Discover Top Posts Tagged with #byhaven2200

Opening the beehives

A Dream Job

Urban gardens are growing in popularity. They are springing up all over the city. The Copenhagen municipality encourages individuals to take initiative to establish these types of projects. At this point in time, it seems that municipality could take a more active role in supporting the development of urban gardens. It seems like there is a big gap between individuals who would like to garden in the city and those who have the political, economic and social support. This gap between gardening and bureaucracy know-how translates to a much too long waiting time between the initial idea of building to a garden to actually get your hands dirty. I can only imagine that too many brilliant and exciting ideas get lost throughout this extensive waiting time. I would love to be an adviser from the municipality specializing on urban gardens and greening projects. Someone who can help initiatives navigate through bureaucracy, hopefully reducing the amount of waiting time for urban gardeners. I would imagine that the job would entail project writing, grant writing, budgeting, having knowledge of social and health policies. I don't know if a job like this would ever exist, but it certainly seems that with the increasing popularity of urban gardens and edible cities, that there should at some point be someone who understands bureaucratic situation and the needs of urban gardeners. We can't expect gardeners to become experts in policy, financing and organization- that's why I am needed!

#gnh #corissa #canadian #byhaven2200

Woohoo! Signs are finished and set up in the garden. Hope these can inspire and educate.

Each sign contains the following information:

Sun Exposure

Ecological Benefits

Companion & Non-companion Plans

Nutritional Information

Health Benefits

Edible Parts

Perennial/Annual

Danish, English and Latin Names

Illustration of the Plant

#gnh #corissa #canadian #byhaven2200

Fulfilling my Learning Objectives

During my internship, I have experienced that certain Learning Objectives were more relevant that others. I will highlight a few of the most relevant and interesting Learning Objectives that I have fulfilled.

Gain practical experience of how to maintain a community garden under permaculture principles. In order gain practical experience of how to maintain a community garden under permaculture principles, we have participated in all activities related to maintaining the garden. This is an ongoing process, and there is always more to learn. We attended a Permaculture Workshop during the Byhave Festival in Nørrebro, given by Candela Poveda at Byhaven 2200. Something incredibly interesting that I learned from this was that, Permaculture is not merely an agricultural technique, but rather a mindset on how to go about all activities in life. It is more of a lifestyle than anything; of course it stems from agriculture but today it is applied to many different areas. There are three main ethics of permaculture: Care for People, Fair Share and Care for the Earth. These are followed by twelve principles, mentioned below.

I will highlight a few examples of these principles in practice. Each working day would begin by Observing and Interacting to see small and big changes to the garden since the last visit. Catching and Storing Energy plays a large role in the garden. For example, certain beds in garden were built with dark stones that would absorb the sun's energy, creating warmer micro-climates for certain plants. An example of Obtaining a Yield in the garden, was that we would harvest as much and as frequently as possible to ensure that plants keep producing edible food. To ensure that we Produce No Waste, the garden has established an open compost, where any sort of plant waste could be placed and allowed to decompose into soil. The garden Uses Small, Slow Solutions. One example of this is that the garden beds were designed with partially decomposed tree logs at the bottom of them- under the soil. These are allowed to decompose over a longer period of time to provide nutrients to the soil and plants. In this way, the soil remains nutritious and healthy without having to add fertilizers. The garden beds were designed in very interesting shapes (rather than the traditional rectangles). These shapes are designed to increase the perimeter of the beds, and thus the amount of edges, in order to fulfill the last principle: Use Edges. At the edge of everything is increased diversity, and in this case, the edge of the garden beds increases the amount of biodiversity in the garden.

Gain a general understanding of how to manage a community garden.

In order to gain a general understanding of how to manage a community garden, we participated in many of the activities within each working group. Within the Communications Group, we collaborated with an artist at the garden to produce signs for the perennial plants. The signs have yet to be printed but they are designed and we expect to print them in the coming weeks. The signs contain nutritional and ecological information about the plant, together with a drawing of it. We also had a shot to construct something, with a bit of help from the Build-It group. We built a Little Free Library, which is like a small house where people can donate and borrow books.

Gain a broader perspective of community gardens through networking with stakeholders and gain insight through their interactions.

In order to network with other community gardens, we visited a couple other community gardens: Prags Have and DYRK. You can see a few photos below.

We also attend a couple of events: Byhave Festival and Botanisk Haves Dag (Botanical Gardens Day). I already went into a lot of detail about Byhave Festival, so I won't do that again. Botanisk Haves Dag, was a celebration at the Botanical Gardens in Copenhagen, where there were many venders representing different gardens, different products and different organizations. There was also live music. I learned about many different initiatives taking place in Copenhagen. In Amager, there are many community gardens that I have never heard of and would perhaps like to visit sometime soon. Below, you can see a map of the different community gardens in Amager.

#corissa #gnh #byhaven2200 #canadian

Sandra tells us about the values that Byhaven 2200 members share, believe in and follow.

#byhaven2200 #nørrebro #internship2014

Qualities of the Urban Gardeners at Byhaven 2200

There is something incredibly honest and profound about pausing the day-to-day chaos and getting your hands dirty, that attracts individuals from all walks of life. There are unspoken values that are respected such as tolerance and patience—good things are worth waiting for. It goes without saying that our small contribution each day at the garden is a small and slow step towards something much larger. We all hope for a better future and rather than taking the top down approach, that is filled with so bureaucracy, we work from the bottom up- the grassroots way. We do what we can, right here— right now. Strength in diversity extends from the biodiversity in the garden to the people who garden the garden. Everyone is welcome, and we accept difference. This is where tolerance becomes incredibly vital to the success of the garden. Diversity also expands common knowledge and generates new ideas.

#gnh #canadian #byhaven2200 #corissa

Sandra Villumsen, our internship host tells us a bit about how this fabulous project started three years ago.

#byhaven2200 #gnhinternship #nørrebro #summer2014

Building an Insect Hotel

On August 1, Byhaven offered a workshop called Insect Hotel where we learned about different insects, particularly predators, pollinators and parasites, and their role in the garden and the environment in general.

An Insect Hotel's purpose is to create an ideal environment for insects to live in and at the same time keep them close to the garden. The hotel attracts a wide variety of insects as different types of materials are used to create hiding spots, keep them warm or moist, or to capture their preys.

It is also important to mention how insects help balance our environment as some act as predators by controlling pests while other insects are busy pollinating and promoting biodiversity. Most of us, including me, are not very keen on insects and feel threatened at times by them, but we must realise their essential role in balancing our environment and basically, without them, we wouldn't survive!

So next time you feel frightened by a bee, a wasp, an ant, a bumblebee, spiders, butterflies and many thousands more.......let them live!! Take a deep breath and remember they are not after you, they are mainly protecting themselves from you. I am not saying that all insects are good but most of them are just living their lives as we do.......in a very different way.

Warm up game, associating materials and insects attracted to them.