06/02/2026
I grew up spending summers in Limache, in Chile’s Valparaíso region. I came down from the big northern desert, and Limache felt like a close encounter with paradise — family orchards, small huertas, and flavours so intense they stayed in my body: tomatoes with real perfume, sweet corn, crisp cucumbers, tender green beans. Those tastes became part of who I am.
Then, little by little, the extractive agro-industry arrived. The family gardens were pushed aside for bigger plantations, bigger deals, bigger markets. And with that shift, something else was lost too: the living relationship between people, seeds, soil and seasonal time — the way food tastes when it’s grown for community, not for distance and profit.
I’ve carried those childhood flavours through a long exile. I’ve looked for them in many places and rarely found them.
And that’s why Ediblescapes means so much to me today.
Here on the Gold Coast, through Ediblescapes’ biocultural food practice, I’m not just “growing food” — I’m helping rebuild a culture of food. We harvest under tree canopy shade, we welcome volunteer plants and edible “weeds,” we cook what the garden offers that week — katuk, aibika, choko and more — and we share low-tech preserving skills and stories from many cultures.
Ediblescapes is not about tickets or profit. It’s about motivation, learning by observation, and community self-determination — a public edible forest garden where people can reconnect with land, memory, and each other.
In a way, it feels like finding Limache again — not as a place, but as a practice. 🌿💚
