Mexico. Last weekend I attended a going away party for a friend from the US who has been here 2 years doing a post-doc, and is returning to the US. Her party was equipped with tacos de guisados and mariachis. So Mexican... I forgot my camera to take a picture of the tacos, but they are one version of many types of tacos. These have yummy stewed fillings to put inside, mix and match, and of course you cover them in salsa and onion and cilantro and guacamole (guisado means stewed, so there are bowls of many different types of stewed meats/vegetables). Other types of tacos are tacos de canasta or tacos sudados ("basket tacos" or "sweaty tacos", they are pre-filled and steamed and sold out of a basket on the back of a bike on the street), tacos al carbon (grilled meat, usually pretty simple steak or chicken), carnitas (pork boiled in lard... my favorite!), and the most famous of Mexico City, tacos al pastor (marinated pork roasted on a spit like the middle-eastern schwarma, along with a roasted pineapple, and both cut thin in a tortilla. Comes from Lebanese influence and almost exclusively found in Mexico City). I love tacos! What's not to love?
In the middle of the week of course the US played Mexico in soccer, which was very important for Mexican pride. I went to a bar in the middle of the day on Wednesday with some friends to watch the match, which was pretty entertaining. Whenever Mexico scores a goal the crowd goes wild, and chants "Mexico! Mexico!" I think they deserved to win just for national soccer pride alone. A picture shows some of the folks at our table mesmerised by the game.
This week I also had several meetings, one with the director of the peasant activist organization ANEC which is an interview for my dissertation. I met with him briefly to introduce myself and reschedule for next week: stay tuned for an update. I also met with some geographers at the National University's Geography Institute (UNAM Geografia) that are doing work similar to mine and want to collaborate! Cool people, 3 researchers/professors in the department that are studying the urban-rural interface. And friday, I also went to Toluca which is the city central to the region I'm studying, to meet with the director of the UN sponsored Toluca Urban Observatory which does studies related to urban growth in the region. They are interested in having me be a research associate, which means that I can get access to their resources and will publish something with them. It was a great meeting. Afterwards on my way to the bus station I asked the taxi driver where to eat near the station that was good, and he took me to a place where a foreigner has never set foot, but that had really good food. I had meatballs in a chipotle sauce, which was SPICY!! But really good. I used a lot of napkins cleaning my eyes from the tears, but it was worth it.
Later that evening I went some lady friends to a restaurant near my house that has sort of hip Mexican cuisine with traditional ingredients. I finally got my chance to try chapulines, which are a local traditional food. And are... grasshoppers! They were actually really good, and sauteed in garlic and chile and lime, served with a farmer-type white cheese and crunchy tortilla. Pictures show the dish, me eating them, and a picture of my friends Laura, Genoveva, and me.
Note: Chapulin also refers to El Chapulin Colorado (The Red Grasshopper), which was a famous character in a Mexican TV series of the same name in the 70s and is sort of a cult classic in Latin America. It's very silly and there are reruns all the time still. If you ever get a chance...it's worth at least a view minutes of viewing (youtube works as well). El Chapulin is REALLY Mexican.
Since being back from Peru I have realized that it's official summer break for Mexicans. The end of July-beginning of August is the most common time for Mexican holiday, as for most of the western hemisphere. This did not preculde me and my advisor Hallie from doing interviews with farmers and other officials in Culiacan, Sinaloa at the end of July. Maize production in Sinaloa is part of the larger NSF project I'm working on with my advisors and professors in Mexico and so I accompanied my advisor to check it out. The state of Sinaloa is also known for hosting heavy narcotrafficing, so were were skeptical. Turned out to be a good time and one group of producers even took us out to lunch! It's a coastal region so we indulged in shrimp, marlin, and a gigantic scallop that they call callo (in english I think it's called lion's paw scallop). We also had interviews with seed giants Pioneer (owned by Dupont) and Monsanto (no introduction needed) and discussed the history of industrial maize production in the state. Picture to the right shows the Pioneer facility where they store the hybrid seeds they sell to farmers.
When we returned Hallie and her husband Luis and new 3-month-old baby Ian hosted a gathering at their weekend house in industrial Cuautla, south of Mexico City. The house was an inheritance to Luis and he invited his whole family and other friends of theirs. It was an old motel so has little cabins and a pool for full relax. The best part was that they hired these local ladies to be there all day making quesadillas and picadas (open faced tortilla with salsa and cheese, eaten mostly in Cuautla). Imagine: all day long being able to eat fresh corn yumminess... it was amazing. I kept asking the ladies what they did to make such wonderful tortillas. "Es solo maiz," they answered. It's just corn.
