Help us plant agave…

From now through the end of January 2020, you can make a special donation to SACRED to support ongoing and future projects and receive a special thank-you gift. You’re here because you care about the multi-generational wisdom that goes into making heirloom agave spirits in rural Mexico — help us help the people who make those spirits, and we’ll send you one of the special gifts listed below. SACRED is a USA-based 501c3 not-for-profit — your gift is tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

Help plant agave

When you donate $25 or more to help us plant agave, we’ll send you a copy of El Tiempo en las Raices as a thank-you gift. Your money will go to the middle school in Zaachila where students are growing tobala agave from seed. Your donation will allow us to purchase 25 of the seedling agaves, which we will gift to one of the small families who are making heirloom agave spirits in rural Mexico.

El Tiempo en las Raices is artist Dani Eizirik’s memoir of his 2017 trip through Oaxaca. Dani visited five families involved in the production of heirloom agave spirits to document what their world looks like, in words and art. The result is this beautiful, 128-page, handmade book, published by Rezpiral and Riacho.me. It includes both Spanish and English.

Help eliminate waste

When people talk about sustainability in mezcal, they usually focus on preserving agave. And that’s certainly an important issue, but it’s hardly the only issue. Another major problem is vinaza — the liquid left in the still after distillation. It’s highly acidic, so when it is disposed of in local waterways — which it often is — it can kill fish and aquatic plants, and turn a local water source into a hazard.

We’re raising funds to run a US$5,000 pilot program that will use natural fermentation methods to make that waste safe to put back into local aquifers. When you contribute $50 toward that pilot, we’ll send you this silkscreen print of Jose Guadalupe Posada’s image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in an agave. It measures almost three feet in width.

Help fight drought

The small Oaxacan community of Santa Maria Ixcatlan, like many others, has faced drought every six to eight years. When there’s no water, there’s no work for these small farming communities, which often results in adult males leaving to find work to send money for their families. With the increase in climate change, Ixcatlan — and these other communities — are experiencing drought more frequently.

We’ve engaged a firm that will build a rain-capture system that will eliminate water insecurity in Ixcatlan. It’s a US$12,000 project, and we’ll start when we have half of that money secured. Your gift of $250 will help us on our way, and we’ll send you three 1.5-ounce wood-fired clay copitas by David Smith in thanks for your kind support.