Funkenwerkstatt

How to build a raised bed

Skills

This section gives you short descriptions, links and manuals about useful things we have learned along our way. We hope they are helpful for recreating and further developing them by yourself. If you have experience with any of the things and skills you see here, please leave your suggestions and remarks in the comments.

Step by step

1. Your recipe

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How to build a raised bed?

A raised bed can have great advantages in your garden and it is not that difficult to build. You can grow your plants with homemade, nutrient-rich soil without using chemical fertilizers. If you have ever wondered why wine grows on slopes, it’s because plants can make better use of the sunlight when they grow at the right angle. Another advantage of having your own raised bed.

Before you start, ask yourself if you need to have a raised bed at all. For example, if your plants are already at a good angle to the sun – approximately 10° – and you produce enough healthy and tasty food, you may not even need a raised bed. It is not part of permaculture thinking to build something unnecessary which needs lots of material, that is not already in your garden.

If you decide to build one, here‘s what you need to know. It is important to have solid, flat soil at the bottom. The first layer is made of dead wood. Be sure not to displace insects from their habitats while collecting it. After having built a strong wooden foundation you can start to fill the open space with smaller branches. The next step is to put a layer of dead leaves on top. If you cut your lawn, add the grass as a mulch layer. Cover the bed with some organic leftovers from your kitchen. Repeat this step throughout the year. You can also add earth you have previously dug out to make the ground even. Wait until the components are turned into fresh earth. This can take a few seasons.

Once you have produced healthy earth, plant your vegetables. You will see them grow healthier and faster due to better nutrient availability. How and when to seed which plant is a different story. Read our articles about urban gardening in Jena, Permaculture Dreisamtal and Gartencoop in Tunsel to get more insights into gardening.

http://funkenwerkstatt.com/germany

Your own raised bed

: mulch layer

: founding of the rised beds

: first layer with rotten woods

Tackle water scarcity and produce your own fertilizer

Ju27872 Skill 0

Skills

This section will give you small descriptions and manuals about useable things we have done and learned at sustainable projects we have visited. In order to help and inspire you to build and develop them by yourself.

Tackle water scarcity and produce your own fertilizer

To build a humus toilet you basically need enough wood for the shelter, some tools and screws to bring everything together and of course a suitable area to place the toilet.

The main difference of a humus toilet in comparison to a normal toilet is that you don´t need water to flush down your leftovers and that you separate the urine and droppings from each other. A humus toilet tackles fresh water scarcity and gives you a great nutrition supply for your garden without using any chemicals.

The first step…

is pretty straight forward, just prepare a bowl which is big enough and place a thin aluminium wall as a separator in the center. Check if the bowl is suitable to fit under your construction before hand. You can take an old bowl for washing clothes which should have two openings on the bottom to let the urine and feces fall through to a big container underneath. To make the openings, take a big plastic bottle, draw a circle around and cut those areas out with a saw or a pocketknife.

You can store the urine in a container and the feces in a big bucket which are both portable. The urine in the container can be used as phosphor fertilizer for crops and vegetables. Please take care with hormones, women who are in use of the pill shouldn’t use a humus toilet if the urine will be used as fertilizer.

To avoid bed smell, place a bucket insight the toilet with shavings which can be thrown into the container with the feces insight. After a while, this material turns into natural fertilizer for your garden, as it get humidified. It is important that you use shavings from wood and natural resources which are decomposable.

Everything you need to build the toilet can be find second hand, of course except of the screws. If you need tools that you do not have try to ask your neighbors or friends before you buy new ones, they might got what you are looking for. Finally, if you want to make your toilet public and accessible for everyone, do not forget to implement a ramp to avoid barriers for those using a wheelchair.

: humustoilet at the village garden in Vauban

: hummustoilett with ramp for people with disabilities

: view form the humus toilet

: humus toilet at Obelisk farm

Bahar explained us how he started his ecotourism project

Ju27872 Culture 0

Turkey

Bahar explained us how he started his ecotourism project

What is ecotourism?

Ecotourism is a way of alternative tourism that focuses on responsible small scale tourism which sustains the well-being of the local people. The idea is to minimize impacts on the environment and on the same way it educates to build environmental and cultural awareness.

In general it sounds simple: buy your own property, dig little bit deeper into gardening, make an account on workaway, invite young volunteers who are realizing your dream and after a while you might reach whatever you are striving for. But is it that simple? In Turkey we’ve met Bahadir Bahar, a 34 years old primary school teacher, who just started to realize his dream of a small organic farm, where people can come, meet and share their experiences. But how did he make it? We asked Bahadir some questions to share his background, how he realized his small organic farm and what does it take to make everything applicable. We hope this one can help you to start with your own project.

Sima and Julian: “Hello Bahadir how are you?”

Bahadir: “Thanks guys, I am fine.”

Julian: “Why did you want to have an eco farm?”

Bahadir: “Well I was always interested in nature and organic food. If you buy something from the market or wherever, you oftentimes don‘t know where it really comes from. So I decided to produce my own natural food without any additives like chemicals. Basically it was my dream and way of living my life, with pure nature, natural healthy food a slow life with all of my friends. I got the idea that with having a eco farm, I can meet up with people who got similar ideas.”

Sima: ”For how long have you been doing this? ”

Bahadir: “I started the project 4 years ago when I bought the land. Honestly, for the first time I had the project on my mind 12 years ago. I was planning, collecting ideas and gathering informations about vegetables and how a permaculture works, which was not popular at that time here in Turkey. Now it becomes more popular in Turkey.”

Overview of some buildings of the farm.

Julian: “Was it easy to implement everything?”

Bahadir: “No, it wasn‘t so easy after I bought the land but once you believe in something and take the first step, then it starts. When you start with a team it‘s a lot easier. If you are alone and just by yourself, it is way more difficult. You have to coordinate yourself, nothing is scheduled, you have to manage everything by yourself. I could just work for the project on the weekend because of my job.“

Sima: “What was the biggest challenge?”

Bahadir: “I think the construction of the houses. I made a contract with the woodmen, they never made the things on time. I had lots of issues with people, because you have to manage everything to make things on point. Everyone wants just money, which is a basic problem in Turkey. Sometimes they had a 5 month delay to finish something. “

Sima: “Do you have any suggestions for others?”

Bahadir: “The location is very important. You have to know who your neighbours are, you might learn a lot from them or might have to face compromises to keep a healthy connection to them. It is very important to have access and enough fresh water on your piece of land.”

Julian: “Why do you use workaway?”

Bahadir: “It is nice to meet people from all over the world, to learn different point of views, it is inspiring. Workaway gives you the chance to meet people from all around the world, it strengthens the cultural exchange. Many people who came have similar projects or even want to develop those, because here they learn how it works in practise and may combine or learn about the difficulties for their own projects.”

View on his wooden houses to accomondate volunteers and guests.

Julian: “What about support, do you got any support by someone? How much was workaway involved in that procedure?“

Bahadir: “The volunteers who came here helped me a lot. The colombians for example made a pathway and a small road, the french guys helped me with the production of wine and with painting. I mean two weeks of volunteering here is not enough to maintain everything. Especially in summer, because it was super hot during the day so you just have a short time frame to work on something.”

