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Know your food!

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Jena
Know your food!
Know your food!
Know your food!

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?

Know your food!

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.
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.

Know your food!

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.

Know your food!

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
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…

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Gartencoop – SoLaWi based in Freiburg

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Gartencoop – SoLaWi based in Freiburg
Gartencoop – SoLaWi based in Freiburg

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.
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.

Gartencoop – SoLaWi based in Freiburg
Here you get your equipment for the different tasks on the field.
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.

Gartencoop – SoLaWi based in Freiburg

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.
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.
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.
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