Mexico's Floating Gardens
reasonstobecheerful.world
reasonstobecheerful.world
I guess the key benefit of this strategy is that the water level is high and the water is nutrient rich? Otherwise it's pretty similar to a standard canal irrigation setup.
It’s as close to an ideal growing condition as pre-industrial societies had.
The chinampas worked very well because the Aztecs had a large labor force cleaning their latrines into the lake where it would decompose into night soil and later be dredged up to refill the chinampas between growing seasons.
Once they were built up within the underwater stakes, they planted Ahuejote and Ācātzin trees along the edges and corners whose root systems kept the islands from eroding away.
but very cool when they do exist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_island
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220814-the-floating-hom...
You can have a layer of soil in your floating garden too. You can mix in amendments that will make your soil very light and fluffy. A bunch of empty bottles/jars make a pretty good floating raft that can handle some weight. May not be the best if you have concerns about microplastics in your food, but that is what they've been using here in the Mekong Delta.
Also, there are boats selling wares to tourists that will attach to your boat with permission - often what they are selling is available in the long line of interesting shops by the main landing at a lower price. There are also boats selling just-cooked BBQ, as well as refreshments, and boats with a (totally authentic) mariachi band you can hire to come aboard for several songs.
Highly recommend visiting.
However, my partner is mexican and was pretty moved particularly by their playing. I've heard a few performances and that one was played with particular investment. It is a different vibe when a full band boards your boat. Of course, YMMV.
The cool thing is that if you pay them, you sometimes may be able to ask for a song that you actually like, and they might surprise you. A friend of mine was a mariachi violin player. He liked heavy metal music and played mariachi for money , but his band could cocee stuff like Run to the hills, ace of spades among others.
It's amusing if nothing else.
Getting to the canals is a bit difficult if you don't use uber/did or a taxi. We did take an uber down, because the adventure started early, to beat the mid-day heat, but we did manage to take a bus/train on the way back, and only got lost twice.
In the middle of the week it's a completely different experience compared to weekends.
That website is super aggressive with the banners and popups. They were easier to close than many others, and the page was relatively light to navigate on my ancient phone, but... wow, that was an unpleasant experience.
don't be on the internet without them!
Lake-house owning people will not be happy about someone farming in the middle of their precious lake.