vilda

I was extremely pleased with my visit to Vilda's project. It is excellent in every respect. Once again we are thinking along the same lines in so many ways. I think that what she is doing could have a great application at Belmont. The official name is: The Community Project for Food Preservation of Condiments and Medicinal Plants has been running since 1991. Its main aim is to promote health through better preservation and preparation of food, this also includes growing food and nutritional plants. Vilda did postgraduate work at the Rowatt Institute in Aberdeen in 1966 (good old Abz).

The centre has a staff of just 3 people and receives no government money other than indirect support of the programmes and access to resources. One of the most important resources is the state-owned ratio and TV stations. Vilda and her husband Jose present regular TV and Radio shows. With this outreach they can contact many thousands of people. They have two small gardens on site which basically look like this:

[A hand drawing which you can't see here, sorry]

The layout isn't as critical as the work which is being done [see, told you it wasn't that important]. Vilda uses principles of Permaculture, but is not as concerned with the gardening aspect as with food preparation and storage (although seeing the gardens you might think otherwise, they are spectacular). Near the building a small area is used for upstanding pipes filled with soil and trickle irrigated. I think that this sort of system may work very well for Belmont, with rainwater collection systems on S facing walls near the buildings. The permaculture garden may be a good idea for the open area, with small buildings (straw?) to be used for demonstration, preparation and drying. [note to self cut out]

We only had an hour to talk but it was well worth the time. I bought several of her books, all in Spanish less one in English which was a partial translation of the original Spanish version. They are currently looking for a partner to help with translation and publication in English. I do believe Vilda is an excellent person to work with - she is a pillar of knowledge. Her work is very Cuba-specific, but i believe the approach maybe transferable. I will have to look for these types of 'canning' manuals in the UK. I know many of them exist in Nova Scotia, mostly from the 70s and 80s when there was an Extension HE system which existed as a branch of the NSDAM. Sadly, it is mostly all gone.