I have just spent the past few days in El Bolson, a small town outside of Bariloche, with a woman named Blanca Rosa who I found through WWOOFing. She has an urban garden as well as an eco-construction project. To raise money, she sells seeds, plantlings, and windchimes at the local markets, and she runs a hostel out of her house. She has worked around South America with many tribal cultures. She has smile lines, and loves living in a community filled with people who all share the same look in their eye. Now, she lives in a town whose motto is ¨Nature and Magic.¨ Lovely. Here are some of the many lessons I learned in just a few days.
-Optimization of space is the key to any urban garden. To have a succesful garden on limitted space, one must mix crops wisely depending on roots and leaves, and depending upon compatability.
-Recycling can be a fun hobby. For Blanca, she considers her form of recycling to be a game. ¨Hay que disfrutar la vida.¨ ¨You have to enjoy life.¨ Blanca collects old bottles and cans and uses them for her home. Plastic bottles are used for insulation in the eco-construction project and glass bottles are used for walls in her urban garden. Everyone in the town knows her has that woman who recycles or as that woman who protests on behalf of the land.
-Some people believe that crystals placed strategically in your garden bring life to your crops.
-Using barro (a combination of sand, clay, protein, water, and hay) is better for the environment and for your home. It breaths, so fresh air can circulate throughout your house, but it also maintains the temperature. It can be made with different proportions, so it is important to play around and find one that works for your circumstance. It is better to use barro than cement because of the negative effects of making cement on the environment (it has to be heated to a very high temperature).
-The most eco-friendly construction projects use what is available near their homes. If you live in the woods, use wood. If you live near clay, use clay. If you live near rocks, use rocks.
-Living roof. Put dirt and plant grass or flowers on your earth. For one, this will help maintain the temperature of your house because most heat is gained and lost through the roof. Also, it is a way to ensure that you are not taking away from the land. The planet, in a sense, has to breath. But if buildings and pavement cover all of the grass, there is less plant-life and soil to recycle the air and clean the earth. So put the plants on your roof, and it is as if you haven´t stolen anything.
-If possible, and even if it is illegal, find a way to recycle your water from your sinks and showers to your gardens and plants.
-Those pine trees I have been nostalgically admiring for the past few days are invasive species in the Lake District and are slowly taking over the land previously occupied by native tree species.
-Lavender is a great insecticide, so you should surround your garden with this flower.
-Put a small pond of water in the middle of your garden. That way, the air will ideally be filled with water evaporate from this pond, and will therefore not take as much water from the plants.
-The 5 plants that the Mayans used in their gardens because of association: corn, beans, pumpkins (cover the soil to protect it from evaporation), tomatos, and peppers (insecticide).
-Don´t be afraid to experiment with different varieties of plants to find out which grows best in your climate. Blanca has 6 different types of corn, and she will share her results with neighbors so everyone benifits.
-The Argentinan government is beginning to really support family farms, and has created a sub-section of the Department of Agriculture to deal primarily with protecting the rights and creating networks of family farms.
-Separate colliflower and brocolli, because they will eventually mix and form a plant that won´t produce seeds. So while each is flowering, cover it with a plastic bag to protect the other crop from cross-polinization. This is mostly important if you wish to collect your own seeds to use in your garden for next year.
-Eat most of your plants while ripe, but let some go to seed so you can collect, clean, and dry them for next year.
-Community gardens do exist here in Argentina. They are known as Ässociatives¨.
-Herbs all impact the body differently, and can be used in a variety of ways depending on what you need. Mint is used to relax, for decongestion, or as a diuretic. Dandilions can be eaten to improve digestion or to rid of anxiety. Juniper is wonderful for muscle pains or as an antiseptic. Lavender can cure coughs over a period of days.
-If made with care and knowledge, windchimes are more than just random noise. They can be made to create chords and notes, such that each person forms a connection with a specific windchime not for how it looks but because its music envokes a certain emotion within you.Chakras are music from a higher level than moves our soul, and every person has to find their own particular tone.
-Community matters. We need not live alone nor fight alone. Do what you can to support your community by sharing and embracing the individual talents and efforts of your neighbors.
-5 part dough: 1 egg, 1 cup of harina, 1 table spoon of water, 1 table spoon of oil or butter, and a touch of salt.
-The triangle is the most basic of shapes. From this, everything else is formed.
-Craft fairs are very interesting from the other side of the table.
-Collect your garbage wisely. It is possible to just have one garbage bag every month. Compost the organic things. Burn your paper. Collect dry plastic to send to the recycling place. And throw away the rest.
-Any good home-owner does a daily walk-about their property and notes and fixes anything that is out of place. That way, the home is maintained easilly over time.
I know there was more. I´ll keep adding on to this list. What a wonderful and unexpected surprise these past few days were.
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