With the beginning of the summer, the "Horta dos Guardiões da Natureza" is starting to flourish! On June 25th, we returned to IPSS Florinhas do Vouga to observe how this living laboratory can help us to better understand Nature's cycle. With the collaboration of ASPEA - Associação Portuguesa de Educação Ambiental (Portuguese Association for Environmental Education), 70 kindergarten students (aged 4 to 6) and 8 elderly people from the Florinhas do Vouga Day Care Center had the opportunity to explore the process of home composting.

The practice of home composting helps to reduce the amount of waste that we send for treatment and makes it possible to produce compost, a mixture of organic and mineral matter that is very useful for fertilizing growing areas such as the "Horta dos Guardiões da Natureza". Throughout this activity, participants learned how to classify the different types of organic waste and identify those that can be used to produce compost at home. In addition, the activity also included an observatory for earthworms, a family of decomposer animals that play a fundamental role in the composting process, and the reactivation of the existing composter near the "Horta dos Guardiões da Natureza".

This activity represented the third visit by the "Guardiões da Natureza" to the social garden that, throughout this year, we have been helping to maintain in a dedicated space on the premises of the IPSS Florinhas do Vouga. Therefore, It is with special happiness that we have seen the result of the continuous effort that has been made in this space and, in particular, the involvement of different generations in the development of activities where harmony and respect for Nature are cultivated.

The "Guardiões da Natureza" are a part of Agora Aveiro's "Plantar o Futuro" project. They have the support of Câmara Municipal de Aveiro and IPDJ - Instituto Português do Desporto e Juventude I.P..