Historias de la familia, amor, aventuras, y desventuras dichas por la gente de nuestro país

In May the Voces de Nuestro País hosted its tenth event and podcast with a gathering honoring Mothers, their deep impact, invisible labor, and personal journeys. We heard motherhood stories and reflections from thirteen strong, courageous, beautiful, deep-feeling mothers from our communities: Christine Martinez, Irene Martinez, Valerie Vigil, Cynthia Vigil, Kristie Ritchlin, and Sharon Nicholson of Questa, Evie Trujillo and Kyra Trujillo of Ranchos de Taos, Connie Long and Janie Corrinne of El Rito, Henrietta Arellano of Costilla, Cat Gilliam of Lama, and Claire Coté of Sunshine Valley.

They shared experiences of birthing and raising children and grandchildren, balancing work, and navigating challenges and grief. They reflected on the unconditional love of parenting, the importance of community support, and the strength required to overcome loss and adversity. Their stories were heartfelt, honest, insightful, vulnerable, brave, humorous, tender and wise. We are grateful to these women for how they show up for their families and in the world, and we thank them for sharing a part of their motherhood story.

On Sat. Jun. 20th the Voces de Nuestro País event features “Redemios de Nuestra Tierra” – remedies from our land, traditional knowledge of the Earth, plants, and their power to heal. Our guest is Erica Vigil-Flores, a Chimayó native. She is a Registered Nurse and a practitioner of Traditional Medicine of Northern New Mexico. She currently serves rural New Mexico as a home health and hospice nurse. She also has an impact initiative called Chimayó Seed, in which she teaches classes on traditional medicine, sees clients, sells remedios, and offers community outreach. She is a University of New Mexico graduate and returns to the University every year to share her traditional medicine knowledge at UNM’s Curanderismo program. Erica recently published a book on spiritual and traditional healing, called, Healing With Dirt. We are looking forward to learning from Erica; join us on Sat, Jun. 20, 2 – 4 p.m. at Questa Library.

Voces de Nuestro País ~ Voices of Our Area are monthly story gatherings celebrating local voices and culture. Featured local guests share stories of family, history, love, work, adventures, and misadventures. Each event is recorded and released as an audio and video podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music; search “Voces de Nuestro País.” By sharing these stories virtually, we hope to extend and multiply the sense of community connection that is felt during the live gatherings. Please tell your friends and family!

Michael Rael is MC and curator for these monthly gatherings and podcast episodes, hosted in collaboration with Questa Library and Voices of the Northern Rio Grande, a program of local nonprofit, Localogy. Audio recordings, videos, and images from “Voces de Nuestro País” events are also added to the digital community archive, a local repository and resource established by Voices of the Northern Rio Grande and Questa Public Library with support from the Manitos Community Memory Project. Learn more about the community archive and listen to stories from community members at QuestaStories.org and QuestaLibrary.org.

Don’t miss our eleventh Voces de Nuestro País event, “Remedios de Nuestra Tierra” at Questa Library on Jun. 20, 2-4p.m. We hope you can join us!

If you have stories you’d like to share, please let Michael Rael or Claire Coté know. Email Michael at rael870@gmail.com or Claire at QuestaStories@gmail.com.

Voces de Nuestro País
Remedios de Nuestra Tierra
Sat, June 20, 2026
2 – 4 p.m.
Location: Questa Public Library

Join us at the Questa Public Library for “Redemios de Nuestra Tierra”. Voces de Nuestro País is a monthly gathering that celebrates local voices, stories, and culture and this month explores remedies from our land, traditional knowledge of the Earth, plants, and their power to heal. Our guest is Erica Vigil-Flores, a Chimayó native and practitioner of Traditional Medicine of Northern New Mexico. Please join us! Hosted by MC Michael Rael, these events bring people together through stories of family, history, love, land and adventure. These events are hosted in collaboration with Questa Library and Voices of the Northern Rio Grande, a program of local nonprofit, Localogy.

Can’t attend in person? Episodes are also available as a podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
More information at https://questalibrary.org/ and https://questastories.org/ rael870@gmail.com or Claire at QuestaStories@gmail.com.