Mikel Ansorena, a 21-year-old and one of the founders of the Ermitaldea, says that the goal they pursue with the orchard is “to let Ermitagaina and Mendebaldea be lottery neighborhoods and to strengthen ties between neighbors of different ages.” The different generations can be seen in the collective itself, where, for example, biologist Enrique Herranz participates with his daughter Maite. From the father’s point of view, when in 2011 the Government of Navarra opened the Western Library, “there was a small outbreak of the cultural activity of the neighborhood”, and now they want to “also boost the intervention”.

With the creation of the garden, the neighbors hope to obtain, in addition to cultural activities, the participation they missed in the neighborhoods of Ermitagaina and Mendebaldea. But to do so, the road that has been taken so far in collaboration with the City Hall has been fundamental. Marina Jiménez, head of the Urban Ecology Service of the City of Pamplona, has collaborated on the road, although he has ensured that "the real drivers" have been the neighbors. “I only give advice on bureaucratic issues, but the city does not make urban orchards on its own. For this, we must have a resident institution that makes proposals,” explains Jiménez.

He was in charge of seeking the supplier of the material after the approval of the project by the City Hall. Among all the options he chose the Elkarkide Foundation, made up of people with intellectual disabilities, and the technician says that in Ermitaldea they are “fascinated by the service”. In this way, people of different conditions have also managed to integrate into the garden project.

Auzolan at base

On Saturday's auzolan, for example, there was a family of refugees coming from Venezuela three months ago, with two daughters of seven and four years, their father and their grandparents. Along with her mother, they reside in the Pamplona district of Arrosadía, but they have already been in the Piparrika garden of the Casco Viejo and in the West offering their help. The children’s father, Javier Medina, says that “it is a very nice way to learn to take care of nature for children” and that it serves to “make friends and meet people” in a new home for those who come from outside.

This goal has already been achieved by the American Sarah Lauhead, present in the auzolan of the vegetable garden on Saturday. She has been in Pamplona/Iruña for eight years and is now pursuing her PhD in Economic Law (around her) by the University of Navarra. Lauhead acknowledges that he “missed the work of Minnesota orchards.” He also believes that community gardens are “an excellent idea for the neighbourhood”.

The Madrid couple formed by Patricia Calderón and Javier Terán are also very integrated in the garden management team. In yesterday's auzolan, while his two- and three-year-old daughters were playing, he reminded them of the garden they had created after occupying a land in Vallecas. “We presented our project from the beginning to the City Council of Madrid, but they did not give us facilities and we did it with the plots. In the end, thanks to the pressure of an association of the city’s neighbors, the City Hall was involved in the gardens of Vallecas”, they say. They now live in the West and see in the neighborhood a unique opportunity to “develop a local and responsible economy” and “grow in contact with nature.”

Facilitating pollination

To do so, in the new space created there will be a space for boys and girls to play. The orchard has been placed next to the containers of the compost already made, and will have an area of aromatic plants and levels of orchard and planting plots. For a little while, Pedro Esteban, from Ermitaldea, has designed a beautiful shoe as he found on the internet, “according to the method that is spreading in South America by climate change,” he explained. This model consists of placing a flourished shrub in the center of the circular slippers for insects to spin on the surrounding plants and favor pollination. On the other hand, orchard levels are divided into four parts, according to what they will give: roots, leaves, fruits and legumes, such as carrots, lettuce, tomatoes and pods, respectively.

The harvest that is harvested in the vegetable garden will be distributed among those who use or cultivate it for neighborhood meals and the participation will be totally free, as well as in the neighborhood orchards of Alde Zaharra, Donibane and Txantrea that are already underway in Pamplona. They have all come together through a newly established working group to help and coordinate each other. This, as Marina Jiménez has said, hopes it will serve to “develop gardens in neighborhoods such as Mendillorri, Etxabakoitz or Buztintxuri, which have similar proposals”. The City Hall has a budget of EUR 15,000 per vegetable garden.

In Jiménez’s words, “these ideas are very enriching and serve to meet many interesting people.” The next steps to connect the city’s neighbors and reactivate the streets will take place in a meeting to be held on Friday morning in the Iturrama district and on Saturday in the first auzolan to prepare the vegetable garden of the Rochapea. In fact, these types of projects, at least for the time being, have served to awaken the “lottery neighborhoods” of Mendebaldea and Ermitagaina.