Juana presents a flat of new seedlings ready to plant in a family garden.

By Helena Myers, U.S. Garden Coordinator for Border Partners

Well, it’s happening! Juana’s greenhouse made of papercrete is finished, and plants are sprouting in Palomas.

Our Palomas garden coordinator Juana Lozoya Ortega and her husband Fernando, along with Peter Edmunds and his crew built a papercrete greenhouse to support our Palomas home-gardening efforts. Now buckets and large pots hold plants sprouting in the greenhouse’s warm, sunny environment.

Juana recently took a flat of seedlings the greenhouse has already yielded to a beginning gardening family (see photo atop post). Now those seedlings are all nestled in a new family plot that’s surrounded by cement blocks and covered with plastic.

Our gardening program now counts 16 serious, active gardeners who have plastic-protected beds of at least 4×4’ dimension. They’re already harvesting greens and radishes.

Juana stands proudly in the new papercrete greenhouse.

Juana supports the Palomas gardeners with materials: seeds, compost, wire and plastic. And she continually searches out new gardeners, finding two more in the past two weeks. The enthusiastic gardeners are so proud of the plants they’ve grown from seeds sown in December that they hesitate to cut them. We encourage them to harvest them for salads because, if they leave an inch or more, the plant will grow back.

Palomas residents are familiar with tomatoes, chilies or vegetables that thrive in summer heat. But we plan to gather all the gardeners at Juana’s and make a big leafy green salad to demonstrate how to use winter greens because they are not familiar with fresh uncooked winter vegetable usage. Our plan is to keep gardens producing all year, so eventually people can eat nutritious food without going to the store, where they can only find wilted vegetables.

Last month an expert gardener from Columbus brought soil samples to demonstrate soil improvement methods to our Palomas gardeners. She explained the process of mixing biochar with manure to prepare it to serve as a soil amendment. Fernando is presently now watering and weekly turning a large compost pile, using manure from the stock yards mixed with biochar.

Palomas gardeners help Mother Nature grow their food.

Our future plans are to attempt to propagate fig tree cuttings for all the gardeners and to begin to establish peach tree cuttings. We’re also looking forward to implementing the grey water systems that will result from the new environmental grant Border Partners received. Two gardeners already use water from their washing machines to trees in their yards, so this will extend the water conservation efforts we’ve already begun.

It is an exciting time of new growth in the gardening sector of Palomas!

Grant conserves desert water. Photo: Microsoft Images.

Border Partners received a grant for  $10,000 from the Border Environment Cooperation Commission last week. This is exciting news to our fledgling organization, as it is the largest single grant award we’ve received to date.

The funding will allow us to build graywater reuse systems and rainwater harvesting systems in Palomas. We’ll be able to install systems at 15 residential homes and also at the public library this year.

Along with this project, the BECC grant will fund the construction of a model bathroom that will demonstrate water-saving technologies appropriate for the desert environment.  The model will include a system to reuse the residential graywater–drainage from the sink–on a garden. It will also utilize solar hot-water heaters.

from the BECC website:

U.S.-Mexico Environmental Program (Border 2012) is a collaboration between the United States and Mexico to improve the environment and protect the health of the nearly 12 million people living along the border. The bi-national program focuses on cleaning the air, providing safe drinking water, reducing the risk of exposure to hazardous waste, and ensuring emergency preparedness along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Border 2012 is a results-oriented program that takes a “bottom-up” approach to addressing the environmental and public health needs of the border region.  Issues and projects are identified and implemented at the local level.

Border Partners is proud to be working with this bi-national program. By conserving water and promoting sustainability, we’re helping to create a new model for future viability on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Border 2012 area map. Courtesy: EPA website.

New playground climber at Palomas library delights children and keeps them healthy.

A new playground climber resides next to the public library in Palomas, Mexico. It crowns the efforts of a long and sometimes complex process–a process that involved literally dozens of volunteers to accomplish.

Last year Border Partners founders Peter and Polly Edmunds stumbled upon a U.S. playground climber that was destined for the landfill. Due to building construction, the climber was scheduled to be demolished. They had to ask: Could they have it for Palomas?

"Assembly Required"

The answer was “yes”–if they could deconstruct and remove it before the bulldozers arrived. Volunteers from Deming, who responded on the spur of the moment, were critical in figuring out  how to get it apart.  Lacking a caterpillar to get the high piece off, someone invented a rope system to get it down.

Storing and transporting all the pieces across the border was another step in the process. Finding a place to store them in Palomas–they got that done, too.

But the final piece–reconstructing the structure–well, that was the real challenge. It involved a devoted crew and even a caterpillar to assemble the behemoth! It was like a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle, composed of rather weighty pieces.

The fruit of all this now stands proudly aside the Palomas library, where each day literally dozens of school children come to read, to use computers, to socialize in a safe environment…and now they can also recreate.

The action-packed photos in this slideshow of the building process tell the tale better than words do. Watch it and share the joy!

Papercrete addition to Palomas home adds value economically.

Palomas home is readied for a papercrete addition.

Papercrete is a building material that is gaining acceptance because its production recycles paper products for construction uses.