Sima: “How do you finance this project?”

Bahadir:“Yeah, my salary was definitely not enough, you can not make this with just 900 € in a month. So I got support by my family. I think you get the money back in some years with eco tourism.

Sima: “Can you live self-sufficient or do you have to buy any externalities from the market for example?”

Bahadir: “No not really. So for example exotic fruits or beer i buy at the market, since now I am also not producing my own milk so this will be an upcoming task.”

Julian: “Where do you see yourself and the project in the future?”

Bahadir: “I am at the beginning now, I have to learn much more. In nature you learn so many new things, you defenitely feel yourself more alive. You consume your own products and then replant them for the next generation, it‘s like a circle. This makes you really calm. What I miss here is to share everything with someone, like my own family. Anyways in the future I want to combine teaching , with my gardening project to show how important nature is and that we are all able to produce our own food.”

Beeboxes to keep the bees as helpful pollinators.

Julian: “Looking back, if you would start your project today, what would you do differently?”

Bahadir: ”I travelled to some farms, I could have travelled more to other places and farms which would have made stuff more easier. I would have loved to gain a deeper knowledge about how to run a garden from others, but this is something no one will teach you. Of course it takes much of practise and the real live shows you where the boundaries are, but I think it is important to share this knowledge. Especially because the majority of people here in Turkey think that you should start with gardening when you retire and that it is impossible to start gardening before.“

Finally we asked Bahar what makes his project “casa do sol” so special and why people should come to his place? He just answered:
“Everything starts by dreaming. People feel so calm and relax here by being in the pure nature, this makes it special for me.”

Simple sheme to show the relation between bees and the bee keeper.

In just four years, nearby Cesme in Turkey, Bahar developed a beautiful eco farm on a small hill next to the mediterranean sea. With a total size of 15000 square metres, having four stone houses and 4 wooden houses for hosting volunteers, friends and people around the world who are interested to learn more about a nature connected and self sufficient life, Bahar has definitely created his dream on this piece of land. Still under construction he already hosts 100 olive trees which he uses to produce his own olive oil. He accommodates 80 different fruit trees and produces almost 15 different types of vegetables. He is keeping his own bees, chickens and of course producing his own vine. Nowadays he is almost able to live completely self sufficient just because a small idea in his mind became to growth.

Bahadir Bahar who developed this project.

We wish you all the best Bahar, thank you for eveything, we will definitely come back to your lovely project one day. To get further informations about his project and how to visit check out links below:

workaway:

https://www.workaway.info/

Email:

evrimbahar@yahoo.com

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/agroturizm_baharbahce/

Nature, Culture

Ecotourism Bahar Baçe in Çeşme.

We asked Bahadir some questions to share his background, how he realized his small organic farm and what does it take to make everything applicable. We hope this one can help you to start with your own project…

German English

Little-Prince-Academy helps people with disabilities in Turkey

Ju27872 Humans 0

Turkey

Placed in the middle of Turkey, Cappadocia is known from all around the world for its unique geology, caves and famous balloon flights. Thousands of years ago, ancient people came to central Turkey to build their small villages in caves. This tradition lasts until this day: Most of the buildings in
the city were carved into caves and are filled with restaurants and shopping facilities for tourists.

But besides these attractiive tourism lies a special place for very big reasons. It is called Little Prince Academy, which is a place for disabled people. Educated volunteers help to improve their abilities. Because the son of the former owner and initiator of the academy, Hassan, got Trisomy 21, also known as Down’s Syndrome, the Little Prince Academy came into being. Hassan decided to spend his money to develop a project, which provides equality and freedom to its visitors. Surrounded by a beautiful vulcanic landscape, the academy which was build into the rocks, has their own horse ranch, an open air cinema and a garden that is designed like a small permaculture, where they produce their own food.

First impression when you are entering the cave. Dinner room and small office in the back.

But not only on the outside everything looks well planned and designed. Inside, the academy is designed perfectly to accommodate the different disabilities of the special visitors. After entering the cave there is a kitchen, where the volunteers can cook fresh vegetables from their own garden. Moreover, there are several rooms for music therapy, meditation and dance workshops. Everything fits to the needs of the special visitors, there are no barriers for those who have a wheelchair and, ropes on the walls to support safe walking. Toys and music instruments are selected, in order to improve lack of different abilities. To support and take care of those visitors, volunteers from all around the world come to the academy. They are hosted in their own several apartments which look like a converted truck.

The focus at Little Prince Academy lies on multiple disabilities. Therefore, every morning the volunteers meet up to discuss in detail, what kind of workshops and therapies they will provide. The Little Prince Academy chooses volunteers with specific specializations, like, for example, dance performers or people with psychological or educational background in social sciences. The next step is to prepare everything, like building a course for horse-therapy. After those activities the kids usually eat something freshly cooked before the next round of activities will start. Everything at Little Prince is well organized, they have someone who is cooking for the disabled and the volunteers, they have coordinators who plans the visits of the people and volunteers.

Insight the cave are several rooms for doing workshops and different programs.

There even is a gardener who is responsible for fixing everything inside and outside the cave. And of course, all the volunteers help everyday to maintain this place, to keep it like an oasis. We had a talk with Ezra from Turkey who is working at Little Prince Academy for one year. Ezra is the coordinator for the volunteers and prepares several workshops for the visiting people. Educated in the social sciences, Ezra writes reports for the doctors after every workshop, to give them detailed knowledge about their development. She explained that many of the people who come to the Little Prince Academy have been really shy and isolated, but after a while they got used to the workers and the place, so they started to develop positively a lot.

Office area, with a beautiful view to the big kitchen, where the fresh food will be made.

Especially the horse therapy is showing big effects, like increasing confidence, she explained. In fact, the kids are getting a better connection to the horse and are able to lose their fears as well as learn to coordinate multiple tasks, like catching a ball while sitting on the horse. From a certain viewpoint, those activities might seem to be very easy and small, but they are big steps for the people and are helping in their development.

Hassan while he is doing a ball exercise to improve multiple tasks and coordination.

We asked Ezra what disabilities the people who came to Little Prince Academy have. She explained that they are working with people that have several different disabilities like Down’s Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Schizophrenia, and other mental and physical disabilities. The workshops and programs also address the lack of confidence or hyperactivity. To prepare them the most, the volunteers are preparing different workshops. Furthermore, the people who are coming to Little Prince Academy have a huge variety in age, which also provides different workshops and tasks. We have been curious of how the project is financed and whether they get support by the government. Ezra explained that the owner Hassan, is financing all by himself.

We also talked to David from Romania, who iorganizes the horse therapy. He told us that before he came here, no one was able to do the horse therapy. At first, he didn’t know how he could start this project, but after a while and lots of hours riding the horses, he started to develop the course. What David has learned at Little Prince Academy, he will pass on to the gardener, for him to continue his hard work with the horses in order to improve the development of the therapy. We asked him what is special about this place. David just added, “ everything” – the internationally of the volunteers, the fact that you are the designer of whatever, you can make up your own workshops and you have that freedom to do what you want or like and additionally helping people with that – is what he likes most.

