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Newsletter January 2023

NEWSLETTER

OUR MISSION:
Protect and preserve the natural and cultural heritage of Charco del Ingenio, as well as maintain a botanical garden dedicated to the conservation and study of regional flora and ecosystems, mainly oriented towards environmental education.

INDEX

Vol. XVIII, No. 01

THE MEMBERS OF THE BOTANICAL GARDEN: A FUNDAMENTAL SUPPORT FOR EL CHARCO DEL INGENIO

We no longer remember the year in which El Charco memberships were established. But surely, they are more than 20 years old, making it easier for members to use and enjoy the Garden and fulfilling an important role in strengthening the conservation project. And not only because of the fees that members contribute annually -important but actually modest-, but also and above all because of the formation of a community based support for the Botanical Garden and the functions it performs in our society: recognition of common natural elements, conservation of ecosystems, environmental education, scientific research and, on many occasions, the legal defense and media advocacy of the biocultural heritage of San Miguel de Allende, each day more threatened by economic interests that are imposed on the society without due regulation.

This beginning year 2023, memberships have been consolidated while registering an increase, something we are pleased to inform our readers.

And by the way…

We remind all members to carry their membership card and register in the entrance book each time they visit the Botanical Garden.

Respect for El Charco and its staff is very important. Thanks for your support!

EL CHARCO DEL INGENIO, A REFERENCE OF ETHNOBIOLOGICAL GARDENS IN MEXICO

Throughout the past year, several ethnobiological gardens came to El Charco del Ingenio to learn about its comprehensive management. Soon it will be 32 years of this citizen, self-managed, Mexican and independent project, whose experience is very valuable for other projects that are starting, especially from the important financial support of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT).

The most frequent concerns of ethbiological gardens are related to planning, operation, maintenance and many other factors that have led El Charco to receive different certifications, recognitions and above all to remain in force and strengthened over the years. Recently representatives of the Zacatecas Ethnobiological Garden project visited us to learn more about the management of the site and thus, through the Zacatecano Council of Science, Technology and Innovation, they are executing in 2023 a recreational project for environmental education, social transformation and the pacification of the state, they mentioned.

RENOVATION OF THE SOLAR OBSERVATORY (SOLAR CALENDAR AND CLOCK)

Come and rediscover this interesting spot in El Charco del Ingenio. 

In this observatory we can record important dates such as the equinoxes, solstices and zenith points throughout the year. We can know what day and what time it is because a sunbeam is pointing at us on the floor marked with a series of lines... But -since we know that it is not the Sun that is moving-, in reality it is an Observatory of the Earths Movement.

TOUR FOR FRIENDS OF EL CHARCO

TOUR FOR FRIENDS OF EL CHARCO

Saturday January 21 / 10 am

*Spanish

Free admission

Have you toured the Botanical Garden on your own? Would you like to know more about what we do, what are the most important points of the site? To participate in this special tour, all you must do is arrive on time and sign up on the registration list.

BEGINNERS WORKSHOP: PROPAGATION OF CRASSULACEA

Saturday February 11 / 10 am

Duration: 2.30 hours

Last day of registration: February 8

Contribution: 250 pesos per person

Limited availability

*Spanish

If you are interested in the world of plants, this is a good opportunity to get started in managing their propagation and caring for Mexican plant biodiversity.

Crassulaceae is a plant family of exceptional beauty. In this practical workshop you will learn about its characteristics, the composition of soils, collecting of seeds and you will be able to take propagated specimens as a gift.

ARTISTIC GLANCES ON MEXICAN NATURE

10 SILKSCREENS FOR EL CHARCO DEL INGENIO

Centro Cultural El Nigromante
Open daily from 9 am to 5 pm
Until February 2023

In 1997, when the San Miguel del Allende Botanical Garden accomplished its first years of life, a group of renowned artists from the national scene made graphic work in silkscreen aiming to support the environmental conservation initiative of El Charco del Ingenio. Ten creators generously acknowledged the request of Cante AC –the organization then responsible for the Botanical Garden.

The outcome was a set of 10 silkscreen works, printed in Jan Hendrix workshop, all devoted to the drylands nature, an habitat where flourish marvelous plants --cacti, agave and other succulent species-– which shape a vast part of Mexican landscape and have played a core role in our ancestral history.

The list of participating artists speaks for itself: Mario Palacios Kaim, Joy Laville, Pedro Friedeberg, Sergio Hernández, Jan Hendrix, Miguel Castro Leñero, Carla Rippey, Boris Viskin, Martha Hellion y Roberto Turnbull.

