Agueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country

Sustainable It was always a good life here in New Mexico. I come from the people who are very old. I have now a whole grand parents on both sides. My grand parents were ranchers. My father's parents were animal breeders. My mother's father was a poor man. But yeah, he had a large family. And with our work, he supported all his children.

So, my father followed us a rancher. We planted chile, vegetables, beans and corn. We harvested much food. I got married when I was 18 years old. My husband was crippled and could not work much. It was then that I learned to weave. Because my grand parents were weavers. I made a living with my weaving. And with what the ranch produces. Because the ranch provides for me and for my animals. Then I only had a need to buy sugar, coffee, shoes and material to make clothes. Because I have always made my clothes all my life. That is another thing that is helpful about ranch life. I have made my life very comfortable. It was very grand. I have quite a large family.

I have eight children and 67 grand children. And I have 45 great grand children. So, there are over 100 people from my blood. When my father died, he left me his house. And his ranch, because I took care of him. This house, not all, but part of it. It is over 100 years old. It is all made of earth. And so, this is how my family and I made our life. Until I got them all married. Then I was left alone. My father died, my mother died, my husband died. And today I am 77 years old. And I am still weaving and taking care of my ranch. But that way, I make my life with my work.

My ranch produces a lot in the summer. My land is filled with chili, vegetables, beans and alfalfa, which I sell. That is what my ranch produces in the summer. I can no longer take care of all my ranch. As my land is quite large, I can't do it all anymore. That is why my daughter's children, the ones that live near me, are always helping. I don't have a male son here, not one. One son lives in Yupa and the other lives in El Paso. So, it's my daughters and grandchildren that help me. And we'll go out and plant, be the chili corn, whatever we're going to plant. And the summer will go with the work of the whole and the shovel. Until the crops start coming, the first to come are the melons, the radishes and the squash. All of it for their house.

We have no need to go to the market. We have it all here. Then come the other people, those who don't plant. They come to buy until all is gone. Chile is a little troublesome in every way. We spend three months hoeing the plants. When it ripens, because it ripens on the plants, we pick the chili off and pile it up until it gets very red. And then we hang it up to dry. Just as soon as we finish tying the chili, we're going to eat the melon and then to the table. But we have to work a little hard. One's grandparents are the ones who will be nice and teach you more when you're young. One's father and mother may give you a spanking once in a while, but not grandfather. You say, look my child, we do this and this goes this way and that we do another way.

And you go along very happy and content with your old grandparents. And I live very, very happy with all my family and with all my neighbors, all of them equally. The thing that is wrong about television is that it teaches the youngsters how to fight and how to rob. TV does nothing for me, it doesn't be with me. My grandchildren, they watch television. When people visit me, it doesn't matter if my grandchildren are caught up with a movie. I turn it off because I want to talk and to be with people. Tell your aunt Lou about your brother who was sick from his stomach. I give herbs to everyone. You have to know herbs well because there are some herbs that are very poisonous. I use nothing but herbs.

The baguette, the cotta, I boil the toads wheat, the mentina. If you have a stomachache, you use chan. Or a headache, there's another herb that grows in the fields, named Carlos Santo. All this comes from my great grandfather. Indians were better experts with herbs than we are. My great grandfather was Indian, he was Navajo. I go to church Sunday after Sunday. All the children today seldom go near a church. That is because they are spring to another road. While before, this didn't happen. My mother would say, let's go to church. And we would all go. The children and grownups all off to church. And then we would come home. I still do all of my own work.

I cut firewood for the stove. I have to bring in the firewood from outside. And my water, I bring in from outside. I have to bring in water because I have nothing else but my pans. And my toilet is over there under the popular trees. Away from the house. And I still use it. I still don't want anything inside the house. Because that would hurt my natural habits and the system of my body. If everything were inside, I wouldn't go outside. I wouldn't feel the bigger and cleansing of winter. Today, everyone uses gas. But the gas stove doesn't cook food as good as a wood stove. The wood stove is less expensive and provides a warmth for one's health that is better than gas. How couldn't the life we had before be better than we have nowadays? I still have the beliefs of my parents in everything.

When I make tortillas, I put 8, 10, 12 tortillas on the table. And they'll be gone in one meal. Tortillas, beans, potatoes, chill. And at all the most delicious foods I have eaten in my whole life. I cook my beans in my pot and I make chili in my pan. I make my tortillas and there is no waste of anything. I use my shoes until they're completely worn. And then I burn them in the stove and make a tortilla. Actually, we plant an April. We hold it all summer.

And in October, we put it in the house. When it is dry, we take the seeds out and toast it. Because when it is toasted, it will have a good flavor. I grind it and then it goes into the frying pan. I make chili with meat and with eggs or salmon. We chill in all different ways. Dry corn is also not as delicious if it is uncooked. We toast it and then grind it. And from the flour, we make a tolle and chakewa. Chakewa is made by boiling the water until it gets very thick and almost dries out in the pan. But not a tolle. We heat a certain amount of water, but it stays thin because you drink a tolle from a cup and chakewa, we eat with a spoon. This is an Indian method.

We may consider ourselves Mexicans. We may consider ourselves Hispanics or whatever we want, but we are more Indian. I like summer more than winter because we have everything we need in the house. We don't have to go out and look for anything. We have much abundance in the house. Like those flatlands are covered with plants and flowers and herbs we can eat. In my times, we would all get together and go and weed out the neighbor's ranch. The fields would be full of people. All of us together and mothers, fathers and children all united. I make my living with my ranch. I sell and give of everything. And in the winter I survive with my set-up.

I weave all winter long. I weave set-up and I weave rugs from old rags. My grandparents, as I have said, because they were never hosts, were also weavers. And that's where I started. And I'm still weaving. My daughters are also weavers. I use Mexican wool. It comes from the animal. I first wash it. Then I cart it. And then I make it into thread. After I make the thread, I dye it. I dye some colors with herbs. And I dye other colors with commercial tints. To begin as an apple, one first puts down the foundation. That's the warp. I usually spend the whole day on the warp. Undulating it outside. On the next day, I put it on the machine. And then I start the set-up. I take the design from my head.

I don't copy designs for my set-up. Note two of my set-ups are alike. When I make a new one, it will have a different design and different colors. That's what makes it valuable. My grandparents used to weave rags into striped rags. I also learn from them how to do this, except without a design. And there are a lot of people who weave rags, but they don't weave a design. I make rag rags that are very beautiful and pretty. And someone comes and buys it, and it's gone. That is why I don't have even more in the house.

I sell them more. But from this I make a living. I can't save anything because I have to stretch my money. And I sell what I have to supply myself with what I lack. I love to weave. In the winter I get out of bed, I eat breakfast, and I get on the loom and weave. I get down from the loom at night and go to bed. The next day I do the same. Weave and nothing else. There are times when I weave until 12 o'clock at night, as the saying goes, from sun up to sunset. And I don't get tired. Work doesn't tire me. I'll stop weaving when I can't move anymore. Until then, you'll find me dancing on the loom. The land is a blessed thing, because it is what produces our food. It produces the clothes that I have,

because it produces the cotton. It maintains the sheep that produce the wool. It supports the cow that is the meat and the milk. How can the land not be blessed? I shall never sell my ranch in my lifetime. They may sell it when I have gone to the grave, but not in my lifetime will I sell my ranch, because the land is my life and my children's too. The earth is the only thing that gives life and when one goes back to it, it eats you up. As the saying goes, I am of earth and earth, I will be. I am of earth and earth, I will be.

I am of earth and earth, I will be. I am of earth and earth, I will be.