NEXT MEETING: Horticulture Of The Aztecs - Then And Now, With Julio Estrada, April 19, 2025, 1:30p, In-person At Oasis Rancho Bernardo

Horticulture of the Aztecs - Then and Now, With Julio Estrada,

April 19, 2025, 1:30p,

In-person

At Oasis Rancho Bernardo

Online registration required -

SD Hort Member (and their guest) registration is FREE and

non-member registration is $15.00

(Consider joining or renewing with the San Diego Horticultural Society for $30.00 and attend this meeting for free.)

Our April speaker, Julio Estrada, will enlighten us about some fascinating plant-related elements of the Aztec culture.

He was born and lived in Mexico until young adulthood. He was blessed to have both of his grandmothers involved in his upbringing. They both lived during the second decade of twentieth century in which the Mexican revolution killed half of the Mexican population, many during actual battle, but the majority died of starvation. They learned to survive from what the earth gave them, and he was very lucky to learn those skills from them. His mother was a migrant farm worker, and she transmitted much of her knowledge to him while attending her home garden.

His parents were able to pay for his education and he became a physician in 1983. Julio legally immigrated to the USA and moved to San Diego in 1991. He retired from the County of San Diego after twenty-eight years of service at the Medical Examiner's Office as the chief investigator at the Investigation Division.

He became a Master Gardener in 2023, and has a part-time job at the garden department at a local Home Depot store. He spends his time taking care of his elderly father and pulling weeds from his yard.

Emerging from a clash of cultures, the Mexican government education department has a large curriculum in history, with emphasis on pre-Hispanic history, in a clear effort to validate and honor the original habitants of Mexico. Julio's presentation will cover the Aztecs' pilgrimage from Aztlan to what is now the Valley of Mexico. How they evolved from a band of nomads to the rulers of one of the largest empires known in history. How they incorporated and improved the milpa agricultural system, how they practiced regenerative agriculture and the creation of chinampas, floating islands where they were able to produce and harvest up to four times a year.