El Sal Garden Grows Plants and Curiosity

Interview and Spanish Translation by Marco Arroyo

People are starting to take notice of Demosfé, our community garden in El Salvador. More people are buying produce from the garden, and that means that more people are taking note of the new vegetables and new farming techniques we are utilizing. “When they look at the garden, they ask about some of the vegetables that they are not familiar with, or they ask if they could get seeds of that type of vegetable," Antonio, the lead manager of Demosfé, said recently.

Antonio and his crew have experimented with a variety of crops since beginning Demosfé. This season Antonio planted Jamaica for the first time, and here he is successfully harvesting Jamaica flower!

This has always been the plan. Create a garden that could demonstrate the different agricultural techniques available. “While the majority of farmers in the area as a whole depend on the use of agrochemicals and synthetic fertilizers,” Antonio stated, “we depend on our natural resources. Our method contributes to the development of soil microbiology and the development of the plants, while the method used by the majority of the farmers only shortens the life that our soils have left.”

In demonstrating new agricultural techniques, it has been important that the garden makes its techniques duplicable to their neighbors. This allows other farmers to use the techniques in their own gardens. “I believe that everything we have been doing can be copied by anyone who wants to participate in the process of growing their own food,” Antonio says. “We have been working with materials that can be found anywhere in the area and with tools that anyone working in agriculture will have at their homes.”

Antonio stands behind the duplicability of their operation, and he has worked hard to ensure that anyone can benefit from the work they are doing. “I considered of great importance the need that most people have to access the majority of seeds that we sow. For this reason, I am giving myself the task of obtaining our own seeds that we need to use. And also I give to people who need to sow. I have understood that our work is about sharing wisdom so that others may have the opportunity to change their minds as well. That's what this is about: ‘receive and share what I have received.’”

Our campus is well known among the surrounding communities for our kids program, monthly youth gatherings and bible studies, and for our garden. Production has been doing so well, neighbors have been purchasing vegetables from us.

The increased talk about the garden, along with the duplicability of the methods, has already led local farmers to try out the plants and techniques in their own gardens. “There are also some people who we have been helping to work in their small gardens at home. We provide them with different types of seeds. They have experienced good production at their homes as well! It is a blessing to be helping these families right now!”

This has been a great start to the long and challenging process of introducing new methods alongside the traditional methods that farmers have relied upon for years. It’s a challenge that Antonio still asks for prayer and support to overcome. “The biggest and most difficult dream we have is to change the minds of the people we will work with. This will perhaps be the most difficult to fulfill but not impossible because of our trust in God.”

Antonio knows such change is possible in the mind’s of his fellow farmers because he has experienced that change for himself. “I believe that if I could change my mind, others can, and more will now that I have the key to open that door of disbelief.” The key is the demonstration garden that will continue to grow thanks to many people’s hard work and your generous support.