Living In The Middle of A Milpa
My house is right in the middle of a milpa, or maiz, field.
This past week all the maiz was harvested, and I am finding the whole process really interesting..maybe because I am from the USA, where everything is harvested by machine.
Harvesting the maiz is a laborious process, and from start to finish takes about two weeks.
The milpa is divided into parts-each family member, or family group, owns a small part of it. Each family group shows up on a different day, or days, to harvest their part of the milpa.
Work begins very early in the morning, with truckloads of people showing up-and everyone works very hard, even the children.
The men are first, and they cut down all the stalks of maiz with machetes. It´s hard work, and people bring out lemonada (Sort of watery lemonade with alot of sugar in it) for them to drink. After this part is done, people follow them, putting the stalks into piles. The maiz is-sort of brown and crisp, dry from the sun.
In between the rows of maiz, there are other things planted, such as black beans and also a particular kind of big green squash. It looks alot like a huge watermelon, but it´s hard as a rock. Women came through next and started harvesting these crops. In the milpa field where I observed this, it was only older women and small children that harvested the other crops.
The stalks are sorted, and lots of people work to take the maiz off the stalk-everybody who can work in the entire family works, and even the neighbors help. It is a huge job, and has to be done quickly, because animals and bugs will eat the maize if it´s left on the ground for too long. This part takes about two days, and everybody works really hard, only breaking for lunch.The maiz is all put into plastic woven white bags, and either taken away to the family´s home to be processed further..or collectively processed in the old cow shed on the property.
The next step is that all the maiz cobs are sorted-some have bugs, some are rotten, some are perfect. All the cobs are stripped of their husks, and these get used for the wrapping of tamilitos and tamales for the next 6 months. Everything gets used, nothing is wasted. Even the cobs that are not of good quality get used for the animals food. The people here that did this job were a mixed group of family members and the ¨ayudante¨, or helper-woman, of Doña Maria, the patriarch of the family. Some of the ¨ayudante¨´s family helped too-a varied group of young children and adults alike.
After the maiz is sorted, all of the kernels get stripped off the cobs. All this maiz gets stored in a wooden building set off the ground a bit to keep animals out. The kernels all get ground in batches, and this ground maiz is the mainstay of the families food for the next six months.
The cobs are piled in a dry corner and allowed to soften-almost rot-a bit, then ground as well for food for both animals and people.
To have the experience to see and be a part of this process has been a real education for me. I really appreciate the value of food, and the importance of maiz to my family. Other than eggs, beans, and basic foodstuffs, maiz is the center, the mainstay of all their meals.
I have taken some really great photographs of the whole process. I hope to get them online this next week when my USB cable arrives in a package I´m expecting from the states.
gigi
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