The Little Prince Academy Crew f.l. to r.: David (Romania), Ezra (Project Coordinator, Turkey), Mai (France), Fatma (Turkey), Ipek(Turkey), Eda (Turkey), Alex (GB), Eilin (Columbia).

Little Prince Academy showed us how important it is to create places like that. Safe Spaces, where people can come and feel like it doesn’t matter which disabilities they’ve got, while getting supported by people from all around the world. The experience at Little Prince Academy also showed us, how things can change, like for example for Hassan, who used to build hotels, but because of his songs disabilities, he decided to support people with similar problems. In the light of the fact that there are not many organizations in Turkey, Little Prince Academy can be seen as a prime example for the general societal topic of inclusion in Turkey. Especially since the disabled are usually more or less hidden from society, it is important to work with them in such a positively connotated environment. In the end, this helps both the disabled people, but also those, who learn to accept disabilities as something normal in their day to day lives. Thus, Little Prince Academy paves the way for more inclusion and acceptance.

Human, Culture

Little Prince Academy in Cappadocia

The Little Prince Academy is a unique non governmental project in Turkey and very important for its special visitors, made for local disabled people it is a prime example for the general societal topic of inclusion in Turkey…

German English

How an activist started a Guerilla-Gardening movement in Tbilisi, Georgia

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Georgia

One of our first articles for Funkenwerkstatt was about the Urban Gardening project in the city of Jena, so as you might already know, the core concept of Urban Gardening centers around growing plants in urban environments. While the Jena project addresses the sustainable urban production of consumable foods, the following article’s subject will be a different form of Urban Gardening called Guerilla Gardening.

During our Funkenwerkstatt journey, we made a stop in Georgia’s capital city, Tbilisi. There, we encountered the Guerilla Gardening movement. The word guerilla originates from the Spanish word guerra, which means war and refers to a form of irregular warfare, usually by a small group of people against a larger military force. In our context, Guerilla Gardening is a less aggressive or non-combative form of fighting the system.
One of the most pressing issues for the Guerilla Gardening movement is the fact that in Tbilisi, the average amount of green space per person is significantly smaller than what is actually required by European law.

The movement´s principles revolve around protecting the environment by any means possible, also in regard to human and animal rights. Their main goal is to make the city environment more ecofriendly while involving more people to protect it. The founder of the movement, Nata Peradze, had the idea after living in Amsterdam. Upon her return, she realized the grave contrast between Amsterdam and Tbilisi and decided to help the citizens by planting trees while protecting and developing the environment. Some citizens joined her vision and the movement started.

The movement has no offices and no employees; it is rather a self-organized, volunteer-based network of people who care for the environmental issues and try to get the government’s attention on making changes in the law regarding the reliability of the promised goals concerning the eco-friendliness of the city. The movement is organized through a Facebook group in which every member can present their ideas. If the idea gets more than 7 likes, the group starts working on the project. The working process is based on equality and the capabilities of the members. Everybody who wants to can get involved with a particular project. The movement is characterized by a high activity in combatting against problems.

In conclusion, it is clear that the Guerilla Gardening Tbilisi, while facing difficulties at the time being, in fact did contribute big time to the improvement of the eco-friendliness of the city, while making it clear to the people that change is indeed needed. In the light of recent events and developments in our society, especially regarding the worldwide environmental Fridays For Future movement, inspired by Greta Thunberg, with climate change becoming a topic that cannot be ignored so easily anymore, we hope, that in this light, the Guerilla Gardening movement in Tbilisi could become impactful again.

New buildings which are considered to be built.

Maybe the decline of the movement was evident at the time we were in Tbilisi, but hopefully, today the people around the world are becoming more environmentally conscious, working together for a better future. While it may seem small, difficult, or hard, every contribution we make for our planet’s wellbeing is still significant, and for that, we are thankful to have such inspirational movements that help us recognize the issues at hand and change them for the better.

Moreover, new skyscrapers are built everywhere, while the number of old imported cars grows, thus adding to the pollution of the city. To make the people aware of these pressing issues, and in contrast to the aforementioned Urban Gardening project in Germany, the Tbilisi Guerilla Gardening movement is taking actions in politics, consequently starting a protest movement against the city’s new building projects.
To learn more about the movement, their goals, hopes, and actions, we met with Shalva Chugunadze, an IT specialist and civic activist, who is a volunteer of Guerilla
Gardening movement in Tbilisi. According to Chugunadze, at first, around 2011-2012, they started to plant trees around the city. Nonetheless, that didn’t stop the authorities
from cutting down big trees in order to build more buildings like skyscrapers, commercial centers, and more. Thus, Guerilla Gardening Tbilisi gradually turned into a civic movement against the environmental destruction of the city of Tbilisi, and the country of Georgia.

In the past, for example, members voiced their concerns by climbing on a tree cutting machine to stop it; they organized a hunger strike to demonstrate against the secret cutting of trees; also, cauldron-drum demonstrations against the city mayor David Narmania, who gave permissions to cut trees. While in general, the people of Tbilisi are very accepting to the movement, there still is a lot of backlash from the authorities. The movement had to struggle with members being arrested for demonstrating or having to pay big fines for protesting. Nonetheless, with time, it seems that the message is reaching the people. A big achievement is also the fact that political parties started to include much more information about the protection of the environment in their programs. Having said that, Chugunadze also brought up some serious difficulties the movement is facing at the time being. Among other things, it is getting harder to start new projects, especially because the community got smaller over the time. Nonetheless, the remaining members focus on planning protest actions, planting trees around the city, scheduling exhibitions and funding the charges of other members they received for protesting.

Area at Vake-Park Tbilisi where they will rise up new buildings.

Shalva Chugunadze is living in Tbilisi, Georgia and is a volunteer in the Guerrilla Gardening movement.

Nata Peradze, the founder of Guerilla Gardening, shows us that even a single person is capable to start a societal change and raise the environmental consciousness of many people with just small things like planting trees. Demonstrating as itself is not enough to fight against our nowadays problems. What really matters is to start with actions. But how? If you are interested in sustainable lifestyles, start to change yours first, think about
what you are consuming. Talk with people about how they changed their consumption style to be more sustainable. Start to share your stuff which is not in everyday use. Start to join movements, associations and groups who are active and help them to develop their projects. Finally, start your own projects! For example, if you see green areas in urban surroundings which are not used, start to transform them into community gardens.

Nature, Culture

Guerilla Gardening in Tbilisi

In protest against Tbilisi’s new building projects, Guerilla Gardening has become a politically active movement within the city…

German English

Georgia

Moreover, new skyscrapers are built everywhere, while the number of old imported cars grows, thus adding to the pollution of the city. To make the people aware of these pressing issues, and in contrast to the aforementioned Urban Gardening project in Germany, the Tbilisi Guerilla Gardening movement is taking actions in politics, consequently starting a protest movement against the city’s new building projects. To learn more about the movement, their goals, hopes, and actions, we met with Shalva Chugunadze, an IT specialist and civic activist, who is a volunteer of Guerilla Gardening movement in Tbilisi. According to Chugunadze, at first, around 2011-2012, they started to plant trees around the city. Nonetheless, that didn’t stop the authorities from cutting down big trees in order to build more buildings like skyscrapers, commercial centers, and more. Thus, Guerilla Gardening Tbilisi gradually turned into a civic movement against the environmental destruction of the city of Tbilisi, and the country of Georgia.

