More and more residents in the Riviera Maya are learning you don´t need a huge backyard to grow your own food
There is a new trend in Playa del Carmen: planting one’s own organic garden. You don’t need much space, as you can grow tomato, radish, basil, oregano, spinach, and epazote in your flower pots and buckets.
By growing your own food, not only do you save on groceries, but you also consume healthier pesticide-free vegetables.
Moce Yax Cuxtal has nine years of experience teaching classes on organic gardening and has impacted more than 400 people, including housewives, students, hotel workers, and citizens.
Organization president, Laura Patiño Esquivel, indicated that although organic gardening is a trend right now, she is confident that it will become a lifestyle.
“The fact that it is trendy is helping us because we are changing the way we eat. When it stops being a trend, it will be done consciously and as a habit,” she explained.
With the planting of the garden, people learn to cultivate their own food. These teachings are knowledge that our ancestors would have liked us to preserve.
The fact that it is trendy is helping us because we are changing the way we eat. When it stops being a trend, it will be done consciously and as a habit”
Laura Patiño Esquivel, Organization President
Moce Yax Cuxtal
There are already organized groups that meet in parks and cultural centers during the weekends to exchange their harvest. It can be sold, as some homes produce up to 3 kilograms of the habanero chili, and “that is more than what a family can consume, so they exchange it or sell it”, she added.
Taking care of the gardens requires quite an investment of time, depending on its size. It needs to be watered and fertilized daily, as the Riviera Maya lacks topsoil.
Organic gardening is not exclusive to Playa del Carmen. Uxuxubi, a community located in the jungle near Akumal, is producing mango, cilantro, sour orange, lime, and habanero chili.
Inmates of the local detention center received training to take care of organic gardens, successfully planting chile habanero, tomato, squash, and cucumber.
For more information,
visit Facebook/Moce Yax Cuxtal AC.
