Fresh Take
Fresh Take is your roundup of all things related to organic and sustainable living. Join Florida Organic Growers staff and guest experts as we discuss everything you need to know about sustainable living, organic agriculture, and how to make the best lifestyle choices that benefit you and the environment. So if you’re an eco-warrior, a dedicated farmer, or just someone looking to make more conscious decisions, tune in to get your Fresh Take.
Fresh Take
Roots of Vizcaya: From Agriculture to Living Garden Legacy
Sheila Gutierrez from Vizcaya Museum and Gardens shares her journey of connecting mental health and community engagement through urban agriculture. The episode highlights how food sustains us socially and physically, emphasizing Vizcaya's unique role in preserving agricultural legacy and fostering sustainable practices for a healthier community.
- Sheila discusses her background in healthcare and the link to mental health
- Overview of Vizcaya Museum and Gardens' history and agricultural significance
- Introduction to the Vizcaya Village Farmers Market and its role in community engagement
- Explanation of the upcoming Dinner for Farmers event in collaboration with FOG's Florida Local Food Project
- Discussion on educational programs offered at Vizcaya for diverse audiences
- Insights into sustainability practices and their importance for future generations
- Exploration of how individuals can engage with local food systems and support their community
To learn more about Vizcaya and stay updated on upcoming events, visit Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. Support their agricultural initiatives and be a part of fostering a healthier, more sustainable community.
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Welcome to Fresh Take, where we at Florida Organic Growers speak to food systems experts about topics related to organic and sustainable agriculture, healthy lifestyles and the environment. To help us continue our programs at FOG, including our podcast, consider becoming a sponsor. For more information on sponsorship, check out our Get Involved page on our website, wwwfoginfoorg out our Get Involved page on our website, wwwfoginfoorg.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to our latest episode of Fresh Take. Today, I am joined by a very special guest, sheila Gutierrez, who currently serves as the Urban Farming Programs Manager at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami. She is helping to pave a path forward for new and existing agricultural leaders and I've had the absolute pleasure of getting to know her over the last couple of years as an urban ag enthusiast and museum educator, combining her knowledge on behavioral health and farming and cultivating community connections through food history and hands-on programming.
Speaker 3:Sheila, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me, Lana. Thank you.
Speaker 2:I really want to talk a little bit about the first time we met, which was at the Slow Food Miami annual conference, and just the fact that it's been a couple of years since we've had that introduction and I'm just so excited to continue. You know building this relationship and talking more about your background and who you are, so I'm curious to know you know what is your agricultural story? What brought you to Vizcaya and this role?
Speaker 3:Well, my background started as a nursing secretary and a rehabilitation leader in a rehab center for older adults and in the process of being there I realized that there was a mental health crisis. I realized that there was a mental health crisis. It was real and I was just curious to see if there was a better way to really serve our well-being and so I stepped away from that work and I stepped into volunteer roles and gardening and I found my love for, for farming and I realized that at the root of our well-being is really how we eat and, yes, our connection to nature is key to that. And at my role in Vizcaya as an urban farming programs manager, I really oversee and develop those initiatives that engage the community and promote wellness and sustainable agriculture. My role really involves program management, community engagement and educational outreach.
Speaker 3:I design and implement urban agriculture programs that cater to school students, families and community members, and that includes managing the weekly farmers market planning workshops that encourage visitors in planting, cooking and art making activities to really foster that sense of connection with how we eat for our wellness and really just engaging with plants in that way. I cultivate partnerships with local organizations, like Girl Scouts, for example, to engage in urban agriculture and I really collaborate with a lot of educators to create curriculum and programs that integrate urban agriculture and make that connection between our relationship with the plants, their benefits and community. And I implement and promote sustainable farming practices with the gardens, such as composting. And my work really as the urban farming program manager has contributed to increasing community participation in urban farming programs, expanding and adding experiences at the Vizcaya Village Farmers Market that contribute to that community engagement with the plants that we grow and exploring their different benefits and really engaging community and agriculture to bridge that gap between this guy's history and our modern role as a cultural and educational hub.
Speaker 2:Well, wow, I mean that's so many things going on there and I feel like I want to take a step back for a second and talk about your background a little bit. Sure that has influenced your life tremendously and having that kind of experience with you know, just the idea of trying to bridge the gap between mental health and food and farming and history, like all those things seem to be, and some to some people may be very disconnected, and I think in what you're doing and building these programs and trying to connect the dots, it's a really inspiring you know thing that you're doing and I want to learn more about how that has influenced you in kind of pursuing a bigger role and trying to create these kinds of programs for people in the Miami community.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it really is connecting a lot of dots that you don't necessarily see when you're in the journey. It's not until you kind of take a step back and start to make those connections from your family's history and the land that's there and the food that grows there and how the community engages in food practices that you begin to make sense of all of the pieces. And I think that's where I'm at now, that I understand and have really been intentional to see that like see those pieces and honor my own culture, my own heritage and knowing the stories. And I mean I've been fortunate to visit my family's farm and spent some time there throughout the years of growing up, and so I have memories very faintly in the back and stories of like my mother using herbs like chamomile to heal my sister's postpartum or to heal us when we were rowdy, to calm us down, and so all of those stories of family drive this work.
