Aquilli Metzli Masa Cooperative
Aquilli Metzli is a start up Latinx seed to table post-harvest processing cooperative.
Co-op members are farmers, administrators, masa artisans, food business owners, and community members working together to provide the highest quality and most ethically produced essential Latinx pantry items. This includes Masa, beans, salsa bases, corn husks, corn stalks, corn cobs, dried and smoked peppers, dried herbs.
The goal of Aquilli Metzli is to be a catalyst in building a local Latinx food economy system. This means that we are only as strong and resilient as our member businesses. We cannot succeed unless our producers (farmers) and consumers (masa artisans) are. We must work together to build a circular economy that keeps the Latinx communities money here in Humboldt.
- Assist new farmers in gaining access to land and essential growing materials, including seeds.
- Provide educational opportunities for individuals interested in the milpa growing process.
- Center our efforts around the milpa system, fostering the revival and continuation of our Indigenous and traditional land-based cultures.
- Produce a variety of non-GMO produce within the milpas and adjacent growing spaces. Produce like: quelites, chiles, cempasúchil, calabazas…etc.
- Ensure that the benefit of these cultural products directly goes towards the Indigenous and or Latinx community and it it’s members: Uplift Latin and Indigenous farmers, students, business administrators, vendors, and makers
Co-op members are farmers, administrators, masa artisans, food business owners, and community members working together to provide the highest quality and most ethically produced essential Latinx pantry items. This includes Masa, beans, salsa bases, corn husks, corn stalks, corn cobs, dried and smoked peppers, dried herbs.
The goal of Aquilli Metzli is to be a catalyst in building a local Latinx food economy system. This means that we are only as strong and resilient as our member businesses. We cannot succeed unless our producers (farmers) and consumers (masa artisans) are. We must work together to build a circular economy that keeps the Latinx communities money here in Humboldt.
- Assist new farmers in gaining access to land and essential growing materials, including seeds.
- Provide educational opportunities for individuals interested in the milpa growing process.
- Center our efforts around the milpa system, fostering the revival and continuation of our Indigenous and traditional land-based cultures.
- Produce a variety of non-GMO produce within the milpas and adjacent growing spaces. Produce like: quelites, chiles, cempasúchil, calabazas…etc.
- Ensure that the benefit of these cultural products directly goes towards the Indigenous and or Latinx community and it it’s members: Uplift Latin and Indigenous farmers, students, business administrators, vendors, and makers
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MISSION
Aquilli Metzli Masa Co-op strives to harness our collective networks to establish a seed-to-table Masa Co-op for the North Coast region. By doing this we aim to catalyze a sustainable, regenerative and cooperative economy based on the cultural skills and relationships of the Milpa. This provides members access to a living wage through the daily re-creation of our culture while building a stable foundation from which to provide supportive, educational, and recreational spaces for our communities. Earning a living by practicing the food sovereignty technology of our ancestors, ensures that our culture will thrive into the future |
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VISION We envision a North Coast where the revival of Milpa culture nurtures thriving ecosystems and vibrant cultural life—where land and people are restored together through ancestral practices of care, ceremony, and cultivation. Through Milpa, we cultivate not only food, but also spaces of healing, learning, and connection—where Latinx and Indigenous communities guide ecological renewal rooted in ancestral knowledge , communal labor, and intergenerational reciprocity. In this future, the land is honored as a relative, and collective stewardship shapes a just, regenerative world for all. |