Francisco Santana lives in the centre of Havana, the capital city of Cuba. His apartment is on the second floor of a house. His terrace is the rooftop of his neighbour’s house. One summer, his children were having trouble sleeping because of the heat. It was a long, hot summer, and on the rooftop the heat from the sun was very strong. Mr. Santana had an idea – maybe he could shade the house with a vine. Something with a lot of leaves. He planted a grapevine in the soil beside the house. (In fact, he actually broke the concrete pathway next to his building so he could plant the grapevine in the soil.) The grapevine grew well. It grew up the side of the house and onto the roof. Once it got that far Mr. Santana built a trellis on the roof. After a few years the vine covered the trellis. And his plan worked. The grapevine shaded the house, and even in the heat of summer his family were able to sleep. The grapevine gave the family far more than shade and rest. Today that grapevine is 30 years old, and every year it produces one tonne of grapes. Mr. Santana harvests 350 kg of grapes to sell. From the rest of the harvest he makes 600 litres of red wine and 100 litres of vinegar. He prunes branches and leaves from the vine. Then he puts them in a compost pile of the roof. He makes regular visits to the market and gathers soil from the ground around the vegetable stalls. He sweeps it up and carries the soil home in containers, up to the roof. When he has enough soil and compost he mixes them together. He also has a worm bin on the roof and a pigeon pen. He mixes leaves with worm castings and pigeon manure. He fills pots and old tires with the soil, compost and manure mixture. Then he plants tomatoes and other vegetables in the tires and pots. Today he has a beautiful, productive vegetable garden growing in containers on this roof. When he first started to grow the grapevine he had a problem. His neighbours were stealing the grapes. How did he react? He took a branch cutting from the vine and gave it to his neighbours to plant. Now they have their own grape producing vine, and the problem is solved. Roberto Perez Rivero, via Developing Countries Farm Radio Network, Canada. |