Juan Estevan Arellano is a journalist, writer, and researcher known for his literary works as well as his extensive knowledge of and publications about New Mexico’s acquias. His publications dealing with agricuure and acequias include Ancient Agriculture: Roots and Application of Sustaniable Farming, a compilation and first English translation of the Obra de Agricultura, by Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, the first book in the Spanish language about agriculture written in 1513. He has served as mayordomo and commissioner of the Acequia Junta y Ciénaga and is a former Concilio member of the New Mexico Acequia Association and an advocate of traditional agriculture and acequias. He is actively involved in preserving the genetic diversity of the fruit trees and food traditions that came up the Camino Real from the Middle East, via the Iberian Peninsula and Mexico. Arellano is currently working on an Acequia Handbook, with architect Arnie Valdez; a book on the Chinampas in Xochimilco, a theater piece Esperano el agua about a mayordomo; another picaresque novel based on the folklore character Pedro Urdemalas y su carnal Juan Tonto. He has just completed a manuscript on arid land irrigation, titled, The Knowledge of Water and the Wisdom of the Land.