Thank you to all the members and the Board of the Lake Chapala Garden Club. Our presentation today at their monthly meeting was great!
Here is our wish list, in case you would like to contribute.
Introduction Fco. Nava and Barb Reinhart,
Volunteers
Vivero La Esperanza
Our vision
is to have a nursery where we can grow from seed, organic plants to feed our communities,
grow enough plants to have a surplus to sell for a profit to cover the working
costs of the nursery, to have a place where we can hold gardening classes, a
place where volunteers can come to work, learn, help and a place to hold
reunions and meetings….a learning garden.
Progress
In July of
2017 I started working with Poco A Poco,
a grass roots – direct connect organization that was taking donations from the
Ajijic area to the towns of SPI. Because
of the need in these towns, Poco A Poco
was growing quickly and thinking of developing several programs to address the
needs of the SPI communities.
The
townspeople were becoming ill, local community members (mostly youth) were dying
of renal failure. We began asking why
and came up with several possible causes:
heavy metal laden water, poverty induced malnutrition, lack of proper
hygiene and lack of education. There is
also a theory of genetic marker possible cause.
Working with
Todd Stong, Havey Bernier and Pastor Guillermo P. Banuet of the Presbyterian
Church Del Lago we started working on the water problem.
I decided to
tackle the malnutrition problem by installing 4 model home gardens in the homes
of 4 Brigadistas in SPI. One was a
larger plot of land, one a container garden, one a smaller farm like parcel and
one next door to our Brigadista office.
These 4 gardens grew and grew, the families tending to them learning as
we went. In the end, the 4 model home
gardens provided food for the families.
As word of these gardens grew, so did the demand for more home gardens. We received a flood of request for home
gardens. The problem was where will the
plants and materials, the volunteers and resources come from for these new home
gardens?
This was
when the ideal of a nursery/vivero that could grow plant seedlings from seed
was born….a learning garden where the local people could come help in the
development and maintenance of their community garden….a place for reunions…a
place to dig your hands into the soil and see beautiful things happen.
In October
of 2018 we were offered a plot of empty land in the town of San Juan Tecomatlan
de Los Chiles Verdes, just east of San Nicolas.
With the help of the Brigada’s attorney, were able to negotiate a letter
of agreement/ term for use of the land for a Vivero for 3 years. In January of 2019 we broke ground…later to
find out that the plot had been used originally as a dump for local landfill
materials. So our initial idea of
digging up the soil was abandoned and topsoil used.
Starting
from scratch is not new to me. We’d
tried this once before and were partially successful. Here we were again with less than ideal land,
but with a town filled with Brigadistas ready to work. And work they did, moving large pieces of
concrete block, clearing the plot of years of dead plant growth, digging into
hard, dry highly clay soil.
Another
challenge was that the plot of land had neither access to electricity nor a
clear water source. We work during
daylight hours, doing everything manually.
We did discover that an abandoned, covered up well was on the property
and once used. We uncovered the well to
find water, which we have been using as an emergency water source. The townspeople started to allow us to use
their water to fill our barrels. Since
water is scarce in these towns, this was an amazing gesture.
People were
helping, local children showing up to assist and play in the garden. Friends were donating ornamentals from their
gardens and we were now able to pot and sell some of our plants.
The need for
food is still great. Our initial
attempts at having the Brigadistas start and take care of our seedlings is not
panning out as I would have liked. These
are young people (10 to 18 years old) who have school, family, work commitments,
are teenagers mostly. Their care of the
seedlings is inconsistent. We’re trying
to find a better way.
The seed for
the Vivero has been planted. We are
seeing growth in the ground as well as the community. But we still need help.
How Can You
Help?
Donations We need the
following for our Vivero:
raised bed planters
|
exterior benches
|
hammers
|
|
saws
|
|
wood clamps
|
nails
|
|
screws
|
|
screw drivers
a tall ladder
and a short ladder
|
|
|
Presently what
we need most are seed plant starters. If
you are someone who likes to start plants from seed, we would welcome donations
of seedling for the following, most requested plants:
Ø Cash donations to cover the cost
of a new tool shed.
o Shelving for housing seeds (seed bank), books etc.
o Visual books on plants, flowers, recycling, container
gardening, mother earth.
o Pots - terra cotta, Talavera that we could plant for sales.
o Paint for painting plastic pots to look fancier, for sale.
Thank you. Gracias to all
the volunteers and supporters of this project,
especially the Lake Chapala Garden Club, that has been assisting
us
