Post #16A Learning from Our Ancestors: Chinampas Part 1: What are Chinampas?
Post Description: What are chinampas, and why are they of interest to subtropical gardeners around the world? Part of a series on Learning From Our Ancestors.
Hello happy gardeners! Who here has heard of the highly productive agricultural gem that is the chinampa system? An underdog of the modern Permaculture movement, this farming system is often overlooked – but it shouldn’t be.
So today we are going to shed some light on why chinampas are a highly employable system for growing food and flowers. You all know how much we like our produce with a side of beauty around here!
Let’s dig in.
What Exactly are Chinampas?
Chinampas are a sustainable raised bed agricultural system used by indigenous communities in central Mexico since prehistoric times, specifically in the Xochimilco/Chaleco lake basins. This system was adapted to the local landscape and is especially useful in swampy areas.
The name Chinampa is a Nahuatl word meaning a hedge or a bed of reeds.
This raised bed system utilizes reeds and branches, interwoven around stakes driven through the wetlands into the earth below, to create beds called islets in which to grow food. Between the beds, canals are dug for water and canoes to move freely.
Similar systems are found around the world, but the chinampas of Mexico are considered one of the most productive and sustainable agricultural systems ever devised.
The Rich History of Mexico’s Chinampas
Originally invented by the lowland Maya and their predecessors, it was later adopted by the Toltecs. Over time, the system was expanded and refined by the Aztecs to form and feed their main city of Tenochtitlan. The city was built as a series of interconnected canals and man-made islands in a basin comprising five shallow lakes.
At its height, the chinampa system of Tenochtitlan fed 250,000-300,000 people just within the city limits from over 100,000 islets.
There were another 200,000 people in the immediate suburbs, and another one million in the surrounding valley area, and most of their food is believed to have come from the chinampa system as well.
To say it produced an abundant and diverse supply of food for thriving markets is an understatement!
Arriving in the 1500’s, the Spanish Conquistadors were astounded at this grand, prosperous city, which had more inhabitants than any European city at the time.
Coined the Venice of Mesoamerica, Tenochtitlan’s canals used to run throughout the entire city and right to its center. The canals were used to transport produce and flowers to major markets throughout the city in Aztec and early Spanish Colonial times.
When the conquistadors thought it a good idea to kill thousands of Aztecs and take over the city, the Spanish introduced mono-cropping and large-scale livestock farming to disastrous effect.
Mexico City is built on top of the ancient city of Tenochtitlan, and although some of the original chinampas survive to this day, their existence is threatened.
How are Chinampas Made?
The raised beds, or islets as they are often referred to, are constructed by driving stakes into the swampy ground or through the shallows into the lake bed below. Then branches are weaved around the sides to hold in the soil. Tree branches are cut for a base.
The bed is then topped with mud dredged from the lake bottom. Layer upon layer of organic matter from water plants and more branches alternating with more mud follows until the bed is built up higher than the water table.
Historically, some of the beds were built of dried reeds or rafts made of branches. Organic matter and mud were piled on top and planted into. The plant roots would go down into the lake water. These beds would float until successive layers weighed them down and they eventually reached the bottom of the lake and anchored there.
Willow trees were planted at intervals around the beds to help hold the soil in so it would not fall out into the canals. The reeds and branches were woven together between the willow trunks and stakes. Today the stakes are made with pine wood because it resists water.
Most beds are 6-9 meters long, and usually only about 4 meters wide, though some are wider. If a new bed needs to be built, workers will try to use an old one as a base.
The canals range in width depending on what they are being used for – boats, canoes, or simply irrigation. They are typically between 1-1.3 meters deep.
Abundance and Diversity Abound
- As many as seven harvests a year are possible based on annual cultivation of various crops, for example purslane, radishes & cilantro require only 1 month.
- From epazote to cauliflower, a chinampa can grow just about anything. You can also grow flowers for beauty and cutting to sell. Add a trellis and the possibilities are endless!
- Water hyacinth, spirulina and duckweed are grown in the water.
- Duckweed feeds animals.
- Spirulina is a protein-rich algae prized by the Aztecs and still used as a health food today.
- Water hyacinth is not eaten, but has many uses and is a supreme chop-and-drop aquatic plant for bed-building.
- Grow and harvest your own fish, seafood, and waterfowl. Ducks swim in the canals and are harvested for meat, as well as freshwater fish and shrimp.
- Raise cattle! Some chinampa beds are so vast that cattle are raised on them.
The Myriad Benefits of the Chinampas System
When evaluating the plethora of reasons why chinampas can and should be utilized in many regions across the world, these are the ones that stuck for us:
- Chinampas naturally filter the water. Trees pump the water from their roots all the way to their leaf tips and release it to fall back down as precipitation. This pumping action contributes to the flow which keeps the water fresh rather than stagnant.
- Water and trees in the system help keep temperatures and humidity more consistent and prevent dramatic swings.
- Animal control. Large livestock as well as typical pest animals like raccoons are less likely to bother crops in wetland areas.
- Food security. This system of farming utilizes otherwise difficult to use land, thus extending square acreage to grow fresh food (and flowers!) on for our ever-expanding population.
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Chinampas allow us to move fluidly with the earth, to grow and farm as one entity. How beautiful is that?
I believe one of my greatest loves of gardening for food, beauty, and sanity, is that there is always more to learn. Gardening quenches my thirst for unending knowledge. Every time I think I’ve finally mastered, say, the tomato, I find out something new! A new variety, a new way to grow the fruit, something, anything new that keeps me on my toes (and in the garden).
I am in constant awe of the natural world. I love that it is ultimately unbridled; it can never be fully tamed no matter how hard humans try. There is such mystical wonder and beauty in it I can hardly believe my eyes some days.
The chinampa system exemplifies the ability humans have to work with nature, rather than against it.
As always, you know I love to hear your thoughts and ideas, so let’s continue this conversation.
And don’t miss out on Chinampas Part 2, a post that explores how this ancient system can be utilized in modern times.
Then, in Part 3 we will examine the importance of preserving the chinampas farming techniques, and a glimpse into the future of chinampas.
Until next time, happy gardening!
Mary