A singular human species is spreading: the urban horticulturist. The species is not new and the indigenous variety is not unique in the world, let alone. According to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), about 800 million city dwellers around the world are involved in urban agriculture. They behave very urgently, driven by food shortages. Others concerned about the environment or poor eating habits. Lately, many people in the area have created vegetable gardens to promote self-consumption and organic production: In Vitoria, Arrasate, Etxalar... But eight municipalities in Gipuzkoa have decided to unite their initiatives and have created the Park Network of Gardens. A total of 600 vegetable gardens have been set up in Lezo, Usurbil, Alegia, Hernani, Zegama, Tolosa, Errenteria and Donostia-San Sebastián.
The San Sebastian Gardens Park is located in Kutxa Ekogunea and is also the main site of the network. There, Zuriñe Sánchez, head of communication for Ekogunea, who explained the details of the network to us.
The new lots of orchards are managed by the network itself and by the corresponding town hall and, subsequently, in each park, the gardeners create a partnership to facilitate tasks such as obtaining fertilizers. A number of uniform criteria have been established. Land dimensions, for example, are similar in most municipalities: Most sections are 30 square meters, although there are also sections of 60 and 90 meters for associations and groups. Monoculture is prohibited; after all, the aim of orchards is not to do business, but self-consumption. They drive sustainable methods like water management or composting. But there is also some flexibility and each city council has set its conditions. Orchards are not distributed by drawing lots, criteria are set for some to have more opportunities than others. And that's in the hands of the city councils. Some, for example, give priority to the unemployed, others to local associations, but in general all seek to form a group of horticulturists of all ages. The demand for orchards is lower among young people, so young people are prioritized in the award conditions.
Zuriñe Sánchez explains the advantages of being part of the network: On the Ekogunea website, horticulturists have a forum to clarify their doubts and concerns. From Ekogunea, monthly visits are also carried out, dynamic activities are organised and, above all, training is provided. Next to the garden park is the garden school. There, the new network gardeners must take a basic course of 6-8 hours before entering the garden. And those who want to go deeper have more courses. Today, for example, Baratzea Ongarriztatuz: the road to deepening horticulture will be five hours of training of Iker Goikoetxea and Aitziber Otegi, of the Kimu Bat group. Zuriñe Sánchez will also participate in the course, as in addition to working in Ekogunea, he is a member of the new horticulturists’ kind; along with his colleagues he has played a garden of 60 meters. Asked about the average profile of the horticulturists, he replied that “the street is between 30 and 50 years old”, but the answer has not met it. “The truth is there is everything.” And when the course attendees have approached it has become clear: among them, those under the age of 30, and two or three people who have already retired. “These grounds are more than a vegetable garden, they help change consumption habits and they are also a meeting point between generations.”
Once the course began, the generational difference has become evident. The generation of older people has had a greater relationship with agriculture and it is easier to express their opinions and doubts during the course, while young people listen carefully. When the teacher explained that it is not appropriate to cover fresh manure or directly touch the roots, one of the oldest students said that he has heard that leeks can be planted directly on manure. Then, two of the oldest have begun to argue for insects: one says that there was not so much straw before, the other that has always been piojoso. The professor explains that the lice are probably now more abundant, because nature is more unbalanced.
Indeed, they have underlined the importance of biodiversity and balance: “You don’t have to get obsessed with pests. We are not going to eliminate insects, but to control them.” And in the garden school itself, there's a practical model: bird and insect shelters have been installed. Insects have been made a “hotel” in the form of mushrooms and, behind that, nests for birds have been installed. And there are sustainable ways to control them: “Alternating the carrot and the onions in rows, you get to ruin the fly”, for example.
But the members of Kimu Bat have explained that there is no remedy and infallible advice, that the failed test method must be used. So what has become the central issue of vegetables in recent times: the erdoil of tomato has emerged. With this bad time you can't guess: some have flushed the copper seven times, but they haven't managed to stop it, and others, thrown once or twice, have the tomatoes very decent.
Summer, like Saturday morning, has started rainy and with very pleasant temperatures. In the orchards area of Sagastialde de Hernani there are only Ixiar Lujanbio and Ane Erize. They're both 28 years old and they had a 30 meter vegetable garden about a year ago. The initiative was read in the Hernani Chronicle, but it was not improvised. “There is a need for some awareness and enthusiasm,” says Ixiar Lujanbio, who had already looked for a small land to put the garden, while removing weeds grown in beans and guindillas.
They say that the basic course of Ekogunea served them a lot, but that it is learned by doing and with the help of the most experienced horticulturists. Lujanbio has taught us a nice garden next door, saying: “That knows a lot.” Five or six series later, Ane Erice is also close to a skilled baratzera. Even nurses have their vegetables well placed in line, but in the center they have a hole and have to think about what to plant.
He tells Lujanbio that the leeks are a little flawed, and he tells Lujanbio that it can be because the ground is too dense. However, they now know that it is suspicious to find perfect vegetables in supermarkets at any time. They have learned to differentiate the products of the time and have realized that the vegetable garden requires patience. A year ago we started buying vegetables in the organic shop,” says Ixiar Lujanbio. “It wasn’t a conscious decision, but it was at the same time that I started in the garden. It certainly has something to do with it.”
