Suazo and her team work with the Taos Pueblo community’s youth, teaching them the ins and outs of farming and paying them above minimum wage for their labor. Suazo makes sure the young ones learn to see the greater good in the work they’re doing, just as she did as a child, and that they learn how to provide healthy traditional foods for their own families. She sees the continuation of these age-old practices as part of a nourishing cycle, much like Biyáál’s blue corn mush.
Like the plants the farmers work with, this cycle is far from new. For millennia, Suazo said, children have watched their parents go out to the farm, and they have learned which plants should be planted in spring, how to harvest them and, most importantly, how to access a rich and healthy diet.
And, as Suazo was quick to point out, knowing the life cycle of the crops is necessary for young tribal members; it’s the way they learn about how and why certain plants are used during ceremonies and why there are different dances for various crops.






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