Organic Allotment

Day 13 - Monday 21st November - Santiago de las Vegas and Boyeros

Another great day in Cuba – sunny but not too hot. We started the day with a good session on biological control of plagues and insect infestation. The basis of this work from a Cuban perspective is to think of not just managing plagues when they happen, but managing your whole site to prevent them happening in the first place. This is supported by good knowledge of different seeds that are being grown alongside good knowledge of the soil that is being cultivated. It also takes into consideration the work culture that is being implemented – with this being a culture with direct focus upon the preservation and development of biodiversity on every growing site.

Working in the lab at INIFAT

Once again one of the striking things about this was the rudimentary context in which this work was being done – in a laboratory that was outdated and run-down to say the least.

More experiments in the lab

During the lunch break I walked into town with one of my Mexican colleagues as she needed to change some money at the Cadeca but it was closed – “no hay luz” (“there isn’t any light”) due to the fact that some overhead cables were being replaced in the street outside the office. Typical Cuba that this complicated and involved job should be done in the middle of the busiest street in town at the middle of the busiest and hottest part of the day!

After this in the afternoon we had a session on animal husbandry within small scale urban agriculture. It was particularly interesting to hear about the Department of Agriculture striving to get people in cities to keep rabbits as a source of protein within urban agricultural systems. This is because they are easy to keep, can be produced quickly and cleanly adding valuable animal manure to a growing system, and provide a source of healthy meat that is virtually fat free. The problem with this is that there is no culture or eating rabbit meat on the island and people haven’t been keen to give it a try. Good to see that people are fussy eaters all over the planet though!

Rabbits in Urban Agriculture

The highlight of the day however, was a trip to a community cultural centre out in Boyeros, close to INIFAT. We had been invited there by a gentleman called Julio Gómez as there was a concert on to celebrate the centre’s birthday. So after class we got onto the bus and headed over there.

Retired Baseball Players take the stage at Boyeros

The centre itself was an old building in the centre of Boyeros, right on the main street. By the time we arrived the concert had already started so we tried to slip in at the back of the hall, however as soon as Julio saw us coming in he immediately pulled us forward and introduced us to the room to a response of rapturous applause! Then we watched as a group of famous retired baseball players signed the caps of members of Boyeros’ own junior baseball team – who were immaculately turned out in their team colours especially for the event.

I was then taken out onto the balcony by a local journalist who wanted me to do an interview for local radio. After this, to much amusement for my Mexican companeros, I was introduced next to a local artist called Rogelio Fundora Ybarra who was exhibiting his work in the centre. For his day job Rogelio worked as a farmer but he also had a studio by his field where he painted large scale works inspired by rural life.

Example of Rogelio's work

My next introduction was to two local teachers who also run a youth theatre at the centre and are currently developing a cross-generational piece of theatre to be performed in 2012. Ernesto Cancio Lazo and José Enrique Rodriguez passionately told me about the work they were doing with young people – both in the community centre and in the school where they worked which they explained was a specialist school for theatre, dance and the arts. It was interesting to hear about the context they are working in as they felt that they had a great deal of ideological support from the government, but no financial support as there is no money available. Everyone who ran the centre and the projects did so voluntarily in addition to their full-time profession.

This was followed be brief introducions to an urban agriculturalist, a sculptor, and a musician who were all involved with the project. Then Ernesto and José introduced me to a group of young people that they were working with. They were aged 12 to 15 and were just and genial and articulate as most of the Cubans that I had met so far.

The Grand Finale

Interspersed between these conversations were chats with lots of other local people who wanted to know about football and Manchester and the UK. The night ended on a high with a local group playing amazing rumba and some pretty amazing dancing from more of the local community. Absolutely classic. A real taste of life in Cuba.

