Finalització del Penedès Workcamp

El diumenge 11 de juliol va finalitzar el Penedès Workcamp. És francament difícil fer-ne una valoració general; es tractava d'un camp de treball complex, experimental fins i tot, i caldrà analitzar molta informació per poder valorar els punts forts i els punts febles de l'experiència.

Tanmateix, podem dir que n'ha quedat una molt bona sensació, i la convicció que s'han assolit la major part dels objectius, alguns dels quals pioners en camps de treball internacionals.

En acomiadar-nos, diversos participants ens preguntàven què passaria amb els horts. Volíen saber si l'Ajuntament acabaria les obres i cediria les parcel·les aviat. Com a resposta, vam comprometre'ns a tenir-los informats a través del bloc del camp. Així, doncs, aquest no serà l'últim post.

Molta gent ens ha preguntat si l'any que vé tornarem a realitzar el Penedès Workcamp. És una pregunta que en aquests moments no té resposta. El Penedès Workcamp s'ha fet realitat per la confluència de múltiples factors, que no tenen per què tornar a coincidir, almenys de la mateixa forma i en les mateixes circumstàncies. Podem afirmar, això sí, que ha estat una singularitat magnífica, interessant, profitosa, i enormement enriquidora per als que ens hi hem involucrat.

Creiem, també, que ha representat l'impuls definitiu per a la xarxa d'horts urbans de Vilafranca del Penedès.

Gràcies a tot el suport rebut. Sense la complicitat d'una xarxa local no hagués estat possible el camp.

Per una llei d'horts urbans

La última de les conferències del Penedès Workcamp va tractar sobre política i legislació. Com a ponents, van intervenir en Dani Lacruz, de l'associació organitzadora Horts Urbans.org, la Ramona Suriol, regidora de medi ambient de l'Ajuntament de Vilafranca, i en Salvador Milà, diputat al Parlament i ex-conseller de Medi Ambient.

La conferència tenia un caràcter inèdit: era la primera vegada que a Catalunya es parlava públicament de la possibilitat de crear una llei d'horts urbans. Es van analitzar els motius per desenvolupar-la, i es van traçar les línies bàsiques del seu contingut. En aquest sentit, en Salvador Milà va llançar una proposta d'encaix amb la legislació vigent, tant urbana com rural.

Es posà de relleu els prejudicis, les pors, i els riscos que comporta l'activitat dels horts urbans, especialment en el cas del sòl agrícola. L'horticultura de lleure és una activitat complexa, que fluctua entre allò rural i allò urbà, i que per tant requereix diàleg i acords entre els diferents sectors implicats si es vol assolir un bona eina de regulació i gestió.

La conferència va ser enregistrada per la productora de Mas Albornà. Aquest document serà a disposició del públic properament per a qui el vulgui consultar. Agraïm a Mas Albornà el seu suport, en aquest cas i sens dubte al llarg de tot el camp de treball.

Finalment, des d'Horts Urbans.org, ens agradaria manifestar la nostra plena satisfacció de comprovar que la llei d'horts urbans té suports notables. La insistència, l'esforç que hi hem dedicat, i el convenciment que aquesta llei és possible i necessària, s'ha traduït en avenç palpable. Destaquem i recollim el compromís d'en Salvador Milà per impulsar-la en el marc de la propera legislatura.

8th of July - Conference and COCAT activities

In the afternoon, we have visited our last conference about urban garden project "per una llei d´horts urbans". There were 3 speakers: Daniel Lacruz (Hortsurbans.org), Salvador Mila, "diputat al Parlament i exconseller de Medi Ambient de la Generalitat de Catalunya", Ramona Suriol, regidora de Medi Ambient de l´Ajuntament de Vilafranca. Also, during the conference were present people from COCAT Organisation, who later on had candle light dinner with us. After the dinner, we played some games and discussed sustainable way of life. During the game, we learnt if people don´t share recycled ressources, humans may become extinct. It was a fun and informative evening.

Recovering Well

Our Workcamp is progressing, now we can see some results, today, we demarcated preparing the land for planting, we were watering the soil and compacting the path, also polished and painted the gate and water wheel some of us were hanging nest boxes. It´s pleasant to see how we shape our garden.

