Mavis was truly my Cuban sister. She was my hero. She was brave and strong and principled and funny and kind and when she walked into a room the room was better for it. When I was not with a group, I was with Mavis. And Mavis became my teacher. Sitting on the stool in her kitchen, she shared her stories of the Cuban countryside and fed me the dishes she learned from her mother in Palma Soriano. As ANAP’s Head of International relations, Mavis took my groups of visiting Canadian farmers under her protective wing in 2002 and ANAP … Continue reading Mavis our heart is proudly broken. You will remain our hero forever…
Like much of the Cuban experience, Finca Marta, located on the outskirts of Havana, provides a new model for resilient communities. My 2025 Cuba Tour visited Finca Marta and listened to Fernando Funes describe the model he is building. Greatly simplified, a “mother ship” farm like Finca Marta would anchor, inspire, coordinate and provide agricultural extension and marketing support to up to 15 surrounding satellite farms, ensuring the economic and ecological sustainability of local farmers and a steady source of fresh and nutritious food to area households, hospitals, schools, day cares and seniors homes. One farm couple from Ontario … Continue reading Finca Marta
March 2025 Magic sneaks up on you, and all of a sudden you are immersed in it. Like a child in a bubble bath, you find yourself surrounded in and delighted by the magic that happens when good people do good things. Such was my experience taking 13 Canadians to Cuba in January 2025. One traveller brought with them the book Infectious Generosity, which they shared with the rest of us. It quickly began to feel like our theme… Even before we left, there was the spontaneous donation of $1,000 CAD from a dairy farmer couple in Ontario who had … Continue reading Captured by Magic