Day 12 - Sunday 20th November - Varadero

Varadero Beach

The day started very early as we had a big day out to Varadero – one of Cuba’s most popular and well-known beach resorts. The resort is actually a peninsula 30km North of Matanzas that stretches out into the Florida straits with around 25km of pure white sand and gloriously warm, sparkling blue sea. As part of our visit INIFAT had bought each of us a day pass for one of the hotels in the resort. The hotel we were going to was an all inclusive place with a pool and access to the beach – my idea of hell to be honest. Firstly because my impression of this kind of resort was that it would be full of horrible British tourists whom I had come to Cuba to get away from. And secondly because, on the whole, this type of place brings out the worst of everybody’s desire to consume as much as they possibly can. Both in terms of the food and drink that are on offer but also in terms of the trinkets and souvenirs that are generally on sale all over the place.

Hotel at Varadro - A typical view of Cuba for tourists

In the context of Varadero it was interesting to think about the group of Mexicans who I was staying with at INIFAT. Obviously, Mexico is a poor and developing country but this group really liked to consume and buy things. As soon as there was a hint of anything being on offer they all wanted to know how much it cost, what it was, where it had come from… the list went on and on… They also had an insatiable appetite to know where I had bought things from in the UK and how much they cost – especially clothes. Of course, this was nothing unusual in this specifically and it is actually an attribute that is repeated over and over again throughout the consumerist capitalist world. I did find this behaviour interesting though in the context that all of this group were working as organic (or aspiring to be organic) food producers. Obviously this didn’t mean they would be different in their aspirations from anyone else in the world but it is interesting to think about the context in which they are producing food.

The beauty of nature at Varadero

In the same way that ecosystems exist within nature, food producers are not working within a vacuum. The work that they are doing is taking place within a wider cultural and social context that producers need to be aware of and respectful of. If organic food is produced in an entirely industrial, consumerist sentiment with no attention paid to the ethical, environmental ad social function it serves it is only one step away from the chemical soaked product that it has replaced.

Day 11 - Saturday 19th November 2011, INIFAT

Another great Cuban day. Hot again but with a wind that made the heat much easier to deal with. The day started at INIFAT with a great session on saving seed from Maria Benitez. The session was particularly good as the majority of the practice I was learning about was transferable directly to the UK. Hurrah!

María began her seminar with the statement:

“La semilla es el principio y el fin.” – “The seed is the beginning and the end.”

Seeds - the beginning and the end

She carried on with the fact that vegetables grown from seed represent one of the most important food sources in the world. With a seed being defined as a concentration of life and a method of reproduction, multiplication and diversification of species, that conserve genetic information and maintain species and varieties for the future.

We discussed the way that if you control seed supplies you are able to also control a great deal of global agricultural practice – which is what has been done by companies like Monsanto and other large multi-nationals. It is for this reason that INIFAT have done a lot of work around seeds as if people are able to control their own seed supply and production they are also able to take a much more meaningful supply of their own food chains. They have also done a great deal of work developing seed stock that is specifically suited to tropical conditions, whilst also paying respect to the work of local campesinos who have played a crucial part in the maintenance of local species that are essential to long term food security.

Cuban National Seed Lab

The final part of the seminar was a visit to the seed lab within the main INIFAT building that is a national resource in the development of seed stocks in Cuba. This visit was fascinating on a number of levels. Firstly it was amazing to see how dilapidated the INIFAT building was. The building itself was a beautiful colonial structure that was originally a hospital and that was built around a central courtyard that is now full of palm trees. As María pointed out, the building was now almost impossible for them to maintain as they do not have access to the necessary financial or physical resources that would be necessary to do so.

The seed lab itself was something quite amazing. Obviously it was a functional lab, with world-class work being developed there, but the room itself looked like it could have been lifted straight out of the 1950s. And that is a predicament that is kind of reflective of lots of aspects of contemporary Cuban life. Beautiful 1950s furniture is held together by Cuban care and inventiveness, hard work and good fortune. Furniture that would have been discarded in any other part of the world and replaced with something newer, that would now not have the historical value that many of these 50s pieces would have in any other part of the world.