Wednesday, 7 july - visiting Montserrat

Today, after having siesta we went to visit the Montserrat, we took a walk there. We enjoyed it`s perfect views of beautiful mountains and small villages, made a lot of good pictures. Also we visited the Montserrat`s Sanctuary, that is home to the Sanctuary of Our Lady and the Benedictine Monastery, which has, for almost 1.000 years, served all the pilligrims and visitors who come to this unusual mountain.
On our way back we visited the Castellers (life human towers builders). This sport is very complicated even if it looks simple. In fact, many possible constructions are possible. There is a tower wich is a construction including rows of one person. The most popular other ones are the three`s and the four`s wich are respectively made with coloms of 3 and 4 people. This dosen`t mean that these constructions are the only one possible because we also saw on pictures five`s and complex towers. In a nutshell, seeing the practice was for us a real pleasure. Thank you for making us feel previledged.

Penjant caixes niu/ Hanging nest boxes

Horticultura educativa i terapèutica

El dimarts 6 de juliol, hi havia la conferència "Horticultura educativa i terapèutica". En l'àmbit educatiu, va intervenir la Marta Salamé, enginyera tècnica agrícola. Ens va explicar breument el potencial educatiu d'un hort, i posteriorment es va centrar en analitzar la situació a les escoles de l'Alt Penedès. Sorprenentment, la majoria disposen d'un hort o es plantegen la possibilitat de desenvolupar-ne un. En aquest punt, es va fer èmfasi en la manca de recursos econòmics d'aquestes escoles de cara a tirar endavant aquesta iniciativa.

Posteriorment, van intervenir en Josep Vilamajó i l'Eva Montaner, de la Fundació Mas Albornà. Van centrar-se en l'experiència de l'hort del Centre Ocupacional, orientat a persones amb discapacitat intel·lectual. Van explicar-nos els orígens de l'hort, els reptes que han hagut d'afrontar, les millores que han anat incorporant i el desenvolupament concret d'un taller d'horticultura com el que duen a terme. En finalitzar, ens van passar un vídeo de l'activitat diària de l'hort. Deixem el vincle del bloc de Mas Albornà, on podreu fer cap al vídeo.

Tuesday, July 6 - therapeutic and educational horticulture

In the afternoon, after some relaxation in the local swimming pool, we headed to the conference held in the auditory of Vinseum on Educational and Terapeutic gardens. The specialists who were invited told us about the implementation of educational gardens in schools. Their goal is to reconnect the generation of children raised in the cities with the nature. It was proposed that some lessons, like Biology and Mathematics, could be held in these gardens. In addition to this, the projects unites different generations as they can work together in the gardens and share the experience.

The other part of the conference was to talk about terapeutic gardens, run for and by mentally handicaped people. We have seen pictures and the video of them working as a group were everybody does what he or she enjoys and is capable of doing. In such way they learn about the nature and observe the growing of the plants and therefore understand and achieve rewarding results. While watching the video we could sense the enthusiasm of the participants.

Tuesday, July 6 - Making nest boxes

Today, half of the group went to build nestboxes. We were invited to a local carpenter´s workshop. He showed us how to make and assemble the nestboxes. The interesting fact about these nestboxes is that it is made out of reused wood. They are also very tough, they can last for up to 10 years. 90% of these kind of boxes get occupants. We hope that after we install our boxes birds will make their nests in them. After finishing assembling our nestboxes we went in the woods to see actual nestboxes that had been there for quite a while. They seemed in good condition and one of them hangs there for already 10 years and always had occupants. We were very happy of our morning activity and very thankful for the hospitality of the carpenter´s family. His 2 little sons were also there to help us and we saw the amazing paintings of his wife who is an artist. We thank eveybody for this wonderful day.

"Viu la Vinya" workshop (Torres Winery)

On Monday the 5th of july we went to our garden Project. Some of us were flatting the soil to make use of it. We had a group digging and another one trying to fix and repair the water pipe. So everybody was working hard and sweating a lot. Some used the free time in the afternoon to enjoy the water in our pool and other had done the siesta. At 4 o clock we left in order to find the torres winery. That was quite difficult. At the torres winery we enjoyed fresh fruit wine and we were explained the differences between the kinds of wine. They also showed us their experiments about the global warming and how it affects the rapes. In the evening an expert explained us how to use and to build nest boxes for birds. So we had an informative evening. For those who wanted was showed a movie called darwin’s nightmare. After a long and hard day we all enjoyed our beds in the hostel.

