Good Humus Farm Crew 2005
Top Francisco, Jeff, Annie, Adriane
Elvira, Juan, Chencha, Zach Alison and Claire
Top
Claire, Alison and Zach 
Zach harvesting fruit
Claire
in the sunset light
Alison
and Jeff Hoes Down Smiles
Zach completed the Woodland Fire Academy in May 2007 and is now volunteering for the Madison Fire Department. July 1, 2008 Zach started working for CAL FIRE in Brooks California, right up the road from us!
Ryan
Dolan
worked with us at Good Humus from 1998 to 2001. He and Liz Baum and their two sons now live and farm in Williams, Oregon.
Gummi and Willow 2002-2005
Gummi,
Sara, Rowan and Willow now live
in Northern Ireland in a Camp Hill Community, Gummi is their gardener/farmer and
Sarah is the cook for their household community.
Je
ff
Main & Annie Main
2007 Apricot Harvest Javier, Francisco, Jeff and Zach
Elvira
Gutierrez Garcia has been working for Good Humus since
1994. She was born in Jalisco Mexico has three sisters and four brothers all
younger than her. She married at age 16 to Carlos Garcia a fellow from her home
town. Carlos was 24 when he married Elvira and had been coming to the US since
the age 18 to work in the grapes in Sonoma, California. He moved to Woodland to
work with his uncle in the alfalfa bailing. While Carlos was in California
working Elvira stayed in Mexico raising their five children and for four
years ran a store by herself that supplied almost everything except clothes to
her community. Elvira finally came to the US in 1991 because her fourteen year
old daughter wanted their family to be together.
To get here she and her children rode a bus for three days from their home town to the boarder where she hired a coyote for $3800.00 (a coyote is a person that helps people cross the boarder illegally) to take her family across the boarder. They walked with only the clothes on their back all night long, stayed in a house that the coyote the provided and then another night. In 1994 her entire family got their papers and are legal residents of California, and in the last few years were able to be a part of the Esparto Habitat For Humanity Housing Project, and now own their home.
Elvira says that she would love to go back to Mexico to live, her town is very beautiful and is where most of her family still lives, but there is no work for her or her husband there. She said that she is very happy here to work for us at Good Humus, she said we understand her needs as a person, we are good to her and even though she has gotten other job offers for a higher pay she chooses to stay with us.
Elvira developed heart problems two years ago has lost 56
pounds and is on medications. The doctors are telling her now that she needs her
thyroid removed. She does not have the money to pay for doctors or hospital
bills here in the US so will be going back to Mexico for the operations as soon
as she has saved enough money. She thinks it will cost $8000 for the operation
in Mexico.
We would like to help Elvira out, and plan to give her some extra money, but to really be effective we were thinking that if some of you were are able to make a contribution to Elvira’s medical expenses that would make a substantial difference for her and her family and help them understand the value of the food community that they are part of. If you are able, please make a check out to Elvira Garcia, twenty dollars would be great, mail it to us and we will pass it on to her.
Francisco
Montez started working for Good Humus in 1980, and has
not stopped working!
Maria de Refugio, or
to us known as Cuca was born in 1954 in pueblo just east of Jalisco, Mexico. She
in fourth of four sisters who all but one still live in Mexico and four brothers
all who work here in California, and Poncho who works just up the valley
for Full Belly Farm. She grew up on a 1 acre farm that grew maize for animal
food, garbanzo beans, milo, regular beans, winter squash, they had two cows, two
horses, it was a self-sufficient farm not selling to a market just food for the
family.
Cuca married at the age of 21 to Roberto Heberto a man from the same town. He trained and took care of horses all over California. She was 26 when her husband asked her to come to the US with her 5 children. She too hired a coyote to help her come into the country, along with her brother. Midway crossing the boarder she and one of her children were separated from her brother and was caught by the border patrol and returned to Mexico. The second night with another Coyote she crossed the mountains, traveled through a big pipe with many rats and entered into the US.
They traveled and lived in San Mateo, Alameda, Hollister and finally to Winters to sort and cut fruit for Mariani's and Tuffs Packing Shed. Cuca has been working for us at Good Humus for the last 12 years. When ever there is dancing music on the radio you can always find her shaking her hips giving a little jig to her walk, just itching to dance. Jeff keeps saying that she was a dancer before she came to the US.