Staff & Board

Hi, My name is Joseluis Ortiz. I am an indigenous Genizaro, land based, native New Mexican from the Genizaro land grant (La Merced de Santo Tomas el Apostol de Rio de Las Trampas) village of Rodarte and currently live in my maternal village of San Antonio Del Rio Embudo or modern day “Dixon” in the high desert of Northern New Mexico. With roots in traditional agriculture that was passed on inter-generationally through my family I maintain a traditional land and acequia based way of life on land my family has stewarded since time immemorial. I was born and raised in, and grew up farming the High Llanos of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains and the low valleys of El Rio Embudo. My family and I grow corn, beans, squash, chile, legumes, fruit trees, wheat, sheep, horses and pasture and practice a traditional Regenerative and Biodynamic Agriculture that has been sustained and maintained through generations of lived and practiced relationship with the land, water and the natural environment where we have thrived in community. I come from; people struggling with chronic poverty as a result of historical land and culture loss, oppression, lack of quality education, disability and lack of meaningful opportunities in our home communities; people whose rich, deep, and rooted culture and history lives on through our cultural and land based practice and is deeply rooted in the health and wellness of our water shed, our acequias, our seeds, and our relationship with the land. Acequia culture is a regenerative life way rooted in the distribution of water to irrigable lands and has sustained us for centuries in an arid region that would not under natural circumstances sustain life. Both my maternal and paternal granfathers served over 50 years combined as acequia mayordomos and water rights advocates. Acequias are considered one of human kinds great accomplishments and is a wonder of the world, I’m proud to know my ancestors played a direct role in accomplishing such a wonder.. For 10 years I lived in the Atlixco land grant community in the “South Valley” of Albuquerque working with the grassroots community based organization called Los Jardines Institute, building and developing land based socially sustainable systems, training farmers, facilitating anti-racism and decolonization training, developing leaders, learning, and investing time in creating healthy realities where we Live, work, play, pray, and learn. I am skilled in Environmental and Economic Justice, Restorative Justice, and Land Based Justice and have worked as a program director at a non-profit organization working with youth to transform their lives through cultural practices that connects them to their core identity and culture. We farmed year-round and engaged in community service learning projects as a way of giving back to our community. My work in community is the result of an 8 year process of self-transformation and self-discovery in my journey to overcome the impacts of violence, trauma, and addiction which is what people of color in my community face as my community lies within the region known as the “heroin capital” of the world. A place where multigenerational impact of drugs, violence, trauma, and addiction is a daily lived reality for my people. I am a proud father and partner to an incredible daughter and powerful, beautiful and creative woman, an active community member and the Community Liaison for the Greenroots Institute at the Northern New Mexico College, the coordinator of the NM Land Based Justice Collective, and a board member of the BioDynamic Association(BDA).

John is a Seed Steward, a garlic aficionado, an experienced gardener, musician, beekeeper, tree planter, former river guide, and father of two fine sons. He graduated from Idaho State University with a Secondary Education degree and a master’s degree in Athletic Administration. John is privileged to live within the ancestral homelands of the Shoshone, Bannock and Paiute First Nation’s People and does “his work” on a friend’s 40 acre farm located along the Snake River near Banbury Hot Springs in south-central Idaho. He is a co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, has served the past 7 years in a variety of roles and is currently helping form RMSA’s Advisory Council. John is also the co-founder of the Ketchum Arts Festival, Wood River Seed Library and has a long history of environmental and anti-nuclear activism

Emily Arasim was born and raised in Tesuque, NM and now resides in Alcalde in the Española Valley. She is dedicated to working alongside community to protect traditional seed, farming and water stewardship practices – and to participating in movements for environmental, economic and social justice for land-based peoples of New Mexico. For the past seven seasons, she has been farming and caring for seeds under the mentorship of elders and friends on their projects around Northern NM. Emily holds staff roles with the New Mexico Acequia Association (NMAA) and the Northern Youth Project (NYP); helped launch the Española Healing Foods Seed Library; is an elected commissioner for the acequia she was raised along; and organizes with a collective of NM ‘next generation’ young farmers. She is a graduate of the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance Seed Teacher Training program, and has presented and participated in other RMSA events over the years. She spends her free time jamming to old school hip hop and learning how to be a better friend and partner, a yummy cook, and a herbal medicine maker.

