Gardeners Stake Claim to More of Sandy Hillside

Señora Gregoria Flores leads the way past rows of lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, beets, cilantro, parsley, potatoes and more. We’re following her trail, surrounded by lush terraces of green, in a place where a garden has no business growing: Villa María del Triunfo.

Señora Gregoria shows us the many plants thriving in her garden.
Señora Gregoria shows us the many plants thriving in her garden.

We’re on arid, sandy land. And we’re walking underneath high-tension power lines, surrounded by the most humble of homes, each one seemingly built on the back of another.

Villa María, a southern district of Lima that was founded more than 50 years ago, is home to more than 360,000 people, many of whom struggle with underemployment, poverty and malnutrition. By some estimates, one-third of the residents lack electrical service and more than one-fifth lack running water.

Gregoria told us about how the unlikely community garden came to be. She said that at first people didn’t believe a garden could be planted. She went door to door in the community, inviting people to take charge of a plot of land. In the beginning, there were few takers.

Now that people can see the garden, with its promise of fresh food and even income from selling organic vegetables to local markets, there is a waiting list for prospective gardeners.

Along with coordinating the team of gardeners, Gregoria offers lessons in horticulture, as she did on this day. She spoke, for example, about the importance of rotating crops (beets this month, tomatoes the next time) to manage pests and disease.

Danielle works alongside community members to remove rocks and other debris in preparation for more garden space.
Danielle works alongside community members to remove rocks and other debris in preparation for more garden space.

Using compost, a drip irrigation system and many hours of patient work, residents have learned how to grow abundant vegetables and fruit without using any insecticides or herbicides.

This urban community garden, called a biohuerto, was made possible by a coalition of the power company (which provides the land, seeds and Gregoria’s salary), the municipality (which provides the water) and community members, who do the gardening and keep or sell their harvest.

Our job on this day was to clear away rocks and debris for an expansion of the garden (before the garden, the land was little more than a garbage dump). We used rakes, shovels and other tools, working in a line at the bottom edge of the garden. In January, when we hope to return with another group from Goshen College, Gregoria said that we should find new plantings on the ground where we cleared rocks.

We worked alongside a team of community gardeners: Brigida, Catalina, David, Graciela, Victoria, Eleuterio. Before we left, the group invited us to sit down for a snack of crackers and Inca Kola. As we prepared to leave, they generously filled bags with lettuce and other greens.

Alicia and Jessica, with one of three puppies recently born at Alicia's house.
Alicia and Jessica, with one of three puppies recently born at Alicia’s house.

Then we went to the nearby home of Alicia Taipe Tello, a longtime member of the Peruvian SST staff, who prepares lunch for us a couple of times a week at the Anglican church where we meet for classes and lectures. Alicia’s husband, Oswaldo, used his moto-taxi to close off the small street that runs by their house, making room for a semicircle of chairs loaned by the church across the street.

We enjoyed a delicious meal of barbecued anticuchos (skewers of beef heart and chicken), potatoes and corn on the cob — with chocolate cake for dessert.

After lunch, we visited an Anglican mission led by Padre Anderson Sánchez. The church operates an after-school program that includes tutoring, recreation and Bible study. We introduced ourselves in the chapel, and then spent an hour in the recreation yard across the road, joining children and youth from the neighborhood in playing soccer, volleyball and basketball.

Elizabeth and new friends on the playground.
Elizabeth and new friends on the playground.

Photos and captions courtesy of Karen Stoltzfus.