You've heard me talk about MESA in my posts thus far and no, I'm not going to go to Peru to learn how to build tables. Rather, I'm going to Peru in concern to what goes on them. (I will go ahead and state that all pictures/most of the information on this post will be through information I have received through email as a steward or through MESA's website.)
     MESA stands for Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture and, "connects sustainable farming leaders around the world for participatory training and cross-cultural exchange to strengthen local, resilient food systems worldwide" (MESA). This non-profit, two-way exchange was set up in 1997 and has so far connected 1200 farmers, activists and advocates worldwide and has helped begin over 130 small-scale farms and food justice projects in the process. In my exchange I am lucky enough to go to Peru, spending a total of 3 weeks in Lima and 4 weeks in Cuzco. Past expeditions have gone to Tanzania and Thailand. (For further, more elaborated information PLEASE visit MESA's website at http://www.mesaprogram.org/. They of course do a lot better of explaining what MESA is exactly for I just want to give you a broad idea/rundown of what I'm doing.)

(From MESA's website)

      For my stewardship, I will be going to Cuzco for four weeks and will be working with Yesica Nina Cusiyupanqu and her family on the C.C. Sacllo demonstrative parcel with biointensive production. Below is a picture of my beautiful host mother for four weeks along with whom I believe to be a family member.

(My beautiful host Mama)

     One may ask, Now did you really want to go to Cuzco?, and of course my answer would be HECK YES! It was actually my number one choice. Part of the perks of being a steward is you get to rank your host preferences in order of most desired to least, (although they were ALL amazing), after you are given a description of each destination. Here is Yesica's: 

Join Yesica’s family farm located in the Calca Province at the heart of the Cusco Region

in the southern highlands of Perú. Yesica participated in MESA’s US program in 2005

and 2006 as a Steward at Golden Rule farm in California. There, she learned

biointensive growing practices and was inspired to implement them on her family farm,

Parcela Demostrativa C.C Sacllo, in Cusco. MESA-Peru Stewards on Yesica’s farm will

have the chance to participate in several community projects, including the construction

of 200 biointensive growing beds! You will also travel with Yesica to nearby farming

communities where she trains other growers in organic vegetable production. During

your stay, you will live in an adobe house in Sacllo, a rural community consisting of

approximately 50 families, while learning about Andean cultivars and catching glimpses

of Inca Empire remnants.

      Doesn't that sound like the BEST thing you've ever heard? Well to me it does, obviously.

(Some of the work Yesica and her family participate in.)

      Now that you all know a general idea of what I'm doing I don't want to bore you with even MORE detail. Instead, the rest of theses posts/THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG is to document my adventures with Yesica and her family and what I learn in the process. Don't worry, though, for before I leave I will have a cliche post of what I'm packing with questions such as, Does she really need all of those scarfs?, with the answer, Yes, yes she does. It's cold in Peru! I'm excited to get away from this summer heat though!

Hasta la próxima vez

      Now that we have a blanketed definition of what a Gibson Girl is, I think it's time to define exactly who I am. My name is Courtney Savannah Gibson, Savannah to all those that know me, and I am from Asheville, North Carolina, and I go to school at UNC Chapel Hill where I will be a Junior next year. However, I was born in Sylva, North Carolina, and grew up on my Grandparents farm in Whittier, North Carolina, so my heart belongs in many places. This probably explains why the open road is my true love. Traveling is my passion and my happiness.

(My Papaw on our farm. Isn't he a cutie?)

      I do realize that traveling, like a Gibson Girl, is also a blanketed term. You could travel anywhere, you may say, why are you going to Peru, you may ask. There are a couple of reasons why, including my background as well as my future. I'm a seventh generation farmer and will one day have the family farm in my name. Even though I don't do chickens, or any birds for that matter for they TERRIFY me, I love fresh food, cows and horses. There is nothing better in this world than sitting on my Grandparents  front porch enjoying fresh lemonade and fresh biscuits with my Nannie's homemade blackberry jam on it. She is the Paula Deen of Whittier and I will venture to say even better than Paula Deen herself! (For those Paula Deen fans out there I apologize, but not really... I mean have you seen the news lately?) 

(No farm is complete without a Big Red Barn, don't you think?)

