La Jaira de Ana is a family project whose main objective is to offer a space in a rural environment that makes visible the importance of the primary sector for Canarian culture and society, through participatory experiences and environmental workshops; in addition to giving value to local products through tastings, tastings and product sales.
Local
Spain
Canary Islands, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the municipality of Aguimes
Mainly rural
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
As an individual
First name: Anabel Last name: Calderín Castro Gender: Female Nationality: Spain Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Street Acequia San Antón 40 Town: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Postal code: 35260 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 623 10 53 16 E-mail:info@lajairadeana.com Website:https://lajairadeana.com
La Jaira de Ana is an initiative whose direct objective is the revaluation of the rural world among the inhabitants of Gran Canaria. Indeed, the depreciation of the values of rurality and the primary sector has been a growing phenomenon in recent years and we believe that it is essential to provoke a change of consciousness to face the challenges of climate change.
We encourage collaborative contact with the environment and the animals, so that all attendees have the opportunity to actively participate in the workshops and activities, enjoying the experience. We value care for the environment, ecological culture and sustainability; teaching the world that nature is our reason for being and that we are all part of the same cycle, that we must protect and care for.
Our central concept: Education and farming that bets on the ecological
By working with the environment, especially on a farm that is committed to being ecological, we can favor different values of care, appreciation and respect for everything that constitutes that environment, from the different living beings to all the elements that make it up. In this way, direct knowledge of the environment (natural, physical and social) allows boys and girls to understand certain aspects of reality by making contact with it. This project allows us to reconnect children and families with nature and the importance of caring for our resources and biodiversity.
We show the importance of agriculture and livestock that bet on the ecological to counteract the effects of climate change as well as respect for animals at the center of our work to be able to produce milk in a way that is respectful of the territories and at the same time create time a circular economy in the rural world.
History of agriculture and livestock in the Canary Islands
Educational workshops related to agriculture and livestock
Traditional canarian customs
Space that bets on the ecological
local products
In terms of sustainability, we attach importance to our orchard in which, in the farmer for a day experience, they know all the food that we have planted, sow and plant and later use in the meals that are prepared on our farm. We have animals on the farm that produce food for us, such as goats, chickens...
We create our own compost. All waste is recycled: food scraps are turned into compost and recyclable materials are classified or reused to prepare our workshops with children.
The main objective is to offer a cultural alternative for leisure and free time for the general population that allows them to approach the different realities of the primary sector within the rural and agricultural environment through a playful methodology that favors enjoyment in nature.
The students experience first-hand the sensations of feeding the animals, the main care, their diet, where they sell the products and how they are made, the transformation of the raw material. It is a live and dynamic learning, where they reconnect with nature through dynamization and for the people who accompany them, it is a memory of their childhood. Bring the urban closer to the primary sector as a key to incorporate it into its educational content as a method for the valorization of the sector and professionalization.
The farmer for a day experience is intended for a wide audience of people, with which in this sense we are including from childhood to old age. In addition, all our spaces comply with the accessibility principles, making it a space 100% adapted to audiences with pathologies or disabilities. From the outset, this space was adapted so that there was no type of restriction. Often on our farm, we receive visits from associations with people with reduced mobility.
We constantly try to benefit from a subsidy so that the price of the visits is affordable
To evaluate the services provided, satisfaction surveys are generated through Google form in such a way that we contribute to the environment by making everything telematic, in addition, making it easier for parents and adults to do it at any time.
moment. Also, we receive reviews that positively value not only our space but also our professionals. In satisfaction surveys, 100% report repeating.
We offer visitors "Sponsor a goat" as it is an active way to be part of it. The good care of our jairas and their baifos, that they have a healthy and balanced diet... will generate that they obtain an excellent quality in their milk. It implies not only being responsible for good animal care and development, but also contributing social and environmental value with conscious initiatives like these.
After taking the tour, some children report being surprised to find out, for example, where the milk comes from.
The initiative is private, however, there are many agents involved from schools, non-profit and private entities because they consider that they are resources that complement and are necessary for their teaching and their educational proposals, as well as that they are framed within the objectives of sustainable development.
The day to day with the animals is something linear: meals, milking, daily cleaning, etc. That is why it is essential to have a good cleaning in our workspace and have a good organization. This guarantees that the product will be correct. Then we have additions to that daily routine: from visits by schoolchildren, or families, or various groups, mainly on weekends. We also organize a specific event, thematically, for Canary Islands Day or in the development of different social projects.
When visitors come to us, we have an action protocol, an organized experience, in which we highlight the importance of the primary sector and the zero kilometer product, making it our main objective.
The background is based on the search for other similar farm schools, both at the state, regional and local level. The specialized activity of animation of events and cultural and children's services began to develop in Spain in the second half of the eighties, as a result of the country's economic growth. It is in the year 1992, and its heyday begins, when three great events took place: the Seville Expo, the Barcelona Olympic Games and Madrid European Capital of Culture.
People seek to have new experiences and if they are educational much better, especially for fathers and mothers who seek spaces for interaction and entertainment.
