[gentle music]
- Angela Fitzgerald: It's a sunny fall day
on this rural Verona farm.
Juan Gonzalez is pulling up the papalo.
- Juan: [speaking Spanish]
- Angela: And picking the purslane.
- Juan: [speaking Spanish]
- Angela: These herbs are not typically grown
in Wisconsin farms, making them hard to find.
- Juan: [speaking Spanish]
- Angela: But for Mexican immigrants like Juan,
they are a taste of home, especially for those
from the state of Puebla.
- [speaking Spanish]
- Angela: To get to the point where Juan is today,
growing herbs for himself and others, has been a journey.
From the rancho where he was raised
to the farm fields of the West.
- Juan: [speaking Spanish]
- Angela: To a chance encounter on a Madison city bus
more than 20 years ago.
- Juan: [speaking Spanish]
- Angela: But to grow from hobby gardener to full-time farmer
would take time, and an unlikely friendship.
Juan told the community garden director
he sought larger fields to grow more.
- Juan: [speaking Spanish]
- Linda and Gene Farley lived on this land.
They were radically generous people
who opened up their home and their property
to farmers who were looking for space to grow.
- Angela: Gene and Linda Farley spent their first years
after med school together tending to the needs
of the Navajo in the Southwest.
Then they brought their spirit of public service
to southern Wisconsin.
Eventually, they met Juan.
- He knew Linda and Gene
before our program and organization was started,
and he worked with Gene to develop the incubator farm,
what would become our collaborative farm.
- Angela: Today, the Farleys' farm continues
what was started with Juan, a path to agriculture production
for dedicated newcomers.
- Juan: [speaking Spanish]
- Angela: Like Juan, many of the aspiring farmers
have been immigrants.
- People have come from all over, many from Latin America,
as well as a lot of people from Southeast Asia and West Africa.
- Angela: Many more come on tours.
They learn about the farmer program
and the organic and sustainable practices the farm employs.
Through a translator, Juan talks about his specialty crops.
- But then, you also have, like, purslane...
- Angela: The number of familiar plants from home
Juan has brought to Wisconsin
has added new flavor to the community.
- [speaking Spanish]
- Angela: El Sabor de Puebla, literally "the flavor of Puebla"
is the restaurant owned by Juan's sister.
She's a big customer for his produce,
including flowers that will decorate the ofrenda
in the lobby.
- Juan: [speaking Spanish]
- Angela: On Halloween Day
at the Centro Hispano Farmers' Market,
Juan's vegetable stand has plenty of marigolds
for use the next day, the Day of the Dead.
Flowers and other tributes will fill these
altars of remembrance to those now gone.
And in the highest perch of honor at the restaurant
are the Doctors Farley.
- Juan: [speaking Spanish]
- Angela: No doubt Los Abuelos Farley would be happy
with all their farm has provided.
- Juan: [speaking Spanish]
[gentle music]