Tast de vins en anglès!

Dissabte vam assistir, en el marc del Vijazz, al tast de vins en anglès que oferia l'acadèmia Tastavins. Va ser una experiència interessant. Pels participants del camp de treball, perquè els va donar la oportunitat d'endinsar-se a la cultura del vi i al coneixement del Penedès, i als organitzadors del camp, que redescobríem l'argot del vi en un idioma diferent.

Visiting CASES BLANQUES agroecological farm

Sunday, we visited cases blanques agroecological farm by private cars.we learned some vegetables´names.
and we climbed mountain after long walking. we saw historical building.

Eating lunch in the Youth Hostel

on saturday morning we had medieval history guided tour around vilafraca city centre, then we visited Bell Tower.from the same period, is Gothic building separete from the basilica and shows an octagonal tower structure of two sections.
And in the afternoon finally we were moving youth hostel.
this place is so nice. like heaven.
we have a kitchen, laundry,dining hall,very nice yard, 3 rooms and bathrooms which we can use.our first task was preparing lunch. After preparing lunch, we were eating it all together.

Premsa: el 3 de vuit

Comença el camp de treball internacional per adequar els horts urbans de Vilafranca

Societat - VILAFRANCA

Aquesta setmana han arribat els 19 joves que estaran a Vilafranca fins l’11 de juliol en el camp de treball internacional titulat “Implementing a Community Garden in Penedès region”. Disset dels joves, de 18 a 30 anys, són de nacionalitat estrangera i vénen d’arreu del món com ara Canadà, Ucraïna, Rússia, Anglaterra, Suïssa, Turquia o el Japó. Tasques L’objectiu principal del camp és donar suport a l’adequació dels horts de Melió Residencial i faran les següents tasques: delimitació de les parcel·les, pintat de la caseta del pou, tractament de conservació de l’engranatge d’una sínia que hi ha al recinte, rehabilitació d’una bassa de pedra annexa a la caseta i, en general, arranjament de la la zona. Totes aquestes feines les faran sempre coordinats amb els tècnics de l’Ajuntament que són qui els orientaran. De fet, des de l’Ajuntament la regidora de Medi Ambient, Ramona Suriol, vol destacar la feina que s’ha fet entre tots per tal de possibilitat l’estada d’aquests joves a Vilafranca. Durant el matí aquests joves fan les feines pròpiament del camp de treball però a la tarda es dediquen a dur a terme diverses activitats i visites per tal de conèixer el territori, començant pel Penedès, però també hi haurà temps per conèixer altres parts de Catalunya. De fet, el camp de treball coincideix de forma expressa amb el Caixa Penedès Vijazz per tal que els joves puguin viure la festa que es viu a Vilafranca durant aquests dies. També s’han programat visites a cellers contribuint, així, al reconeixement internacional del Penedès com a important regió vitivinícola i també difonen la realitat nacional de Catalunya. Cicle de xerrades A més a més del camp de treball i d’aquest tipus de visites, l’organització ha preparat un cicle de xerrades que va començar dimarts i que el que vol és aprofundir en tot el tema dels horts urbans. Les xerrades es faran totes a l’Auditori del Vinseum, es faran en català i en anglès i estaran obertes a tota la població. D’aquestes xerrades ja se n’han fet dues, però encara en queden dues més. La propera serà dimarts a les cinc de la tarda i tindrà com a títol “Horts educatius i terapèutics”. Anirà a càrrec de Marta Salamé, enginyera tècnica agrícola i experta en horticultura educativa; Josep Villamajó, director tècnic del Centre Ocupacional de la Fundació Mas Albornà, i Eva Montaner, monitora del taller ocupacional responsable de l’hort. Finalment, l’última xerrada tindrà lloc dijous a dos quarts de vuit de la tarda a càrrec de Daniel Lacruz, d’Hortsurbans,org; Ramona Suriol, regidora de Medi Ambient, i Salvador Milà, diputat al Parlament i exconseller de Medi Ambient de la Generalitat. Els organitzadors d’aquest camp de treball són l’Agrupament Escolta Guia Pere II i Santa Maria del Foix i l’entitat HortsUrbans.org. Els primers són una entitat d’educació en el lleure sense ànim de lucre que ofereix als nens, nenes i joves l’aventura de créixer i aprendre mitjançant el mètode escolta i guia per tal que aquest col·lectiu sigui capaç de participar activament i críticament a la societat on viu i, per tant, pugui assumir les responsabilitats necessàries. HortsUrbans.org és una entitat sense ànim de lucre creada el 2002 que estudia i promou els horts urbans com a espai de lleure, educatiu i terapèutic.

