Three rain-harvest systems built
Three wells constructed
Seven greenhouses installed
85,000+ agave seedlings distributed
We ask the families who have, for centuries, shepherded the cultural heritage of what we call “Mezcal”:
What problems they have
What solutions they imagine to those problems
What resources they need to implement those solutions
Then we go looking for those resources.
Replanting agave
There’s a middle school in the Oaxacan community of Zaachila that is located on the city’s dump site. The students there are learning to grow agave from seed, and we…
Water security
When there’s no water, there’s no work. And when there’s no work, there are no adult males — they all have to leave to earn money, to send home to their families. So we’re helping to bring water security to one rural Oaxacan community…
Saving Arroqueño
Unlike most sugar sources used to make spirits, agave has to be harvested before it can reproduce, putting at risk the sustainability of long-growth varietals like arroqueño….
Earthquake relief
The earthquakes of September 2017 did significant damage in Mexico, though largely missed the communities we work with. But there was some damage, so we rallied our supporters…
Drink well.
Do good.
SACRED hosts tasting events for our supporters. Make a donation to help us replant agave, build a library, provide earthquake relief, or to underwrite one of our other quality-of-life projects, and join us for an educational tasting of amazing heritage agave spirits.
what’s next?
Water security
In a January 2016 interview on NPR, the reporter was speculating on the El Niño storms heading to California, and whether or not the rains could solve California's five-year drought. Her guest — Alice Walton of the Los Angeles Times— said it would not. Walton said the rain couldn't be captured. But that's exactly what Eduardo Angeles of Mezcal Lalocura has done.
Eduardo led a team of the community's women, who built stone walls up and down the mountains surrounding the town. These walls — barely eight inches high — hold the water in place long enough to enrich the soil, and they keep that soil in place. The result is that there are now trees and grass growing on these once-barren mountains — which helps prevent mudslides.
And when the rain water filters through these stone walls, it is directed into natural basins that have been capped by the dams built by the men in the town. There are now more than 40 of these reservoirs, refilling the aquafiers that feed the town's wells.
Santa Catarina Minas is one of the few communities in rural Mexico that is not suffering from water insecurity. As we continue to grow our resources, we hope to help other communities develop the same kinds of reservoirs that Eduardo and Santa Catarina Minas have developed.
