#chinampas my beloved

[mochinomnoms]

https://www.tumblr.com/mochinomnoms/750399534369275905/your-talk-about-museums-and-ancient-artifacts

No no, please, do tell about the agriculture of Mexico! They made islands for agriculture?? What type of products grew on them? How did they work??

Do you have any recommendations of sites or works to see more of it?

Also you should see the type of economy Incas had, like, they didn’t have a writing system; which is why keeping languages like Quechua really complicated, and their economy was more family based? It’s kinda complicated to explain for me but it’s more akin to trading than anything modern in my opinion.

Chinampas! They're very cool and a super ingenious method of agriculture that doesn't affect the rainforest around them but utilizes the lakes! I'll be using this and this as my main source to reference.

"Chinampa system is an historical system adapted to face hydrologic and climatic constraints and the pressure by the high city’s food demand. The chinampa farmers have been able to handle certain balance between the sustained yield and the environmental and technological management factors. This ecosystem performance has been based on the biological stability improvement, including sophisticated farming methods such as multiple cropping and shift of crops."

As you can see, they're man-made and developed by the Mexica (Aztecs) in the 14th century in the lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco, which surround Lake Texcoco, the lake that Mexico City takes residence in.

They're best described as “floating gardens” and due to the nutrient rich materials used to built them, are very fertile and can grow a great variety of crops. This of course includes Mexico's staple crop of maiz, but also beans, squash, tomatoes, chili peppers, and even flowers. The chinampas system provides a built-in natural irrigation system, and were home to aquatic wildlife and birds. This benefits the system further, as these animals increase the fertility and nutrients in the water and soil. There was also a drainage system, which facilitated the movement of water and sediments!

There were some cultural practices in association with chinampas, but they're best associated with the sort of 'urbanization' that Tenochtitlan was going under as the Mexica grew.

There have been much more recent studies done on the chinampas system, as modern agriculture as we know it is highly unsustainable due to lack of land and the general environmental concerns around agriculture. Utilizing chinampas in modern agricultural system has several benefits which include space efficiency, biodiversity, sustainable water management, carbon sesquention (migating climate change), and community engagement.

The last is particularly important, as it involves local communities in food production and builds on the concept of 'third-spaces' for people. Third spaces are typically places that individuals can spend time with their communities without the need to spend money for services or products. Libraries are the best example of this, but there have been others that have been lost over time.

This is not to say that chinampas don't exist anymore! They very much due primarily in San Gregorio, Xochimilco, Mexico City. THere are also some in San Luis, Tiahuac, and Mixiquic.

Other countries around the world have been inspired by chinampas, such as the Floating Gardens of Bangladesh, the Green Float project in Osaka Bay, Japan, and the Urban Rivers project in Chicago, USA.

There are some difficulties in maintaining current chinampas and bringing them back, as many of the original lakes were drained by the Spanish which reduced their ability to support agriculture. Earthquakes have also damaged them and the canals, as well as the scarcity of fresh water, pesticides, climate change, urban development, and water pollution.

I've gone on a bit long now, but I am familiar with the Inca and Quechua communication system you are referring to! It's a system based on knots if I'm not mistaken! I might be inclined to go into that in a future date!

[amandayetagain]

composite column supremacy and mosaic supremacy and Ancient Greek theater design (like hell yes let’s use a hillside for natural sightlines! Ofc we’ll avoid southern exposure and obstructions! Yk, it IS important to have enough exits!) and VOUSSOIRS with my babygirl the KEYSTONE (FUCK YEAH LET’S DISTRIBUTE THE DOWNWARD FORCES!! Jam those voussoirs next to that keystone!) Domes?!? WITH AN OCULUS AND CONCENTRIC HORIZONTAL RINGS?!? (The PANTHEON my beloved) I love you pendentives I love you squinches i love you muquarnas I love you Haiga Sophia base windows I would die for you ORNAMENTAL VAULTING of the Jamey Mosque i love you mamluk minarets and malqaf I love you beautiful DUOGONG and ritual CODING in Chinese architecture I love you flat arch of Anji Bridge I adore you Islamic arabesques and geometric patterning and pointed arch and ribbed vaults and spires and rose window (MAJOR INFLUENCE OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE) I love you crenellations and blind windows and colonnades and roundels I ADORE you carved stucco and wood, engraved metalwork, polychromatic tiling! I WOULD DIE FOR YOU Ardhamandpada and Mandapa and Shikhara and Amalaka and Kalaśa and Garbhagriha!! I applaud you stone glacis and arrow loops and machicolations! Goodbye blind spots!! Slay the century fortified gateways!! You go hilltop fortress cities! I love you evolution of bastions to star shaped forts! Flying buttresses can ignore the jokes bc they know how important they are!! I LOVE YOU stained glass windows! I love you soaring naves! I love you huge windows/walls of light!! I love you trifora! I love you piers! I love you corbels! I love you stone tracery! I love you crockets! I love you timber frame buildings! I lOVE you pagodas! I love you NUMEROLOGY and symbolic significance of shapes in Chinese architecture! I love you hammer frame roof! I love you rock-cut architecture! I love you thermal advantages of mud-brick buildings(REGULATE those extremes!)! I love you Yemeni construction techniques with palm trunks and protective limestone and water-repelling crushed gypsum!! I LOVE YOU banco smooth finish! I love you religious and civic PRIDE in architecture!! I love you Qinian Dian with your concentric circles and columns symbolizing months seasons and hours!! I love you fan vaulting! I love you perpendicular style! I love you Incan mortarless stonework! I love you terraces and chinampas! I love you coffered ceilings!

I DIDN’T EVEN GET TO RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE BUT I LOVE YOU TOO

I LOVE YOU EVERYONE WHO TOOK THE TIME TO READ THIS

IF YOU ADD PICTURES JUST KNOW I AM SPIRITUALLY KISSING YOU ON THE LIPS

[passifloramoonlight]

what messages are you getting from this full moon!? :)

Anon my beloved

Thanks for this chance to tryna verbalize a lil about that.. I really had to ride that three day trance that is the Full Moon in Capricorn. I dont know where to start except to notice this is a pattern that repeats with this Moon ever since my Saturn return.

On this particular year may I point these say these areas (coincidences?)

- The Karmic Chain revealing another layer of illness and healing. I see with my triangle that I have in my forehead I am ready to trace back certain Path. There is time to change the road Im on. Several layers after.

- The second Summer in this Land. The green beans and squash, 2/3 a chinampa, the coffee, the three avocados, the orange, the ‘theydies’ in the compost bin, the abundant life that came from putrefaction. I stood in my gardens and listened to the Mountain again. Naturally, I heard them and took the light of the Moon to see their place and harmony, and listen to their needs. There are no words that give justice to this experience and knowing this is a lifelong bond with this land

- Again riding high on the Moon energy she came and taught me that I need to recognize Canas’ aura. And. She was so right and Im grateful because I can see it in his eye, he feels it too.

- We are preparing for another familiar

- The two sides are either a deep balanced spiritual practice and also crawling like a bug in the mundane. And there is middle ground. I know in theory and practice.

Also duly noted:

- Abusing the energetic links and your power to recognize the underlying patterns can give you high tides and low ebbs and this climaxed at work, both positive and negative, and for this first time I felt consequences of fucking around on this ‘league’

I still feel a bit lunatic and today’s energy is still very much Her

Its almost the anniversary of my fall, my capricornian joints snapping in two and I see the patterns. At least I know how ignorant I still am 👽 I ramble and probably make no sense but thanks anyways ✨