Goodbye Halloween and its horrific pumpkin harvest, hello asturian chestnut, and confirm the original chestnut in a scientific publication framework. Promoting knowledge of the chestnut tree and bringing current research into the community on its conservation, cultivation and use are the goals of Take Chestnuts! , the new proposal for the botanical garden at Science Week, which will run from the eighth to the thirteenth of this month.
The days when the Mayor of the Environment, Aurelio Martin, remembers in the presentation of the program, entry to the Botanical Garden will be free from 10 in the morning until 6 in the evening. Activities «Take the chestnuts!» It is also free but with pre-registration for workshops, visits and talks which have a limited number of places available. A small sample of the fruits of some traditional species of chestnut trees from Asturias is also planned, accompanied by plots related to their chestnut collection and products. All thanks to the collaboration of Serida, Pueblu d’Asturies and José Francisco Pérez Peláez of BosQfrut.
Part of the program’s activities with guided tours are aimed at schoolchildren from Gijón. Participation of 425 primary school students from six educational centers – La Asuncion, El Pailes, easyand Jovellanos, Pericones, and Castiello Center for Special Education – and there are still free places on the high school offering. Now without school but with family, the little ones will be able to take part in a family gym scheduled for the afternoon of the 12th.
On the same day, the program leaves the grounds of the Botanical Garden for a trip to Redes to see chestnuts: old chestnut trees grafted in order to produce better quality chestnut trees. Another suggestion to get involved: download the iNaturalist mobile app to help with the inventory of the distribution of chestnuts in the Cantabrian region and the registration of centenary trees.
