{"id":47201,"date":"2022-06-10T01:00:31","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T08:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/civileats.com\/?p=47201"},"modified":"2023-02-13T11:58:52","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T19:58:52","slug":"indigenous-agroforestry-dying-of-thirst-amid-a-sea-of-avocados-in-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/civileats.com\/2022\/06\/10\/indigenous-agroforestry-dying-of-thirst-amid-a-sea-of-avocados-in-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous Agroforestry Dying of Thirst Amid a Sea of Avocados in Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/div>

\u201cCuchita is the fourth-generation herb collector of our family,\u201d says Juana Bravo, 45, pointing to a photo of her niece. \u201cLook here: She was picking medicinal plants in the mountains when she was only one and a half years old.\u201d Maria de Jesus, called Cuchita, now 9, still shares that same passion with her aunt. Today, after school, she joins Juana to prepare an antiseptic salve with medicinal herbs collected from the patio garden right outside their door. <\/p><\/div>

\n

Angahuan, a town of 6,000 inhabitants in the Mexican state of Michoac\u00e1n, has several generations of Indigenous P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha women practicing traditional medicine. Juana and Cuchita are part of this group of a dozen\u00a0curanderas<\/em>, healers known for their use of herbal medicine and commonly called\u00a0tsinajperi\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cthe ones that make life grow\u201d) in the P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha language. They\u2019re also highly sought out for their\u00a0skills in midwifery and the traditional Mesoamerican massage technique called\u00a0sobada.<\/em><\/p>\n

Medicinal plants like\u00a0gobernadora<\/em>\u00a0(also called creosote,\u00a0Larrea tridentata<\/em>),\u00a0ruda\u00a0<\/em>(Ruta graveolens<\/em>),\u00a0prodigiosa<\/em>\u00a0(Brickellia cavanillesii<\/em>), and\u00a0nurite<\/em>\u00a0(Satureja macrostema<\/em>) are central to their cosmology and are cropped on a small scale in their diverse patio gardens called\u00a0ekuarho<\/em>. It\u2019s a traditional\u00a0agroforestry<\/a> system that combines timber trees, fruit trees, medicinal plants, vegetables, and flowers in a group that grows well together, with each plant benefiting from the shade and moisture they\u2019re afforded in the dry climate. It\u2019s like a tiny pharmacy always on hand, located just outside the kitchen, with herbs used in remedies for digestive problems, insomnia, or pain.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Juana<\/a>

Juana Bravo, an Indigenous P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha healer, collects herbs from her ekuarho agroforestry garden to prepare a salve and medicinal tea in Angahuan, Michoach\u00e1n, Mexico. (Photo credit: Monica Pelliccia)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

\n

The P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha are one of the\u00a068 Indigenous<\/a>\u00a0groups of Mexico, and traditional medicine is\u00a0one of the main pillars<\/a>\u00a0of their culture, in which\u00a0agroforestry<\/a>\u00a0plays a big part. But this heritage is now endangered by water shortages\u00a0caused by\u00a0climate change<\/a>-driven drought and by agribusiness: Avocados are a lucrative export\u201480 percent of Michoacan\u2019s crop is shipped to U.S. grocery stores<\/a>\u2014and their plantations dominate the landscape for much of the 40 kilometers (25 miles) between Angahuan and the neighboring city of Uruapan.<\/p>\n

\u201cP\u2019urh\u00e9pecha women have a fundamental role in the richness of Indigenous territories\u2019 preservation: They are the custodians of the plant wisdom used for medicine, ritual, and food,\u201d says Rosendo Caro, director of the Forestry Commission of Michoac\u00e1n State (COFOM). \u201cTheir legacy is endangered by avocado development in the region. This business consumes the water previously used for the ekuarho, deteriorates soils with agrochemicals, and has long-term consequences on water resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s the water?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

Juana\u2019s patio garden contains several important P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha medicinal herbs such as governadora, epazote<\/em>\u00a0(Dysphania ambrosioides<\/em>), Vicks plant (Plectranthus hadiensis<\/em>),\u00a0poleo<\/em>\u00a0(Mentha pulegium<\/em>) and white horehound (Marrubium vulgare<\/em>). These are interplanted with edible plants like opuntia cactus and cabbage, which are used to prepare meals like\u00a0atapakua mole<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0pozole<\/em>. <\/p><\/div>

\n<\/div>
\"Juana<\/a>

Juana Bravo, an Indigenous P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha healer, collects herbs from her ekuarho agroforestry garden to prepare a salve and medicinal tea in Angahuan, Michoach\u00e1n, Mexico. (Photo credit: Monica Pelliccia)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

