The vegetable plots of Huerta de Paterna
It is no coincidence that the Huerta and the Turia Natural Park, declared protected in 2007, are considered jewels of ecological and cultural value. Their scenic richness, history, and heritage are not only testimonies of the past but also promises for the future. However, in the silence of its fields, a stifled cry can now be heard: the cry of neglect and abandonment.
The Huerta of Paterna is threatened by rubble, uncontrolled traffic, theft, and the weight of a modernity that forgets its debt to nature.
The Huerta not only mitigates the heat with its natural coolness; it also purifies the air, absorbs carbon, and releases oxygen. It is a refuge from torrential rains, as its spongy soil helps prevent flooding. The Huerta is also a social and therapeutic space. In its small gardens, stories of friendship, integration, and learning are woven. Gardening and manual labor are balms against stress, loneliness, and disconnection.
Open wounds
La Huerta can no longer wait alone. The piles of rubble that stain it, the roads worn down by vehicles that cut through it to use the shortcuts, and the constant thefts from crops and chicken coops are reflections of an indifference that hurts.
The spirit of those who work the land collapses, and many plots are abandoned.
Concrete measures
The institutions must assume their responsibility.
The laws protecting the Huerta exist, but their enforcement is an empty promise. Every square meter compacted by heavy machinery, every broken irrigation ditch, and every neglected plot are open wounds in this landscape that is both our legacy and our hope.
Saving the Huerta is saving ourselves. To protect this space, we join other organisations to demand concrete measures:
- Control access: Restrict the entry of vehicles not linked to agricultural activities and encourage respectful use by pedestrians and cyclists.
- Combat garbage and debris: Install containers, sanction illegal dumping and carry out awareness campaigns.
- Promote biodiversity: Promote diverse crops that offer refuge to butterflies, pollinating insects and birds, which are fundamental for the balance of the ecosystem.
- Guarantee security: Reinforce surveillance and prevent thefts, so that those who work the land do not lose their spirit or their hope.
You can consult below a presentation on the motion that the representatives of the Horta have taken to the political groups this 2025.
Let's not miss the opportunity
La Huerta is a space for encounter and community. The community gardens exemplify how La Huerta can be a meeting place. From Manolo el Gallo's Garden, where Bulgarian, Colombian, and Lithuanian cultures coexist, to the Butterfly Oasis, where Spanish and Latin American women share work and knowledge, La Huerta demonstrates its capacity to unite worlds. The Ceramics School, with its mix of generations and origins, teaches that working with your hands is also working with your soul. Meanwhile, the Multiverse Garden, supported by the City Council and the La Coma Youth Collective, proposes a collaborative model to protect this agricultural space as a place of learning and community.
The cultural, educational, economic, and therapeutic possibilities are a gift we can no longer ignore. It is time for citizens and institutions to work together. La Huerta calls us to reconnect with our roots, to care for the land and those who work it, and to protect a landscape that is an essential part of our identity. Our old friend offers us a better tomorrow on a silver platter. We just need to open our eyes, hear its call, and act before it's too late.