Tara Rodríguez Besosa
Tara Rodríguez Besosa is one of the creators behind El Departamento de la Comida (IG: @eldepartamentodelafood), a grassroots collective in Borikén (the U.S. colony of Puerto Rico) that works with small farmers and the queer community, decolonizing agricultural practices and supporting the exchange of powerful plant knowledge in food, medicine, and culture. Through the creation of shared resources and alternative models like the Agroteca (a resource library with community seeds, tool-lending, and educational materials) and Cocina (a crop-processing experimental kitchen), this collective supports food sovereignty projects within their communities around the islands. Tara is also part of OtraCosa, a queer collective and off-grid rural homestead located within the mountains of Caguas. OtraCosa has given Tara and their chosen family the opportunity to unlearn many inherited unsustainable land practices, choosing instead to humbly learn from the ecosystem and non-human inhabitants of this place, observation being key. Tara mixes and connects architecture, systems design, hands-on experiential learning, agriculture, queerness, and the sharings of their community and surroundings into their life’s work.