Katie Kelly's Bilingual Chronicles

The bolded words "bilingual Spanish speaker preferred" were quite anxiety inducing upon reviewing the job description for my GrizzlyCorps placement.

I took Spanish language classes from preschool through my first year of college, all of which were led by older, non-hispanic white ladies with questionable accents. I've since learned these women, and I, are often called gringas. The word gringa, has a neutral connotation and vaguely means white foreigner.

Over the years I learned a lot of words, but not how to put them together in a coherent way. Studying abroad in Costa Rica and living with a local family led to some improvement, as well as two weeks of intensive Spanish school in Guatemala. Still, I was nervous about speaking Spanish in a professional setting with UCCE Santa Clara County Small Farms & Specialty Crops Program.

One of my capacity building projects has been to update the network of Spanish speaking farmers in the area, completing outreach and assisting with grant applications. This process was jump started through a connection between my coworker and a community leader for the group Agricultores Pequeños en California, and we were quickly able to attend one of their meetings at the last minute.

Walking into that first meeting, I was extremely nervous. I had prepared a small speech introducing myself and explaining the different resources I could provide. I fumbled through that first introduction, but was immediately met with kind smiles and patient nods. After that event, we were quickly treated like family. My team and I were invited to the Christmas Posada, where we shared big bowls of celebratory pozole, drank ponche, and crunched on buñuelos. In talking with more members of the community, we gained a better understanding of the challenges small Spanish-speaking farmers faced on a daily basis.

Katie crunching on a buñuelo

Farming in general is extremely difficult, but especially for small scale organic operations. Maintaining a reliable market channel, protecting your crops against pests, complying with endless regulations, and accessing labor are just some of the everyday concerns. Farmers also assume a lot of financial risk, and are charged incredible sums despite their small acreage. Between organic certification fees, expenses on water or soil tests for regulation compliance, increased input costs, and a lack of labor accessibility, it is challenging to make a profit. I understand that these fees and regulations are intended to protect our natural resources, but larger operations are able to hire people to handle this or simply pay the fees as “a cost of doing business”. That option is not available to smaller growers who are held to the same standards - with the addition of a language barrier. On top of that, the community is bombarded by the fear mongering tactics of the federal government, watching Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids happening to similar communities across the country.

But despite it all, every time we visit a farm or attend a community event, everyone is cracking jokes and giving big hugs - spreading kindness amidst the hardship.

Earlier this month we attended the group’s Dia de Reyes event, which featured the traditional Rosca de Reyes, or Wreath of Kings, represented by a circular cake bejeweled with hard candy. There is always plenty of food at these events, so I was not suspicious of the insistence that we take a piece of cake. What I did not know was that there was a tiny plastic baby Jesus hiding within the cake, and whoever received the slice with the baby had to make tamales for everyone on Día de la Candelaria. Upon biting into my slice, I felt the hard plastic on my teeth and panicked. Of course the gringa had to get the baby jesus, and now everyone is subjected to my lack of tamale-making skills! I was stressed about my new commitment, but everyone was quick to reassure me - even offering their kitchens to teach me.

Figurine of baby Jesus hiding in the Rosca de Reyes

I am extremely inspired by the resilience and support this community shares with one another, and I look forward to continuing to learn from them. Up first, this gringa has some tamales to make!