I grew up in a family that# food was very important.# It was like how you showed love.

How# I felt like my mom showed me wa s like cooking us a beautiful meal# every night and had so much reverence## for food and like where it comes from too.

I think that was part of it too where it wasn't## like, yes, of course, we all need food to eat # But also in a way,## how I show love to my community.

Presente!

Maine is a nonprofit based## Presente!

Maine is a nonprofit based in Portland that supports the Latinx community# of Southern Maine through several programs.# The one I'm involved with is with the Food# Sovereignty and Land Sovereignty project.# The farm started as a response# to going into the pandemic.# We realized that many community# members didn't have a choice.# We needed to keep working in order# to pay rent and feed their families.# So one of the most immediate things we# could think of was to support with food.# This garden, this garden I call Munay# Garden # Munay is a Quechua word that#m ans unconditional love or just pure love.# And this is its second season # I feel lucky to have grown up in Maine because## there is so much natural beauty around me # And my experience growing up as like mixed## race from a multicultural family# in Maine was very challenging.# Like, I think isolating is the word I think of.

And I was in Portland,## which is the biggest city in Maine.

But even then rarely when I was younger,## was there anyone else that had an immigrant mother# or like, didn't just have both white parents.# And that was challenging for me because I didn't# see anyone else that had my family makeup.# But I do feel rooted here, like this is# also where I ultimately decided to stay.# And I think it's because I feel # now especially# well, since being a part of Presente!

and its## formation # I feel very loyal but connected to# it to where I want to see this grow, especially## now I feel very rooted in this work.

My [grandma] moved in with## us my freshman year in high school.

So I was like 13 and then she lived## with us and I took care of her.

My mom and I took# care of her until she passed away when I was 21.# She was from the Andes Mountains in Peru# and grew up in a small town, on a farm.# And then I think in her 20s, she moved to Lima.

And then that's when all my tíos## and tías [uncles and aunts] came along# and they grew up there in the city.# So even they had very different lives.

Fast forward to me growing up in Maine,## my only connection # So my roots were my mom and## my abuelita.

So I think my biggest way of connecting with## that culture of the two women who raised me was# through food, and we didn't have space or like## the land to grow food.

But we were cooking.# My mom is a cook.

She cooked us all of our meals every day.# And my abuelita did too when she could when her# health was still good enough that she could.# So food was like I said before, how I learned# about community, how I learned about sharing,## how I learned about love.

That's how the two of## them showed love to other people.

Once it felt very much like reaching back# and connecting with my abuelita.# This is not the land at all# that she was growing on,# But I still felt so connected to# her because that and her connection to land was so important# in her upbringing and her life that I just## found myself thinking of her#Even now, I still# think of her all the time when I'm out there.# This very much feels like healing from or healing# the generational trauma that exists within my## family and our lineage.

I think the connection# with the land that I'm experiencing now.# And the healing that I receive from having# the privilege to work on a farm every day is## I think not only changing my brain chemically# but also like, sometimes there's sadness or## pain or even joy and pride that I experience# that I can't explain where it's coming from.# But I believe it's coming from those before me.

And I think this work plays a big role in all## of that healing and the finding of peace.

All of my colleagues in Presente!

are also## Latinx and like while I might not know# their details of their history and story,## it's very beautiful for me to see how we all are# working within this organization that wants to## heal those pains being like the next generation That's like, #We're gonna do things a little## differently.# Yeah.

Yeah.