Just as importantly, papercrete provides improved insulation. According to Wikipedia, papercrete’s R-value is within 2.0 and 3.0 per inch. And since papercrete walls are typically several inches thick, that provides great insulation from summer sun and cold winter winds.

Papercrete block is used instead of cement block.

Unlike concrete or adobe, papercrete blocks are lightweight, less than a third of the weight of a comparably-sized adobe brick. This is because the paper fiber replaces the sand, clay or gravel component found in adobe or cement.  Papercrete is also mold resistant and also assists sound-reduction.

For all of those reasons, Border Partners is promoting papercrete as a potential boon to Palomas. A local family used papercrete blocks to add a room to their home this month. The photos illustrating this post show papercrete in action!

The exterior of the walls receive a protective finish.

Palomas students will have a secure place to eat now.

I’m forming the impression that the Mexican government’s vision of running a school system is at best rather strange. They build the buildings and pay the teachers (poorly, at that). But then they contribute little else.  And certainly they don’t provide much money for supplies (like paper) or any other learning necessities. Nevertheless, a visit to the secundaria (middle school), Technica 25, in Palomas always inspires and informs me.

Better yet, Border Partners was able to provide them some little helps recently:

• For $30 each we added RAM to about half of the school’s computers, and
• for $4.60 each we’re ordering bulbs for their overhead projectors. Again: The government provided the machines, but the school has no budget for projector repairs. And the bulbs aren’t even sold in Mexico. Now that the projectors will function again, the Silver City schools are giving us eight more overhead projectors to pass along to the secondaria.

I saved the best help for last …… the new school lunch room!

This formerly one-walled structure was once a garage for the school’s collection of dead buses. But the 40′ by 60’ building has three new walls now as well as a repaired and insulated roof. New windows will be installed soon.

The secret component in all this accomplishment is the teachers. They’re doing the construction work– building the walls, repairing the roof, installing the roof–in addition to their regular teaching duties.

The community raised the money for the construction themselves: by hosting bake sales and contests, as well as collecting, baling, hauling and selling about 15 tons of cardboard.

They’d like to add a plywood ceiling in the building. That would cost $1,000.00. And they’d also like to paint the walls. I hope they do a nice mural using some of the miss-mixed paint local paint stores often donate to us.

Peter Edmunds

In this season of celebration and decoration, we give thanks for these four walls and roof in Palomas.

And we are grateful for our supporters whose contributions allow us to help the secondaria teachers build a lunchroom for their students.

Palomas parents flocked to the annual toy-making workshop December 10.

This post written by: Peter Edmunds, Co-founder & Board of Directors member of Border Partners

After two days of of our first-ever parent toy making workshops I begin to wonder what these Palomas parents think of me and my boxes of hundreds of parts for toy trucks. This year is at least the fifth time we’ve made toy trucks in Palomas. The town must be full of them!

for "Debbie"

But, if  my head wonders what the parents think of these Christmas projects I organize, my heart really knows. You see, I noticed that most of the 40 trucks that the parents made this weekend had a child’s name painted on them. Watching the concentration of the parents working on the trucks was a joy in itself.

Doll comes to life!

Something new for Palomas this year was the build-a-doll workshop at an adjacent table. Lots of volunteers set us up with cloth casings for dolls that parents could stuff, and with crafty supplies parents could use to personalize and decorate their doll. Volunteer Kara Nabor of Williamsburg, NM, who brought us many of those supplies, said the “very nice dolls” she saw showed how creatively the parents used the buttons, yarn and bric-a-brac to create their child’s new companion.

This week we’ll make 60 more trucks at the middle school.  Each 8th grader will make two trucks: one for a little brother of sister and one to donate to the local welfare/social services office. They’ll give it to a child in need of a Christmas gift.

A mom joyfully creates her gift.

This is one of the most satisfying projects we do in Palomas.  Everyone benefits:

• the local woodworkers who earn a few bucks for making the truck parts,
• the child who gets a special gift on Christmas morning,
• the parent who gets a chance to be creative and give something special to their child
• …and me. In fact, I get tears in my eyes just thinking about all the joy a few scraps of wood have generated.

 Here’s wishing a Merry Christmas to all…from “Santa Pete” and all of us at Border Partners!

For more photos of the toy-making fun: CLICK HERE!

Palomas home needs repair

The two women approached us with an idea. A big idea. They told us that they wanted to start a cooperative. As they imagined it, those who joined the group will commit to helping each other repair their deteriorating homes.  It’s easy to see that a single mom working alone can’t accomplish much in the home repair department. Generally her hands are full with child care, daily household needs and perhaps a full-time job, for those who are fortunate enough to have employment. Many repairs go better and faster with two people. But a group effort can really make a difference!

In order to join this housing cooperative, each member will contribute some money each month to the costs for the group. From this pool of funding, group members will purchase the building materials they need for repairs. Coming up with the start-up funding will require a real sacrifice, but Marisol and Benita are ready to do what it takes to give their children a better place to live.

Many homes are in rugged shape. The new coop members decided to prioritize the homes that are most in need of repair. That means that some in the group will be helping others, counting on the ongoing commitment of the group that their turn will come.