Take the Cuban National Seedbank that is also hosted at INIFAT and that is another great example of the Cuban determination to get things done despite the challenges that they face. Typical to seed banks anywhere in the world this is a temperature controlled facility. In Cuba this means refrigeration in order to maintain a temperature between 2*C and 5*C – in reality this means a big walk in fridge like you’d get in the storage area of a supermarket. Obviously electric is essential to do this, but the supply at INIFAT is not reliable enough to maintain a consistent and guaranteed supply. The rise in temperature that a loss of electricity would cause would be disasterous for the seed collection so, in order to minimize the risk of this happening, the facility is joined to the electricity supply at the international airport 3km away. There may be days when INIFAT and Santiago de las Vegas will have no power but it would have to be a pretty dire situation for the airport to have none.

And on the subject of energy, once again talk returned to the theme of the Special Period and how much it had changed the life for people in Cuba. Now life was so much more difficult for many people as a direct result of the changes that had taken place as a result of this period in history. The unreliable and fluctuating energy supply was a perfect example of these changes. Frustratingly Cuba would be an ideal country for all sorts of solar energy but lack of resource internally and support internationally make any kind of investment in this kind of development virtually impossible.

After the seminar a group of us went to visit the house of María to have a look around her beautiful roof garden. Like Marisol, María lived very close to INIFAT but her 1950s, Florida style flat in a gorgeous two storey buliding was a very different experience to the flat that Marisol and her family were living in on the outskirts of town. To get into María’s house, which she shared with her father, eldest son and daughter-in-law you climbed graceful stairs to a plant filled, first floor terrace. From there you went through the front door into an airy and spacious flat. The space was snug for the number of adults living there, and would certainly be very tight if María’s son decided to have children, but it was well designed and well maintained and certainly looked like a pleasant enough place to live.

To get to María’s roof garden we had to got out to a further terrace where there was an outdoor sink and area for washing and drying clothes, and cooking that was typical in Cuban houses. From there we took fairly death defying steps, that would have been thoroughly unsuitable to anyone with vertigo, up onto the  beautiful roof terrace.

Gorgeous and productive roof garden

On the flat roof of the building María had used scaffolding poles to build a surrounding structure which is covered by netting to stop birds getting at the plants and to take some of the strength out of the rays of the sun. She had even covered the central area with sheets of cardboard to ensure that the table and chairs up there were suitably shaded from the heat of the day. In this relatively small space María had an aviary for birds, a number of cages for to keep rabbits for meat and animal manure and beds and beds of plants including edibles like lettuce and cabbage and a whole variety of ornamentals. Alongside this there was an area to collect water and to make compost. María also explained that the only time she had to move things off the roof was when there was a possibility of hurricanes – then every single thing apart from the heavy metal frame was dismantled and moved to the safety of the downstairs terrace. The garden had survived more than a couple of hurricanes so this was clearly a system that worked. It was a gorgeous little garden so it was no penance to have time to sit up there, relax and enjoy the space.

As we sat up there the group started talking about our planned trip to Varadero the next day – in case you don’t know Varadero is one of the most famous beach resorts in Cuba and is the place that many visitors experience when they spend time on the island. When María was asked if she had ever been to the resort she said yes, but only with a group of visitors to INIFAT as part of her job and never with her family. She explained that the problem for Cubans with this and many other things is transport, which is either very expensive or non-existent. Our group would, of course, travel to the beach in a fancy air-conditioned coach but this was not the type of experience afforded to the average Cuban who would have to attempt to get at least three different buses in order to travel from Santiago de las Vegas to Vardero up on the Northern coast and well over 100km from INIFAT.

Then conversation moved to Tropicana that is in Havana and is thought to be one of the oldest night clubs in the world. Kind of like a Latin American Moulin Rouge. Some of the group really wanted to visit and started asking María questions about this and if she had ever been there. However, a single entry to Tropicana cost around 70CUC – three months wages for an average Cuba. Unsurprisingly, on this basis, most Cubans, including María, had never been there. Another example of the division of access between Cubans and foreign visitors.

After about an hour on the rook we went down to the living room where we learned that it was María’s birthday. She shared an amazing birthday cake with us – the type of big cream cake I had often seen people carrying through the street – and soft drinks. Refrescos as Cubans call them. Then it was time to say goodbye to María and head back to INIFAT for our evening meal.

