While Andrea Battiata speaks, I feel that there are no other ways to cultivate than his. Intensive crops? What are they? Organic products? really? cultivated adjacent to soaked land of unknown things…. Bio-dynamic fields? insects that fight other insects? No, there is no battle on the fields of Bellosguardo.
And I really understand that this is the real way to grow: making plants happy.
Andrea Battiata is an agronomist who has traveled the world; he studied plants, lands, minerals, cultivation methods. He had never thought he could also be a farmer and start a vegetable garden. The inspiration came from what is farthest from the idea of a garden organized and cultivated according to the seasons and for the needs of human nutrition: the rainforests of Brazil, Australia, Asia.
Well…. what do rainforests have in common with Mediterranean gardens?
Not much. But you can learn from them. You can learn from the forests; you can study and understand where they get the energy to survive, grow, get up, become powerful. Energy comes – as well as from the sun and the moon, which, as farmers all over the world and of all times know, have a lot to do with plant growth – from humus. Humus made of deciduous leaves; from the development of bacteria and fungi. Completely vegetarian humus, enriched with self-fermentation enzymes.
Andrea Battiata resumes – it would be better to say that he never stopped – to study: he studies cellular nutrition, he studies the Japanese cultivation system with EM enzymes.
Here I surrender: matter becomes micro-biology. I differ too much from mine which is simply the kitchen. But I trust blindly in this wise man.
Florence is one of the most amazing cities in the world. That we are in Florence is clear from the photo above. In what other cities are there vineyards and olive groves right in between? here we are on the Bellosguardo hill: we are above piazza Tasso on one side and piazza di Porta Romana on the other side. Below us – depending on where you turn – the Boboli Gardens, via di Soffiano
Andrea Battiata’s bio-active garden is up here. Getting there and getting off is a pleasure for the eyes: green hills, the Belvedere, the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore ….
the vegetables that arrive at school every week leave from here. We don’t know which ones: it depends on the season, on the growth, on the availability …
Andrea Battiata continues to speak. He is charming. He explains how and why his plants do not get sick: because they take the right nutrients from the earth themselves. How we should do it: eat right to boost our immune system.
The bio-active garden is enjoying great success. There is an ongoing project, funded by the European Union, which sees the University of Florence committed to studying the methods of Andrea Battiata.
Every day the bio-active garden receives visits: from associations, from schools, from curious private citizens and with innovative ideas.
Here I am in the center, between Andrea Battiata and Massimo of the NAJS Association of Pontassieve.
We are offered a sweet breakfast before leaving: healthy and sweet strawberries, freshly picked, with a “strawberry” flavor (sorry if it’s not enough …) that persists pleasantly for a long time.
Marcella Ansaldo © 2021