CAMAGÜEY.- There are so many charms. They fall in love with its paradisiacal landscapes: a centuries-old savannah where cattle and horses graze; a serene stream that rests in dry seasons and drains out when the first rains fall; a copious forest populated by specimens of exotic names and fruits that shade a productive apiary; the sown fields and a palm grove, slender, very Cuban.
The silence of these views is accompanied by the song of the muleteer, the thrush and the tocororo, and the insistent kikiriquí of the rooster. The Seat is the name that reads in the writing of this place, but it could well be called The Enchanted Farm, as it is already baptized by those who inhabit it.
Located at kilometer 44 of the highway to Santa Cruz del Sur, in Monte Grande, Flor de Mayo Popular Council, the integral ranch, belonging to the Cabrera Novoa family and associated with the Credits and Services Cooperative (CCS, by its acronym in Spanish) Pino Tres, presumes (with results), in addition to its beauty, important titles: the status of Farm of Excellence, which was granted almost a decade ago by the Movement of Urban and Suburban Agriculture and being the only Botanical Garden of Fruit Trees in the province.
Support so many achievements, in addition to the genetic tradition attached to the field, the unconditional love of Blancanieves Cabrera Novoa and Guillermo Villavicencio Flores (Willy).
Everyone knows Blanca (fourth generation of her caste) as La Gallega. It was not she who "pulled" Guillermo to the mountain, but the other way around. “I met her at the Mechanical Plant (Ignacio Agramonte Industrial Military Company). We both worked there, I'm from the city of Camagüey. She brought us together in literature, she wrote novels and I coordinated the Ignacio Agramonte Literary Workshop, ”recalls Willy.
“We were already married when the Special Period arrived and he gave me so much for us to move here with my parents that one day I ended up giving in. He did not know anything about the mountains, or how cassava is grown, and you see, today he is a complete peasant, ”says Blanquita.
This cradle from Santa Cruz adds to her many tasks the responsibility of being, since September 2020, the president of the CCS Pino Tres.
“The cooperative occupies me most of the time. When we get it to work better then I can dedicate myself more to the farm. For now I help to veneer the fruit trees or the pasture of the pigs, I tend the garden and the house. If Willy is not there, I separate and walk the cattle. Time is very little, but I try to spend my weekends with my family. I love this place. I have been able to travel and I always return to my land ”.
“Each project we undertake together. She always goes by my side or in front of me, ”says Willy, who inherited the care of a fixed apiary from his father-in-law, today with 50 hives and a stable production of two tons of honey per year.
In three caballerias of land, the couple cares for 85 cattle, 14 horses, tenths and a half pigs (mainly Creoles), also rams, bananas, geese, chickens and peacocks. They intend to rescue the baby rabbits. They add to the livestock and the more than 10,000 liters of milk that are delivered to the industry each calendar on average, various crops, where they were, before their extinction in that territory, members of the advanced productive movement.
A UNIQUE FOREST
A journey through the El Asiento forest is equivalent to being transported to other latitudes. In its long list of 160 species there are specimens of averia, cayenne cherry, ca-pulí, strawberry guava, macadamia, walnut, date, anacahuita, Malaga rose apple and Inchi or Inca peanut, among many other rarities. The collection is distinguished by specimens such as the famous baobab, the guáimaro and the birijí, a species in danger of extinction.
The botanical fruit garden, the only one of its kind in the province, also has varieties better known to Cubans such as mango, guava, coconut, medlar, tamarind, anoncillo, anón, custard apple, soursop, Chinese pear and citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons.
Almost a decade ago, the doctor of Sciences Adolfo Rodríguez Nodals (now deceased), then director of the National Program for Urban Agriculture, gave the couple the seeds of the 100th variety. Obtaining the status of a botanical garden was just one step. Their goal is to keep it and keep growing.
According to Blancanieves, in the desire to add new species, many doors have bien knocked, even outside the municipality and the province.
“We have excellent relationships with the La Quinta de los Molinos botanical garden, in Havana, and the Camagüey botanical park. We exchange copies with them. From the province they frequently bring us seeds, cuttings and seedlings for us to develop and multiply here. It is a recognition of the quality and seriousness of our work ”, she pointed out.
This pair, noted for its agroecological practices and their incessant work in favor of conservation, meet in the forest a generous friend who guarantees food, both for them and for the animals, nectar and pollen for their bees.
UNUSUAL WRITER
Villavicencio is a peasant, but also a writer of children's literature and a cultural promoter in the area. He finds in his days space for these many needs. He likes to write, that's why he joined every literary workshop he had the opportunity, but his most fruitful stage is his inspiration in the country landscapes, his animals and his people. All his stories are written in verses.
“I don't write on a computer. The ideas come to me the same when I am pulling the cow's tit as I am working the land. When they come to me I hum them, sing them and when I get home I write them on a piece of paper so as not to forget them and keep them in a little box. Then I put all that together and put the book together. The first one I wrote was Daniel, who has not yet published it, although I don't lose hope. Then came El Gallinero Insólito, which brings together real stories of the farm's animals and my experiences. Later, Araña Nena, The Bandit Cat and the Little Thief Mouse were born, and finally Olor a Guardaraya, which is named after the children's club that we have at the community's Cándido González primary school. Now I gather the misdeeds of the members of the henhouse for a next volume ”, explained Guillermo.
Sharing books with children becomes one of the great joys of him, no matter if they are written by him. Whenever the epidemiological situation allows it, he will put a "bookseller" backpack on his shoulders and will take to the road, private truck by means of, to go from school to school, from batey to batey, sharing literature with the little ones . All this he does just for the love of art, literally, for the pleasure of promoting reading.
“As soon as COVID-19 allows me, I will be back on the road. In the intricate places there are no bookstores, nor do cultural events come, so what we do is more important. Our purpose is to awaken latent sensitivity in infants. We help with the sale of books, without any financial interest. And when parents cannot afford them, I buy them and give them to them, I can't see a sad child because he wants a book and can't have it. In my cultural adventures Blanca also accompanies me whenever she can, an excellent oral narrator ”.
Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez