Meet the Farmers Reclaiming Puerto Rico’s Agricultural History

Residents in a rural Puerto Rican community are reviving a historic botanical garden to serve as an example of local and sustainable farming.

BY CARLY GRAF, YES! MAGAZINE
Agroecology, FARMING, Local Food
Posted on: July 5, 2019Published: Civil Eats

  

In the shadow of Monte Pirucho, once a place of worship for the Taino tribe, Tara Rodríguez Besosa pulls a long, spiny plant from the bed of a small community garden and begins plucking its leaves.

Called “la ruda” (rue), the plant, which releases a strong herbaceous scent, has a storied history as part of birth control trialsonce covertly conducted in Puerto Rico by mainland medical researchers. But the indigenous herb’s powers had originally been used for good.

“That’s what we call a hot plant,” says Carmen Veguilla, a local farmer who runs the community garden. “It can be used effectively for things like anxiety, menstrual cramps or to ward off bad spirits, but you have to respect and understand its purpose.”

Veguilla and other residents of San Salvador, a small agrarian community 30 miles south of San Juan, grow la ruda and other plants and medicinal herbs endemic to the Caribbean island. They are the centerpiece of El Jardin Ecológico del San Salvador, a community garden rejuvenated after Hurricane Maria, and serving as an example of local and sustainable farming.                                                               To read further, go to:  https://civileats.com/2019/07/05/meet-the-farmers-reclaiming-puerto-ricos-agricultural-history/