Tuesdays: Community Organic Garden
The entrance to the magical garden.
Tuesdays are the days that I work in our community organic garden. Our garden was created to help with food security and to show the community that it is easy to grow food that can help your family with better nutrition for no cost and little maintenance.
The land where the garden is located is actually owned by the Cooperativa Loma Linda, the cooperative in charge of organizing and aiding the coffee growers. ASODILL is a project by sons and daughters of the Cooperativa members so there is a mutual appreciation of each other and the Cooperativa, being financially self-sufficient, is very friendly towards the association. The land that the garden is built on was originally going to be a soccer field but due to erosion the field would not last long there and the soccer field was moved to the other side of the hill. The land is still owned by the Cooperativa but is being put to good use by ASODILL.
Although ASODILL does not have many salaried employees it believes in the garden so much that they do manage to pay someone a salary to tend to the garden daily. In addition, the vegetables that are ripe are sold in the community by members of the association to provide a (meager) source of income for the female members of the association and for the association itself.
The garden. Deceptively big. Corn, beans, plátanos, and bananas in the foreground.
Mary, Mary quite contrary what does your garden grow? We grow a lot. First up…
Bok choy
Bok choy? Yes, bok choy. I’m still not sure about how they heard about bok choy which is a vegetable so new to the America that we have not yet repatriated its name (see Freedom Fries). Still, it grows here and it grows well.
Bledo. An herb.
Bledo (center). An herb. That’s pretty much all I know. It smells nice when you crush a leaf.
Carrots (extreme left), nabo (left), weeds (center, where you walk), beets (right, red leaves)
We also grow carrots although we are still working on providing carrots with better growing conditions. For whatever reason they grow as thick as would be normal but end about 2 to 3 inches deep. So you end up with short, stubby carrots. Still delicious.
Nabo is another herb. I cannot say much for this herb either other than it is delicious when cooked with eggs (tortas de nabo).
We grow weeds. We are great at growing weeds. In fact, we grow weeds without even trying to cultivate them.
Beets. In the beginning of my stay in Loma Linda I ate some sort of beet salad at least twice a week.
Some sort of pepper
Some sort of pepper. It is not yet ready to pick. You will know when it is time because they turn fiery red.
Raspberries
Raspberries. Need I say more? Perhaps just this bit: you must keep your eyes on the raspberries when people are walking through the garden for people with sticky (red and black juice-stained) fingers.
Güisquil
Güisquil (gwee-skeel), known in the US as chayote, is a squash. Also delicious. Usually eaten boiled.
As for the duties of the garden, for the most part I have pulled weeds from the garden. I have also planted, picked ripe vegetables, help put a roof on the greenhouse, help construct a semillero, and gather dirt to fill bags for a vivero. Not very glamorous but a nice way to pass a Tuesday.
