Tierra Es Vida

Our 1-acre urban community farm, Tierra es Vida, once an abandoned residential lot, now serves as a community space, outdoor classroom and demonstration site alongside Jardin Chamizal which sits directly in the heart of our neighborhood.

At Tierra Es Vida, residents of all ages foster long-lasting relationships while creating shared responsibility to build community and care for the land using regenerative methods that restore ecological health in a way that is tailored to our urban, industrial environment which has been fractured by an international boundary and decades of water depletion.

These places also provide us the space to shift and develop our culture as it relates to food; embracing local and sustainable consumption. These spaces provide refuge from the challenges we face while helping us envision the community we deserve, characterized by the vibrancy of life: human, plant, insect and otherwise.

  • We believe that time spent together in nature is fundamental to developing our resilience to the daily stressors that we face.

  • In the Chamizal community garden, located directly in the heart of our neighborhood, and beyond we are working to restore the Chamiza plants alongside many of the other plants that once grew abundantly in this area in a thriving riparian ecosystem.

  • The food that we do grow is grown not just for consumption but as a way to foster our connection to the land.

  • By protecting this land we protect our irrigation rights, by protecting our irrigation rights we protect the river and the ecosystem that is dependent on it.

  • Our goal of ecosystem restoration doesn't end just at the land that we care for. We promote restoration throughout our entire neighborhood by providing technical and material support to residents growing plants.