Discover "Cultiva Ocio", an orchard to enjoy the countryside
July 13, 2023
Today we start a series of posts dedicated to urban garden businesses and small producers: What moved me to create an urban garden?
On this occasion, we visited "Cultiva Ocio", an urban garden that was born from the initiative of two young brothers in the midst of the pandemic boom in 2020.
They had some of their relatives' farmland that had been idle and thought: Why don't we make it available to people so they can enjoy the countryside and grow their vegetables?
Almost two and a half years later they continue and have expanded their offer, thinking of new initiatives to give to their members.
Today they will answer our questions to get to know them a little better.
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How many plots do you have right now?
Well, we started with about 30 and we have almost doubled the number, about 60 at the moment.
How big are your orchards?
For it should be noted that we have plots that exceed 100m2,we studied it well and my brother wanted the community to have a space for the community to live in, apart from the orchard area. put up a pergola and to be able to rest, chat with other villagers or have lunch as people like to spend a lot of time here. It is almost therapeutic.
Personally, at Gardenphy we have seen smaller gardens, but in 100m2 this space makes the experience much more complete, and 100m2 seems like a small space when you are on such a large area of land.
What services do you offer apart from renting the plots?
We offer the tilling of the soil that has to be done a couple of times a year, the removal of weeds when orchardists ask for it, as well as the sale of fertiliser.
A service that we are also thinking about is to make collection baskets when the gardeners have a lot of things to do. This is how we prepare them for you so that you can enjoy your wonderful vegetables.
Do you have gardeners who rent the plot for years?
Yes, there are people here who have been here since the beginning and are still very enthusiastic. There is also rotation, some come and some go as in other types of services.
Where do you move to be known?
Well, Facebook is fine and other rental platforms. However, we are very happy that Huerto360 exists, as it is created specifically for us and small producers.
What is the local vegetable like compared to what we can find in large supermarkets?
Well, you can see it, smell it and then taste it, you can get that sweet tomato taste of our childhood, that pepper that our grandmothers used to fry with a smell that went through a whole house, not to mention the size, now with a special fertiliser that we manufacture we generate courgettes of 50cm in height and 10cm in contour to be used in multiple dishes.
The vegetables are picked at the optimum moment to enjoy them to the maximum, it has nothing to do with the vegetables from the big supermarkets. Come and see for yourself.
I encourage people who read the article to come and see for themselves!
Do huertanos tend to be indigenous people?
Well, here we have a tower of babel, because apart from the locals there are more than 5 different nationalities: Colombians, Chileans, Poles, Argentinians, Hungarians, Czechoslovakians and Ecuadorians... As you can see, you can even learn languages.
Do you do any kind of activity apart from renting?
Last year we held a paella competition and a "Cabasset" meal where each "huertano" cooked a dish from their own land and this year we will continue with the tradition. It was really fun and the huertanos got to know each other on that day.
And in the future, what do you envisage?
We are satisfied with the evolution and we would like to be able to bring the products of our vegetable garden to people who want to eat better by reconnecting with the land and the origin of the flavour of the vegetables. We also do not rule out giving some kind of training, as the new gardeners who are starting out ask us for it quite a lot.
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