Speaker 3:Because we are in a place right now where we are or don't have access to engage necessarily with nature or to grow our own food, because we are in an urban setting and so it might not be accessible to everyone, and so the more we try to find those stories within our own families, the more we start finding that connection with the food, the health, and so, yeah, it has impacted me. It has impacted me, my own personal story and my family and what I do now trying to bridge that wellness gap. I've seen it firsthand in working in rehabilitation center that the food that we eat is not necessarily conducive to our well-being. It's highly processed process and so our programs at Vizcaya really especially like the farmer's market and having those spaces where community can come and purchase fresh ingredients or fresh food. It's really the starting point for them to engage in a food system that is fresh and supports their own well-being, and doing that through food and active living and social spaces. That's really at the center of the community cultural hub that we are creating at Vizcaya.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I find it to be fascinating that you know you even provided a direct example of growing chamomile and using that to heal, and that's like the exact thing that I think people tend to forget is that our food is the source of a lot of solutions, and I think Vizcaya, in today's episode, we're going to be talking about kind of a general overview of Vizcaya's past, present and ongoing role to support local agriculture, because it was originally a hub for food in the Miami South Florida area. And so, before we get into the history of Vizcaya, I want you to tell our listeners who are not familiar with Vizcaya Museum and Gardens what it is today and what its general purpose is.
Speaker 3:So Vizcaya Museum and Gardens is a National Historic Landmark and a cultural hub located in Miami. It was originally built between 1914 and 1922 as the winter retreat estate of James Deering. James Deering designed the estate to reflect European estates which incorporated, like unique flora of South Florida with that European architecture, and his vision was really to create this lavish estate that combined also Italian Renaissance with the subterfugal environment of Miami, but also designed it in a way that it would be self-sufficient. The Vizcaya Village is the original farm and village that supported the self-sufficiency to support the household and guest. And the original farm and village area, which is the Vizcaya village, is now being restored to highlight its agricultural roots. So the area once included acres of produce, flowers, cattle, chicken, and right now we're at a point in Vizcaya that we are really embracing that agricultural heritage to be able to tell the stories of that space by hosting urban farming programs and initiatives that welcome visitors to engage in that.
Speaker 2:That's on the west side of the property that I was really excited to find out about, you know, as of recently, because, as someone who grew up in South Florida, vizcaya has always been that, like you know, tourist attraction, because it's such a beautiful place to visit. It's a stunning piece of land, and the house itself where the gentleman lived who founded it is open to the public, for people to view, even all the individual rooms, and so it's a really beautiful place, and the way that the nature is entwined into the area is a really significant part of it. But to know that the history of agriculture, the roots that were in, you know, in that land, are coming back in terms of into the light of your efforts and the things that you guys are doing, is something that's very exciting, and so I want to know more about the role that Vizcaya played in agricultural history and how that's being transformed now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, today Vizcaya continues to honor its agriculture legacy through these various programs and initiatives. The Vizcaya Village Farmers Market is sort of a homage to its agriculture history, where they used to grow produce, flowers, chickens. We have a historic chicken coop, and so any of the excess that they had was actually sold during a market to the public, and so today that's sort of our homage to that history.
Speaker 2:And what are the main crops and farming techniques that Vizcaya was known for?
Speaker 3:So in the late 20s. We have a documented sort of gardener's diary and it highlights the activities that took place at the gardens, and so we have a list of crops like sweet potatoes, cabbage, leafy greens, lettuces, and we have documentation of an orchard where there were mango trees and citrus and sapolia trees that grew on site, and that really goes to show the importance of documentation as being a technique as well, and today we are reviving that legacy to plant at the Vizcaya village. So if you visit the Vizcaya village, we have several nooks that are planted with crops that you can find that were grown historically, and we have one of the historic mangoes on site. We have techniques like espalier, where you can see some fruit trees in our superintendent's kitchen garden that serves to provide fresh produce for our newly restored Vizcaya Village Cafe, and so you can really see that starting to take shape I love that and what is you know?
Speaker 2:I know that there was this really deep history of you know all the pieces that you shared with the, with agriculture, and so what was the reason for the estate transitioning from it being an agricultural hub to now, you know, mainly as a garden and a museum?
