Guæl: the milpa system

Size: 130x200cm; 4.2x6.5ft
Weaver: Mayra Mendoza Mendez
$482USD approximately 
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Materials and methods: criollo sheep wool hand dyed by Samuel Bautista Lazo using natural dyes: Beè for (Dactylopius coccus Costa) for reds, Xiuhquilitl (indigofera suffroticosa) for blues, Pomegranate and Cempasuchitl for yellows, natural black wool over dyed with indigo for black and a combination of the primary colors to obtain the rest. Handwoven on a Zapotec style loom of the 16th century adapted from European styles. Woven using a 7 threads per inch reed and wool rayon blend for warp. 

Design, patterns and symbols.
This rug depicts the three sister seeds corn beans and squash that make the milpa food system. Each plant supports each other by creating a mutually nurturing ecosystem. The corn plant is a grass that fixes phosphorus on the ground and provides a structure for the bean plant to climb up and get more sunlight; in return the bean plant fixes nitrogen on the soil. The pumpking plants provide ground coverage that suppresses weed growth. These three seeds allow a good agroecosys to thrive among many other sibling seeds given tu us by the pleyades; for example, chia, amaranth, chillies, marigolds, many types of squash, and wild amranths (quelites), there are so many other wild edible and medicinal plants that grow in the milpa system which is probably why it is called gueal, the same world we use for the milky way, because of the hughe diversity of life that it creates.