Prospero Ano Nuevo! Just got back from Mexico where I worked for two weeks in the huerto (vegetable garden) of a small community near San Isidro, a small town in western Mexico. Small tomato, tomatillo, and eggplants dominated the prosperous areas of the huerto during their mild winter season, and chili plants, papaya trees, and an avocado tree looked ready to bear generously once summer rolls around. The weather was fairly warm (60-70 F), but we did get pelted with marble sized hail during an epic tormenta that left the ground looking like Mexico had a white Christmas this year, and Levi (the huerto guru) very worried about his lettuce starts that we had just planted.
My work in the huerto usually consisted of watering for several hours during the morning, then weeding, pruning, and deadheading the massive amounts of Calendula to save for seed. Two very memorable days, however, I had the delight of harvesting compost from the pile that had been wriggling steaming and working for just over a year. The mound was composed of only plant matter from the huerto, including enormous amounts of corn stalks, as well as the stabby leaves from a palm tree. Another compost in a different location was devoted to only food waste and cow poop, from the cow farmer down the road. The purpose is that the latter decomposes faster than the plant debris, however my Spanish was not quite good enough to ask why not mix them to speed up the plant matter, which has more bulk? Either way, the compost harvest from the plant matter yielded more than thirty 50# bags of brand new soil/compost. With a pitchfork, I moved the fresh material that needed more breakdown time into a new, smaller pile, while scooping the 1-2 foot mound of new soil into bags which can be used throughout the year to add nutrients to the veggie beds on site.
Working in the huerto was far more dangerous, and distracting than gardening in the Northwest. Giant furry spiders scrambled out from under piles of weeds, giant exhibitionist crickets knocked boots on broccoli leaves, giant bees with a red stripe across their back buzzed aggressively from blossom to blossom... the theme here is Giant. Oh yeah, and Giant Jabba-the-Hut style grubs which the Mexicans call "Blind Chicken" stretched out in the compost pile to about the size of my first finger. Biting ants generally ran the place, with encampments forming under the soil to what I imagine would look like a secret location when kids ran to spit out chewed up pieces of brussel sprouts that they had collected in their napkin. Throughout the huerto, I watched what seemed like lines of walking leaf bits, as the ants collected material for their massive, sweet fort. I stayed out of the way as much as possible although resting my hand on the ground resulted in an immediate bite, and one stowaway ended up in my flannel shirt which led to several bites on the tender underside of my arm.
Overall it was a great trip and very cool to see a working community organic garden which provided fresh food year long to residents of the area. I had a lot of time to practice my Spanish, and hopefully when I return I will have gotten even better so as to diminish the time spent in silent confusion.
Opportunities to work on organic farms around the world are gathered up into a neat little package at www.wwoof.org, which stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. Although it depends on where you go, generally the deal is that you work an agreed upon number of hours in exchange for a place to stay, and some amount of food while you are there.
The end of February is fast approaching, meaning that it is time to start planning a food garden, preparing soil, and planting seeds. Whether you are interested in gardening for yourself, or would like healthy, tasty, local food but don't have time for a garden, I can help. 