Today, twenty-five years after that generous group offering, the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature, through El Nigromante Cultural Center, exhibits the set of such graphic works, whose original artistic value increases with the passage of time. And in this way joins the Botanical Garden drive to link art and nature in pursuit of preservation of the bio-cultural heritage of Mexico.

NEW PIECES IN THE SCULPTURES TRAIL OF EL CHARCO

Thanks to the generous contribution of the Mexican artist Dana Aerenlund, two magnificent sculptural pieces can already be admired by users and visitors, which remind us of the stelae of pre-Hispanic monuments. Its titles are more than evocative: "Without corn there is no country" and "Gift of the gods", these structures are a tribute to the primordial plant that gave life to the inhabitants of our continent for thousands of years.

  

NEW PUBLICATION!

"Manejo sustentable de Dasylirion acrotrichum (Chimal, cucharilla)” is a technical manual publication that contributes to the conservation of this threatened plant, which is also a fundamental part of the ceremonies of the native peoples of the region.

This effort is only the first in a series of three publications that El Charco del Ingenio has prepared during the year 2022.

ASK FOR THIS BOOK ON YOUR NEXT VISIT TO THE BOTANICAL GARDEN

  

EL CHARCO DEL INGENIO: MEMBER OF BOTANIC GARDEN CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL (BGCI)

Since 2005, El Charco del Ingenio has been part of Botanical Garden Conservation International , the largest network of botanical gardens and plant conservation experts in the world. Based in London,England, this organization brings together a large number of botanical gardens in more than 100 countries. Its mission is to link members to create global participatory strategies in order to ensure plant diversity, for the well-being of people and the planet.

In a country like Mexico, whose geography comprises an enormous biotic wealth, botanical gardens play a fundamental role in the knowledge and conservation of biocultural heritage.

NATURAL HISTORY TOURS IN ENGLISH ARE BACK

Every Tuesday and Thursday at 10 am

Ticket: 150 pesos per person / 100 pesos members

ARE BACK

Tickets: 150 pesos per person / 100 pesos members

December 14

January 11

February 8

AT 9AM

Soul gifts, musical gifts: Thank you, Michael Hoppé

It is very moving to see the ways in which people and sectors of our community support El Charco del Ingenio, a territory that has given peace, joy and nature to its users and visitors during the months of the pandemic.

Michael Hoppé is a recognized composer and musical producer, born in the United Kingdom and inhabitant of San Miguel since the 80s. He is an active member of the Botanical Garden, who recently has offered a lovely gift to El Charco, inspired by the daily walks he realizes on the trails of the reservation, in the company of his wife Monica. The work, Under Mexican Stars is a musical piece that takes you back to the most beautiful landscapes of Mexico or a night walk through the cobblestone streets of San Miguel. Beneath Mexican Stars (Under the Mexican stars), is a musical piece that can take us back to the most beautiful landscapes of Mexico or to a night walk through the cobbled streets of San Miguel. Beneath Mexican Stars (Under the Mexican stars), is a musical piece that can take us back to the most beautiful landscapes of Mexico or to a night walk through the cobbled streets of San Miguel.

Listen here:

ART AND SCIENCE IN THE BOTANICAL GARDEN
NEW SET OF 12 POSTCARDS: BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS OF EL CHARCO

Graphic work of four creative women from San Miguel de Allende:

Marijose Marín, Marisol Guerrero, Paquina Langenscheidt and Rocío Ríos

Available in our gift shop: 300 pesos

NEW IZCUINAPAN REGIONAL ARCHAEOLOGY HALL IN THE HISTORICAL MUSEUM. MIGUEL MALO ZOZAYA COLLECTION

The Botanical Garden shares and celebrates with the association Amigos del Museo this new exhibition space of the archaeological heritage of San Miguel de Allende, which was inaugurated last October in the "Casa de Allende Museum". The Sala Izcuinapan already exhibits the valuable archaeological collection gathered by Miguel Malo Zozaya, who for years studied and disseminated regional pre-Hispanic history, especially that which flourished during a period of a thousand years in the middle section of the Laja River.

After 50 years in which most of this collection left San Miguel de Allende, this extraordinary collection has returned to be safeguarded, studied, restored and exhibited permanently in the Museum.

This great effort towards recovering such important heritage derives from the confluence of diverse participants: historians, archaeologists, restorers, museographers, photographers, designers, draftsmen, activists ..., a vast collective work with the support of INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History) and local donors.