The week after I had a weeklong California adventure, attending a wedding in Santa Cruz of some college friends, a birthday dinner for my friend Marion in Berkeley (good friend from UCSB), running errands in Santa Barbara, and seeing good friends and parents in Long Beach. Phew! I will pay special homage to Marion's birthday dinner, because besides being with some of my favorite friends, it was also my first meal at the famous Chez Panisse! We had an amazing 3-course meal which included purslane salad with halibut stuffed roasted peppers, roasted goat on fresh stewed cannelinni beans and sauteed eggplant, and a ricotta and almond ice cream "bombe" with sauced blackberries and yummy almond cookie. And the folks working there were so nice! They gave us an extensive kitchen tour and encouraged us to use their ingredients for picture props!
After all this vacationing it is definitely time to get to work. But I arrived just in time for the weekend!
After the week in Ecuador a flew down to Perú, where I work with Global Explorers every summer. This trip was especially exciting because I was coordinating a group with my friend Todd, who is a teacher at Thornton Creek School in Seattle. We had a group of 12 kids, one awesome parent, teacher Todd, and a biologist Chris Frost who joined us in the Amazon. We spent a week outside of Iquitos, Peru, which is the largest city in the world that can't be reached by road, only by boat or plane. At Global Explorers we organize trips for school groups that go to Explorama (outside of Iquitos) or to Tambopata Reserve (in the south, outside of Puerto Maldonado). At Explorama lodges we go boating to see animals, climb the longest canopy walkway in the world, learn about local music and crafts, and do a community service project in a local Amazonian community. We also visit with an amazing doctor there, Linnea Smith, who opened a clinic next to the lodge for the people in the region. We also spend a day in Iquitos, which is really wild. In the local market they sell all sorts of meats, fruits, and vegetables... including suri (grubs that live in palm trees), tortoises, caiman, and others. We also visit the medicinal herb section where I bought some love potion. For a friend. Pictures show the girls in the boat with me on the Amazon River (I'm pointing towards the boat), a typical house on the side of the river, and Todd and I playing with mud in the Amazon after fishing for pirana. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.
After being in the Amazon we flew over to Cusco, which is one of my favorite places. It is all the way up at 11,000 feet which is usually pretty intense for me (and most others). This is when kids start to complain of stomach aches, head aches, everything aches. My answer is just to drink water, and usually that does the trick. Although I gave out record amounts of pepto bismol this time around. Works like a charm. After visiting Inca ruins in and around Cusco, we descended into the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo, where there are some really interesting ruins and also a cute town. We stayed there to take the train to Aguas Calientes, which is at the base of Machu Picchu. The picture shows me and Todd looking down onto the Sacred Valley. The first day we were in Aguas Calientes we went on a hike up mountain, per the recommendation of our guide, Richard. Richard is a friend of mine after taking me on the Inca Trail a few years ago and I sort of trusted him, although Inca Trail guides from Cusco are notoriously... crazy. I think it's the lack of Oxygen. So this hike was totally insane and pretty dangerous, but worth it! We got to the top of an amazing mountain looking over at Machu Picchu, a seldom seen view. Pictures below show the "stairs", which in spanish also means "ladders". I thought he meant that they were going to be steep stairs, but we ended up scaling a wall. I guess that's how you get to the top! Andean Style! Also there's one of me at the top, and then a view of what we climbed from Machu Picchu. Oh yah, and Machu Picchu itself.
I took a red eye back to Mexico and ended exhausted, but having had a wonderful experience with Todd and the Seattle kids. My fourth year working in Peru! What a life.
The whole urban-rural dynamic is so interesting here. There seem to be various forces acting on the demise of agriculture, including the lack of government support, high prices for inputs, low prices for maize, urban growth, kids not working in agriculture/wanting to build a house on the land, the shrinking of land area because of dividing it up for the kids, and overall laziness to farm (a farmer told me yesterday that although a farm worker gets double the pay, young people would rather work in a factory for less). All directions point to household food production diminishing rapidly as it already has in the last 20 years. However, there are definite cases of kids being into farming, people valuing local corn production and hand-made tortillas, and continuing pride to take care of the land. I'd say these cases are around 15-20% of the households I survey. I've heard from other sources in the communities I work that 25% or 30% of kids of farmers are farming. I have heard various farmers speak passionately and thoughtfully about the value of land, of growing food... one man yesterday said "we are not owners of the land, she is the owner of us." Yet in most of these cases the kids are not engaged in agriculture. They are looking for a "better" life, have different interests, don't want to toil in the hot sun and earn nothing. But that thought is always followed by "but if we don't plant, what are we going to eat? If we lose our jobs and have land, at least we can eat, we can eat nopales and greens and corn and eggs." I have not interviewed or surveyed the young people, that would be REALLY interesting. Hopefully I can do that when I return from break.
This is all to say that there is a strong pull taking people away from food production. But I do believe that the desire to be close to the land is something innate, and if it goes away it comes back because it continues to exist in the corners and shadows. Maybe it's reformatted or in different packaging, but the human connection to land will never be extinguished. At least I hope not. 
