The 2023 Moon and Plant Agenda is now available. In addition to being a very useful agenda for writing work and household objects, it explains the changes of the moon and the works with plants at each time in function of the moon, both in the orchard, the forest, the fruit trees and the floral orchard. Therefore, it gives us contents to dress us in the culture of the land of our country, in small doses of pleasure. For example, through old sayings, as illustrations, concrete and brief explanations ...

The 2023 agenda focuses on animals: insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds that we can find in the garden. Following the steles of the orchard animals, Jakoba Errekondo and Antton Olariaga, the author of the agenda, together with biologist Iñaki Sanz Azkue and the bertsolaris Eñaut and Unai Agirre offered a very special performance in Alegia on 13 October. You can see it in full in the following video:

Jakoba Errekondo, the importance of "green barriers"

The texts of the agenda have been written by Jakoba Errekondo and in the presentation of Alegia presented the contents of the agenda so that the citizen can make the most of this tool. The agenda also promotes food sovereignty, as Errekondo noted: "Every page shows, by drawing, what we can eat made in the Basque Country at that time. If we've brought home a vegetable that doesn't appear there to eat, it means it's come miles later." He then explained the importance of biodiversity in the orchard and vice versa, as orchards offer accommodation and grassland such as pollinators, birds, etc. He also talked about the importance of earthworms, which soothe and heal the earth, and he explained that before buying a land you could see the number of earthworms, a sign of their fertility. Following the question put to him by the public, he explained that the barriers are very beneficial to biodiversity, especially the "green barriers" that make up plants and scrubs, and although the orchard as a man is a restricted land, whatever it is for animals, that do not separate the boundaries of the pieces.

Antton Olariaga, representing the identity of animals

Antton Olariaga reached an agreement with a lot of humor, and the audience was eager to hear his words and his drawings. He explained that it was a challenge when he received Jakoba's call and learned that this year's theme would be "bugs." Seeing all the pages full of bugs, without any message, was boring and the first condition is that the creator himself had a good time, so that the reader would enjoy it. To combat it, he decided to place each animal in an environment and has created the scene or story that the nature of each animal required, forming each animal a whole leaf "vignette" or "piztiary". For example, he's put the swallows and the cespitous in the work of the hostess and a passionate apple hedgehog by selecting the menu in a restaurant.

Orchard and biodiversity reinforce each other

Biologist Iñaki Sanz Azkue combined scientific research with popular knowledge in his intervention. He explained that the greater the biodiversity, the healthier the orchard will be to fight pests, for example, because each class of birds has a different peak, some feed on insects and others. He stressed that orchards are few places for nature observation in cities and that the survival of species such as the sapo corridor lived in the dunes of Txingudi, which as their residence has become asphalt due to urbanism, takes refuge in orchards and is in danger of extinction.

Bertsos de la txepetxa... and other beasts

The Unai and Eñaut Agirre brothers completed the performance with ancient verses. Pedro Mari Otaño began the talk with a series of bertsos to the txepetxea, who sang in two voices for the enjoyment of the public. At the center of the talk, Eñaut sang a second lot, which Motza de Zubieta (Gipuzkoa) put in response to the Txepetxa series, indicating that the txepetxa is a good teacher for the person, but that many other animals give us a lot to learn with their activities. And to close the session, the two brothers sang three bertsos with apples placed by Iñaki Murua, who talk about the flowering and reproduction of the apples.

Jakoba Errekondo thanked the Alegia City Hall for closing the conference for the facilities provided to organize the action and valued the public vegetable gardens project. Let this special talk, collected in the video, continue to nourish the desire of nature lovers, orchards and bertsolaris fans.