SUSTAINABILITY

SUSTAINABILITY BLOG

  • About
    • Meet Our Staff
    • Our History
    • News >
      • Awards & Publications
    • Contact Us >
      • New Vendor Application
  • Initiatives
    • Purchasing
    • Low Carbon Dining
    • Waste Reduction
    • Prioritizing Real Food
    • Green Cleaning
  • Permaculture
    • How to Get Involved
    • History
    • Schedule a Tour
    • Our Gardens >
      • Franklin
      • Berkshire
      • Hillside
      • Hampshire
    • Medicinal Plant Guide >
      • Local Herbal Resources
      • Vocabulary
    • UMass Student Farmers Market
    • Donate Today
    • Annual Reports >
      • 2018
      • 2019
      • 2020
      • 2021
      • 2022
    • Local Permaculture Resources
  • Resources
    • How-To Guide for Food Service
    • How To Eat Sustainably on Campus
    • Low Carbon Dining
    • Virtual Gatherings
  • Events
  • Blog

6/1/2016

Welcoming a New Member to our Team

1 Comment

Read Now
 
​An important change has come to our staff. We have said goodbye to our longest tenured staff member on the Sustainability team, Lilly Israel. Her presence on the team will be sorely missed and we are all so grateful for the contributions she has made over the last few years to UMass Permaculture and UMass Dining.
 
While Lilly’s accomplishments will not be forgotten, there is no one more capable to take over the position of Sustainability Coordinator of Campus Gardens than Xochi Salazar.
 
When Xochi Salazar was 4 years old, her father placed a kernel of corn in her hand and asked her to grow it. When she did, he asked her what it took to grow that corn. She responded with water, and soil, and sun, and when she had exhausted all the options her young mind could allow, her father looked at her and told her, “that seed needed you mija.”
 
Xochi’s father planted a seed in her that day, a seed that would grow into a love for all things food, nourishing both humans and the planet.
Picture
PictureXochi teaching a group of Chicopee students how to maintain a garden.
In April of 2014, Xochi received an Associate’s Degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America, ranking first in her class. Although cooking will always be her first love, Xochi recognized the serious environmental implications plaguing our food systems, and wanted to be a part of the solution.

So, she applied to the Sustainable Food and Farming (SFF) program at UMass Amherst for the Fall 2014 semester. It was then that her love for UMass Permaculture grew, during her enrollment in the one credit permaculture practicum sponsored by the Stockbridge School of Agriculture. Xochi received a Permaculture Design Certification through courses offered at UMass in 2016, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in SFF that same year.

 
All of her experiences have contributed to her well-rounded expertise of food that is so invaluable in this position.
 
Permaculture inspires Xochi because its principles reflect indigenous practices that have been applied to agriculture for thousands of years. The buzzword “permaculture” was only coined by white Australian men in the 1970s to describe and synchronize these ancient methods of tending to land. Since then, the permaculture community has been largely white, exclusive, and inaccessible.
 
Xochi, however, hopes to raise consciousness among those she reaches through her work that indigenous communities deserve credit for their contributions to regenerative agriculture. Empowering inclusion and diversity in permaculture is a goal that Xochi will always strive for.
 
We wish the best of luck to Lilly going forward and congratulations, Xochi!

Share

1 Comment
Ricard
6/1/2016 06:07:13 pm

Welcome Xochi!!!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

Details

    UMass dininG

    Entries are submitted by project staff and UMass students.

    CATEGORIES

    All
    Farmer Of The Week
    Food
    Food Hub Diaries
    On The Ground
    Sustainability
    UMass Amherst
    UMass Dining

    Archives

    May 2022
    January 2022
    November 2020
    September 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

UMASS DINING . UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST . AMHERST, MA 01003
phone: 413-545-8682 | www.umassdining.com
  • About
    • Meet Our Staff
    • Our History
    • News >
      • Awards & Publications
    • Contact Us >
      • New Vendor Application
  • Initiatives
    • Purchasing
    • Low Carbon Dining
    • Waste Reduction
    • Prioritizing Real Food
    • Green Cleaning
  • Permaculture
    • How to Get Involved
    • History
    • Schedule a Tour
    • Our Gardens >
      • Franklin
      • Berkshire
      • Hillside
      • Hampshire
    • Medicinal Plant Guide >
      • Local Herbal Resources
      • Vocabulary
    • UMass Student Farmers Market
    • Donate Today
    • Annual Reports >
      • 2018
      • 2019
      • 2020
      • 2021
      • 2022
    • Local Permaculture Resources
  • Resources
    • How-To Guide for Food Service
    • How To Eat Sustainably on Campus
    • Low Carbon Dining
    • Virtual Gatherings
  • Events
  • Blog