Jeff Hamaoui

Meet Unicorn, a Diné Churro (four-horned sheep) traditionally cared for by native peoples in New Mexico.

"The world envies our ability to spin out long meals with eternal sobremesas (over the table conversations). Sobremesa is a custom that unites us with family and friends around that which we love doing most. Eating. This is because in Spain, happiness is pronounced 'sobremesa.'" - Alberto Piernas Medina

New purposes require new questions.

On the day after America’s Stars and Stripes holiday, we offer this simple, lovely poem from MEA cofounder Jeff Hamaoui, our poet laureate.

“Language is the house of Being . . .” - Martin Heidegger

The word mindfulness is profoundly contradictory. I suffer from mind-fullness. Apparently that will get better if I practice mindfulness.

I have spent my entire life feeling like an impostor. As a kid, we moved around a few times from country to country, culture to culture and I became adept at fitting in wherever I was.

Every summer I watch my family prepare themselves for our epic drive north from Baja California to the United States. We bundle into our minivan and take four days to traverse some of the most desolate and striking countryside I have found on the North American continent.

In our work at the Academy, there is a lot of big magic. From the moment you walk in, the big magic of the place, Baja, envelops you. The oceanfront home, the empty sand beach feels like an LA lifestyle that is just beyond the means of normal people. Then, whales start breaching, huge eagles fly by, big ideas are shared and you are left thinking 'this shit is crazy.'

Chip’s Note: My two co-founders, Jeff and Christine, were recently in Santa Fe brainstorming how we might design our new 2,600-acre ranch there to become our first U.S. MEA Regenerative Community. The property is located in the Galisteo Basin which has a fascinating cultural history. While he was there, Jeff started conjuring up this poignant poem about the occasional “fantasies” many people have of Santa Fe.