New buildings which are considered to be built.

Shalva Chugunadze is living in Tbilisi, Georgia and is a volunteer in the Guerrilla Gardening movement.

Nature, Culture

Guerilla Gardening in Tbilisi

In protest against Tbilisi’s new building projects, Guerilla Gardening has become a politically active movement within the city…

German English

Obelisk Hemp Farm in Latvia shows there is more to do with hemp than smoking

Ju27872 Nature 0

Latvia

Whenever the talk is about hemp, or as most people know it – cannabis, they rather think about the drug than the raw material. Hemp has a long history of being grown and used throughout the ages – it was only since after World War II and the subsequent prohibition of cannabis as a drug in the United States that the plant became so negatively connoted. The legal situation in Germany, for example, is difficult: possession of even small amounts of any part of the plant will in some states be prosecuted by law.

In recent years however, the tides began to shift with the widespread legalization of hemp around the world. While, in general, still illegal in Germany, medical use of cannabis is now allowed just like hemp farming for industrial use. In practice though, it’s very difficult since farmers are obliged to get a license – which is by no means easy. In Latvia, the situation is similar – growing cannabis containing THC is being prosecuted by law. It is possible to grow low-THC plant varieties, as long as farmers have a license and plants are grown on a field, not indoors or in a greenhouse.

The shed with useful machines for harvesting.

With climate change affecting all of us, the world’s population growing and consuming more and more resources -mostly non-renewable and non-degradable – it is important to focus on renewable and sustainable materials. Luckily, part of the answer is in plain sight: hemp, which has been unjustly criminalized, is beginning to grow back into focus. It can be used for building, making clothes, as food and even for medicine. To find out more about the benefits of this plant, we went on a journey to Obeliskas, a tiny village in the heart of Latvia. Here, we met Andris and Deborah, who gave us insights into their hemp business. They produce lots of different hemp-related products and run a school aiming to educate people about the benefits of hemp.

In Obeliskas, which lies in the eastern part of Latvia in the Latgale region, Andris and Deborah have made their dream of running a hemp farm come true. It has already been three years since the family moved from London to Latvia to transform a rundown farm into something truly special. The beginning posed challenges – from getting stuck in the middle of a muddy road on their first day in Latvia, to rebuilding the old houses and
infrastructure to make the place livable. It was lots of hard work until the project began to run smoothly.

Hemp field in early july.

Andris and Deborah founded the hemp farm without much in-depth knowledge or educational background about hemp as a material. They had to find out all about growing conditions, products and production by themselves – sometimes even by trial-and-error. “There was a lot of YouTube involved. We also learned lots
out of reading”, Andris told us. “We expected it would be a little easier to get detailed information, for example about when to plant or which seeds to choose.”

“Somehow, I put in my head that it would be very easy to get the information, but it’s not. We made a lot of mistakes, but everything is possible. Seeing how this is developing, and still getting more and more interesting, being involved in all of this as a family – it’s really amazing.” Andris and Deborah kept finding out more, and with time, became experts themselves. They told us a lot about the benefits of the hemp plant. The plant, from an agricultural perspective, is in general good for the soil it grows on.You can make a variety of everyday-products from hemp, such as paper or other materials. Ropes, cloth, and clothes can be made from hemp fibres. They can be used for building insulation in the form of hempcrete and even in the car industry. Many parts of the plant can be used in the kitchen. For instance, while squeezing out the oil out of the seed, one also gets the hemp protein. The hemp flower is being used for tea and even the roots are edible. According to Andris, it`s great against illness, such as stomach pains.

Some benefits of hemp.

Having learned a lot from their experiences, Andris and Deborah decided to pass on their knowledge. Their idea of the Obelisk Farm consists not only of growing and producing hemp, their focus also lies on sharing the information with others. Andris has been visiting schools to educate kids about hemp, showing them how to make their own hemp paper. “I really want to get the stigma out – it is not for smoking. If there are thirty kids in a class, while being really excited about making the paper, maybe one will really remember it and even go to university to learn more about it and develop the ideas.”

On the other hand, Andris and Deborah, while going about their usual farming business during the summer months, have also created the opportunity to visit the farm as a tourist. They offer hemp tours, hemp workshops and as of now, even a hemp museum is on its way. The idea of passing on the knowledge is especially important to Andris, who believes that, because of its sustainability, hemp might be the rescue of the planet: “My dream, in general, is for hemp to become so common, that the idea of using hemp to save the planet reaches the people – the main idea is that hemp can save the planet. People just need to know about it. I think it will happen in our lifetime, it’s achievable.”

Self-made oil out of hemp seeds.

Andris is showing us how to extract the fibre.

This is the reason behind the interactive workshop Andris and Deborah are offering during summer and early autumn. They also told us about how the most important thing is the fact, that it is hands on experience: “I think it is very important that you don’t just tell people ‘oh you can do this, you can do that’ and that’s it. We have the tours, people come to our farm and they see what we do, and then they get the opportunity to try it out themselves. They learn how to break the straws, how to extract the sheaves, they have a tasting of the products we are actually making here… It’s very important that you can feel and touch the products and experience them with all senses, that really facilitates the idea, what the material actually is.”

Furthermore, they also publish hemp related YouTube videos and run their own hemp blog, which ensures the diffusion of the information all over the globe. In addition, Andris and Deborah both are going back to university, to broaden their knowledge even more. While Deborah will be starting a course in media and communication, which also, in a way, will help the development of their media appearance, Andris goes back to university to study more about food technology, to gather more knowledge in that area.

At the same time, since Obelisk Farm is producing food already, Andris partakes in a big food exhibition of the Baltic States every year, where all the food companies display their products. That way, even more people get to learn about the benefits of hemp.

Andris’ and Deborah’s biggest challenge yet is the hemp school project, which they want to be available during the whole year, not just the warm months: “We hope that we can make the hemp school to be available, for it not to be seasonal… We don’t have proper ceilings, floors and heating yet, so we dream of having that, so we can continue throughout the winter. We want to give people the opportunity to be able to come here and learn about hemp all year long. In the summer months, the hemp is growing, but in the winter, after the summer harvest, the farm life continues. We have to dry and clean the seeds, arranging everything for the production. The hemp school should be going on during that time, too.”

The entry of the hemp school.

This is what the inside of the hemp schools meeting room looks like.

The hemp plant is a great example of how easy it could be to maintain sustainability in the day-to-day life of many people. While the individual can make use of the hemp plant on a small basis, it is clear, how good for the planet it would be, if for example construction firms would be using hemp for insulation, instead of other materials.

Sadly, it seems as if it would still be a long way to the widespread re-establishment of hemp as an everyday material, due to most governments still being really strict about the plant. If the process of getting the permission to grow hemp wouldn’t be such a difficult one, maybe more agriculturalists would be growing hemp, increasing the possibility and accessibility of a sustainable, natural material, that can be used in almost every part of our lives.

It is really important to see the plant for what it is and can be, rather than criminalizing and prosecuting it. So let’s hope, together with Andris and Deborah, that the re-growth of the hemp
plant isn’t that far away in the future, and that more people realize, how important, and also how simple it could be to integrate more sustainability into our everyday life.

