How exactly did the Aztecs build the chinampas? What is it like to garden on one? 

It started in the 1300s. The Aztecs piled soil on top of reeds and grasses in a lake. People sometimes call these plots of land “floating islands.” They may appear to float on top of the water. The Aztecs planted willow trees around the edges of the islands. Those act like fences. They hold each island together. 

Luis Zambrano is an ecologist in Mexico City. (An ecologist studies God’s natural world.) He says the fields help take care of themselves. The canals around the islands bring moisture and nutrients to the plants. The fields can produce three to five crops of vegetables per year. They don’t need chemical fertilizer or pesticides. Farmers don’t need to irrigate them.

Cassandra Garduño grew up with this tradition. She remembers looking through her grandparents’ window at her family’s chinampa as a child. She watched canoes weave through the canals around it.

When her grandfather died in 2010, her uncles didn’t want to keep farming. So Ms. Garduño bought chinampa land in 2020. She started her own farm. She grows sunflowers, eggplant, and marigolds.

After a long day working outside, Ms. Garduño and neighboring farmers gather. They feast on chicken and tortillas. They talk about their work.

Salvador Gonzalez Ávalos and his brother have worked on chinampas all their lives. Their family has several plots. Ms. Garduño convinced them to join Chinampa Refuge a year ago. 

Mr. Ávalos says the chinampas are a reminder of his family’s legacy. The brothers want to pass that on to their grandchildren.

“That’s something we need to work on as grandparents,” he says. He wants to give them “a taste for this Earth.”