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Author: Luisa Vargas

Once Upon a Semillita

por Luisa Vargas

Books are a fountain of knowledge, they teach empathy, enhance critical thinking skills, and are a great way to engage in diverse perspectives. Libros are entertaining, powerful, and, most importantly, they help semillitas grow.

We’re in the middle of Semillitas Outdoors, our annual celebration of Latine children in the outdoors. This week, we’re organizing virtual conversations and in-person outings and events that center the experience of Latine children and their families. 

We believe providing Latine youth with increased opportunities to connect with the outdoors and access to leadership spaces can help them develop their leadership abilities. Spending time in nature is central to this idea, as is a life-long commitment to learning. We know libros and the outdoors combine to make wonderful teachers who will help semillitas take root and flourish into today’s leaders. 

We’ve gathered a list of books that focus on themes in nature. We encourage you to take a look at our full list of  Outdoors Books for Children and Young Adults which are great stories for adults too!

Books we’ve been reading this week

CHILDREN

  1. Pepe Plantasemillas is about comunidad y cultura, it’s also Latino Outdoors’ story and is written and illustrated by a group of dedicated LO Outing Leaders alongside our founder, José González. Pepe Plantasemillas is a vibrant and colorful bird. Follow Pepe on a journey to plant a magical seed of cultura y comunidad in different places while meeting new faces.
  2. Fatima’s Great Outdoors is a picture book by Ambreen Tariq, outdoors activist and founder of @BrownPeopleCamping. It follows the adventures of Fatima Khazi on a camping trip with her family. Fatima’s school week may not have gone as planned but outdoors, she can achieve anything! 

YOUNG ADULT

  1. The Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition – Reyna Grande shares her personal experience of crossing borders and cultures in this middle-grade adaptation of her memoir, The Distance Between Us. 
  2. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World – As an Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer gathers serviceberries and reflects on reciprocity and the gift economy. She shares insights on what we can learn from the wisdom of plants and encourages us to reconsider what we truly value.  

Libros for free!

There are so many creative ways to find books for you and your semillita. Here are a few ideas that are free and support our comunidades:

  1. Public Libraries are great for finding physical and digital books! They offer other great resources for learning and host community events. Some even have state park passes you can borrow for free! If accessing an in-person library is difficult, most libraries offer digital options to check out books as well. 
  2. Free little libraries are community run, and a great way to interact with your neighbors while sharing books. You are encouraged to leave a book when you take one, but it’s not required! 
  3. Exchanging books with your friends, family, or you LO chapter! 
  4. Join your neighborhood Buy Nothing Facebook group.
  5. The internet! There are plenty of free digital books online. You can read LO’s very own Pepe Plantasemillas on our website. There are also resources like Project Gutenberg where you can find books for free. Most public libraries also have digital books you can check out from your computer without having to go to your local branch. 

We hope you and your semillitas find time to immerse yourself in a good story this week. Grab your book and a picnic blanket or find a park bench y vamos outdoors!

Nuestras Tierras: El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro 

por Luisa Vargas

Public lands are crucial for the preservation of history, conservation of land, and public access to nature. They are areas of land and water that U.S. citizens own and are managed by government agencies and, at times, by sovereign nations. They encompass ancestral homelands, migration routes, and other culturally significant places for Indigenous Peoples who have been forcibly removed.

In this blog series, we’ll be exploring public lands in the U.S. that hold cultural and historical significance to Latine people. These places are currently at risk from recent staffing and funding cuts. Now more than ever, it’s important for us to recognize their past, current, and future significance for preserving our land and cultures.

El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, or “Royal Road of the Interior,” is a 1,600-mile route running from Mexico City to Santa Fe, New Mexico, that connected Spain’s colonial capital Mexico City to New Mexico. It was added to the U.S. National Trails System in 2000 as El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail and is currently administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service. 

For centuries, Indigenous communities walked alongside the bison, coyotes, and foxes of the Great Plains into the arid land of the cacti, agaves, and yuccas in the Chihuahuan Desert regions. These foot trails linked their homes and cultures long before European arrival and the establishment of what would be known as El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.