Livestock and agriculture are two professions that have been undermined throughout history, and today constitute a production of wealth from various points of view, as well as social, educational and environmental.
In view of all this, promote social and public responsibility, as well as education, which will allow adding value to improve, preserve the habitat, and carry out a work of fixing the local population to the rural environment, guaranteeing in the long run term an awareness of a life under the gaze of sustainable development.
Currently, childhood is spent in the city and fewer and fewer boys and girls have direct contact with nature.
Being in contact with nature helps boys and girls to know their world. Knowing where the food we consume such as milk, fruit and vegetables come from are some of the things that we intend to teach in Jaira de Ana. Far from nature, necessary stimuli are lost.
In schools, subjects related to the environment and nature are taught, but there is no better learning than living it firsthand and discovering all these experiences for yourself.
Livestock and agriculture are two professions that have been undermined throughout history, and today constitute a production of wealth from various points of view, both social, educational and environmental.
In view of all this, promote social and public responsibility, as well as education, which will allow adding value to improve, preserve the habitat, and carry out a work of fixing the local population to the rural environment, guaranteeing in the long run term an awareness of a life under the gaze of sustainable development.
Anabel and her team try to ensure that they spend a few fun days in direct contact with the animals. They clean their habitats and feed them. They learn to value them and, incidentally, they get closer to nature and the rural world. In addition to the first-hour yoga session, they do activities both related to livestock, taking care of the farm's goats, chickens, rabbits and dwarf donkeys, and agriculture.
Our location in the municipality of Agüimes allows us to be accessible to families and schools and offer an alternative to the rural world combining education, livestock, agriculture, culture and ecology. We propose a strong link with the urban world to propose solutions for our rural environment, while we try and allow our visitors to have a more appreciated vision of the territory. This also allows us to intensify rural tourism and create economic activity in Agüimes.
In Gran Canaria there are more and more projects of this type, but we believe that it is necessary to raise awareness among the population so that they continue to consume and respect this type of product, even creating their own projects. In effect, the choice of production that bets on the ecological allows us to preserve and regenerate our soils
attracting important species for biodiversity, but also tends to food sovereignty to the extent that it favors a local economy and the resources of our island.
La jaira de ana is the space but there are elements such as materials and work methodology that can be transferred to other spaces. The work methodology is active participatory. A general work procedure can be generated where different sheets adapted to each environment are developed:
land value,
The types of cultivation,
The care of animals, the different types of native animals, the traditions of each place.
The way to recycle, all framed in a system of protocols both as worksheets for children and a quality plan for environmental education on farms in a professional manner.
In general, in all the activities that we carry out at Jaira de Ana we use a participatory-active methodology in such a way that the person who comes gets involved and explores the 5 senses. We usually ask questions, interact with them and, above all, we let them interact with the space and our animals, always respecting the welfare of the animal.
In this process they are allowed to learn on their own. In this way they also offer points of view and reflections that are usually interesting. When we meet our animals, they comb their hair, clean their droppings, we teach them what food they eat and we even let them feed them themselves. In the garden we let them take and try the food and plants that we have there. We show you the daily care of all our spaces.
In La Jaira de Ana, specifically in the Farmer for a Day experience, we focus on environmental education. We intend to improve the behavior of the population regarding the environment. Mainly, we focus on the correct care of any form of life in our world.
We educate about good environmental practices. As well as encourage responsible decision-making and actions that have a beneficial impact.
Regarding the results, last year 2022 a total of 49 schools and 1671 students attended our school farm. Visits of entities and associations of the island a total of 9 and 201 people. Individual and family visits: a total of 45 open weekends and received close to 74 families. Events of all kinds (birthdays, communions and farm events) A total of 21 birthdays, 1 communion and 4 own events in which a total of approximately 400 people are counted. - On our own campus we have received 79 boys and girls and we already have registered for the Christmas campus. In addition, we have received a total of 300 boys and girls from external campuses. All these people have benefited in the year 2022 from the farmer for a day experience.
To evaluate the services provided, satisfaction surveys are generated through Google form in such a way that we contribute to the environment by making everything telematic, in addition, making it easier for parents and adults to do it at any time.
moment. Also, we receive reviews that positively value not only our space but also our professionals. In satisfaction surveys, 100% report repeating.
Agüimes is a region that is already affected by the effects of climate change, with an increase in heat waves, longer droughts and a very unstable rainfall system, so we are right in the middle of this problem and our scope of work takes these limitations into account. Therefore, we fight in various ways.
We want to apply an ecological model to reduce the environmental effects of our project. First of all, for the construction of the farm we only use recycled or local materials in order to use local resources and low CO2 emissions. Secondly, our objective is to invest in renewable energy and, for this reason, we have recently incorporated solar panels. With the water, we already have a treatment plant that allows us to water the plants and reuse them. Finally, of course, all the waste is recycled: food scraps are turned into compost and recyclable materials are classified or reused to prepare our workshops with the children.