Deborah, Julian, Andris, Sima and the kids.

Nature, Culture

Obelisk Farm in Latvia

Whenever the talk is about hemp, or as most people know it – cannabis, they rather think about the drug than the raw material. We have been at Obilisk farm in Latvia where we met a family who is fighting against those stereotypes. Especially in the light of the current development of our planet, with climate change being an issue that affects all of us, the world’s population growing from day to day and consuming a lot of resources, mostly non-renewable and non-degradable, it is of utmost importance to focus on renewable and sustainable materials like hemp. Read more about its benefits in our latest article…

German English

Activists in Bialowieza are fighting to preserve the last primary forest in Europe from illegal logging

Ju27872 Nature 0

Poland

Activists in Bialowieza are fighting to preserve the last primary forest in Europe from illegal logging

Bialowieza Protection-Camp

The Hambacher Forst in Germany is just another example of how humans destroying a precious forest, just for their profit of getting more coal. Even though the government promised to reduce the coal production, the forests are still destroyed irreversibly. The same thing happened to the forest of Bialowieza national park, which is the last remaining primary forest in Europe….

UNESCO heritage Bialowieza forest stretches from Poland to Belarus and is home to a diversity of species. The most prominent is the bison, being well protected after it nearly became extinct following World War I. Bialowieza hosts a variety of rare bird species, amongst others the white woodpecker, which populates the dead wood one finds in the untouched protected areas. Being interlaced by distinct swamp areas which are unique in Europe, where fungus, plants and insects live in symbiosis, Bialowieza with its more than hundred-year-old trees is one of the most remarkable ecosystems in Europe. In spite of being listed as a UNESCO world nature heritage, the polish government regards only a 50 km² fragment of Bialowieza worth protecting, from a total of 1500 km² and 200km² of it being protected on the Belarus side since 1990.

The Bialowieza forest saving team managed to slow down the logging a lot and succeeded as it stopped in November 2017. But many of the activists are in conflict with the law now, the court cases, with more than 300 law suits started in autumn. The most common accusation was for entering the forbidden zone and not leaving it after being asked for. The costs for lawyers and the whole process are mainly financed by donations. Hopefully, most of the accused will be exempt from punishment, as the European Court investigates Poland for acting against European law after the clearing of the forest was forced to be stopped.

With the decision of the ministry of environment to increase the logging in the forest, the wood industry began to draw timber in BIalowieza in May 2017. Since heavy machines entered the forest, Bialowieza turned into a topic of media interest and public protest, as well as the criticism of experts, subsequently founding initiatives to save the forest. Different NGO`s came together with scientists, but also many people knowing about the importance of the forest participated in the topic and created the Camp for the Forest.

We talked to Kinga, a woman who joined the activist camp one month after it was founded. She followed the open call of the camp to gather activists and came with friends and her dog to Bialowieza. When she arrived, there were already 100 people at the camp. “It was just booming, and more and more people got involved.” It was not easy in the beginning, because there were a lot of different people with different points of views that came together. “We had a big diversity, some anarchistic groups which don’t like organisations for example”.

Kinga, stays infront of illegal logged oaks.

In fact, the self-organisation of the camp went surprisingly well by setting up some rules at the beginning. They were about the non-hierarchy structure, a discrimination free zone and finding decisions democratically. After a while, they noticed that the gatherings, which were held every night, became too crowded, as sometimes more than 150 people were sitting together. “We brought together what was happening that day by collecting data and think about what will happen tomorrow. And with so many people it was taking ages and was not very effective in the beginning. Than we got the idea creating working groups. Groups for different subjects like coordination actions, food and media. First of all, every seperate group worked on their topics and then what they brought together was introduced to the camp at the gatherings. Every decision was made together in a democratic way.”, Kinga told us.

Blackboard to organize upcomming tasks.

In the beginning, the camp of the initiative was located in the forest village Pogorzelce, where old farm buildings where transformed into office, storage, workshop and sleeping areas. The people, who didn’t participate in direct action in the forest, like blockades or patrolling, kept up the structure of the camp. Most important was cooking for the whole community in the improvised outdoor kitchen, building the infrastructure of the camp with pipes for water and repairing the bikes for patrolling. Every person who wants to act in the forest, has to go through a few hours workshop. The idea behind this was to have a nonviolent environment, so all the blockades and protests are directed in a nonviolent way. Kinga, who was also active in the forest, says “We were exercising how to behave in dangerous situations and only resisting in a passive way. Dangerous means when the forest guards or the rangers where taking us out of the forest. You should not use any offensive language and don’t get provoked.”

” Only selected people were supposed to talk to the newspapers to spread the right message, so there was even a group taking care about how to face the media and coordinate with the NGO`s. The collected data about how many trees where logged and the location of the logging was sent to scientists and to the commission of the European Tribunal, who investigate the case of this forest.

Kasia, activist from Greenpeace.

We asked Kasia, who is from Greenpeace and is staying permanently at the forest camp, which parties were involved in the case of the Bialowieza forest. She explained to us: “I don’t want to talk about sides but actually there is on the one hand Greenpeace Poland, Wild Poland Foundation, the Camp for the Forest and also many different NGO’s, which are in the coallision “I love Puszcza” – I love the forest.

The other side is quite complicated and starts with the governmental decision of Jan Szyszko, the minister of environment, to increase the logging in the forest. The foresters form the state forest company moved in with big harvesters, additionally they were doing this during the time when the birds are mating. And it’s actually forbidden as it is a UNESCO protected area. It was illegal, at least that is what we know now. But at the time being, they didn’t want to say that they were wrong and the government was supported by the state forest which also belongs to them.“
Because the forest is unique for Europe, the government already considered to make the forest 100% national park. “Lech Kaczynska”, who tragically died in a plane accident, consulted scientists to change the situation of the forest. They created different projects, which went through various scenarios. From changing the whole forest into a national park to expanding the strictly protected areas and also about changing the strategy of raising money, achieving economical growth everything connecting with the forest. “Those where very good projects and programs and we are still reading them. They already gave us the answers to many questions. But the government didn’t accept them. And after Kaczynska nobody tried it again.” Kasia said. With the stop of the harvesters, many people think this topic is closed, as it disappeared out of the media. “But the current situation is that there is no national park, we need to continue the campaign and our work for the forest. It is still a long way in front of us.” The municipality government and local authorities have the final say when it’s about creating the national park. The state forest has a great influence in the villages, because they invest money for building roads for example and they are well established. Every family is somehow related to the state forest company because they employ the people form the villages. “We hope that at one point the local authorities and the people will understand that tourism can be a future solution and because of that its good to beware the forest.

Meeting-Room at the protection camp in Teramiski.

Of course, the locals have the right to decide about the forest, but the forest doesn’t only belong to them, it belongs to the country. There could be a bigger group of specialist or scientists making decisions about the forest, not only the state forest, as they are a logging company. Finally, the state forest understood about the importance of leaving some dead woods, which is the requirement of a healthy forest. The fight against the bark beetle was just an excuse for the logging, as it’s a natural process.”
The villages and the locals are really depending on the logging and don’t understand how tourism can be profitable for them. Bialowieza for example is using tourism, they have bikes and apartments to rent. Among these, locals formed a group called Locals Against Logging, most of them are working as guides in the forest or are businessmen who owns apartments and they advocate for creating a national park.