In August of 1598, Don Juan de Oñate of Spain, also known as adelantado, arrived at Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo), a short distance from what is now Santa Fe, New Mexico. He successfully established the first colony in New Mexico after navigating several shortcuts along the route from Mexico City, including the infamous Jornada del Muerto, a 90-mile stretch of waterless desert starting in Las Cruces and ending south of Socorro, New Mexico. This successful bypass avoided a more difficult path along the Rio Grande that was impassable for carretas and livestock, allowing the movement of colonists and missionaries in New Mexico.

Image by National Park Service

After Oñate’s expedition, miners used El Camino Real as a trade route to transport silver extracted from Zacatecas, Guanajuato, and San Luis Potosí, and mercury imported from Europe. Like all trade routes, more than just goods were exchanged. Social, religious, and cultural links formed along the route, and Indigenous and mestizo guides helped travelers navigate the trail. We can see the echoes of these cultural exchanges, oftentimes forced, in surrounding communities today. 

As the route became formalized, parajes were established along the route. These were strategically located in terms of shelter, terrain, and water. People gathered, rested, and exchanged goods or information at parajes, which eventually became pueblos like Querétaro, Durango, and Albuquerque.

With the influx of people also came conflict, disease, and hunger. Pueblos along the route endured religious persecution, heavy taxation, and forced labor through the repartimiento system. These hardships, along with the destruction caused by foreign diseases, drought, and famine, led to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Po’Pay, a religious leader from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, led the revolt, driving the Spanish out of New Mexico and halting traffic on El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.

Over the next two centuries, the trail saw periods of conflict and peace and permanent cultural shifts. The route continued to be used during the Spanish period (until 1821), the Mexican period (until 1846), and the beginning of American rule. The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad ended the traffic on El Camino Real, but railroads and highways like I-25 still run parallel to some original sections of the trail.

You can visit several landmarks along this public land trail. Please check before visiting any public trail sites for visiting hours and regulations. Trail sites may be privately owned, municipally, tribally, federally, or in state ownership.

Public lands provide access to culturally significant sites, including those important to Indigenous and Latine communities. El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, a historic route linking Mexico City to Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a key example of public lands that are rich in multicultural significance. These public lands face threats from funding cuts, highlighting the need for continued advocacy to protect these cultural landmarks. 

You can help us with our mission to protect public lands. We’re collecting stories that celebrate and preserve the diversity of the outdoors. Tell us your park story and share what public lands mean to you on the Yo Cuento blog.

Sources and Additional Reading:

Un Paseo de Olla: Colombian Recipes for Comfort 

por Luisa Vargas

Fresh air and soul-nourishing food are guaranteed to comfort me in uncertain times. I’ve always loved food and cooking, but the recipes I find most uplifting are those that nourish my body and spirit. This usually means nostalgic and delicious Colombian recipes that my parents and grandma made me as a kid. What makes them even better is sharing them with friends y familia outdoors. 

When we go outdoors, food provides our bodies with the necessary fuel for adventure, but it is also a wonderful way to stay connected to our roots and traditions. Most of my fondest memories with family, including those afuera, are centered around sharing a meal. 

Enjoying food outdoors is not a new tradition for my family. My parents grew up going on paseos de olla (loosely translated to “a walk with a pot”) in the mountains of Colombia. They describe these outings as a walk and picnic in a potrero or field where their family would bring food in the same pots they cooked it in. Nowadays, we carry on this tradition at National Parks instead of my grandparent’s farm. Recently on my camping trips, I’ve been making the food I grew up eating in an attempt to hold onto my roots as I grow older.

I’ve gathered a few of my family’s favorite nourishing and traditional recipes that you can take on your next hike, camping trip, or backyard picnic to bring some Colombian comfort to your next paseo de olla.

My grandmother’s biography in the third edition of her cookbook: recetas de cocina para todos los días y ocasiones especiales.

Chocolate caliente con queso

Hot Chocolate with Cheese 

There are several ways to make chocolate caliente and you’ll find different versions all over Colombia. This is how my family prefers to make it, but I’ve added different adaptations below for you to experiment with your favorite version! 

Ingredients: 

  • 4 cups water 
  • 4 bars of traditional Colombian chocolate, found at your local Latin American market and some grocery stores (our family prefers Luker or Corona brands)
  • Cane sugar to taste, I would start with 4 TBSP 
  • 4 slices of queso fresco

Optional adaptations: 

  • Use milk of choice instead of water
  • Use a pre-sweetened version of the Luker/Corona chocolate from the store
  • Use panela (called piloncillo in Mexico) instead of sugar
  • Add a cinnamon stick 

Bring all the ingredients to a boil in a large pot. We traditionally use an aluminum olleta to make this, but any pot will do as long as there is extra room for the liquid to foam. As it starts to heat up, mix it with a wooden spoon every couple of minutes. We use a molinillo to foam the chocolate, but a spoon will do just fine. 

