Casa de la Cultura: Raices Vivas

Casa de la Cultura is hosting Raices Vivas at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center on Wednesday, July 29, from 6 PM to 7:30 PM. This particular session, Sabores de Verano, focuses on traditional Mexican gardening and cooking, with a double emphasis on growing herbs and making tisanes.

Raices Vivas is part of a larger workshop series held in the center's new Healing Garden. The whole project is built around the idea of helping the community "plant our roots back home" ahead of the center's grand re-opening, Juntos de Nuevo, which was on June 6. Each session mixes hands-on gardening with traditional Mexican knowledge: participants hold an ollas ceremony and plant Texas native seeds alongside ancestral herbs and plants like Las Tres Hermanas—corn, beans, and squash. From there, the group moves inside to La Cocina to prepare elote cups or craft traditional Mexican tisanes and ice-cold aguas frescas.

The series leans heavily on Mexican herbalism and botanicals. Different sessions are devoted to growing lemongrass, epazote, and hibiscus (jamaica), and to the medicinal uses of spearmint (yerbabuena). This one, Sabores de Verano, keeps that thread going by pairing the garden work with the kitchen, so you're seeing the whole process from seed to cup.

It's a good way to spend a Wednesday evening if you're into gardening or Mexican cooking, and it's held right downtown at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River St., Austin, TX 78701. The session runs from 6 PM to 7:30 PM.