HORTELANOS de antaño SIN QUÍMICOS y SIN MAQUINARIA moderna. Así trabajan los guardianes de la HUERTA

HORTELANOS de antaño SIN QUÍMICOS y SIN MAQUINARIA moderna. Así trabajan los guardianes de la HUERTA

Talking about the life of the garden is talking about its crops. These begin in the seedbeds, which are tiny portions of land where garden vegetables are planted before being transplanted into the ground. At the beginning of the 21st century, few gardeners in Tudela still plant their own seedbeds. However, Miguel Pérez continues preparing them for his plot and for some of his orchard neighbors. This is onion plant. It is usually sown at the end of December or the beginning of January. Previously, ‘mojo’ is added to the seed and when it is well wet it begins to germinate. Once germinated, the soil is sown. Well now this is going to the farmland. Let’s plant it and see how it is planted. Before we had caballerias and the manure that the mules made because we took it and put it in a pond and we kept it turning for two or three months every Friday and once that was done we used it for the peat. And below we would throw unburned manure, directly from the stables below. The plant life of the garden continues in the plantation. This will give way to a whole process that will culminate in the expected harvest. Potato cultivation is one of the most widespread in the world and, therefore, appears abundantly in the gardens of Tudela. For planting, the tubers must be cut into pieces. Well, a grillón is where the potato is born; here you would have one, here another and here another; In every little hole of these you would have one. Then we look for it so that there is always some left that will be what will be born from potatoes. Now we put them. Well, now this is where the string is removed, because the string has no other mystery that comes out straight. And now the hoe is used like this a little because with this it saves us the humidity and it looks more beautiful, it has no other mystery. Well, this thing with potatoes is also how it was done in the past, but now it is also done a lot with the mechanical mule, it wraps them, the potato, with some “caps” that we call and we add them, but that is what those who have extensions of land do, but as it is little, I do it with the hoe and I do it as it was done in the old days: the catica was opened, the potato was put in, the fertilizer is added, if it is not added between hulls and hulls, like I do there, then you would add it to the earth. spread and then cover it as before. The onion is very typical of a warm climate. March sowing is usually very thick; At this time, about ten or fifteen centimeters are left from one to the other and they are collected in July. This planting offers great specimens in the harvest. In Tudela some tools used for generations are still used. This device is a moldboard that is very old; It was already my grandparents’ and we used it to put… it was used in the past to put onion; Now it is no longer used except for the garden. It is a very old device but very simple and very good for these jobs. It has four points to distribute the moldboard according to the crop you want to wrap and it is a very old device. And it is blood traction as you can see and so on. But very good for these jobs. Tomato planting is done in well-fluffy and loose soil; For this, the work of the gardener is essential. Furthermore, as in other crops, this work involved at least two people. Well, in the old days this was done, it was done, a woman would throw it at you, whether it was your mother, your sister, whoever would throw her out. And then from behind you were planting, in order to get the root in, try to leave them and you planted them, like this. On each of these leaves, let’s say, a small child appears. And you had to remove it and leave where the tomato comes out, here it was called ‘panolia’, maybe four or six tomatoes came out and then a second and sometimes the third. Then the guide was removed, we removed this guide and only the tomato was left. When that tomato came out, the tomato harvest was over. But of course then we had to try to get it out very soon, very soon because that was when it was worth money. The seasons of the year once marked the work rhythm of the gardeners of Tudela. However, they always tried to gain time at the same time to obtain fruits, days before or days after the season designated as optimal for harvesting vegetables. Well, this is the late tomato, the late tomato, that comes there to late August and early September, is the tomato that is put out for that date. It is a very different tomato, it is a tomato that there is no comparison with the early one. Much better quality, very meaty, it is different. Without a doubt one of the most well-known and recognized crops in Navarra and, particularly, in Tudela is asparagus. Both in La Mejana and in the orchards near the Ebro, green and white asparagus continue to be grown by hand. The one from Tudela is characterized by having a poorly developed but swollen stem. The asparagus is carefully cared for to ensure that the result is a soft and tasteful stem since hard stems do not have the same quality. This is giving soil so that the asparagus comes out white, that is why the asparagus has to be picked every day, well at dawn, when it dawns, which is when the asparagus comes out all day and at night , the asparagus comes out that is white. Because the one that I know, the one that comes out green is already another price and it is second rate as we say and the white one is first rate. That is why the horse is made so strong and so big so that the asparagus does not turn green and turn white. The white asparagus from the Tudela garden has a slightly sweet flavor and is harvested early. The end of the stem is used almost exclusively. Lettuce is one of the most abundant horticultural varieties and the Tudela garden offers numerous varieties on its land. Unlike other plants that grow in height, lettuce does