Community organization with a global vision . . .

Mission
Tierra Lucero is dedicated to establishing localized food and energy sovereignty for communities throughout the Upper Rio Grande bio-region. As a community organization with a global vision, we seek to develop and demonstrate innovative, regenerative and equitable energy and agricultural models that can be adopted by communities throughout the U.S. and around the world.

Vision
We envision the Upper Rio Grande bio-region as a resilient patchwork of communities who together, through sustainable practices, meet our own basic needs of food, shelter, and energy. We seek to create a place where people, regardless of income, know they will always have access to healthy food that's sustainably grown (right in our own backyards), and where energy is produced and renewed in the same region it is consumed.

History of Tierra Lucero
Based in Taos, New Mexico, along the majestic western slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, Tierra Lucero is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2001 by Laura Haas, Victoria Linden and Bob Pedersen. For over a decade, Tierra Lucero has been dedicated to growing community and empowering people to reclaim their land, their agrarian livelihoods and our shared future.

Tierra Lucero was created in response to mounting concern regarding the constant volatility and uncertain future of our globalized food and energy networks, not to mention alarming rates of dietary-related illnesses and environmental degradation caused from poor agricultural practices and unsustainable energy production and consumption. Since our inception, the urgency to establish localized food and energy sovereignty has only escalated with each passing day, in light of the environmental catastrophes and social unrest caused by short-sighted food and energy policies.

Objectives
Food
Tierra Lucero's mission of food sovereignty means returning agricultural wisdom and capacity to the Upper Rio Grande—a region with a longstanding history of sustainable agricultural practices and determined self-reliance. By building strong community alliances of backyard gardeners, farmers and markets, we endeavor to make hunger a thing of the past and abundance our shared future.

Energy
We believe one of the first steps toward realizing energy sovereignty for our region rests in redirecting and reconstituting waste into locally-distributed products and services that can power our region's economy.

Education
Via our Thanksgiving Farms demonstration site, our primary focus is on educating and empowering others through experiential learning projects as to how to grow their own food and repurpose waste in creative ways that lead to greater self-reliance as well as improved personal and ecological health.

Outreach
Whether providing funds for WIC and Senior Food Programs to shop at our Taos Farmers Sunday Market or through direct food bank distribution, we are determined to eliminate hunger from our community's vocabulary while building a sustainable and equitable food and energy economy.

Board & Staff
Tierra Lucero is overseen by a small board and program-managing volunteers. Currently, our board is being reformed and expanded. Interested community members are encouraged to contact Bob Pedersen, acting president.

Bob Pedersen, Executive Director and Co-Founder
growfoodnow@tierralucero.org
Bob has provided leadership in the development of all Tierra Lucero's direct projects. He has over 20 years of experience in small-scale farming and foodscape installation in northern New Mexico. He was involved in the creation of over 100 food producing backyard gardens and small farm projects, community based and commercial composting operations, and co-developed the Omega Bio-Energy Project concept, a greenhouse gas mitigation system for industrial dairy facilities. Bob currently oversees the development and operation of Tierra Lucero's Thanksgiving Farm and is co-developing the Beyond Organic WVO Collections project.

J Sanders, Project Coordinator
jade@tierralucero.org
J received her B.S. in Graphic Design from the Art Institute of Portland in Oregon. Her experience includes graphic design, branding, website design and development, project facilitation and bookkeeping as well as consulting for small business's and not-for-profit organizations. She has served on the board of High Plains Institute of Applied Ecology in Amarillo, TX since 2010. Since 2009 she has been assisting Tierra Lucero's as a project coordinator and administrative assistant. She currently lives in New Mexico with her cat Mina, and is helping to launch Tierra Lucero's latest endeavor, Beyond Organic Waste Vegetable Oil Collections. She is responsible for marketing, networking and securing and maintaining contracts with participating suppliers.

Jess Foster, Market Manager & Writer
jess@tierralucero.org
Jess comes to us from that land of legends called “Texas.” As a child, she asked far too many questions. A healthy dose of “inner-city” upbringing taught her how to keep it real. It also led her to seek wide open spaces, which she found at Texas A&M University, where Journalism, Spanish, and Philosophy found a home in her. Work she has experienced includes: teaching bilingual kindergarten in Dallas public schools, high mountain espresso artistry, freelance graphic design, Spanish translation, and hospital office management. She is now studying self-sufficiency from the School of Life, where she still asks far too many questions. Jess found Tierra Lucero in August 2010 and is happily writing grants and promotional content, designing graphic material, and helping develop youth farm and market programs.

Jeffrey Allen, Writer
jeffrey@tierralucero.org
Jeffrey moved to Taos in Spring of 2010 to assist Tierra Lucero in the development of Thanksgiving Farms and its other projects. Since graduating with a BA in Creative Writing and Philosophy in 2006, he has dedicated his life to rediscovering what it means to be a good steward of land and community. Ever-inspired by the natural world and the challenges we face, Jeffrey has spent the last three years designing and cultivating resilient garden niches in Southwest Utah and Northern New Mexico. Blending creative writing with environmental design, he hopes to help grow a saner, more just world for all to share.

Martha Fielding, Advisor