Conexión: Rooted in New England's Outdoors
A backyard garden in Connecticut. Cold water dipping in Vermont. A nature program for schoolchildren in Massachusetts. Across the region, Latinos find connection, beauty and meaning in New England’s iconic landscapes.
In this new video series from the New England News Collaborative, we bring you first-person stories on how spending time outdoors inspires deeper connections with others, heritage, and nature itself.
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Isabelle Lopez she spent a lot of her time in 2023 carefully keeping track of different plant and animal species across 32 preserves in the state. Her career path and time outdoors has also been a way to connect not just to New Hampshire but with her Ecuadorian heritage. -
The cold water dips are also a way for both women to pause, recharge mentally, and connect not just with themselves, but with Vermont’s landscape. -
Gardening became Emely Ricci’s hobby during the pandemic. Among her tomatoes and cucumbers, she planted huacatay, an herb used in Peruvian cooking. -
Nando Jaramillo grows heirloom corn in Vermont using regenerative farming practices. He uses the corn to make masa for arepas and empanadas, which he sells throughout Vermont's Upper Valley. -
Ruth Castillo, who lives near New Hampshire’s Mt. Moosilauke, finds ways to make it easier to participate in the outdoors through climbing, surfing or hiking. But she also wants Latinos in New England to find their own ways to be outside. -
ECOS is a rite of passage for Springfield Public School children, where 60% of the student population is Latino. The nature program teaches students about everything from the water cycle to how to build a shelter. -
Heather Flor Cron grew up in Portland, Maine, feeling like an outsider because she was part of a multicultural family. But she decided to stay, and those roots have deepened through her work farming and providing for the Latinx community around her.
