A 10 hour drive through Arkansas landed us in Malakoff, Texas, where we had a genuine Mexican meal (the owners from Guanajuato where we’re headed) with my cousin, Rick Barndt, the only cousin on my dad’s side.

Then off to Taos, New Mexico to visit two cousins on my mom’s side, Vian and Robin Collier. It was a 13 hour drive ending with a snow storm greeting us to Taos. The next morning, we walked out into a winter wonderland, so wandered with our cameras around the town before connecting with Robin, who had arranged for me to talk about my tomato research to a grade 9 math class taught by his friend Miguel, an Hispanic biologist/activist. Then we went to lunch with his partner Margaret, a curandera, or healer and midwife, who works with medicinal herbs. And had dinner with cousin Vian and his partner Juanita, another amazing Hispanic woman, teacher/weaver/artist. We stayed in her house which was a traditional adobe home filled with art, looms, and books…a real treat..!

Jan. 13-14 New Mexico