\n

\u201cThe ekuarho is a pre-Hispanic agroforestry system typical of the P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha population,\u201d says biologist Maria del Carmen God\u00ednez. \u201cIn the beginning, it was developed in the woods: People were sowing maize with pumpkins, chili, and beans, taking advantage of forest products such as timber, medicinal plants, or mushrooms. Then, after the conquest, they brought it to the population centers. Now, it is easier to find in backyards than in the woods. However, while P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha communities increased in population, the ekuarho became fewer and smaller due to property fragmentation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Angahuan, the ekuarho is still the center of the curanderas\u2019 daily life. Here they grow medicinal plants, fruits, and vegetables, pines for construction materials, and flowers for everyday enjoyment. The women also enjoy the patio gardens\u2019 shade, sharing family moments, or working on embroidery out of the boiling sun.<\/p>\n

But before the rainy season, the soil here is dry like sand. \u201cIt is difficult to continue to work as traditional healers with the water scarcity that has increased during the last five years,\u201d Juana says. She wears the traditional P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha dress with a long, pleated skirt, apron, and an embroidered shirt covered by blue-and-black-striped shawls.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the drought season, we do not have many plants, and sometimes they dry up. We have to wait for the first rains to make everything sprout,\u201d she says. A peach tree recently died of thirst on the patio, so her husband Nacho transformed it into a table. But every morning as the first rays of the sun filter into the garden, she waters her plants with a basin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI use only a bit because we have to avoid waste,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe have running water only every three days for just an hour, normally from 8 to 9 a.m. I use recycled water [and still] we need to buy gallons in shops to prepare salves and essential oils.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\u201cNan\u00e1\u201d<\/a>

\u201cNan\u00e1\u201d Gracia checks the ripeness of a peach in her ekuarho, a traditional agroforestry plot outside her home composed of fruit trees, medicinal herbs, vegetables, herbs and flowers. (Photo credit: by Monica Pelliccia) <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

\n

A Fourth-Generation Legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

Learning traditional medicine from her grandmother, Victoria, is one of Juana\u2019s precious childhood memories. \u201cWe used to collect black cherries and herbs in the woods. But now, fewer trees surround us due to orchard development and sawmill commerce,\u201d she says. After Juana grew up, she pursued professional training in Uruapan to help her community as a curandera. <\/p><\/div>

\n

\u201cWhen I was young, all the women were herb collectors,\u201d says Juana\u2019s mother, Maria Teresa, 67. \u201cAt that time, we didn\u2019t have a medical center in the village, this was the only option for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, there are fewer curanderas in Angahuan, but they are joined in their efforts by women such as \u201cNan\u00e1\u201d Gracia Bravo, 57, a third-generation midwife and mother of five. Her house is a few steps from Juana\u2019s, among street food stands and stores selling diverse products, from ice cream to jewels. From early morning until night, vendors announce quick-stop meals like pozole.<\/p>\n

Walking the dusty streets, almost everyone knows Gracia. \u201cDo you want a soft drink?\u201d a couple of men say to her while passing in front of the shops. \u201cIt is always like that,\u201d Gracia says with a smile. \u201cI have been doing this job for 40 years. When I walk in the street, sometimes people stop me and offer me a soft drink because I was supporting their mothers during childbirth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, she is taking care of five women, giving maternal sobada massages. Today, Maria Guadalupe, 27, six months pregnant, comes to her house. Gracia massages her belly with an essential oil to check if all is going well. She ends with a special caress of greeting: \u201cAlthough we did not say it, a good thought arrives to the baby,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Gracia makes medicines with herbs from her agroforestry garden like governadora under the peach tree\u2019s cooling shade, and boils clean water she had to buy in a shop on her\u00a0parangua<\/em>, the traditional P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha kitchen fireplace. She seems to always be busy preparing herbal remedies or essential oils for her patients, and many of these require water.<\/p>\n

Thirsty Avocados<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

In Angahuan, some inhabitants don\u2019t have running water at all, like Apollonia Cort\u00e9s, 67, mother of 12, living outside of the town center. She\u2019s one of the oldest midwives here, with long gray hair brushed into two red-and-blue braids. <\/p><\/div>

\n

In her ekuarho, tall pines provide shade for fruits such as chayote (Sechium edule<\/em>) and black cherry (Prunus salicifolia<\/em>), plus vegetables like cabbage, opuntia cactus, and medicinal plants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, we had a lot of plants, but now everything is almost dry, due to lack of water,\u201d explains Leonarda Soto, 29, Apollonia\u2019s daughter-in-law, while her three kids play with a dog and some rabbits on the patio. \u201cWe have to buy water when it is not the rainy season. People take water from our freshwater spring: It is a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\u201cNan\u00e1\u201d<\/a>

\u201cNan\u00e1\u201d Gracia collects wild medicinal herbs like horsetail and Virginia pepperweed at the edges of the community spring. (Photo credit: Monica Pelliccia)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