      Now that we know a little bit about my past, what does going to a farm in Peru have to do with my future? No, I don't plan on starting a llama farm, although that would be awesome; they may spit, but they are SO fluffy and cute. Instead, my passion comes from my Sophomore year of college when I took ENST 370H: Agriculture and Environment, which is taught by the AMAZING Professor Amy Cooke. Now I'm not trying to get brownie points here. She really is amazing. For the final exam? She had us all over at her house for a potluck, each bringing a family dish, in order to review for the final. Bet I'm making your Professors look bad now, huh?

(My best friend and sister, Sarah. She's the other Gibson Girl who will be inheriting our family farm along with me. She doesn't do birds either, so if you know of a chicken wrangler, LET US KNOW!)

      Anyways, this class changed my life. I've always had a connection to food growing up on a farm. I've been lucky enough to know what fresh food really tastes like and to know what a fresh cooked meal really is. Professor Cooke fueled this love and concern for food in a non-foodie way, despite my obsession for local restaurants. I learned about food subsidies, pesticides, government fueled conglomerates and most importantly the uneven distribution of food. I'm a firm believer that a good community garden can cure a lot of the world's ills for not only do they allow people the satisfaction of saying, WOAH, I WATERED SOME SEEDS AND MADE THIS?!?, they also allow people to have fresh food and vegetables on their tables. Not only does one save money on groceries by growing ones own food, one also saves money on unnecessary doctor visits by treating ones body like the temple that it is with good food. 

(I know, I know. I said I wasn't a foodie. But how beautiful are these tacos from White Duck Taco? Nothing is greater than fresh, local ingredients going into your belly.)

      This class also fueled my choice of major/minors in college. I'm a double major in Geography and Anthropology with a minor in Environmental Studies. With my love of new cultures, maps and the environment, I plan on doing a do-it-yourself/create-your-own job. When I "grow-up" I would love to use my GIS (Geographic Information System) skills to help develop infrastructure in developing countries who don't have the means or resources to do it for themselves. I want to help plan out roads so that healthcare can get to these remote places but, most importantly, I want to help plan out where agriculture needs to be. I want to feed the world by mapping out where the best soils are and where the best places are to plant crops and let animals wander so that not only will forests not need to be unnecessarily ripped down, the environment as well as the people living it can live better lives. 

     Now how will I do all of this and what will MESA (Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture) teach me in order to pursue my dream? Stay tuned and find out!!! Until then, here is a picture of what I call home. Although mountains await me in Cuzco, these will always have my heart. 

      So lets start to define exactly what a GibsonGirlPerusingPeru is by breaking it down. First, if you asked me personally what a Gibson Girl is, I would say it is me and my sister traveling around the world since I was 12 and she was 18. To me, a Gibson Girl is adventurous and outgoing and throws caution to the wind when opportunities arise! (This excludes poisonous animals and other dangerous activities. I'm not that crazy.) However, if you asked the almighty Wikipedia, it defines a Gibson Girl as such:

     The Gibson Girl began appearing in the 1890s and was the personification of the feminine ideal of beauty portrayed by the satirical pen-and-ink illustrations of illustrator Charles Dana Gibson during a 20-year period that spanned the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United States. The artist saw his creation as representing the composite of "thousands of American girls."

(image from Wikipedia of a Gibson Girl)

I like this definition a little bit better, don't you think?

      Now comes the second part. What exactly is perusing? Now I have the almighty Google check THIS one, saying that it is either to 1. Read thoroughly or carefully OR 2. Examine carefully or at length. I'll take the second definition. So what exactly is an adventurous, feminine ideal of beauty doing in Peru, examining it carefully or at length? 

    

      Counting down one week from today, this Gibson Girl will be going on an adventure to Peru for 7 weeks, with 3 weeks in Lima and 4 weeks in Cuzco. What will I be doing there, you ask? Growing corn, eating guinea pigs or bonding with llamas? Maybe all of them, maybe none of them. But what I do know is that I'll be working on a farm in Cuzco for exactly 4 weeks learning about backyard subsistence/community gardens. 

You have probably now asked yourself the following questions: 

How did I swing this? 

Who will I be doing this with? 

How can I (aka, the one reading this) get involved?!?

      Stay tuned and I promise all of your answers will be revealed. After all, this Gibson Girl has GOT to peruse and who better to peruse in Peru with than all of you?