Unlike all the community gardens in the city, where each plot belongs to one person, in this vegetable garden that will be born in Alto da Eira, in the parish of Penha de França, everything that will be planted will be decided by everyone and the harvest will also be shared. And around the garden, a lot of socializing is promised...
Stimulating communities of neighbors in the city is one of the goals of the association Regador, which has been doing it with its hands in the earth, inviting to the cultivation of small gardens or orchards that all people can enjoy. A community vegetable garden is the biggest project of this association and it is being born in Alto da Eira, in Penha de França.
The presentation of the project took place this Saturday, December 11, and was attended by several residents of the area, as well as friends of Regador and the Parish Council of Penha de França. "The stage is yours, it is the residents' and the community's"said the President, Sofia Oliveira Dias, making clear the support of the Council to the project, not wanting to take ownership of it. The Association of Residents of the Alto da Eira Towers was also at the presentation, promising to continue to disseminate the initiative to the neighborhood.
"We really want to thank the residents for welcoming us so well"said Maria Freitas, from Regador. The good reception of the association by the local community is fundamental for the success of the project that is being proposed for that site. Conflicts must be avoided, and so the initial dialogue, getting to know the people, becomes essential before starting to tinker with the land. Maria is not from Alto da Eira, but she says she is a neighbor to all the people in the neighborhood who came together to hear about the future community garden."It's let Christmas and New Year's Eve pass, and then it's off to pick up the hoeing"said Mr. João, one of the residents, already known to everyone. The Alto da Eira vegetable garden is an initiative funded with more than 47 thousand Euros by 2021 edition of the Lisbon City Hall BIP/ZIP programwhich seeks to activate the city's most forgotten neighborhoods and which, in this application, counts on the association Renovar A Mouraria and the Penha de França Council, as well as Regador.
The vegetable garden that formally began to grow today in Alto da Eira will develop along a small slope next to the two yellow towers that mark the neighborhood. Seven terraced plots will be created to overcome the unevenness of the terrain, where the intention is to plant vegetables and berry bushes. The plots will be surrounded by a walkway that will connect to the land below, which is flat and where a pipe will be installed to provide water for irrigation, a small house with tools, a compost bin, a kitchen for children, and an open space to host events of the most varied kinds. There will also be planting of aromatic herbs and small fruit trees. "The idea is to make the whole space useful"commented Paulo Torres, from Regador. The first big task will be to level the ground as much as possible: "A lot of help will be needed here."
To provide shade in summer and sun in winter, the space will be surrounded with a vine - during warm weather this will have leaves and thus protect people from the higher temperatures, and in the cold season the falling foliage will let the much-needed sun through. "And we can make our own wine, who knows"Maria said. At the top, a door will be created to facilitate access, but the main entrance will be at the bottom, next to a small square there.. It will also be in this area that will be installed a billboard so that the population, along with the online media, can follow the development of the project, knowing when the harvests are, which ones, which ones, and which ones. workshops there will be and the gatherings in which they can participate.
The garden will be truly communal, that is, everything will belong to everyone. "The biggest challenge is going to be that we work in harmony. People are used to individual plots in community gardens, but here they're not going to be individual. They're going to be collective.referred to Paulo. That's right: everyone who joins the project will be able to plant in the different plots and divide harvests among themselves. The same applies to fruit trees, vines and shrubs. Together they will also decide what to plant in each plot, for example tomatoes or onions. There will be social gatherings to strengthen community ties, cook and taste what has grown in the garden, watch films and talk about them, play traditional games, etc.
Training in organic agriculture, composting or how to cook without wasting food will also be promoted, and will be free of charge because "fortunately, the program is funded". Regador also wants to involve the school community in the project to bring children into the garden. The whole project - which goes by the name Irrigating the Alto da Eira - will have its own management team, consisting of elements from Regador and the community, and is being documented in a film by "two very nice sisters" and that "will aim to record the challenges and victories, portray the community that will work in it, and the construction of a beautiful collective project made from scratch, by all and for all".
With the project and the film, Maria hopes to be able "then infect other places" to also take advantage of dead spaces in the city, transforming them into community zones that slow down the pace of urban life and bring people together. "Let's do it together. Let's do it in a territory that had vegetable gardens before." The Initiative Irrigating the Alto da Eira is open to everyone who wants to participate, whether they are from the neighborhood, the parish, or another part of Lisbon. To do so, is to send an e-mail to geral@associacaoregador.pt.
