Elisa

I’ve enjoyed Las Corchuelas all my life. Possibly it was here where my interest for ecology came up, grew and became a passion during my degree in Biology and the studies that followed after that. Through an understanding of the complex web of interactions surrounding us, and through the lens of evolution, we can slowly understand a bit of what is happening on earth, how we got here, and how we can get where we want to go. Because if one thing is clear to me, it is that the human being is just one more agent of this complex web of nature.

The idea of the project Aprisco de Las Corchuelas came up when I moved to the farm in Las Corchuelas. I didn’t understand why this ecosystem was so poorly productive. It was then that I began to realize that the soil probably had an important role in this story. The roots of the problem are not only of ecological origin, but also of historical and socioeconomic origin. In other words, there are many things to change, if we want to improve the productivity of Las Corchuelas, and I believe that starting in Las Corchuelas we cannot only improve Las Corchuelas but also our surroundings in many different aspects. For this reason, one of the pillars of the Aprisco de Las Corchuelas is education, apart from research and dissemination.

My first steps towards improving Las Corchuelas were aimed at changing the management of the farm to transform it into a source of food, well-being and happiness for all the people interacting with the farm. However, as a biologist and after falling (a little bit) in love with science, I wanted to make this change in a way that would allow me to demonstrate to others that such a transformation works from both a socioeconomic and environmental point of view. I love to disseminate scientific achievements and in Las Corchuelas we have many opportunities to do so, including on-site demonstrations.

I have the enormous privilege of being able to participate actively in the conservation of this treasure, because today it is ours, and because this little piece is unique. In order to conserve it, we need to understand it and be able to enjoy it. This is what I would like to do at the Aprisco de Las Corchuelas with as many people as possible. What began as a mosaic of disconnected activities on the farm, has become a coherent and interconnected set of actions in which the different aspects of the project (research, education and production) support each other and result together in something truly big.