With the arrival of October, our new season at Hotel Las Torres begins. This season promises to deliver unprecedented experiences for our guests: new programs, new rooms, and a host of sustainable initiatives around every corner of our hotel. One of the most fascinating places to witness these sustainable actions is our biointensive garden, which will welcome a new group of volunteers each month. Here’s what you can learn during your stay at one of the southernmost biointensive gardens in the world.
Cultivating Chemical-Free and Pesticide-Free Foods
Our biointensive garden is dedicated to supplying flavorful and aromatic foods grown in a sustainable, chemical-free environment. Here, volunteers learn to cultivate the land productively, seeing the soil as a living organism.
What do we grow here? The list is extensive, but our favorites include lettuces, chives, cherry tomatoes, berries, plums, apples, chili peppers, bell peppers, spinach, tat soi, arugula, currants, and we could go on—there’s always a new flavor or aroma to fall in love with. From the earth to your plate!
Compost: Our Great Agro-Sustainable Ally
Circular economy principles guide many of our initiatives at Las Torres Patagonia, aimed at minimizing waste. One of these actions is composting.
Our Patio and Landscaping team constantly collects organic waste from all the kitchens in our service. This waste is separated from non-compostable materials and taken to our garden, where it undergoes a multi-stage process involving various natural agents that decompose the waste and transform it into nutrient-rich compost for the soil.
Volunteers will be part of this entire process, learning how it works and perhaps replicating it at home.
Distribution to the Kitchens of Las Torres Patagonia
Once the various foods cultivated in the garden reach maturity, it’s time to harvest. Here, volunteers and garden staff will carefully collect each fresh fruit and vegetable to deliver to the hotel kitchens. These ingredients may have been grown according to the lunar calendar, using fertilizers made from natural, locally sourced materials, harmoniously integrated with our environment.
This will be one of the most rewarding moments of the volunteers’ stay, as they witness the results of the previous processes and can experience the taste and aroma of produce grown in a biointensive garden.
Understanding How One of the Southernmost Gardens in the World Works
Working in a garden is one thing, but working in a garden located in the Torres del Paine National Park is an unforgettable experience. Here, the weather can change in an instant; you might start your day with beautiful sunshine only to wake up the next day to a stunning garden blanketed in snow.
Volunteers will see how the wind can shift from a gentle southern breeze to a powerful force that can wreak havoc on the crops—but nothing that can’t be managed with the many strategies developed by our team.
Volunteers will also have the chance to bond with fellow team members, explore the national park on their days off, and form friendships that last a lifetime.
Our Biointensive Garden: A Sensory Experience
Not only can volunteers enjoy every aspect of this agricultural miracle, but our guests also benefit from it. One of our excursions allows guests to visit the garden and learn about each process involved.
Guests can harvest and taste crops directly from the soil, experience the aromas, and learn about the agro-sustainable strategies applied here.
Volunteering in the garden offers a unique opportunity for everyone who engages in this world, experiencing agriculture in a healing, sensory, and medicinal way.