It is Saturday morning, and time for the volunteers in the garden of the Emilio Ferreyra Municipal Hospital of Necochea, in Buenos Aires Province, to sink their fingers into the ground, uproot weeds, harvest fruit and even cut fresh chives to season the spaghetti sauce that they will be eating at lunchtime, to restore their energy so they can continue working in the afternoon. At this health center, the kitchen staff need only to walk a few meters each day to the organic garden to obtain fresh vegetables, fruit and spices to prepare food for hospitalized patients.
The Necochea Ciudad Frutal project is a group of people determined to fill the sidewalks of this small Argentine city with fruit trees. Their solidarity and commitment to agroecology (a type of sustainable farming) is what gives the project its 100% natural added value.
The project’s co-founders, Juan García and Eugenia Podlesny, began their adventure almost a decade ago. They were hoping to plant a lemon tree in their backyard, but there wasn’t enough room, so they thought of placing it in front of their house instead. They studied municipal regulations to see whether it could be done, and immediately got excited about an idea that could be replicated in different neighborhoods.
“We decided to plant the streets with tree species that were different from the typical ornamental ones, hoping to grow food that anyone could access,” explain the young co-founders, who have since added 13 volunteers to their team, most under 19 years old.
Once they started, they grew even more enthusiastic, as studies showed that this seaside town 510 km from the city of Buenos Aires had 10,000 less trees than it should.
The Necochea Ciudad Frutal group, always self-managed, carried on its efforts. One member planted a cherry tree, another a lemon tree, and soon the town’s sidewalks were bursting with different species. Some 500 fruit trees have been planted in public spaces so far.
“The idea is to eat fresh fruit from the streets, as has been done in other parts of the world,” says Podlesny, making reference to the Incredible Edible experience in the small town of Todmorden, England, where locals can consume free produce from more than 80 orchards and fruit plantations in public spaces.
The project is a collective response to the individual need to access and eat fresh, healthy and chemical-free food, Podlesny and García emphasize. "Going to the grocery store nowadays exposes people to all sorts of dangers,"Garcia says, referring to the plethora of fertilizers used on industrial fruits and vegetables.
The first communal garden was born eight years ago in the local Rivadavia Club, formerly the site of a court for a local game called pelota a paleta. In its very few square meters, the group installed a mini greenhouse with different types of plant beds for multiple species. Students from schools in the area went to visit and learn, or welcomed these agroecology entrepreneurs in their classrooms. "That corner was the beginning of a whole new healthy lifestyle,” says Podlesny.
The agreement ended when the club changed hands, so they moved the project to the municipal hospital. At first it seemed impossible to open a furrow with a shovel in the hospital’s nearly one-hectare stone floor, but the group worked hard and turned the place into a generous plot of land.
Figs, lemons, plums and kumquats appear according to the season. Green onions, chives, tomato, rosemary and dozens of other fruits, vegetables and herbs perfume the garden. A plum tree produces between 100 and 120 kilos of fruit per year. Some 70 new plants are sprouting, and the goal is for the place to become a forest of fruit trees.
“These agroecological foods add value to the patients’ diets,” the co-founders say. The youngsters who learn from this experience and later become volunteers guarantee the project’s continuity. They prepare the land, uproot weeds and also play among the trees that will provide their snacks.
It’s all about sharing and growing. That is why Podlesny and García also created a meeting point in front of the municipal library where some 300 locals exchange seeds, with the promise to plant them somewhere in town.
Aside from providing material, the group seeks to spread knowledge. They have set up a seed library with written records of what each person donates, and personal recommendations so that these species take root and grow well.
Necochea Ciudad Frutal’s efforts are neither easy nor cheap, they say. While volunteers ensure the workforce, the group produces jam from the fruit trees and sells it at fairs to cover their expenses.
The seeds of the project have now taken root beyond Necochea’s sidewalks, and the concept has moved to households, thanks to a home garden contest. A jury visits each house’s backyard to evaluate and determine who will win a modest financial prize and, much more valued, a plant, thereby spreading the mindset. Little by little, so that everyone in town advances in this “help yourself” mindset. So that this city becomes less known for its intense winds and better known for its streets full of chemical-free fruit trees.
This article is being published as part of Earth Beats, an international and collaborative initiative gathering 18 news media outlets from around the world to focus on solutions to waste and pollution.