“We experienced a lot of local support and became friends with some local people. Some of them were even taking part in protecting, or bringing food to the camp. The majority however doesn’t want to be involved in that conflict. It’s a very polarized topic and its in fact this group we want to reach by making educational workshops. We want to show that the world is changing and you can’t just log trees which are more than 100 years old.”

On the way to the protected areas in the forest.

We met a group of beautiful and well-educated people in the forest camp giving up a lot to protect this precious piece of land. They are very well organized and welcomed us warmly. Kinga brought us to the wolf track not far from the camp. Here the government started the logging because of the bark beetle and after that because of safety reasons like they said. Meanwhile a group of wild bisons are passing.
“There was a big logging here and we counted how old the trees have been and marked them, if they are over 100 years old. When they are brought out of the forest, we record this with the date and GPS code. The state forest is selling the wood and this is legal to the polish law but not to the European law, so we are still collecting data here.”

It was easy to follow the bison group for a little while. They were slow and loud because of the cracking woods under their weight, but also because there should be more trees at this place. On one side you have an intact forest, on the other side just some bushes are left, which makes it look like a tree cemetery.
.

On the one hand you have an intact forest, on the othre just some steps next to it logged trees everywheere.

The camp is now in Teramiski in a wooden house, which was given to the group by a polish writer, who supports the idea of saving the forest. In that house they have the opportunity to work on projects and programs to protect the forest. “We know this forest so well and we want to share our knowledge about it. The info point should provide scientific information about the national park and shows the people some solutions and benefits of creating it into a national park with descriptions and all the reasons why it`s so special in Europe and worth to protect it.”, explains Kinga. “We are still here, and we are transforming. We want to show that we want to stay here and participate in the local community. We want to be a point on the map that people can visit and meet. Now is the time to speak and educate.” They work in Warsaw on different kinds of levels about the national park. „We all have similar ways of seeing the world, so we try to live here as zero waste as possible. Therefore, the camp has its own compost and tries to buy things locally. Food will be produced seasonally in the garden and every week people bring us food from food sharing initiatives in Warsaw.

It’s not easy to take care of everything because the people are changing all the time. At one point we are a quite similar group of people and we want to spread this way of living. We give workshops, make meetings for the people and speak with newspapers. And doing whatever we can to spread the message.” “The forest shows us what happened if we not treat the environment well, taking care of the environment is the important thing.”

After a while we crossed a small bridge where we took a small rest. Kinga explained us how she got to the camp and what her tasks have been in the group.

The heads behind the Bialowieza protection camp.

“I have been a feminist activist for many years, but it`s mostly connected to my work for and with NGOS. I never got involved into eco activist groups until I came here. When they started the logging I got so mad, because the government did so many things wrong at the time. Things happened with refugees which I don’t agree with. It came to this point when you have to decide in your life to do something for yourself, maybe career or you go and join the others who want to make a change for something. I heard from people about the camp and I followed the open call, so I moved here with the dog and some friends. And as I was entering the camp I knew it that I`m going to stay here. Things are happening here are really having an impact. And it`s very different to the activism I knew before, because its more advouse working. I worked a lot with social education and anti-discrimination education. Thanks to all the blockades we could save so many trees and the thing which was very motivating, was that you can see the impact right away. The power which was coming from all the people was just amazing. I`m still active at some other fields and earn a bit of money for giving workshops, but my free time I spend here for the forest. And with all the knowledge I have got about the forest it changed my live.

Nature, Culture

Forest-Protection Camp in Bialowieza

Bialowieza is one of the last primary forests in Europe. Many rare species having their natural habitats in this forest. Since the Government started with the logging, activists gathered and y builded a Protection-Camp to defend this beauty of nature…
We Love Puszczy!

German English

E-mobility solution made in Freiburg

Ju27872 Culture 0

crowded streets, traffic jams, noise and pollution – today it’s part of our everyday urban life.

Factors that certainly not only reduce the quality of life in a city, but also contribute to global warming. According to the UN, more than 75% of all people are expected to live in metropolitan areas by 2050. Some ways of facing these social, economic and environmental challenges and to cope with this development is using more public transport, an increasing range of sharing concepts, as well as the expansion of the bicycle infrastructure. Some cities are reacting to this change with so-called „green zones“. Other’s try to ban traffic from the City centers.

Nevertheless, the growing issue remains, traffic is a huge challenge.
It is difficult to deliver products punctually in urban areas, and residents and workers equally stand in daily tough competition for the few available parking spaces.

New traffic solutions and concepts are needed in conjunction with city structures and planning, especially in urban traffic zones in order to be able to react better.

In Denzlingen, just a few minutes from Freiburg, mobility will be tackled by a new concept for the future. ‘Carla Cargo’ – a start-up which produces bike trailers and handcarts designed for larger loads, the idea has already began to grow.

Normally, such weights of goods are only transported with vans that unlike the Carlas cannot enter the pedestrian areas. The aim of Carla Cargo is, making a climate friendly solution for the urban life and gradually replace cars from the inner city area.

From a hobby project, which at the request of one of the largest SoLaWi `s of Germany, the Gartencoop, was born, and developed in recent years as a small start-up, with their new innovations in Transportation for daily urban problems. The Gartencoop, with its fields is located far outside the city center of Freiburg therefore it is dependent on a suitable transport method of their goods. The idea to bring the vegetables in an environmentally friendly way into the city and thus to support the garden scooter, was ultimately the first Carla. „I saw that the vegetables are transported by bicycles and then we looked at it with an engineering perspective, what could be optimized on the existing system?
The realization came quickly that we definitely need an new brake system,“explains Markus Bergmann, founder of Carla Cargo and sympathiser of Gartencoop.

„The beginning was difficult. Many prototypes were made, a lot of trials, testing and we welded into the nights .“Markus and his small team soon realised that without financial support the reality of the project would not have been possible. He came up with the idea of Crowdfunding, i.e. the support of a community, to advance and make the project a reality. Using crowdfunding they collected about 7000 € which in the implementation and further elaboration of the idea helped decisively.
In 2015, a first functional prototype was created, representing a completely new concept. The feedback of this novel product was great, but with the collected funds it was only the beginning.
„From a >>“ Hippie idea „<< we have become business people.“ More Carlas’ should see the light of the world.

