Sister Noylí Margot Ríos Manzo, CSC, left, and Manuela Roman, a Holy Cross associate, display a head of lettuce grown in the associates’ bio garden in Chimbote, Peru. Sister Noylí received CSC Ministry With the Poor funding in 2015–16 to assist, among other projects, in the creation of a women’s bio garden. Six Holy Cross associates and eight women leaders of several block organizations and community kitchens came together to learn more about bio gardening and how to feed their families better. Bio gardening, also known as bio intensive agriculture, is an organic farming system that focuses on achieving maximum yields from a minimum area of land. Families with bio gardens can use money that they would normally spend on food for non-food essentials.
The women break up the soil and prepare plots for planting in their bio garden in Esperanza Baja, Chimbote, Peru.
