We have been working with a community group in the town of Tortosendo who are developing an urban community garden. We visited them and did some workshops on permaculture – on Saturday they came to US! The group arrived in a huge bus into little Povoa de Atalaia. We met at the village hall and walked up to Mount of Oaks.
On the way the group had wanted to learn how to identify a few local edible plants. We stopped frequently to speak and taste!! The plan was to collect wild greens and flowers for the lunch…..
In total the group was aged between 5 months (!!!) and a gentleman in his 70’s! The majority were youth and were very inquisitive.
We arrived at MoO just as the heavy rain was beginning to fall. We sought shelter in the common space and then divided into two groups. Those who were preparing the edible wild greens for the salad…..
……and those who were learning to make a macerated oil with lavender flowers.
The poor weather prevented us making the raised bed – but we improvised after lunch and split again into two teams – some in the poly tunnel…
…where we were transplanting little plants into the ground. And the other team were under the shelter also dealing the plants…..
Cucumbers and melons were easier for them to transplant as the plants themselves were bigger….the little basil plants were much more difficult!
The lads were really funny in the kitchen washing the dishes – we came around the corner and they had their tunes blasting out with a mini speakers and they were almost dancing as they scrubbed! The shared lunch was fun and as diverse as the group!! They ate the wild salad they had prepared along with crisps and a home made pesto – and that was just for starters!!
The weather was not the best, so the main activity planned – to make a raised bed was impossible. However we did plant 2 chestnut trees – seeds we had collected from the Gardunha before the fires. It was special to plant these with this group.
In our final circle the group shared their highlights and things they still wanted to learn. We expect that we will continue to journey with them – sharing what we can and learning with them (certainly I am learning more Portuguese!!)