Speaker 3:So, after Deering's death in 1925, the estate had challenges, hurricanes and urban development. And so in 1952, miami-dade County acquired Vizcaya to transform it into a museum to preserve its historical and cultural significance, and that includes the original farm and village area. The Vizcaya village is now in a process of being restored to highlight the agriculture roots, and today, really, we're in the process of restoring those 12 historic buildings to become areas where, where students will be able to engage in the space directly, after engaging in our urban farming gardens, so taking the hands-on work in the garden and then taking it beyond that for them to learn how to incorporate that or use that in art making or cooking recipes. And so that is the Vizcaya Village restoration project ahead of us, trying to preserve that agriculture legacy.
Speaker 2:And that's. I think that's really important because, you know, for the community it's just kind of a place where people can go back and reflect on those roots in terms of the, you know, agricultural history and and now you guys have so many different events that you're holding at that space to really highlight some of those things and bring to light that story. And I think that's really just incredible to know that you guys are taking that effort and bringing that forward. And I'm curious to know what other kinds of activities you've held to support the local farmers and other agricultural businesses at that space.
Speaker 3:One example is our annual event Dinner for Farmers that honors South Florida's local farms and farmers. It features a farm-to-table dinner that uses locally sourced ingredients, celebrating the importance of sustainable agriculture. The initiative launched in 2016 as a collaboration between Vizcaya Museum and Edible South Florida and it really began as a simple community dinner to connect farmers. We were hearing from farmers that they didn't really have time off to relax. The farming season takes a toll on farmers and so really wanting to provide a space to give them a platform to celebrate and support the local agriculture, the work that they were doing, and now it's grown into that platform of really celebrating and supporting and supporting and highlighting those sustainable practices within the agriculture community and who's doing what, and the celebration is really bringing together farmers, chefs and community to enjoy that farm to table. Really it's a showcase of the fruits of their labor and that really bridges the past with its modern mission of community engagement and sustainability.
Speaker 2:And I honestly this event is something that, like, I've never seen anything like this.
Speaker 2:I've been to so many different, you know, farm to table events and but this one, you think about it and it's like the farmers are actually dining and that's what's really special about it.
Speaker 2:And we at Fog we're so honored to be able to collaborate with you guys on this next upcoming Dinner for Farmers event. That's very exclusive to those people that are doing the work on the ground and have very little time to socialize and do the things that you mentioned and really just support each other and celebrate. So that's something that we're really looking forward to and, because I was able to attend last year's event, I'm really just excited to see that particular event grow and be a really big source of community support for those people that are looking for those kinds of connections and rebuilding the story of ag in Miami. So it's really special to be a part of that and to witness it take place. So it's great to see those things happening. And, speaking of partnerships, I know that you guys are really well known for your Vizcaya farmer's market, so tell us a little bit more about the market, when that started and who that really all involves so the Vizcaya village farmer's market.
Speaker 3:It's a weekly farmer's market, it's on Sundays and the farmer's market is in collaboration with Urban Oasis Project. Urban Oasis Project is a real key player in our Miami community that connects farms and really gives them a platform to sell their produce. And that's really what the farmer's market is about giving these small businesses and these farmers a place to sell their produce and not only just sell their produce but connect with their community so that the community can know their farmer and just build that connection. It's a more intimate experience. When you shop at a farmer's market you get to meet not the hands that grew your food but the chefs who are also working to collaborate with farmers to source their local ingredients.
Speaker 3:Pivotal moment, sort of pre post pandemic, in a time where we were seeking spaces that were outdoors and seeking alternatives to healthier living. And the farmer's market is expanding and it's growing to really provide our community with those ingredients, but also the place where they can socialize and build community. So we have different wellness programs, like our yoga program, and once a month you can experience a family drop-in program which really encourages intergenerational experiences with families. So all ages welcome to engage in art making and planting, gardening activities that they can connect with agriculture in that way.
Speaker 2:And I think that the Vizcaya market does a really great job at presenting those like dynamic opportunities to really kind of play in a few different pots, you know, having the art piece, music, farming, like there's just a lot of fun activities going on and, like you said, like it touches all different ages, and I think that that particular market has a really big emphasis on the local growers.
Speaker 2:You mentioned Urban Oasis Project and they're actually one of our members of the USDA initiative that we have, the Florida Local Food Project, and I think it's important to have more growers at markets and I think Urban Oasis Project is one of those examples where they're bringing that to the table and trying to showcase more of the real local produce that is in our community. I'd love to hear that that's such a big emphasis in this kind of market and I'd love to learn more about some of the other ways that Vizcaya is currently educating the public, whether it's through, you know, your tours or workshops, like what are some of the other things that you think play a really big role for the community?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and to add to what you previously said, lana, one of the things that Urban Oasis Project does so well is that they support the local farms Often the farmers they can't get away to go to market because there are so many demands at their farm that they need to attend to that.