Shannon Francis, is a Hopi and Dineh from the Southwest homelands of Arizona and New Mexico. She is Towering House clan born for Red Running into the Water clan. Her Hopi clans are Massau’, Bear Sand, and Snake Clan. Shannon comes from twelve generations of earth caretakers, ethnobotanists, and seed keepers. A certified Permaculture Design Instructor, Shannon weaves TEK Traditional Ecological Knowledge with innovative science. She loves to educate on caretaking of land, water, and soil resources; preserving Native heirloom GMO-free seeds, zero-waste philosophy, and how to live more harmoniously with nature. 

Shannon is the Executive Director for Spirit of the Sun, Inc. in Denver. Spirit of the Sun received the 2020 Human Rights Award from Youth Celebrate Diversity. Shannon co-created and led an Indigenous Permaculture Community Garden Project with the Four Winds American Indian Council. Shannon has received the Justin B. Willie humanitarian award (2014) on the Navajo Nation as well as the Cesar E. Chavez female leadership award (2015) for her work with Indigenous gardening, food justice, and community building projects. 

Shannon co-created the Indigenous agricultural project at Woodbine Ecology Center in Sedalia, CO. She taught Indigenous gardening workshops Native communities at the Denver Indian Center. She has presented at the Front Range Bioneers, the Star School, Indigenous Farming Conference White Earth, MN, The Denver Green Festivals, Dartmouth College, Haskell Indian Nations College, Fort Lewis College AISES Conference, and the Teaching Outside the Box Environmental Education Conference. 

Shannon has six wonderful children and three amazing grandchildren that are her inspiration to make this a better world for all future generations to come.

Born, grazed, and now based in El Valle de San Luis, Colorado, Valentina Valdez (Val) is a 5th generation farmer eager to merge her passions for the environment, human-centered business, and agriculture. She is primarily an activist for equitable and sustainable agriculture and self-identifies as a radical chicanx ecofeminist.

In 2020 she graduated from the University of Southern California with a BS in Business Administration where her emphasis of study was Social Entrepreneurship. Her education brought her to where she is currently “studying economics as if humans mattered” by learning about cooperative and collective enterprises, the power of mutual aid, and how we can steer this neoliberal ship consciously in a different, sustainable direction.

Some questions that guide her day-to-day are:

How do we engage youth so they can experience spiritual ecology and healing for themselves? How do we mitigate colonization 2.0 (gentrification) in our communities? How do we create economic opportunities and pathways for those same youth so they might have land based, agricultural professions that are dignified and pay fairly?

Her day job is as a Co-Program Director of the Rio Grande Farm Park in Alamosa, CO and she moonlights as owner and operator of Buena Vibra Foods, a small food distribution business serving the Northern New Mexico area with high vibrational foods from the farms in her community. She is excited to now serve on the RMSA board as she believes that seeds and the knowledge they carry are an immense tool that must be leveraged to establish true food sovereignty, develop cultural consciousness and inspire the next generation.

When she has free time, you can find her either welding in her workshop, looking for hot springs in the mountains, or pretending to know how to play the drums.

Kelley Weston is founder, partner and owner of Native Landscapes in Ketchum, Idaho established in 1988. Native Landscapes is a full service landscape contracting business specializing in the use of native plants. Weston has been a Landscape Architect since 2007. He was the founder of the Montana State Prison Vocational Horticulture Program and was a founding member of the Sawtooth Botanical Garden and Idaho’s Bounty. He has been a board member of the Western Watersheds Project since 1999. He is a sustainability educator, has a black belt in Aikido, and has been a Zen practitioner for over 20 years.

Belle Starr is co-founder of Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance and lead the growth and operations for over five years. Belle is the former Deputy Director of Native Seeds/SEARCH and has an extensive background in publicity, media relations, grant writing, and community organizing. She was a professional broadcaster for almost 30 years. She dedicates her time to SeedSave.org which she co-founded with her husband, Bill McDorman. Together, they developed the ground-breaking seed saving program, Seed School, which has graduated nearly 1000 people from around the world.

Stephen Thomas is a writer, community organizer, and environmentalist. He offered his talents to Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance for several years, conducting research, writing articles, and organizing events all while learning about saving seeds. His ultimate objective would tie his passions together and promote greater connectedness and well-being among people and the planet we share. Stephen is now a clinical social worker, supporting individuals along their path to growth and healing.

Casey managed the Earthly Delights Farm, an urban farm in Boise that has specialized in vegetable and seed production and urban farm education for the past 18 years. Casey is also the co-founder of Snake River Seed Cooperative and is proud of the official transition to a worker- and producer-owned cooperative in 2021. This has allowed her to follow her passion for educating the next generation of seed stewards at the College of Western Idaho Horticulture program as a full-time faculty member.