The love of a father was poured into land, that fed a family, & created a way, that we couldn't help but follow...that is the legacy of his hands.

Cabito is quiet, and the provider of this family, but perhaps not in the way you would suspect. He has long since stopped leaving home each morning to work on the ranch that he dedicated most of his life to. He has long since stopped collecting a paycheck for his days of work; and yet day in and day out, food makes it to our tables. Sunrise to sunset, you will find Cabito in his “Conuco”, an edible forest grown to sustain this family; and sustain his family he always has. It is both his legacy and the legacy of his father, and many fathers before...

"Sunrise to Sunset"

Cabito

Meet

"Papi"

...Picking and hiding bunches of bananas & plantains, having the patience we lack, to allow them to sweeten and ripen, he shows his love for us in quiet demonstrations. It feels like finding treasure when we stumble upon one of his hiding places, a treasure trove filled with yellow bananas or almost blackened sweet plantains; met by the mischievous, child-like, grins his sons wear as they take some to snack on, their faces as if they had found something more valuable than gold. Cabito is almost always nearby, but always pretends not to notice as his boys, who are now men, wear the faces of their childhood while uncovering what he had, in truth hidden for them to find. He seems happiest in those moments and I have often noticed him grinning youthfully as he works nearby, in quiet observation of the mischief his hoard attracted. He knows that they will find them; and they know all of his best hiding places.

...It’s rare that he surfaces from his forest before sunset, he often arrives just as he is little more than a tree like shadow, “colin” (machete) in hand and the day’s work of: splitting, planting, chopping, feeding, thinning, digging, & building, behind him. He has snow white hair and is as strong as he is old, he is quiet and kind, and I suspect it will take all of us to fill his shoes someday. Although elusive, I hope you get to catch a glimpse of him, in his wild, someday.

...He is elusive, happily hidden amongst his trees; and although you may not see him, His presence is everywhere. It is everywhere that you had not seen him work that new plants seem to emerge like magic; his pockets seem to always be full of seeds, and he always knows just where to place them. Barren areas and work sites are transformed into lush ecosystems within weeks of being dug up. He almost always leaves no evidence of his toil, and then all at once it's undeniable. Corn once Sprouted from the foundation of a house in progress; an unspoken logic:

“I can seed and harvest this corn well before this floor is poured and house roofed, why leave good soil unstewarded”

so he did, and he was right, and we ate corn. He knows the seasons and cycles by heart, like no one I ever met. whatnots keep in spreadsheets, he keeps in his heart. Everything in its time...