Cilantro, just beginning to sprout, from a chinampa in Xochimilco.
When I moved to Mexico City in 2009, people here didn’t talk much about where their food came from. A few stores sold organic groceries. A small handful of restaurants, including Pujol and Nicos, mentioned local items on their menus, but that was about it.
A lot has changed. Mexico City now has an eco-friendly tiangius every two weeks. La Nicolasa, a fabulous shop in Azcapotzalco, stocks organic products made in Mexico. New restaurants including Quintonil, Maximo and Kui make it a point to use locally sourced ingredients where possible.
De la Chinampa, a company that works with Xochimilco farmers, has supplied local restaurants with pesticide-free, ecologically friendly produce for the past three years. Lately, though, they’re pushing to let consumers know that they also do private deliveries. They’ll bring Xochimilco-grown fruits and vegetables to your doorstep for a small (75 peso) delivery fee. You receive a spreadsheet, place an order and receive the goods within one or two days.
De La Chinampa offers tours to anyone who wants to learn more about their operations, so I organized a group of 12 people last weekend to hit the chinampas. Chinampa is the name for a floating farm and it’s the main way produce is grown in Xochimilco — sprouted in layers of fertile mud, directly over water.
The Chinampas Tour Begins
We set off from the Cuemanco docks around 4 p.m., with a gorgeous salad (composed of locally grown ingredients) and cheese to munch on as we drifted.
Ricardo Rodriguez, who runs De la Chinampa with his wife Laura, a biologist, mentioned that more than 26,000 hectares of Xochimilco’s land could be developed for farming. Nearly 12,000 of those hectares are in Xochimilco’s Ecological Reserve, the area we were visiting that day.
De La Chinampa wants to generate a demand for Xochimilco produce, which would eventually create more farming jobs and hopefully restore the area ecologically. Much has been written about Xochimilco’s ecological decline; a recent Washington Post story quoted an UNAM biologist saying that he feared that within his lifetime, Xochimilco would no longer exist.
For those who don’t know, Xochimilco has been an agriculture hub in Mexico City since prehispanic times. A network of canals used to ferry produce to the Centro. The last canal only disappeared in the 20th century.
Ricardo said he believes this damage is reversible. It’s an overwhelming challenge, but on the tour, meeting the farmers, it seems possible.
Inside a working chinampa in Xochimilco
About an hour into our ride, we docked at a little cottage with flowers growing out front. A field stretched out to the left of the cottage. Nothing moved, except for wind rustling the trees.
Ricardo introduced us to the farmer, Nicolás, who’s been growing produce on this particular chinampa since he was a little boy. He showed us his neat rows of quelites, chard, radishes, and the lushest spinach I’d ever seen.
Spinach at a chinampa, or floating farm, in Xochimilco
Nicolás, a Xochimilco farmer, with the spinach he grows
Chard that's barely begun to sprout
A row of quelites.
Nicolás walked us through his farming process, describing how he uses mud, earth and local ground cover to keep the soil moist, cool or warm when needed. He also stressed that he doesn’t use any chemicals. “I’m an enemy of chemicals,” he said, smiling. My friend Janneth asked him how he learned to farm and he told us his grandmother taught him.
None of us really wanted to leave the farm — the grass there was so thick, I wanted to take off my shoes and run around — but we eventually got back on the boat.
We stopped at a smaller farm afterward. We poked around the succulents and patches of spinach.
A small chinampa in Xochimilco
I've never seen succulents like this before.
Finally, it was time to leave. We watched the sun set on the way back.
As I mentioned above, De La Chinampa will give tours to anyone (a minimum of 10 people) interested in learning about their products. The tour runs about 3 to 3 1/2 hours and is conducted in Spanish. To arrange a tour, or to receive a spreadsheet with De La Chinampa’s products available for order, contact Ricardo Rodriguez with De La Chinampa at ricardo[at]delachinampa.mx.
De La Chinampa is also seeking donations to build a sort of community center for the chinamperos in Xochimilco, which would offer training on local agricultural issues. They’re getting close to their May deadline and still need quite a bit. To give, visit their Fondeadora page (it’s like Kickstarter in Mexico).
