Letter to Board of Tres Semillas

Dear Peter, Sarah, Berna and Steve:
 
We come together as a community to address you in your capacity as members of the board of Tres Semillas. We write to express our thoughts about the impact of your decisions on the Abiquiú community. We call upon you to reverse the sale of 4 County Road 187, to appoint new board members to Tres Semillas and to step down as board members.

• The current occupants of this land play a key role in the life of our community. The Farmer’s Market is our place to get local fruits and veggies, our de facto supermarket that lets us stay local and shop local. The Market provides access to healthy and fresh nutrition for economically marginalized members of the community by participating in the USDA SNAP Program, formally known as Food Stamps. The Market is also the central marketplace that supports local growers on their journey toward economic development. It is an incubator of innovation, a place that launches small business market vendors, a place for people to try their hand in local market economics. Market vendors see what works by engaging with a dynamic public. The vendor community gets and gives mentoring for members, as seasoned vendors that provide guidance to young vendors just starting out. The Market also serves as the central square of the town, creating a very important sense of community, a gathering place for neighbors and fellow community members to meet in a central place and connect as a collective group.

• The Northern Youth Project has provided economic development and leadership opportunities to young people in Abiquiu for 15 years! For many teens, NYP is their first job application, first interview, and first stepping stone to future jobs or college opportunities. NYP offers paid internships to teens to learn more about art and agriculture as potential career options. NYP is a truly grassroots organization, relying on the support of hundreds of volunteers, including Karl Bode, the original owner of this land. NYP teens have improved the land to benefit Tres Semillas and boost the value of the land–they have participated in the annual limpia, cleaning the Acequia del Pueblo de Abiquiu with other parciantes. They have installed irrigation systems, and planted seeds and trees. Like the Farmers Market, they have also created a sense of community, a sanctuary space for youth to learn and thrive in a safe environment.

• The Frosty Cow is a long-standing tradition, an institution in our community that sits at the center of Abiquiú. Like NYP, this business promotes the economic development of our young people, paying for their training to get a food handler’s permit and showing them how to run a business. Like the Farmer’s Market, the Frosty Cow is part of the town square, serving as the place that refreshes us and keeps us cool.

• The land at 4 County Road 187 is uniquely well-situated for the Northern Youth Project and Farmer’s Market. NYP needs irrigated land and land that gives teens and their families easy access. The Farmer’s Market needs enough space for vendors to show their produce and adequate parking for a significant fraction of the community to be able to attend. While these non-profit organizations and the Frosty Cow have succeeded and are part of the heart of our community, neither are in a position to purchase the land at a cost of $610,000. These organizations will not be able to replicate their role as part of the beating heart of the community in other less central and less ideal locations.

• Tres Semillas’ chief legacy has been to be a key player in the emergence of these organizations as part of Tres Semillas' economic development mission. In this regard, Tres Semillas has succeeded at the mission that it set for itself in its application to the IRS: supporting economic development by developing markets, supplying skills training and creating the “cohesion” that will “entice others to become part of the communal process.” Although Tres Semillas has considered or tried many different other types of programming relating to economic development, none of those have succeeded as well as the activities that Tres Semillas has undertaken to support the organizations that are currently on the land.

• The community stands ready to take the reins of this community legacy to usher the land into its next chapter. We are thankful to you, the current board, even as your connection to the community has changed. Two of you are cherished former neighbors who have recently moved away from our community. The remaining board members are in the process of leaving the community. For all four members, your connection to the long-term future of the community, to its youth and  its sense of community, to its long-term economic well-being, is not as strong as it once was. The time has come to pass the reins of the organization to others who remain invested in the community’s long-term future. As recent events on the national stage have made clear, sometimes the most important decision leaders can make is knowing when the time has come to step down.

• Acknowledging the important legacy of Tres Semillas activities to date, and with deepest respect and gratitude for the role that current board members have played, in strongest terms, we call on Tres Semillas to allow current members of the community who are deeply invested in the area’s future to take the reins from here, to decide the future of 4 County Road 187.  We call on Tres Semillas to reverse the decision to sell and to appoint all new board members for the Tres Semillas board.

• Alternatively, we call on Tres Semillas to transfer the land to Luciente with guidance to Luciente about the precise nature of the economic development objectives that the board wishes to pursue. At the very least, we call on Tres Semillas to add new board members from existing members of the community, enabling them to participate in decisions that will affect the community long after you are gone.

Show your support for stopping the sale and keeping the land for the community by clicking the button below to sign the online petition.  

Note: If you signed the petition at the 08/27/24 farmers market, please do not sign the online petition.  Join the 98 others that have signed.
Thank You
 

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