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Community Connection Days 2021

LEAP (Localogy), Vida del Norte’s Active8 youth, Taos Behavioral Health’s SUCCESS program youth, and the Village of Questa, came together on April 23 for a youth-centered park beautification and planning day. The event was such a roaring success, that collaborators decided on the spot to convene similar community-focused work days every month throughout the summer and fall. “Community Connection Days” is what we collaborators are calling this series of intergenerational days of community action, service and celebration. On the 3rd Friday of the month this spring, summer and fall we’re showing up for each other and our community, to show that we care and we want to help tend to and shape the future of our public spaces. They will take place in and around Questa, through October, 2021 on the third Friday of every month. We hope you will join us! Read more on the backstory HERE.

2021 Community Connection Days
Monthly Intergenerational Day of Service and Celebration

May 21 – Questa Park / Questa Farmers Market
June 18 – Questa Park / Downtown Questa
July 16 –  Family Fun Day at Questa Park: Summer Tree Planting and Celebration
August 20 – Eagle Rock Lake
September 17 – Downtown / Questa Farmers Market
October 15 – Questa Park to finish the season

Questa Stories Project – QuestaStories.org

The Purpose of the Questa Stories ~ Community Memory Project, is to establish a local oral history/story archive for North Central New Mexico, particularly for Questa and the surrounding communities, from Arroyo Hondo and Arroyo Seco to the South, to Costilla and Amalia to the North.

Taking inspiration from both traditional oral history and ethnographic approaches, as well as less traditional methods – events, conversations and the StoryCorps interview model, the hope is to facilitate the recording and archiving as well as revitalization of local stories and traditions through meaningful conversations that link generations and encourage cross-pollination of ideas, perspectives, experiences and understandings.

Photo courtesy of Claire Coté ~ Carrie Levin and Gaea McGahee, April 20, 2018

This is a collaborative community project organized by us, LEAP (Land, Experience and Art of Place), a program of Questa area nonprofit Localogy.

Questa Storie Oureach Events in 2020:

Questa Stories Outreach Events in 2019:

  • Women’s Tea and Story Sharing, November 16, 2019

Questa Stories Outreach Events in 2018:

Oral History Outreach Events in 2017:

  • Cambalache, Sunday October 1, Questa Village Center

Oral History Outreach Events in 2016:

Questa Stories collaborates with the Manitos Community Memory Project and Questa History Trail committee on archiving efforts, community outreach, installations, and events.

Seed Exchange at the Questa Library 2017 – 2021

There are two beautiful Seed Exchange Stations in Questa, “Auntie Nannie’s Seed Exchange” created by Alianza Agricultura and sponsored by the LOR Foundation. One has been placed at the beautiful Questa Library addition (a lovely upgrade to our temporary DIY system) and one is also available at Rael’s Store. We are so happy to be a part of this larger community project in Questa! Thank you Gillian Joyce and all those at Alianza Agricultura that made this possible and to LOR Foundation for sponsoring the project! Find out more about it HERE.

The Backstory….

We had long wanted to create a Seed Exchange/Library in Questa and we finally created one in 2017, thanks to the very generous collaboration of the Questa Library, which provided a place for it to live. The idea was to make seeds more readily available for people to plant and use in their own gardens and to provide a place for people to share their own, homegrown seeds with others. Seeds that are adapted to “life in the Questa area” are more likely to thrive here in our high desert climate. If you have an over abundance of radish, beans, kale, spinach, carrot, pea, lettuce or squash seeds, please bring them to the Questa Seed Library and share them with you neighbor. Or if you’re cleaning out your collection of seed packets, feel free to share them too. Donations are what keeps the program going. The idea behind the seed library is to encourage us all to get our hands in the dirt and grow more of our own food, herbs and flowers.
 Come by the Questa Library and choose some seeds to try out in your garden! (The Questa Seed Library was launched on Earth Day 2017 and was kicked-off by a very generous donation of seeds from Alita Randolph. Also Special thanks to inspiration and wonderful instructions from Nan Fisher on her Taos Seed Exchange Website HERE.)

Northern NM Growers & Makers Exchange – 2016
offerings

As residents of northern New Mexico we make, grow, cook, bake and produce for our families and ourselves. When we have abundance – more garden veggies or choke cherries than we know what to do with – we need a solution. The Northern NM Growers and Makers Exchange serves as a local marketplace.  Home bakers, jelly makers, gardeners, crafters, artists, cooks, seamstresses, leather and wood workers are invited to sell or exchange their wares. Through this exchange we localized our economic efforts and enlivened the public community space in downtown Questa. 2016 was our first season. In 2017 the Northern NM Growers and Makers became the Questa Farmers Market, it’s own program through Localogy. See the website HERE.

lastmarketoverview-12016: Seasonal, outdoor market in Questa’s Village Center
June 12 – October 2, 2016
This seasonal weekly gathering enabled small-scale producers and makers to offer produce and wares in a central, outdoor setting once a week throughout the 2016 growing season. Read more….

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