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By Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish
Published 2009
The Valez family huerta is surrounded by a drystone wall ringed by wild cherry and chestnut trees. One of half a dozen or so in that bend of the Río Francia, it is watered by hand from a spring welling up from deep under the hill. Many such huertas are terraced into the side of this hill, with the deep, fertile soil hand-carted from the river flats generations ago. The spring also feeds a pozo (well), where every time they wash their vegetables, they disturb a family of frogs basking on the mossy rocks. On this one small plot of land, no bigger than a suburban house block, I counted 45 different edible plants growing in the rich soil — fruit trees, leafy vegetables, tubers, legumes, garlic and onions, herbs, and half a dozen different types of pumpkin (winter squash) and zucchini (courgettes).
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