The only field trip organized during Urbact II “Sustainable food in urban communities” project, started in Ourense on 29 September 2014 and finished on 3 October 2014, the local coordinator Uxio Novo being our welcoming host, right from the beginning.
Unfortunately, Vaslui was the only partner able to attend Ourense’s invitation, and it was represented by Stefan Dudau (project manager for Vaslui), Vasile Paval (LSG coordinator, Vaslui Municipality Mayor) and one of our LSG members Catalin Idriceanu.
According to the agenda proposed by our host, the field trip officially started on Tuesday morning, when Ourense’s mayor welcomed us along with members of the local council and local media, at the City Hall.
Next step was to meet the LSG members during a session of experience exchange, and a visit to the “Gardens of friends of Earth” in Polvorin Neighborhood.
Another interesting visit was at the “Public orchards of Forest Park” in Montealegre, where from local funds, our hosts managed to offer to several members of the community the chance to have their own piece of land, to learn how to cultivate vegetables and fruits (allotment gardens).
Another interesting Ourense initiative was the “Land Bank services”, where they were gathering info about all abandoned workable pieces of land from the rural neighborhood of Seixalbo, and matching them with people in search of workable land for their own cultivation and consumption purposes only. We also had the honor to officiate the first ceremony of passing an unused piece of land to it’s new owner.
The local traditional market was also included in our visits, a point of interest for Vaslui Municipality, because we invested a lot of local funds in two new local markets, and we want to apply and use all the knowledge and experience that we can get from our partners.
Thank you Ourense for all your efforts, thank you Uxio Novo and all your team, it was a great experience!