not require cane shelter as much. But care is also essential so that the leaves appear white and tender and combine well with the rest of the fruits of the garden. The potato, a tuber brought from America by the first European explorers, adapted perfectly to the heat and humidity conditions of the Tudela garden. The gardeners prepare the ground for the potatoes with the moldboard plow in order to leave the ground well crumbled. Afterwards, part of the earth poured by the plow is placed on top of them to leave a spongier and more porous ridge. Well this is reloading the potatoes. This has been done here in Tudela all our lives, always. Because this land that I give you is hollow and the potato root works… Today it is no longer done; It is no longer done because the consumer society requires it like this: they make the entire flowerbed, add herbicide and do not touch it. I am old and I do it like the old people: recharge this and if there is some grass with the veneta. Nowadays no one does this anymore, maybe it’s just me, maybe someone else but I don’t know. This, for example, should get underneath, this soft soil with temperature and humidity because otherwise, if we close the potatoes they will remain scorched. This is all, anything else? well okay. One of the keys to good garden maintenance is the irrigation system. For a foreign irrigator, irrigation in La Mejana de Tudela may seem unorganized at first glance . The reason for this apparent disorder is the abundance of water in this area between rivers. In general, each gardener waters when he believes it is convenient for his crops; He only has to pay attention to the priority that exists between the different streets into which La Mejana is divided, since some have priority over others depending on their distance from the Ebro River. The gardener also takes into account if there is a neighbor who is watering upstream. We have a watchman for… at the beginning of May, for example, we have to put the water through a river on Mondays, through the main one so that it always goes along the Ebro side. Only on Mondays, but that’s only three months and then the water goes everywhere now. The first thing too, the gutter there is first than this one, this one is the second and this one on the left is the third. The order is disrupted on Mondays in the month of May when the land closest to the Ebro River has priority. To carry out this control, padlocks are usually placed on the gates that prevent illegal irrigation. Even the oldest gardeners remember this system; The only thing that has changed throughout the 20th century in the irrigation system is the replacement of a waterwheel that removed the water with motors that are powered by a mini hydroelectric plant. If these pumps fail, the water supply must be interrupted for a whole week to clean the ditches. The irrigation of the Tudela orchard is usually by puddles and the furrows and small earthen dams guide the water through the fields. The water enters systems of ‘cajeros’ or gutters and is regulated through the gates arranged in each of the ditches. The Tudela gardener should note that, in summer, watering cannot be done during the day because the high evaporation does not recommend it and it is better to do it first thing in the morning or at dusk. Gardeners must also devise systems to keep fields away from pests, one of the most important of which is birds, which often come to peck crops and fruit trees. This is a system that is nothing more than to scare away birds. He told me that this would scare them away and I put it up. This thing rotates and you have to make it rotate. It gives this flash on the ground and that’s what scares away the birds. I put this on the ground, that the lettuces are eaten by the sparrows, that the sparrows automatically disappear. If it’s in a tree, I put a rope from tree to tree and hang the mirrors and they don’t touch a cherry, ever. The emergence of new materials, such as plastic, has changed some horticultural techniques in recent years. These have been applied above all to orchards that, like Alfredo’s, have their destiny in the marketing of products in the stores of Tudela. Some rings placed between the ‘ridges’ will hold the plastics for the newly planted tomatoes. To put the plastic so that they don’t freeze, as it is early, since it is March, the frost would freeze them and in 10 or 20 days we will remove the plastic and impale them. A much older system for crop protection was reed cane. The gardeners of Tudela made use of the numerous wild cane plantations that grow along the banks of the Ebro. Jesús Álava is one of those artisans who continue to make and repair the shelters with which the orchards are protected against the force of the wind. This is what you have to take advantage of; I remove the bad ones and put them aside. On the banks of the rivers is where there is the best cane, because of the humidity, not because it is the Ebro. In the irrigation ditches too, there are ditches that have good, good canes. Just as where there is no humidity they are smaller and worse cane. These artisans prepare the canes with manual iron tools such as the peeler, or wooden ones such as the splitter, also made by hand. Well, this is a peeler that is already prepared with four blades. Just as the sickle makes nothing more than a face; The four blades peel the entire cane at once, removing the entire leaf. The reeds were an exceptional product in the garden of Tudela since they were not intended for food but for the manufacture of useful objects both for the garden itself and for other applications. Here in Tudela these reeds were used for the roofs of the houses, in the past; For the facades, just as they now put nets and so on, in the past they used to put hurdles; They were used for shelters on farms. Now in these shelters like this here, they put a fence like this up and all those points and all those points defend them a little and save them more. Well, we now have a fence made. Some shelters in the orchards are also formed by a simple alignment of canes that the gardeners themselves restore in their moments of agricultural inactivity. This is a small renovation that is being done for these field shelters. This one is already many years old and they break down… after years they break down. So when the top part breaks down, we reform them so that they hold up a little; We are reforming them in this position. Before we were all gardeners, now they are more farmers because the countryside is no longer as profitable as it was 40 years ago. And before, when we put so many vegetables, we put these shelters because in this land there is a lot of wind, the wind and this is to put tomatoes, peppers on the plants… and you put this on them and it made them shelter and, of course, when the wind comes it doesn’t hit them anymore; and there was nothing left but the mondo stick of the tomato or the pepper. So at least what was next to the shelter was well preserved and the plant was not damaged. The abundance of water on the banks of the Ebro River causes reeds to sprout spontaneously along the edges of the roads and dams. The gardener covers them with some soil, ensuring that the bases of the stems serve to develop other canes. Well, this is a mission that we did every year, when we cut the canes because then it was recharged with a little earth, the leaf of the same cane stayed there, it rotted and it was like a femada for the same cane. Of course, then what we did is that next to where the sugarcane was, there was a ditch and there was humidity… and there were some tremendous sugarcane bushes. Just as now they are no longer taken care of because the cane is no longer made. One of the most characteristic landscapes that the Tudela orchard has is made up of the reeds that delimit the fields and those that are used during the growth of the tomato plants. The latter are arranged crossed forming a skeleton that withstands the winds well; Furthermore, they are always placed next to the cane shelters that protect them from the strong wind of the Ebro Valley. This protection is essential here since the tomato plant grows over a meter and a half and is more exposed than other plants to inclement weather. Well, this is the process… we have now just removed the plastic, the impaling of the tomato. And now we are already placing the cane so that the tomato stays on the stick hooked and so that it begins to bear its fruit. The lack of these plant supports could cause the tomato plant to warp and its fruits to rot before harvesting. This has already been planted at the beginning of February; It is a time in which we must always protect ourselves with plastic and that there are shelters like here, like there are in this area. It is necessary to control the plant at all times so that it grows for an optimal harvest and does not put out too many branches that would reduce the quality and quantity of its fruits. This is called here, as in other places, the castrón, which is like a head, see? Then you have to remove it because otherwise it would add many guides and it wouldn’t come out, the bush wouldn’t grow. The artichoke is one of the most important indicators of the richness of the land on the banks of the Ebro in Tudela in general and the orchards of La Mejana in particular, since this herbaceous plant needs rich land to develop. It is not in vain that the artichoke is one of the most popular crops in the Tudela garden. The artichoke begins to be harvested at the end of February or the beginning of March and lasts until approximately June. But to collect, you collect every week, every six days they are collected. The artichoke requires a lot of water and nutrients. In addition, Emilio must give him several treatments against “the drill”, a type of worm that is harmful to his development. When cutting the artichoke, you must take into account that the large and small ones come from the same trunk and you should never cut the small one because that way it continues its course and continues to grow. The artichoke is like flowers, after all, they are flowers that grow and the more you cut them, the more flowers emerge. The flowers must be cut respecting so that the small one comes out. The artichoke can be planted with seeds but these produce poorer and thornier fruits . Emilio usually remakes his plantation using shoots or cuttings, so he can obtain varieties of identical quality to the one he has previously grown. Well, here we are with the tractor and with this implement that is an artichoke plant starter . It is special for uprooting the artichoke plant because the artichoke has very deep roots and therefore requires a suitable implement. In the past it was plucked by hand, of course, that was in the past how other things were done by hand. And here we have some plants already uprooted from which the cuttings are taken, as you can see, and the cuttings are planted to replant and produce the artichokes that are the new ones for this year, for the next campaign. Three, four or even five cuttings are usually taken from each artichoke plant. Emilio sells those that are left over in Tudela itself and in Murcia or Alicante. In this way the benefits of the cuttings are combined with those of the harvest. The tomato harvest covers a wide season during the hottest months of the year. One of the later varieties is the one called Monte Carlo. They are caught now: from mid-July to October. That depends on the ice, if ice or rosé comes, it burns them and it doesn’t… but if not, they will last until November. Because since they put enough clothes on, the tomato is hidden and it doesn’t concern them, but approximately three months of harvesting the tomato is being harvested. Subsequently, the tomato cycle will begin again based on the seeds of the best specimens collected. Between May and June, the most anticipated fruit from the Tudela orchard is harvested: asparagus. This is planted in September. But they have not produced for two years; It seems