Unusually that evening there was also a party in our hotel for one of the departments from INIFAT who had just won an award for their work. This meant lots of salsa and a taste of what Cuban nightlife really looks like – not the kind of experience that you got in the fancy bars in clubs in Havana and other tourist resorts, that’s for sure.

Day 10 - Friday 18th November 2011 - INIFAT, Santiago de las Vegas

The day started slightly cooler and with less humidity which was a refreshing change. However, this didn’t stop the mosquitoes and ants biting like crazy which was really annoying and meant that my legs and feet in particular were an absolute mess. Horrible!

Collecting water on an organopónico

The first seminar of the day was a session on water management. Although a lot of what was talked about in the session was not directly transferable to the UK it was fascinating to hear the different ways that Cubans make use of water in their urban growing settings.

Cuba is not like the UK with lots and lots of rain so the food producers have got the use of water in growing down to an absolute science – not a drop of it can be wasted. It is especially important to point out that growers are not allowed to take any water from the domestic water system so every bit of water that is used on each site has to be collected during the rainy season and carefully conserved throughout the dry season. In addition to this in all urban agriculture settings careful consideration is made regarding the level of humidity within the soil. In each setting soil is analysed to work out what capacity it has to absorb and retain water. Particular consideration is made of this in relation to the potential limit of productive capacity that each soil also has.

Pumping water Cuban style

In terms of watering plants, detailed information has been drawn together to consider the exact amount of water that is needed to cultivate each different plant and this is carefully considered when deciding how much irrigation is necessary on each different site.

After eating lunch we had a brilliant session looking at the theories and methodologies of creating designs based upon, and in respect of naturally occurring systems.

Poly-cultures that reflect natural systems

In order to do this there are a number of different things that need to be considered within the design:

• The management of soil, water and other resources.
• That management happens as close to production as possible.
• That full consideration needs to be made of the aspect of each site in order to make best use of each different site.
• Recognition of the potential benefits that sustainable management may offer within an economic context.
• Where ever possible you should conserve the structure and function of naturally occurring ecosystems.
• You can only manage things within your own limits.
• You can only every use management techniques that are appropriate within your own context.
• It is essential to recognize the variability in scale and effect that may characterize any natural process.
• Recognise the inevitability of change.
• Find a balance between the conservation and use of biological diversity.
• Make use of all the different information that is available to you in order to conserve your own eco-system.
• The focus of your work should take into consideration all parts of local society as well as all the different scientific aspects of cultivation.

Day 9 - Thursday 17th November, INIFAT and Alamar

Welcome to Alamar
This was a big exciting day as we were taking a trip to visit a working organopónico! This meant an earlier start than normal as we were driving out to Organopónico Alamar which is one of the largest and most famous organopónicos in Cuba. The site itself is situated in Alamar which is a small town on the Eastern outskirts of Havana with 27,000 inhabitants in the immediate community and 50,000 more in the outlying areas.

Different growing spaces in the heart of the community

The organopónico was founded as a co-operative by four local men in 1997 and now extends to around 10 acres in total. Our visit began with one of the founders giving us an introduction to the history of the site before handing over to one of the growers, who was also a qualified agroecological engineer, to show us around. I do not know if it was a coincidence of all the people I had happened to meet, but once again both men spoke in absolute pride and positivity about their country and their community. A direct contrast to the impressions given by the British and American press that most Cubans are tired of Fidel and the socialist regime.  It was also fascinating to hear their take upon co-operatives and how they function in reality in Cuba.

After our introduction we were taken on a tour of the whole site, which can be described as nothing less than exceptional. Here’s an outline of what we saw:

• A semi-protected cultivation house where plug plants are brought on before being moved outside.
• A processing plant for making natural fertilizers and insecticides as well as breeding natural predators like ladybirds.
• Literally acres and acres of beautifully cultivated land made up of a variety of raised beds and beds cultivating the soil directly.
• Semi-protected cultivation houses for growing crops like cucumbers.
• A huge area for making compost and substrates, including worm compost.
• A preservation room teaching and practicing the preservation of fresh produce.
• A large nursery and shop selling ornamental plants.
• A punto de venta where local people could buy freshly grown produce at low, low prices.

