About Us

Antonio

Farmer, Musician, Poet, Logistics Expert 

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Antonio with Claudio and Luna at the family farm in Morovis, Puerto Rico
I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on October 12, 1982. Son of two poets, an  international transportation business man, Antonio Rosa Sr. and a spanish teacher, Vilma Reyes. In my early years we lived in Bayamón, P.R. then we moved to Guaynabo, P.R. where I grew up. Although I was a very hyper-active kid with a bit of attention disorder and studied in several schools I was also a very talented in arts and music as well as very passionated for nature and also an active practioner of extreme sports such as surfing and hiking.
I went to La liga de Arte de Puerto Rico for few years and also received private lessons in violin and classical guitar. I also received a full scholarship to get in the University of Puerto Rico (Rio Piedras Campus) the most prestigious university in the Island for my special talent in spanish guitar. Studied Geography and a minor in classical music. During my college years I created a reforastation project, participated in different groups collecting seeds and to identifing native and endemic varieties of trees, plants and birds. Being a natural business man as well, by the end of my student years I was already running my father’s business.
At the age of 26 I met a lady named Amanda who is the mother of my two children Claudio and Luna. Amanda and I got married very quick, so I quit my job and we moved together to Boston, MA as she was pregnant and finishing her master degree. Claudio was born and everything change.
For seven years I worked in the logistics industry around New England area and met so many people from all around the world. Meeting all these people not only made me realized how diverse the cultures are but to realize how food can actually connected us together. So I fall for this culinary world, visited many places and turned myself into a restaurant aficionado. This led me to find something that I was really passionated about: FOOD! Thus I understood that farming and cooking is all part of a ritual in which we all are part of.  
At the age of 33 I knew already what I really wanted to do in life and we decided to move back to Puerto Rico and I created #Cundeamor a project based on the preservation of heirloom local seeds, by finding them, reproducing them and sharing them with all the people that don’t have access to them to make them aware of the greatness of our ancestral’s diet. In 2016 my baby girl Luna was born and she is now the new love of my live and the reason that keep me going and. Recently I’m working together with my friend Nicolette on a new project: La Abundacia, a very ambicious CSA that will revolutionize the way people can have access to local ecological food and products.
Ever since I can remember my family and I have been celebrating the holidays at my grandmother’s farm in Morovis where my grand-uncle “Tio Manolo” lives farming the land. So, I saw myself growing up in the city and learned how to appreciate how life is deep inside the mountains of my island as well as in other parts of the world. All these experiences really gave me a very strong sense of gratitude for nature and have inspired me on the lifestyle I live for and what the real meaning of what a “jíbaro” is.

Nicolette

Health Enthusiast, Writer, Plant Lover, Systems Engineer

Nicolette CSA La Abundancia
Nicolette at Antonio’s farm in Morovis, Puerto Rico

I was born in Minnesota in 1992, where I grew up in a quiet town with my parents and older sister.  My fathers is an outdoorsman and I was exposed to nature and taught about the connection we have to earth from an early age.

As a baby, I developed chronic ear infections and for the next 23 years would make my way through the cycle of illness, infection, surgery and recovery more than 12 times.  I was a creative problem solver, and decided to pursue Industrial and Systems Engineering with a focus on Health Systems at the University of Wisconsin in Madison because I wanted to fix the healthcare system that had and still was failing me and many others.  There was no focus on the root cause of my illness, only an endless supply of prescriptions waiting for me the next time I got sick.

When I moved to Puerto Rico for the first time for an internship in pharmaceutical operations in 2014, I fell in love with the laid-back island lifestyle, and though my health issues persisted, I knew this was the place I needed to be.  After accepting a job in the pharmaceutical industry full-time, I moved to the island determined to make a transformation in my health and end my chronic infections and surgeries once-and-for-all.  A deep dive into the relationship between food and health, medicinal plants of Puerto Rico and a lifestyle that reduced stress led me to healing that has been going strong for 4 years now.  I even started a blog about the local, healing lifestyle of Puerto Rico!

The pharmaceutical industry didn’t seem to be addressing root causes for patients, and for personal ethical and moral reasons, I left the industry.  I wanted to prevent people’s health worsening to the point of needing so much medication.  Currently I work to support a different kind of healthcare model with a start-up in Santurce, and in my free time my heart pulls me towards my passion of healthy food and healing for all.  In my opinion, the most direct way to do so is by improving the source and quality of our food.

After Hurricane Maria, >95% of food in Puerto Rico was being imported.  Prior to the devastating storm, the percentage wasn’t much better.  I feel a movement towards locally-sourced food happening and an understanding of the importance to be self-reliant and support our farmers and economy on a local level.  The friendship I have with Antonio as the farmer who introduced me to dragonfruit, coconuts from Morovis (best I’ve ever had) and his family farm has grown into a larger vision and joint effort to create a more sustainable and health-focused Puerto Rico we both know can exist in the future.

My aim with starting CSA La Abundancia is that awareness around farm-to-table and locally sourced organic food increases, subscriptions to services like ours skyrocket (the more farms involved in CSAs, the merrier!) and the overall population health of Puerto Rico improves.

Health is directly related to the food we eat; the kind of future we want for ourselves and future generations can be influenced by the choices we make today and the demand we create in the market.  Every purchase casts a vote for the kind of world we want; my world would be full of the abundance of crops growing here on the island, accessible to everyone and as a result healthier more vibrant communities.

I invite you to cast your vote and start asking the question, ‘where did this food come from?’

Read more about how CSA La Abundancia was born.

See our listing on Local Harvest, the largest online CSA registry.