The vision for this land was conceived many years ago by Jose Running Water Centeno who is Taino from Boriken (Puerto Rico). Together with Laura Adams from England and their children, Anani and Hatuey, who continue the work today, Running Water laid the foundation for this evolving intergenerational land. The vision for the land has always been one of thriving and returning to a harmonious relationship with Mother Earth rooted in Taino Indigenous Principles. The Taino were highly skilled horticulturalists and agriculturalists as well as excellent hunters and fishers in the Caribbean Islands. Finding ourselves in a true temperate region, vastly different from the tropics, we were challenged to apply Taino principles of living in harmony with Mother Earth and transmitting knowledge about the natural environment to future generations, within a temperate climate.
We arrived at this land in 2003 and were subsequently gifted with a copy of Bill Mollison’s book “The Permaculture Design Manual”. It struck a cord with us and we began to research this design process and principle. We were faced with degraded rocky soil, scrubby regenerating forest, and no generational knowledge of the land. Immediately and enthusiastically we began gardening, making pastures and planting trees. As our knowledge grew (very much through making mistakes, as well as our successes), we installed swales and food forests, and began to improve pasture and manage woodland with sheep and goats.
Busy with both the land and our garden design and installation business as well as building our house, we continued to research permaculture and take advantage of the wealth of information that was pouring onto the internet. However, we knew we wanted to complete an official PDC because the process felt too piecemeal and the need to truly understand the foundational concepts of permaculture was of great importance to us. We chose Geoff Lawton’s year long online PDC due to its shear depth of knowledge and Geoff’s years of expertise with Permaculture, his exceptional permaculture education center and farm, Zaytuna Farm, and his impressive Greening the Desert project. Finally, as time and energy became available, in 2021 Laura took Geoff Lawton’s intense and comprehensive PDC (Permaculture Design Certificate) Course and received her PDC in December of 2021 upon completion of the lengthy Final Design Exercise.
Our name “Running Water’s Agueybana Conuco” honors the Casike Agueybana who was the Casike of the region in Boriken where Running Water was born, Guanica, as well as the Taino gardens, Conucos, which inspire our work today. Without Running Water’s Vision and persistence this Conuco would not exist.
Running Water’s Conuco Agueybana 