Swiss Chard & Mr Bean: Implementing Family Gardens with IMAP
- margaretmaearney
- Aug 2, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 1
June 21, 2024
Huertos Familiares: Building a Family Garden
The rain poured and pounded all night long and into the morning. We started the day off early to visit a community called Altos de Tolimán where the IMAP team had the task to design and build a garden for family of the local community leaders. I met Andres (an IMAP staff member) early in the morning. He had collected all of the tools we would need for the day, and we hauled them down to the road where a taxi would meet us. In Guatemala some of the taxis are these very small vehicles that they call “Mr. Bean”. When I first heard someone say this I was confused and asked why they called the small taxis “Mr Bean.” I asked a staff member, Carlos, and he shrugged, saying that in the movie Mr. Bean, he has a small car and people started calling the taxis this. I was fascinated by how random this is! So we loaded the “Mr Bean” up with our tools and headed towards the community Altos de Tolimán where we could meet the rest of the team.
It rained throughout the day, and I watched my clothes gradually change from their normal color into tones of brown as we worked through the rain and mud. We got to work clearing out the overgrown plot, weeding with the machete and pulling out rocks and roots with the pickaxe. Then we transferred the weeds and organic matter over to a pile that would serve as compost.
As we continued to clear out the plot, Gregorio (the oldest, most experiences permaculture technician) began to sketch into the ground the design for a mandala garden. He placed a stick into the ground and drew a circumference around it. Then he and another staff member, Jovani, redefined the lines more deeply with a hoe until the circles were clear. Next, they turned the dirt inside the circle with the hoe to prepare the earth and make this area more raised. Next, Gregorio used the hoe to make a line from the center of the circle to the outside (a path to enter and leave) and then four petals on the inside of the circle (to be able to work and access the garden easily). You can see these in the picture below. It looked very neat and just like a mandala. The mandala design of gardening has several benefits and advantages:
It allows better accessibility and reachability so that gardeners don't have to step onto the garden area and compact the soil
The design doesn't require tilling (as a permaculture practice, mulching and composting is done in Mandala gardens without tilling) which allows soil bacteria and micro-organisms to thrive
In some contexts, the shape of the mandala garden takes advantage of the area even within a small cultivable space
As the IMAP team works, they are constantly laughing and making jokes. Andres was the target of the jokes today. He brought a big, waterproof poncho for the rain, and as soon as he pulled it out of his backpack, the guys started to make jokes about it. The poncho has a hood, and the hood has plastic bill like a baseball cap. The guys laughed that this jacket had all the features you could imagine. “What else did it have??" they mocked, “An air conditioning or fan inside? A floating device for when it rains?” The jokes went on, and Andres is a great sport, smiling and even adding his own jokes about his poncho. It is fun to listen to their banter and jokes. Sometimes the guys switch from speaking Spanish into Kaqchikel, their mother tongue, but they mostly speak in Spanish. While the older generation speaks Kaqchikel fluently, some of the younger generation speaks less or only understand but cannot speak it.
After finishing the mandala for the vegetable garden, Gregorio used a bent iron rod (this is my best description, but see the photo above!) to trace out the contour lines (curvas de nivel) where we would plant amaranth (amaranto). Contour lines are tiered lines on a slope that help to conserve rainwater and to prevent erosion and soil loss which will help maintain soil fertility. The plot of land is just slightly sloped (I could hardly tell), but paying attention and noticing these details helps use natural resources in the most efficient ways. As Gregorio traced out the contour lines, Jovani went behind him, redefining the lines with the pick axe. I was still helping the other guys pull out the weeds and transfer them to the compost pile. Then I grabbed a hoe and jumped in to help Jovani turn the dirt between the contour lines, evening out the spaces where we would then plant amaranth seeds.
This work in communities promoting the sustainable, diversified production of native crops, is part of IMAP's work toward food sovereignty-- the right of people to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods. Family vegetable gardens (huertos familiares) provide access to local, nutritious food, reduce household spending on food, preserve native crops and plants, and strengthen household resiliency during challenging times.
There was so much Swiss chard and leafy greens that we filled bags, backpacks, buckets, and loaded everything up into the "Mr. Bean" again to head back to IMAP.
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