I was first introduced to the urban farm managed by Associação Movimento Terra Solta a couple of months ago, but this time I brought my camera and the rest of Casa Aguiar for a quick visit to view the property. It’s the kind of place that would animate my father the farmer, if he were here (I’m still trying to get him here).
The origins of the farm date back to the 15th century, when the parish of Campanhã was a rural landscape of farms and farmhouses, before the Industrial Revolution brought the train to this area. The property is known locally as Quinta de Vila Meã (the location) or Quinta do Mitra (the family who owned it a hundred years ago). Originally, it belonged to the Vieira family, changing hands a number of times through inheritance and then more recently through sale.
The quinta is currently owned by the City of Porto and managed by Associação Movimento Terra Solta, an association run by volunteers who are passionate about agriculture and sustainable living. The quinta was abandoned and treated as a garbage dump for years until Terra Solta (formed in 2009) cleaned it up and converted it into a working farm, with a tree nursery and a diversity of fruit trees, vegetables, and herbs.
There are even some resident ducks and chickens, frogs in the ponds, and a towering treehouse in the middle of it all.
Oh, and street art by Brazilian artist Aracê:
In order to cover ongoing costs, foster community, and encourage the movement of environmentally-friendly practices, Terra Solta hosts events and opens the gates to the public on Saturdays from 10:00-19:00. You can find out more about them on their website and Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/terrasolta.org/
http://terrasolta.org/
Article sources and archival photos:
Monumento Desaparecidos (November 2013)
As Viagems Dos Argonauts (October 2015)
July 1, 2017
Album: Portugal [Summer 2017]