Markus and his team followed the ideology, using open source blueprints of the Carlas for everyone accesable. Due to the swarm intelligence of the masses, the Carlas should be further developed and optimized. ”Unfortunately, the open source concept brought not the desired impact, we just received little input from the swarm intelligence.“ For Markus, Open Source is not as easy to implement with hardware or products than software. „It was difficult, added with the economic pressure. There were about 20 Carlas’ worldwide according to the manual built. As a result, ideas have come in, but they can not be directly implemented or economically exploited.“

Nevertheless, Carla Cargo should remain as a concept open source, despite the lack of a patent and with added Competitors in this field. Another thought of the free availability was to simply see more Carlas in the world. „Every Carla replaces a car in urban surrounding. This creates less CO² – that was our biggest motivation. “

Therefore, in order to found the company and to be able to produce more Carlas, a loan had to be taken. With the credit the economic pressure grew on Markus and his team. Carla Cargo is currently instructed to have its parts developed in Denzlingen manufactured in Europe and Asia. 2016, 60 frames have been ordered from Poland. Brake-system parts come from Hungary. The exchangeable batteries, which are installed in a Carla come from China. The lithium probably won in Africa. „That the lithium is won in Africa, probably under severe conditions for the workers, of course, we do not find well. We are aware and we are looking for better solutions. “To found the company and to be able to produce more Carlas, a loan had to be taken.

At Carla Cargo`s production in Denzlingen.

In the future, the Carlas are no longer dependent to suppliers from Europe and Asia. A Carla „Made in Germany“, directly in the Black Forest is Markus wish. To make more sustainable Carlas However, higher volumes are needed. “Due to the low number of pieces, it is not currently possible to lower prices. Recently a SoLaWi called us and their concept was similar to the garten coop. Of course we were excited and see such projects as a dream client, but they wanted the Carla without financial compensation, which caused of the economic pressure was not possible for us.“

„The Carla is simply worth its price,“ explains Markus. There are currently about 100 Carlas in the Circulation. 100 more will be added this year. The use of the carla is diverse and creative. After only three years, the Carla has other uses as its means for companies, mobile beehives and used as a dining and music cars for example.

We asked where he sees the future of his project, Markus replied: „We have a top motivated Team, we will go ahead step by step. We do not want to get stuck on innovation, but continue to improve it. We do not know yet, where the journey with Carla Cargo goes. I would like, to see more movement towards e-mobility in Germany in general. Rental stations for Carlas would be for example, a topic of the future.“

We are sure that Carlas will shape urban traffic in the future. With Carlas the mobility behavior of suppliers could significantly changes and thus large amounts of CO² could be saved. With the help of their flexibility, it can be appropriate to the characteristics of the urban surroundings. We hope that many Carlas will see the light of day and thus the future plans of Carla Cargo will be realized. We thank Markus and his team sincerely for the Insights at Carla Cargo.

Links

www.carlacargo.com

Culture

Carla Cargo in Denzlingen

Carla Cargo is a young start-up which produces electric supported cargo-trailors to tackle the nowadays chaos in urban surroundings. The idea is to change the transportation to realise it almost emission free. Read more in the article and get inspired!

German English

Know your food!

Ju27872 Culture 0

Jena

Nowadays, in our globalized world, most people are alienated from the food they consume. One is used to go to the supermarket and get everything s/he wants. Oftentimes we don’t know – or it is simply of no interest to us – where our food comes from or which fruits and vegetables are in the season. We even don‘t have a clue about how those plants look like on the field or in the wild.. But there are some initiatives that try to tackle this issue and change the way people think about and consume their food.

To meet up and learn more about that, we have been in the City of Jena in Thüringen and talked to the founders of some of the local initatives.
Precisly, we looked at three urban gardening projects in Jena, marked as red leafes on the map. But what actually is urban gardening?

Urban gardening is the process of growing plants of all types and varieties in an urban environment. Urban gardening, which is also known as urban horticulture or urban agriculture, encompasses several unique gardening concepts, including Container gardening, Indoor gardening, Community gardening, Guerilla Gardening and Greenroofs.

I sat down with Roland Bischof, a biologist from Jena, who is part of a few of those initiatives, and talked to him about the projects he’s engaging in. Initially having come to Jena to study Biology in 2002, Roland came back in 2009 and since has been working in the field of agronomic research and education. After the research projects lessened, he wanted to expand his scope ofactivities, starting to work with farmers, schools and engineering offices to make the most of hisknowledge. This is how he came to work with the local projects Solidarische Landwirtschaft („Community Supported Agriculture“) and Essbare Stadt („Edible City“).

This is one Urban-Gardening spot at the Eichplatz „Gemeinschaftsgarten“ in Jena nearby the Jentower.

The latter, Essbare Stadt, is a projec t which, starting in 2009, tries to achieve a closer connection between the local growers and the consumers, minimizing the transpor t distance of the food. Work ing together with a local gardening center and integrating handicapped people, the registered association cultivates an area of 2000 m². At the beginning of the year, all those who are interested (up to 25 parties) can buy holdings of the harvest for around 480 Euro, guaranteeing the deliver y of one box of fresh and seasonal vegetables and fruits per week – if available, even juices and honey.

Thus, as shown on the left, it is a perfect example of a regional economy: Locals connect to regional growers through financial support and in return the growers cultivate and harvest vegetables and other products for them.

Naturally, the amount of food they get varies throughout the year: “During summer and autumn, it is oftentimes more food then the customers alone could eat themselves. If that is the case they share it with others, for example inviting friends for dinner“, explains Roland, who supervises the plant cultivation. In the winter months, the customers get a box every two weeks only, because of the lower yields. “You get more excited about the products if they are not available all throughout the year. You get a greater appreciation for the goods.“ All costumers have the possibility to visit the fields and take a look at the plants and how they are grown.

The Essbare Stadt collective pursues a pretty similar concept. People who are growing up and living in the city sometimes have not seen the matching plant to the food they consume in everyday life. A simple reason for that is that usually those plants do not grow in an urban surrounding – unlike the Essbare Stadt. The collective was founded in 2013 by around five people who had heard from this idea that had been established in other cities before. The idea is simple: Use urban areas to grow fruits and vegetables, thus people are able to see how it is done! Furthermore, some people may see that it is possible to use even a very small area to grow food and to not always have to rely on supermarkets. This is what Roland emphasises about the project: “For me, the educational part of this project is the most important. You probably will not grow enjoyable food right next to a busy road. “When founded, the collective approached the public authorities to ask which areas could be used for the project and, after about half a year, they achieved an agreement. “The areas were not ideal, but we made the best out of them“, explains Roland. They now look after three areas in the city, with two people responsible for each. They meet once per week to discuss upcoming events, oftentimes right in the concerning areas and work on
developing them afterwards. One of those areas is located right in the city center, next to the biggest parking lot of the town. With flowers and different shrubs they transformed it into a place where people now enjoy the sun and pick strawberries, naturally for free, between the shopping centers. The project furthermore addresses the community spirit, which is about usingthe city together. Even some local companies joined the movement and put little raised beds in front of their offices.

Roland Bischof

If you drew some inspiration from those projects and maybe want to start similar ones in your city, Roland advises threesteps: “First search for allies, because together you are more likely to convince people of your concept – especially the officals. Secondly, inform yourselves about how other people tackledsuch projects and, believe me,there are lots of them. Once you are well prepared, go to the citys‘ officials and pitch them your idea.“

Here is some information about the projects that were mentioned in this article:

www.wurzelwerke-jena.com
www.jenaparadieschen.wordpress.com
www.essbarestadtjena.tumblr.com
www.ecolife.com

Nature, Culture

Urban Gardening in Jena

Jena is just an example how some initiatives try to change the relation between food and their consumers. Oftentimes people don´t know where their food comes from and what is the matching plant to the fruit or which fruits and vegetables are in season. Urban Gardening tries to tackle this issues…

German English

Gartencoop – SoLaWi based in Freiburg

Ju27872 Culture, Nature 0

Ronny, with his forest garden project of Permakultur Dreisamtal e.V., got us to think about how globally the existential question of food could be solved in the future. In Freiburg, we found an agricultural project which represents a model of how we can shape an alternative way of living with humans, the earth, plants and animals in order to contribute to societal change. It‘s about changing the food production so that environmental, resource-saving production methods and strengthened of small-scale structures are created.