Once the chocolate starts foaming and rising, remove from the heat until you see the foam start to settle (a few seconds will do). Then place it back on the heat. Repeat that process two more times. Do not leave it unattended; it will boil over quickly! 

Turn off the heat and whisk with the wooden spoon or molinillo by rubbing your hands together. This will help foam. 

Cut up the cheese slices and place them in 4 mugs. Pour the chocolate over the cheese. 

Make it at camp or enjoy it in a thermos for the perfect on-the-go energy boost! 

Calentado

Everything and rice, a Vargas specialty 

  • 2 cups cooked rice 
  • 1 can of beans (black or kidney) 
  • 1-2 cooked potatoes (whatever you have on hand!)
  • Ground beef or protein of choice (as a vegetarian, I enjoy ground seitan or crumbled tofu)
  • 1 chopped tomato 
  • Any veggies you have on hand, we usually use frozen peas and corn
  • 1 tbsp avocado or olive oil
  • ½ chopped onion
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • ½ teaspoon cumin
  • ¼ cup vegetable broth or water
  • ¼ cup cilantro
  • Squeeze of lime

To an oiled pan, add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the garlic, protein of choice, and seasonings. After the protein is cooked, add the remaining vegetables and cook for another minute or two. 

Add the vegetable broth and remaining ingredients (keeping a bit of cilantro for topping). Cook until fragrant and all the ingredients are warmed through. 

Top with salsa, avocado, or ají. 

Enjoy this carb-packed, nutritious meal. We love this one for camping because we toss in whatever we have on hand. No beans? Use lentils! No potatoes? No problem, add more veggies. 

Empanadas de hojaldre rellenas de pollo

Pastry empanadas filled with chicken (from my grandma’s cookbook)

  • 1 lb pastry dough (can be found in the freezer section or made from scratch as my abuela does)

Filling Ingredients:

  • 2 large chicken breasts (for a vegetarian option, replace with seitan or tofu)
  • 1 small onion, shredded
  • 1 tsp mustard
  • 1 tsp cream or milk
  • 1 tsp white vinegar 
  • 1 cube vegetable or chicken bouillon 
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Other ingredients: 

  • 2 TBSPS butter 
  • 2 TBSPS all-purpose flour
  • 1 egg yolk, beat
  • 2 TBSPS milk
  • A sprinkle of cane sugar

Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper (leave marinating up to a day in the fridge).

Add the chicken and all the filling ingredients in a pot with 3 cups of water. Simmer on low heat for around 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked. 

Remove the chicken and let it cool (do not toss the chicken broth). If your pastry dough is in the freezer, defrost it according to the package instructions.

In a separate pan, melt the butter with the flour on low heat. Add the chicken broth and mix to form a thick sauce. Chop the chicken into small pieces and add in the sauce. Mix and let the chicken soak up the sauce for a few minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool completely before making the empanadas. 

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Roll out your pastry dough over a floured surface and roll out until it is very thin (~¼ inch thick). Using a cup, cut circles out of the dough. 

Add a little bit of filling to one-half of each circle. Dip your fingers in water and moisten the outer rim of the dough. Fold the dough in half, over the filling, and using a fork, press to seal into shape. 

Mix the egg yolk and milk. Add your empanadas to a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Lightly brush the egg and milk mixture on each empanada and sprinkle with a bit of cane sugar. Bake until golden brown. 

Once cooled, place it in a basket or container and enjoy it as a snack on your next hike! 

It’s easy to overcomplicate food in the outdoors, but it doesn’t have to be complicated! Our families have enjoyed these traditional meals outdoors for generations. Next time you’re planning to spend time in nature, I encourage you to pull out your grandparent’s cookbook. It’ll make your time in nature that much more special. 

Do you have a family favorite recipe you’d like to share with the LO comunidad? Send it to luisavargas@latinooutdoors.org along with a note on why it’s meaningful to you and we will include it in a future Yo Cuento blog post. 


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