This is the first lettuce that Ane Erice deliked in the vegetable garden. “And what a good thing! There is nothing better than what you have cultivated yourself.”
Sunday morning, at last, has been awakened with a very sunny day. In Ekogunea we were told that the vegetable gardens were also a meeting point, and with good time we have seen what was said in Antziola, in the other vegetable garden area of Hernani. Next to the fence is all sorts of horticulturists. Many horticultural theorists have approached the area with the excuse of walking: that it is too early to receive it, that the brother-in-law has a vegetable garden and that the best remedy for this improbable... Just in case he looked out of the fence, without getting his hands dirty.
Mikel Aizpurua is 62 years old and when he retired he touched the vegetable garden, in the second batch, last October. Aizpurua is from Etxeita, but her wife, Kontxi Urkola, is born in the farmhouse and has a daughter. And that has become apparent when he has put his hands between the pods: in a few seconds he has already raised the pods. Asked who she sends in the garden, Urkola states that “the garden is her husband’s, she works and I help her from time to time.” But if something has to do with the experience, “these skin potatoes have to be picked up immediately,” she told her husband, “because they become green in the sunlight.” But her husband is worried about tomatoes. The tomatoes in the orchard next door are completely devoured by the Erdoiles and Aizpurua has been very lucky, as it has taken them the remedy against the mochuelo once before today. As he unleaves the leaves that the mochuelo takes, an older hortelan approaches him and, of course, the tomato goes up and the mochuelo goes down. The vegetarian horticulturist is more optimistic, aided by good weather. “The mochuelo is not so much, I also have the mochuelo and here I am.”
Today, marriage brings the youngest daughter to the estate for her to learn, because when she goes on vacation she has to take care of the vegetable garden. Some departments have already seen parents and children work; they have told us that this is the first time they pass it on to my child. The day before, Lujanbio and Erice also told us that the brides work in the garden. The new horticulturists are already over 600. Moreover, before the end of the year, the Azpeitia vegetable gardens will be set up in the nest and the Ekogune villages will be contacted by municipalities such as Irun to expand the network. Therefore, the kind of gardeners of the city is multiplying and, with it, the healthiest and most sustainable habits.
Gero eta gizarte hiritarrago honetan, eskoletako baratzeek haurren eta naturaren arteko zubi lana egin dezakete. Ikastetxe batzuetan nekazaritza ekologikoa sustatzen ahalegintzen dira. Beste batzuetan elikadura ohituretan eragin nahi dute baratzeen bidez. Helburuak helburu, argi dago baratzeak hezkuntza multidisziplinariorako gune egokiak direla, oso praktikoak eta haurrentzat erakargarriak, egindako ahaleginen emaitzak hazten ikusteko aukera baitute.
Gasteizko Ibaiondo ikastetxean 2007-2008 ikasturtean hasi ziren baratze ekologiko eredugarria sortzeko egitasmoa martxan jartzen. Anoetako (Gipuzkoa) ikastolako ikasleak, aldiz, hogei urtetik gora daramate baratzeko jardunean. Eta baratze propiorik oraindik ez duten ikastetxeek kanpoko baratzeetan egin ditzakete jarduera horiek; esaterako, Kutxa Ekogunekobaratze eskolara bisitaldiak egiteko aukera dute.
Helen Groome EHNEko aholkulariaren esanetan, “eskoletako baratzeek oso aukera zabala eskaintzen dute. Orduan, zergatik ez dute eskola guztiek baratzea jartzeko asmoa eta aukera? Edo baratzea izanda ere, zergatik ez dira bertara bideratzen merezi dituen baliabide guztiak?”. Krisialdiak eta berekin dakartzan murrizketak izan daitezke erantzuna. Baina hori epe laburrean jokatzea da, epe luzeagoan baratzeak ohitura jasangarri, osasungarri eta ekologikoak bultzatzeko eta, beraz, krisialdiei aurre egiteko tresnak eskuratzeko guneak baitira.
Erresuma Batuko Royal Horticultural Society elkartearen ikerketa batek aspaldiko teoria egiaztatu du. Inkesta bat egin zitzaien hiri-eskoletako baratze ekimenetan ari diren 1.300 irakasleri eta, ondorioen arabera, irakasleek aho batez adierazi zuten onuragarria dela ikastetxean baratzea izatea. Txostenaren arabera, baratzean egiten diren jarduerek zenbait gaitasun garatzen laguntzen dute, eguneroko bizitzako erronkei aurre egiteko. Gainera, ulermena, matematika eta zientzia-ezagutzak hobetzen dituzte, baita gizarte harremanak, portaera eta erantzukizunaren zentzua ere. Horrez gain, ikasle askok etxean erabiltzen dituzte eskuratutako ezaguerak eta jarduera sedentarioak alde batera uzteko joera handiagoa dute.
Zentzu horretan, baratze komunitarioak eta eskolako baratzeak elkarren osagarri dira. Ondorengo belaunaldiek baratzean aritzeko grina piztu eta horrek dakartzan ohitura osasungarri eta ekologikoek jarraipena dute. Eta gurasoak nahiz ingurukoak baratzean dabiltzala ikusteak ere koherentzia ematen die haurrek baratzean ikasten dutenari.
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