The Garten Coop sees itself as part of a movement of solidary agriculture and is organized in a democratic way. Their goal is to produce healthy food that can be produced independently as possible from market pressures. In addition, the harvests are distributed equally within the community and regardless of the income of its members. Fairness and good working conditions for gardeners and farmers are the central aspects of the association.

In 2009 spurred on by such visions, a community of equal interests came together, so that only two years later, a lease agreement for a nine-hectare land could be signed in Tunsel near Breisach. The Garten Coop started with 170 members and grew up to 260 members today. The running costs of the whole project will be supported by the principle of „common economy“. This means that the financial burden is shared by all members and everyone is equally involved in collective ownership.

Film tunnel for vegetables in Tunsel nearby Breisach.

The infrastructure of the farm in Tunsel set many things and gave the borders of the project. The farm has several large barns for housing agricultural machinery and production resources which is own by the Community. In the middle of the courtyard is a large container that is used by the gardeners and members as an office, operations center and kitchen. After harvesting, the vegetables get washed in the yard and processed for bringing them to Freiburg. The aim of the Garten Coop is to produce climate-friendly and locally. For this purpose, a separate storage room and the production of their own fertilizers is essential. Cows provide the fertilizer for the field, thus creating a closed production cycle. The Garten Coop takes care of the animals, even if one gets sick, the community decides how the situation is handled. The cultivation of the varieties will also be decided together.

Here you get your equipment for the different tasks on the field.

But how does the association manage to supply all of the 270 members?

Lukas, one of the gardeners, told us about the beginnings, in his lecture about the cultivation planning of the Garten Coop: “In 2011, there was no concrete cultivation plan. First, 170 lettuces – one per member – should be harvested weekly. Only 2 hectares were planted with the best soil quality, the rest of the 9 hectares was first planted with clover grass to promote the humus structure. In the second year, a cultivation plan was developed to serve 300 households.”

Fabian, a gardener has designed a plan for a twelve-year crop rotation. Various plant varieties are divided into strong and low-growing crops. The cultivation phases are then adapted to the nutritional needs of the plants. In the foil tunnel, the crop rotation changes every six years. Cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, salads, corn, kohlrabi, arugula, radishes, beetroot and sweet potatoes are grown here.

Strongly nutrient-demanding plants are plants such as pumpkin and cabbage. Medium nutrient-demandings are carrots and spinach, for example. Weak nutrients-demandings are legumes, herbs and cress. Fertilizing with clover which will planted in the field.

As the financing of the cultivation is carried by all members, growing the vegetables can be independently of yield and competition. This concept makes it possible to grow not only high-performance varieties, and thus contributes to the preservation of rare vegetables. These are immensely important for biodiversity. „In our project, we have the freedom for cultivation experiments, but it has nevertheless an agricultural pragmatism, so in the tomato example, we have the main variety Tika. Tika accounts for about half of the stock, there are still 3-4 minor varieties and a few varieties of trial, „says Lukas. „It‘s about whether the plants are profitable and able to supply the community, but they are not sick and that they can be distributed well. It is especially important that they do not burst too fast.“

The lecture by Lukas is exemplary for the communication between the cultivation team and the members. Why were certain crops selected and why do only certain vegetables end up in the boxes at the distribution point?

Fresh spinach in the box is ready to wash.

Currently, the Garten Coop produces flour and different vegetables, but they can`t afford a complete supply because the yard area is not big enough, or the plants wouldn’t simply not grow there, like cacao or bananas, which are inseparable part of life quality for many people. Not all wishes can be put into reality, for example, nutmegs pumpkins or strawberries, would grow magnificently in Tunsel, only the further processing or harvest would be too much work. „In principle, however, anything is possible, if only enough dedicated members will be find,“ says one of the gardeners Vincent to us in an interview.

„In the Garten Coop quite different realities comes together. It‘s a compromise between people‘s utopias and the reality. We must find compromises, how we can put these things together. “

As there was a high turnover among members and there were also changes in the team of gardeners, it is particularly important that the communication between the cultivation team and the remaining members works well. Via an e-mail distribution list, members receive news about the field and are invited to events and member operations.

Lukas, who has been a long time part of the project, will soon leave the Garten Coop. „We had some conflicts in the team, which was also because there were many changes. There are certainly 15 different gardeners who are working in different constellations here. Despite such conflicts, we are now entering the 8th year and the project exists and operates at a certain size and is still in a process of progress. Different working groups are contributing, and I think that is very important, because this idealistic cultivation can only take place when people take the self-governing cooperative seriously and invest time. „

The Garten Coop is a flagship project in solidarity agriculture, with a strong involvement of members at all levels. Not only on the field, but also in the organization. Different working groups have been formed in order to be able to solve the different tasks.

Organization how the harvested food will be brought to Freiburg.

Values are taught through educational events, such as crop or cultural care assignments. Each member should come to at least four missions a year. „That shows just how much work is needed until the carrot is on the plate, it must be sown and flamed, will be weeded by hand and chopped, then comes the harvest and so we have some of it in the winter, it is stored in the cellar. For distribution, it is then taken out again and washed. That‘s a lot of work steps and if you know what you mean, that‘s again a whole different appreciation for food, „says Vincent.

During the assignments, the agricultural practice will be introduced under guidance in different areas. From the dunging of the stables and liberate the plants from the weeds, to the harvesting of spinach leaves, experience can be gained in many ways. Most of the missions begin in the early morning. After a few hours you meet for coffee or tea. With a light meal in the stomach, it goes back to the field until there is a delicious lunch that is always cooked from the fresh vegetables harvested on the field. Especially it is nice to talk with the others on the field while working, this strengthens the sense of community.

During the spinach harvesting on the field.

In the future, the Garten Coop wishes further cooperations. From the Demeter nursery Piluweri, which is one of their cooperation partners, they received, young plants for example. In addition, there is the possibility that they give their own seeds to Piluweri. Collaborations like this shows how important good networking is.

Not only the anticipation to cycle to the distribution point at the weekend, to pick up the delicious vegetables and to prepare it together with your friends, but also the opportunity to get involved, participate and learn makes the Garten Coop so special for us. We are curious how the Garten Coop will evolve in the future and we are looking forward to support them in the upcoming tasks.

Links
https://gartencoop.org/
https://solidarische-landwirtschaft.org

Nature, Culture

Garten Coop in Freiburg

Garten Coop sees itself as a member of the movement solidary acriculture. How we can shape an alternative way of living with humans, the earth, plants and animals in order to contribute to societal change? The Garten Coop wants a change in food production so that environmental, resource-saving production methods and strengthened of small-scale structures are created.

German English

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