Vilafranca TV

Horts en balcons i compostatge casolà

Aquest dijous 1 de juliol, al Vinseum, en el marc del cicle de conferències sobre horts urbans, els Amics de la Font del Cuscó ens varen oferir una xerrada sobre el seu projecte de compostatge casolà i taules de cultiu. L'Eva Gallego, presidenta de l'entitat, ens va explicar, en anglès i català, la teoria i la praxis del treball que estan duent a terme a Sant Cugat Sesgarrigues.

Una iniciativa local que representa una experiència interessant a nivell global.

Restauring the channel

Our workcamp is situated on a very old land, the locals say it is mabe 100 or 200 years old. Therefore, there is many ancient structures that are needed to be fixed. For exemple, there is a very old pool where the citizens of Vilafranca de Penedes used to wash there clothes, it also had an other side where the water was soapless and the horses would drink in it. To water the plants on this land people would have these horses turn around a pump and water we come out of it. This precious liquid for the plants and humans then would go into a chanel made out of concreat and iron. One of our tasks was to restaure this chanel to amplify the old caracteristics of this place. You may ask youreself what do we actually do to restaure a channel. In fact, it is very simple there was a lot of earth in the inside of these concreat structure, we had to take out this dirt and the plants that went with it. As you can see it does not look like a very though job, but it is when it is 35 degrees celcius with a burning sun on youre soulders. Please take a look a this video that summarises the work this team has done and has been taken by the poeple of the disable association of Vilafranca.

Laurent-Charles Tremblay Levesque and Sandra Rodina

Pintant la caseta

The first day two major tasks have been acomplished by the A and B teams. The first one like you must have seen in the diffrent pictures ans videos is to restaure the ancient pool. The other one was to paint the main hut on this community garden. Before, the hut looked awful because the paint was falling off and it was not very colourful, now that we have painted it in a coulour that is half way between orange and pink it looks now almost brand new and inspires life.

Alexandra Rodina and Laurent-Charles T.L.

Free time and Candlelight dinner

On Wednesday afternoon we went on the bus to Vilanova beach. We were really hot and couldn´t wait to get into the water! We had a great time swimming and playing frisbee in the sea, while some of us lay on the beach relaxing in the sun. The water was really nice and refreshing after a hot and sweaty morning! On the way home we had an icecream - there were a lot of flavours and it was hard to choose!

After the third shower of the day(!), we had dinner at 10pm. Fortunately we were not starving because it has been so hot! It was very romantic eating by candlelight in the building the Scouts use. The food was really good as usual, the only thing missing was wine after a hard day!!! (We are looking forward to visiting where they make Cava!) We enjoyed the Spanish tortilla and it has been great trying new food.

At the end of the day we were all really ready for bed - even if the sports hall where we sleep is really hot! In a few days we will move to the youth hostel and are looking forward to real pillows :)

Emma & Donatienne

Second day- Work in the field

We went with bicycle until the field where we had to work and there we painted a house, we cut the branches of the trees that hang too low, we took out the weeds with a hoe and removed the that was in an horses' trough. And when we had finished working we came back on bicycles to the sports center

Albert

First experience of the workcamp

So far we have had one morning working at the site. The day began by cycling to garden, an experience that was exciting, but also scary as most people had not ridden a bike for years! We arrived and Albert explained what tasks we would be doing - cutting branches, painting a hut, clearing out a small pool and marking out the plots.

We found out that the community will be able to use plots in the garden to grow food. It was nice to be able to have a go at all the different tasks as we swapped regularly. It was hard work and VERY hot, but fun! It was also a good way to start getting to know each other.

Everyone was keen to get started and we have already painted one hut!

Donatienne & Emma