Prickly Pear /Agave/ Succulent Symposium, Planting Party,
Mezcal & Chawar Tasting
9/29/24
Sunday, September 29
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
You are invited to join us for our Prickly Pear /Agave/ Succulent Symposium, Planting Party & Mezcal Tasting Workshop! Participants will help Chelenzo Farms and its ongoing ecosystem restoration, education and research efforts, by helping us integrate cactus and cholla into a field already planted with agave. The project is part of an overarching effort to restore soil health, control soil erosion, re-introduce native plants and drought -resistant crops, cultivate pollinator habitats, increase biodiversity, mitigate climate change, and save the world!
SPACE IS LIMITED!
LOCATION: Chelenzo Farms, 48B Rainbows End, Cerrillos, NM, 87010
THE AGENDA
9:00 AM Welcome and Introduction and brief overview of the day's activities. Introduction to presenters and key participants.
9:00 AM- 9:30 AM Prickly Pear care and planting David J. Ferguson, Associate Curator (retired), Rio Grande Botanic Garden, Albuquerque; Board of Directors, Cactus and Succulent Society of America; Executive Editor and Senior Scientific Editor, Opuntia Web; Curator, iNaturalist; Editor, BugGuide
9:30 AM- 10:00 AM Growing and rescuing cholla and cactus in Santa Fe Joe Newman, Co-founder, Cactus Rescue Project
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM Agave Cultivation Lorenzo Dominguez, co-owner Chelenzo Farms; Marsella Macias, mezcalera and agave cultivation consultant
10:30 AM -11:00 AM Establishing cactus and other succulents as a specialty food market: the freeze-dried nopal chip project Patrick DeSimio, Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder, Cruces Creatives; Director, Seeding Regenerative Agriculture Project
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Planting cactus pads in the field. Participants apply what they’ve learned in the workshop.
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM Lunch
(Lunch supported by Cruces Creatives)
1:00 PM - 1:15 PM Western SARE funding opportunities Miranda Kersten, Program Manager, Western SARE
1:15 PM - 2:00 PM Mezcal Tasting with Mezcalera Marsella Macias
2:00 PM Chawar (Ecuadorian Agave Spirit) Happy Hour
Eliot Logan-Hines, founder, environmentalist, tropical forester, alpaca father
LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED
(Supported by Cruces Creative)
**Please complete a new registration form for each person in your party. Please note that if you fill out the registration form from your email invitation, you will have to click on "Submit" again after it opens up a new tab in your browser to confirm your responses.**
Banner artwork by Miguel Camarena.
Event Partners: Cruces Creatives, the Cactus and Succulent Society of America, the Cactus Rescue Project, NM Healthy Soil Working Group, Endangered Species Coalition (ESC)
