Ana de la Maza, a young getxotarra who learned the upper cycle of Environmental Health, realized the importance of what we eat. He also noted that, despite having “very good lands” to produce in the Basque Country, most of the foods that make up our diet are imported from outside: “We have a big problem with food, we don’t know what we really eat.”

To deal with it, De la Maza brings together some friends and starts producing its products in a single rental eight years ago in Derio. “At first it was just a fun, a kind of hobbie. There I saw that the land gave a lot, and it was impossible for me to consume everything produced at home. So I would go to Algorta loaded with tomato bags and bell pepper.” After this first contact with the primary sector, he embarked on a more ambitious project with two other girls: Solotxu. In Uribe Kosta there are few rural areas and I knew it would be difficult to find a land.

After searching and searching, they were lucky enough that the owner of Txakoli Motagane de Erandio gave them their lands to build a space to learn about agriculture and the rural world. So they started producing seasonal produce, they created a space to experiment and they organized birthdays and workshops. “We were beginners and it was a very large project. This made the relationship between us a little stronger,” explains the getxo. However, his love for agriculture remained intact in his heart and soon embarked on a new project in Garai.

The couple had land in the Duranguesado area and after demolishing the pine forests in the area, they planted fruit trees of all kinds and formed a vegetable garden, among other things. Since then he has lived, surviving the donations of the land. There they work everything, and then they distribute the baskets with the seasonal vegetables among the young people in the area. It also produces juices, jams, beers and preserves, as well as those obtained from animals. As he explains, he made the decision to go from one region to another "with difficulty". In fact, the land of Uribe Kosta has become an “ideal” for production: “The climate is mild, while inside it is hard, very cold in winter and very hot in summer.”

The hard work of the baserritars

The young getxotarra recognizes that the work of the baserritarra is hard, “because you have to work every day and the benefits are very small”, although he stresses that “in no case” would change the current one with an office work. De la Maza has travelled for eight years, from one place to another, to settle in Garai. In this regard, he has often thought about when he would take the leap to professionalisation and two months ago he took the step. “It has been a very important decision, because my benefits are not very high. It is important, however, that you can be quoted, but it is difficult for you to be a farmer and a “legal” farmer. In order to have a health permit to sell in shops and fairs it is necessary to be discharged into self-employed, and I have already achieved it.”