We hope that we can further assist these families in need with added funding to augment the materials that they, on very limited incomes, will be able to finance. The need is great, as this slide show of Palomas homes shows:

With your help, we can help them help themselves and improve lives on the U.S.-Mexico border

…one house at a time.

Customers like Palomas Oilcloth Designs gifts at the Alternative Black Friday sale in El Paso.

Border Partners presented the Fair Trade products of Palomas Oilcloth Designs at an Alternative Black Friday Sale in El Paso on the day after Thanksgiving. Our table participated with many local and international nonprofit organizations that sold artwork, jewelry, household goods, clothing and fashion accessories, and photography crafted by–and directly benefiting–economically challenged peoples.

“When you give a Fair Trade gift, your gift gives twice,” Border Partners founder Polly Edmunds reminded shoppers. The customers, appreciating the quality of the products, didn’t need urging to purchase aprons, cosmetic bags, place mats, tablecloths and bags for gifts.

Why an Alternative Black Friday Sale? Volunteer Billie Greenwood explained that the effort offered shoppers, who traditionally purchase holiday gifts on the day after Thanksgiving, with a more personal and constructive alternative to the commercialization that can creep into holiday gift-giving.

“By supporting local enterprise in developing countries and challenged communities right here on the U.S.-Mexico border we can make a positive difference. By encouraging employment we’re supporting dignity and human rights. People are able to provide for themselves and their families.”

The Palomas Oilcloth Design products are crafted by a group of seven women who design and sew on Mexican oilcloth to earn a stable income. Because Palomas is plagued with an astronomical rate of unemployment, the women’s initiative has made a significant difference for their families. They hope to attain full ownership of the business in the future; currently, the coop relies on Border Partners for support.

Palomas Oilcloth Design products are available for sale online at the group’s Etsy site: MXwomen’sHope.

Workshop members each received a water bucket to reuse household gray water.

Seven new gardeners attended our gardening workshop yesterday where they built raised bed frames and talked about the principals and advantages of year round intensive gardening with plants in square foot areas. Our goal is to set each of them with a garden that will have freeze and shade protection for year round vegetable growing.

The Foxworth Galbraith Lumber Company in Deming, NM gave us the wood for the 4′ x 4′ boxes. Proper Food Company gave us buckets so that the gardeners could recycle water from their in house use. Several workshop participants already did that by using wash water to flush their toilets.

Water use is always a problem due to its high cost. Border Partner has agreed to pay for any increase in the square foot gardeners’ water bills for the next six months caused by the garden usage of water. Tests of the square foot gardening system show that, if managed correctly, they use only 25% of the water used by row type gardens. We did a quick survery and found that water bills averaged about $15.00 per month, a significant cost in a town that suffers over 70% unemployment. Even those who have a job generally earn only $50 to $60 per week.

Our chief gardener Juana and her husband Fernando hosted the meeting and gave tours of their full yard garden and orchard and their new greenhouse built of Papercrete blocks. It is always fun to see people learn a new skill even if it is just learning to drive a screw with a electric drill.

Learning to use new tools is an additional benefit of gardening workshops.

Bonnie Young educates youth at the Palomas prepatoria on the risks of substance abuse during pregnancy.

Border Partners participated in a successful workshop this week that focused on issues of health. Held in Palomas, Mexico, the workshop attracted twenty-five border residents.

Two particularly fine presentations addressed important health concerns that affect our communities. Bonnie Young, a Doctoral Candidate at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque who has an MA in Public Health, spoke about “The Risks of Substance Abuse during Pregnancy.” (see photo, top of post) “Prevention and Treatment of Diabetes,” a presentation by Doctor Elisa Aguilar from the US-Mexico Border Health Commission, tackled another serious border health risk.

Participants showed great interest in the new home garden project. A lottery determined nine families who, working with BP, will build themselves a 4′x4″ raised bed garden.  They won materials for the bed frame, soil,  and selected seeds of plant species that grow well in the winter. In addition, they will receive help planting the garden and help paying their water bill, if it increases due to garden usage of water.  In exchange for the monetary compensation, these nine families simply need to document  their current, pre-garden water bill, attend a class on wise water use and undergo a home assessment of their water use.

Border Partners was also able to give away packets of seeds that are ready-to-plant and bags of dried beans for family food preparation. There was lots of free information available in Spanish on the workshop topics for participants to take home!

Participants enjoyed a healthy lunch cooker in solar cookers: stew of lentils, soy and vegetables with spaghetti squash, beans and tortillas…and watermelon.

Marisol, our Palomas promoter, led an exercise break that included good stretches and easy aerobic moves.  This gave her the opportunity to invite residents to the free exercise classes she offers.

After the workshop for adults, Bonnie Young gave her talk on the risks of substance abuse during pregnancy to the students at the Palomas Prepatoria.

The workshop, one of several held during the Border Binational Health Council, was funded by a grant from the Palomas, Luna County Binational Border Health Council. With your assistance and support, Border Partners is making a difference, helping people receive the tools they need to improve their lives.