14th February
We left from the Nave saying goodbye to the friends living there, in the morning, and they each had a little goodbye present. It really felt like a departure, especially for Alberto who lives there, but even for me who still had to stop by my parents and grandfather.
On our way to Gassino, we found after few km a hitchhiker, an older man with a beard, waiting under a light rain. After many years of hitchhiking, I felt so happy to finally be able to return the favour and to start our trip like that!
We arrived at Ortocampo for a day of discovery and sharing on the theme of agriculture synergistic.
Many people are already there, many come from Turin: it is the group that followed Jorge’s introduction to permaculture classes. Jorge is present, along with Venus who prepared some vegan deserts. There’s also Antonio De Falco, among the first to introduce the concept of synergistic gardening in Italy.
Standing in the middle, from left: Luciano Mastroleo, managing Ortocampo; Jorge Barbosa, teaching introduction to permaculture; Antonio de Falco, precursor of synergistic agriculture in Italy
A handwritten sign recalls the principles of this type of agriculture, initiated by Emilia Hazelip, which incorporates some of the ideas of Masanobu Fukuoka’s no-till farming.
Ortocampo is a synergistic vegetable garden that was started ten years ago. It is not so common in Italy to see synergistic gardens which have been running for so long. This already makes it possible to draw some conclusions. For example, Luciano, who runs the garden, has found that with the diversification of cultures the pests decrease and today has almost no weed problems or plant diseases.
The social cooperative’s Arcobaleno (rainbow) manages the garden. Two days a week, Luciano gardens with a group of disabled young people. This is part of his permacultural vision. He applies the principle of people care, planning the garden so that most of it is accessible by people in wheelchairs or with other physical disabilities.
After visiting the garden, we finish the day around the fire, with music and songs, eating the remains of lunch and saying some more goodbyes.
For us, the day is not over and we move to Val di Susa, known also for the TAV (high-speed train) site and the blockading camp with where activists are staying and fighting to stop the project.
But the reason we went there was a concert of Occitan folk music. It was the best way to say goodbye to our region, the only part of Italy which belongs to Occitania cultural area. There were more old people than I am used to seeing in Turin’s concerts, and I was very moved when they all started to sing a couple of traditional songs in the local dialect, hugging.