Alamar Punto de Venta

The whole place was an absolute revelation – especially when you look around the borders of the site, see the surrounding flats and are reminded that it is right in the middle of an urban neighbourhood. That really is placing food at the heart of a community!

Breeding ladybirds and other useful bugs

After our visit to Alamar we headed back to INIFAT for a session on bio-fertilisers and bio-insecticides. This is one aspect of Cuban urban agricultural practice that I do struggle with. It is a subject that Cuba has done a great deal of research about alongside genetic engineering, although the research into genetic engineering appears to have dropped off a great deal in recent years. Their interests in the subject appear to be twofold. Firstly they have a genuine belief that these methodologies will play an important part in the future of agriculture on the island. The second motivation is that they need access to the hard currency that they can get when they sell the products that they have created overseas. I have to admit this is the first seminar I took part in where I had significant qualms or questions about any of the work that the Cubans are doing. Although all of these products originate from a natural source I do have to question the long term-validity of their semi-industrial production. I also feel there is a lack of research into the long-term impact of releasing this type of product into the natural environment. In my opinion I am much more convinced by an organic system that does not make use of this kind of industrially produced product.

New this season - taking over extra land at Alamar

Growing Food in Small Spaces

As Spring is now just around the corner lots of people's minds turn to the possibility of growing their own food. Drawn to the ever appealing notion of allotments and smallholdings, and fired onwards by the programmes that are now all over the television and radio about growing your own, people dream of getting out there, getting their hands dirty and having the pleasure of eating delicious food that they have grown themselves. The problem for lots of people, a number of whom have contacted me on this blog, is that they don't actually have a great deal of space to grow in. They aren't lucky enough to have an allotment to call their own so may be grappling with the teeniest of spaces within which to grow.

Does this sound familiar to you? Are you an aspiring smallholder but only have access to a miniscule fourth floor window box? Well don't despair because I am a great believer that it is possible to grow a decent amount of food even in a seemingly impossible spaces. So, on that basis, this is the first of my guides to Growing Food in Small Spaces. I'll start by giving you some tips on how to plan your space, no matter how humble, and in the coming weeks will follow with specific tips about crops you may be able to grow successfully and fun planting styles you can use to get the best out of your space.

With regards planning how you want to use your space, this is even more important when you don't have so much to play around with. On a big allotment you may be able to throw in a bad of this or that willy nilly but if you've only got a small back yard to deal with you need to make sure you're making the most productive use of every inch as is possible. Bearing that in mind here are some hints to get you started with making a plan for your own mini-farm.

• Start by thinking of what wants and needs you have from your space. These aspirations and necessities should form the basis of the design that you go on to create. For example, you may want to produce salad crops and also to have an area to sit outdoors and eat, but alongside that you may need an area to store your bike. At this point think big about what you want to achieve - your space may not be able to deliver all of these wishes but it is important to give even the wildest fantasy some consideration in your thought process!
• Next think about the features of the site that you are working with. Which direction does it face, what already exists there, how does it work in relation to your neighbours...? Try and think of every detail that you can at this stage and add it.
• Then take some time to think about all the potential yields from your site. Some of them will be physical things like edible crops, herbs, flowers...etc... But some may also be more abstract ideas such as relaxation, tranquility, privacy...
• It is also worth considereing the potential risks on your site as these could be a hinderance in getting what you want out of it. For example the soil fertility may be low, or noise from a busy road nearby could be audible in your green haven. If you list these things and acknowledge their existence it makes it easier to consider how you may deal with them in your design.
• Finally, make a list of plants that are already in the space that you would like to stay in your new design. Alongside this create a list of the plants that you are intending to grow.

There you have it. You should now have five different lists encompassing - wants / needs, site features, potential yields, potential risks, and plants. The next stage is to draw up a plan of your space using this information as the starting point.  And I'll tell you more about how you can start to do that next time.