\n

Angahuan\u2019s water provision point is a couple of kilometers from town, a short drive on dusty roads as Paricut\u00edn, the youngest volcano in Mexico, looms nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is happening to the Angahuan spring is a common problem for P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha living in this area,\u201d says COFOM\u2019s Caro, \u201cas they are located in the upper basin, and rains are not able to create streams, because water infiltrates into the permeable, volcanic soil. There are only a few hydrological deposits available [and they] are very [overutilized].\u201d<\/p>\n

The curanderas collect wild medicinal herbs in the spring\u2019s surroundings, and Gracia sometimes goes there in the early morning. Today, two jeeps are pumping water into big tanks. \u201cHave a look: They bring water to their avocado orchards, and for this reason, there is not enough for the community,\u201d Gracia says, after greeting them and continuing her stroll.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Avocado<\/a>

Avocado farmers fill large tanks like this daily at the community spring, reducing water availability for the community and its curanderas. (Photo credit: Monica Pelliccia)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

\n

While walking, she protects her head from the sun by making a turban from a shawl, and collects herbs such as\u00a0cola de caballo<\/em>\u00a0(Equisetum arvense<\/em>),\u00a0lentejilla<\/em>\u00a0(Lepidium virginicum<\/em>), and some flowers to decorate the house.<\/p>\n

For the healers, wild herb gathering is getting difficult. Some parts of the wood are fenced with wire, now part of avocado orchards, and medicinal plants such as arnica (Arnica montana<\/em>), a herb used to make anti-inflammatory salves, can\u2019t be gathered due to the neighbors\u2019 irrigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Angahuan, the avocado crop has taken [over] in the last decade, with approximately 800-1,000 hectares [of them],\u201d Caro says; that\u2019s about 2,000-2,500 acres. \u201cUsually, it starts with an association between people from the community and external agents that give the money to clear [the land], and for the time until the first harvest, [about] five years. The maintenance expenses are difficult to bear for an Indigenous farmer. At the end, when the orchard is productive, the external agent becomes the owner, with money or by force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collective Effort Toward Rainy Days<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

Starting from their patio gardens, the P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha people are planting seeds of resistance. \u201cIn our ekuarho, we have a tree nursery. My husband and brother have already planted 500 pine trees on the hills. They want to stop the avocado a bit, to do reforestation, and help to retain water,\u201d explains Gracia. <\/p><\/div>

\n

\u201cThe ekuarho system must be preserved: It represents P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha families [and] their bond with the land,\u201d says Erandi Rivera, a National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) professor and agroforestry expert. \u201cBut we can\u2019t protect it without collective political efforts: People are tired of state and criminal violence, and since 2011, most of the P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha communities are building autonomous governance structures.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Angahuan, they have\u00a0self-government<\/a>, according to Michoach\u00e1n state law. Among other initiatives, they patrol 600 hectares (1.500 acres) of woodland managed by the local Communal Surveillance Council. Tree clearing is forbidden, and people are allowed to collect wood only when it falls naturally to the ground. The timber can be used only for community purposes, such as schools or churches, and not sold.<\/p>\n

For the curanderas, it is a struggle to preserve their legacy. Juana, Gracia, Cuchita, and their neighbors have created a collective of traditional women healers called Emenda<\/a>\u00a0(\u201cRainy Times\u201d), inspired by the era when water and medicinal plants were more readily available. Last year, the Michoac\u00e1n state government recognized them with an award for entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

Despite the difficulties, the group continues to dream big. They want to open a natural pharmacy in town to sell teas, salves, shampoos, and remedies made with herbs collected in a dedicated ekuarho, with a room for sobada massage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to give value to traditional medicine with a project run by women that care for life and nature,\u201d says Juana of the dream to continue the P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha curanderas\u2019 legacy through to future generations.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in Mongabay<\/a>, and is reprinted with permission.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Angahuan, a town of 6,000 inhabitants in the Mexican state of Michoac\u00e1n, has several generations of Indigenous P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha women practicing traditional medicine. Juana and Cuchita are part of this group of a dozen\u00a0curanderas, healers known for their use of herbal medicine and commonly called\u00a0tsinajperi\u00a0(\u201cthe ones that make life grow\u201d) in the P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha language. They\u2019re also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1260,"featured_media":47208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255,4479,43449,11114],"tags":[],"coauthors":[43417],"class_list":["post-47201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agroecology","category-farming","category-reprints","category-water"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIndigenous Agroforestry Dying of Thirst Amid a Sea of Avocados in Mexico | Civil Eats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Avocado farms\u2013mostly supplying the U.S. market\u2013dominate water resources in the Mexican town of Angahuan, forcing Indigenous P\u2019urh\u00e9pecha healers to buy clean water to keep their medicinal plants alive.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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