consent_cookie
Duración: 1 year
Stores the user's cookie consent state
News
The 3C community gardens of l’Ametlla del Vallès face a new cycle with optimism
19-09-2024
The community gardens of l’Ametlla del Vallès (Barcelona), integrated into the 3C Cultivating Climate and Community urban agriculture programme, are facing the autumn crop with optimism.
With a well-connected group of people, with 9 activists and an agricultural technician, this space is on its way to its second year thanks to the work implemented by Humana with the collaboration of the City Council and the financing of Fondation Air Liquide, an essential support whose contribution has made it practically free for activists.
The work to prepare the space (removing trees, levelling the land and closing the perimeter) was delayed more than expected, so the community gardens of l’Ametlla del Vallès were launched in August 2023, when the first activists or users arrived with the intention of working 20 individual plots and 5 community plots.
Furthermore, an external factor has conditioned the activity of the orchards since then and continues to do so today: the restrictions on water consumption due to the drought situation that Catalonia was and still is suffering.
Given this limitation, with a minimum provision essential for irrigation, it was decided that there would only be 5 active plots. “It is a shame,” admits Sergi Jiménez, an agricultural technician at Humana, “because we have a space of 2,000 square metres, but we only use 90 metres for beds.”
The limitation of irrigation water not only affects the cultivation space but also the number of activists. “Currently we have 9, they share the plots and we encourage teamwork,” says Jiménez, “but we cannot grow because we do not have access to more water. What a shame, because we have a space with enormous possibilities.”
Space for intergenerational community relations
In any case, the gardens of l'Ametlla del Vallès have established themselves as a space for intergenerational community relations, a meeting point, a space to get to know each other and promote a healthy lifestyle and also a self-learning experience with a production that complements the daily diet of families with organic vegetables for self-consumption.
Likewise, the team of activists puts on the table the needs that exist in the territory around food security, and the problems arising from production models related to climate change.
Fondation Air Liquide contributes to this project with a contribution that the 3C Cultivating Climate and Community team greatly appreciates. The funds from Fondation Air Liquide have been used to finance items such as seed kits; ecological pesticides and insecticides; gardening tool kits and equipment; irrigation system equipment; basic materials for outdoor training (chairs, portable whiteboard, table); printing, teaching materials and visibility…
“It has been a fundamental help in carrying out this initiative, we are very grateful for the trust of Fondation Air Liquide”, agree the members of the gardens.
The gardens are now in a transition phase. “We are removing summer crops, such as courgettes; on the other hand, aubergines and peppers can hold out a little longer. And we are already preparing the ground for what we will plant with an eye on autumn and winter,” explains the technician who advises the activists.
You can find more information on the 3C website