Speaker 3:Sometimes it is an additional thing that they have to do when they go to market and so Urban Oasis Project sometimes will aggregate from those farmers to be able to take that to market, so really giving them that flexibility to still have a place for them to sell and distribute their fresh produce.
Speaker 3:And as far as our education programs, at Vizcaya, visitors during the farmer's market can participate in our Vizcaya village tour where they can learn more about the history and the people that were working at the Vizcaya museum and gardens and that they were living there and really participating in all of the movement that happened. At Vizcaya Village we have hands-on activities where people can participate in art making, planting and learning those techniques, like using plants to create ink and use that as art, or using root crops to cook meals in different ways. Using native pine trees to create ornaments are some examples of some workshops that have been led by wonderful educators in our community and these workshops are really designed for those diverse audiences. So we welcome school students, designed for those diverse audiences. So we welcome school students, families and then the community during the Vizcaya Village.
Speaker 2:Farmers Market and you mentioned, you know, some of the things that you guys are doing is just trying to connect people in terms of, like, bringing in certain practices that maybe people aren't doing, such as composting or growing edible plants that they can enjoy at home. So what do you think is the broader role that Vizcaya plays in terms of just being, like, a leader in the Florida's local food movement?
Speaker 3:Because our agriculture history is so embedded into our mission. We have a mission to preserve the agriculture past and by doing that it helps us understand and appreciate the city's development and the diverse communities that contributed to its growth. And by studying that and how past generations cultivated the land, we can adopt and adapt these methods to promote environmental sustainability. So, like compost, we welcome visitors on Sundays to bring their compost scraps, their food waste scraps. We partner with Compost for Life, so Compost for Life will take those food nourish ourselves. So using compost is a foundation for us to grow healthy plants so that we can also be healthy people. And by remembering that and adopting those practices we really start to create that connection with nature and we hold on to our community identity and the stories and the plants that the stories tell. It's really a sense of pride and connection and mission that links us to our roots of the city and beyond, to our origin stories, really preserving that history and culture identity of the people who came before us and helped build this grand museum and garden.
Speaker 2:And that's something that I think is somewhat overlooked sometimes in the community are those stories that hold this wisdom and the power of food sovereignty and how we can as individuals, as average everyday citizens, be a part of that, and I think that's something Vizcaya is doing a really great job at doing in terms of involving the people, involving the community, in kind of retelling or recreating the narrative around what agriculture is today. So is there something that you foresee happening with Vizcaya in terms of the future of Miami and what the community is going to look like?
Speaker 3:The future is green. Definitely, the ongoing efforts of the Vizcaya Village Restoration Project will create new opportunities for more educational programs. It will preserve and highlight the agriculture legacy and support new infrastructure that will support the agriculture efforts. So areas to grow food and areas to cook I mentioned a teaching kitchen earlier on and wet classrooms where students can really engage in that tactile and sensory experience and being outdoors and getting that opportunity to engage in that way and not just students but our community to see that flourishing around us in an urban center is really exciting time to be at where we are working towards that restoration and creating those spaces.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm honestly so excited to hear about those things and those kinds of touches that you guys are bringing to the space, because I you know, before we wrap up the conversation, I want to talk about just the general impact of agriculture In your eyes.
Speaker 3:How does agriculture play a role in the city's growth and development and how can people that are listening play a bigger role in this space? Intentional choices in our everyday life to collect their food, waste, scraps and compost that, and also by visiting farmer's market, like our Vizcaya Village farmer's market, where they can find variety of products like fresh fruits and vegetables that are locally grown, produce from nearby farms that are more nutrient dense. They are fresh and will support their health in the long term, and they can find handcrafted goods and artisanal products and baked goods and vegan items that were all created by people in the community small businesses, people in the community, small businesses, and so that also supports our local economy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that that's a really good way to just connect to other like-minded people as well. I think oftentimes I found myself at these markets and I'm like already making friends within the first five seconds, and I think in Florida that's honestly kind of hard to do. So it's obviously a space where people who are really passionate about community and food, that energy, is very present, and so I encourage folks listening to, like Sheila said, take a nice little visit to the Vizcaya Market or even to the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens to learn about the history and even just experience this kind of agricultural legacy firsthand and just being able to support the farmer-friendly events and things that are being set up to pave a brighter, greener future for Vizcaya. So, sheila, I just have to thank you for joining us and having this really lovely and inspiring conversation and, you know, sharing your experience and efforts that you're taking to influence the agricultural community and beyond.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me, lana, and I'm looking forward to our continued collaboration with Florida Organic Growers to continue this work.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I do as well, and I look forward to being a part of future Vizcaya events and also seeing, hopefully, some of our followers and listeners at those and want to make sure everyone can check out vizcayaorg for more information, and I hope you really are able to take away ideas from this episode that will foster your own local food community and opportunities for connection. Until next time.
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