that the land is laid and you have to wait until it is planted for production to take place. And here he is four years old, this bush is four years old. At the moment the asparagus comes out, perhaps the buds remain, perhaps they remain small, and five or six days from now they come out to be harvested. Asparagus production increases considerably if it is watered frequently, but the key is to have heat and in Tudela this factor is very abundant. Harvesting is always hard work because the dates are those indicated by the plant depending on the atmospheric conditions and, consequently, the degree of maturation of the vegetable. The work schedule is very variable for the gardener. In summer the coolest hours are chosen and in winter those provided by the sun. And then the schedule, of course. In winter, no matter how early you come, it’s eight in the morning, even if you stay until one and then in the afternoon you come at 4 and at 6 it’s already dark. Few hours in winter. But it is also much worse to work because you are wearing clothes, it is not like now when you almost wear a swimsuit if it weren’t for the mosquitoes that eat us alive. Vegetables constitute a very important supplement to the Mediterranean diet, beneficially stimulating digestion. They are also the agricultural products that offer the most fruits in relation to the portion of cultivated land. The abundance of water and sun, permanent characteristics in the Tudela orchard, make this type of intensive agriculture thrive. The soil of the Navarra Ribera lands, clay, with abundance of humus and perfectly leveled, is ideal for fruit and vegetable cultivation. The gardener must, however, take care to protect himself from the strong winds of the Ebro Valley, to ensure good irrigation, to rotate his crops every two or three years and to respect the sowing and harvest periods. Afterwards, each one will put their knowledge and experience at the disposal of the improvement of the Tudela garden. In Tudela, some minor vegetables are also grown, such as the so-called rabanetas: a product that provides some complementary income. They are usually used as an accompaniment to salads and have the advantage that they are harvested almost all year round, except in the coldest months of December and January, as rabanetas hardly require any care. This is the packaging of the rabaneta to put it up for sale. It is put in a bunch of about a dozen and this is already marketed like this. The end of the commercialization of vegetables has also changed the composition of garden workers. Today, young men are hardly seen working the land because the smallholdings that make up the traditional garden cannot compete in profitability with other economic activities in Tudela or the region. This fact has also been noted in the current limited presence of gardeners, a fundamental figure in garden work until the mid-20th century . The entire family participated in agricultural work. Strong things do it for me. For example, now the reeds, because a woman does not have the same strength as a man and they stick them in me and then later I tie the ropes and then that is more graceful. I plant it, cut it and everything. He who comes to make me a song, maybe that’s it. It’s all about wanting. Before, men didn’t make beds or anything, and now it does, what difference does it make if he is a man or if he is a woman, but that you like him? Another woman, Teresa Aldaz, contributes with her store to the maintenance of the Tudela garden. Alfredo Montes, her husband, nurtures this establishment that is an exception to what was once a norm. People appreciate it more, the truth is that there is very little… I am not saying about this that it is raised in battle, that it is raised with more care, with better fertilizers, with natural fertilizers, it is appreciated. People know how to appreciate it; It shows in flavor, it shows in quality, it shows in everything. This morning at the end of the day. As soon as you leave the day you have to take it to spend the product when you get to the store. The main products they sell are artichokes, the famous Tudela buds and asparagus, and some thistle. The vegetables all come from the home garden. My husband raises it all, old style on top of that, because he does everything by hand, and nothing like these sophisticated vehicles. The fertile orchards of Tudela continue to be cultivated by its last gardeners, by those who have not known life in any other way than waking up at very early hours and caring for the land to get its fruits. Well, it is disappearing because young people no longer want to come to the countryside. And it is the older people who support them, but as the older people fail, the young people no longer even come to eat. It’s sad but it’s the reality here; but what are we going to do! The gardeners contributed great economic development to Tudela at a time when agriculture was the basis of all human settlement; Furthermore, their agricultural practices bring ancient times closer to modern times, in which the demand for agriculture in harmony with the environment increases . The disappearance of this way of life, that of the garden, would mean the loss of knowledge accumulated by experience over centuries of patient work. I am Eugenio Monesma, director and producer of the documentary you just watched. If you liked it, I encourage you to subscribe to the channel by activating notifications from the bell and so you can enjoy the hundreds of documentaries that I already have on the channel and which I will be uploading weekly.

En Tudela, la capital navarra en la ribera del Ebro, se encuentran las más ricas huertas de toda la zona. En el año 2003 era una zona donde se unían aperos antiguos, hortalizas de cultivo tradicional, sistemas sociales de riego y grupos de hortelanos que acercaban formas de vida ancestrales a las reivindicaciones más contemporáneas de una agricultura en armonía con el medio ambiente.

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