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| Real food is growing in the Nutstuin |
After
speed-visits in the Dutch cities of Eindhoven en Utrecht, I took some more time
to visit the wide diversity of urban farming projects in The Hague. Don't forget to check out (and share) the pics here.
From a city
known as De Hofstad (the courts’ city) you don’t expect people to be rebellions.
But this is anything but the truth. All ‘farms’ I visited here where initiated
by the locals themselves. Only one of them is institutional, but open to the
public during working hours. I will explain more about it when we arrive at the
place. By the way. An overview of the pictures can be found here.
The first green
I bumped is was almost right after I left the train. The organization Lusthof
has the (ambitious) idea of creating a more pleasant city, full of respect
and green. Why not try it? The first attempts can be found in a lively area
between one of the main train stations and the old center. An interesting locations
since it is on the crossing of a characteristic canal, with all the typical
Dutch details you can imagine, and a busy streets crossing a zone with dominated
by North Africans and the cities China Town.
Small plots
created by Lusthof are spread out around the bridge and some of the surrounding
streets. It is a funny thing to see corn growing on the sides of a city street
and to be able to pick fresh zucchini after you had a drink on one of the
nearby terraces. And it is interesting to
see how much this green is appreciated and respected. Luckily so far only one ‘accident’
was reported. Not bad, for that neighborhood!
An
installation of the artist Annechien
Meier was the next stop. In 2010 she started - together with her fellow inhabitants of the
Panderplein houses – this interactive garden. On a (hidden) public courtyard,
not far from the center, she and here neighbors transformed a grey square into
a green Eden which can be enjoyed by anyone who likes it. At the time we
visited it, they where preparing it for the yearly Pander festival with the
fitting name ‘Safari in Pander’. Hope they didn’t get lost in the overwhelming
green areas.
The only
institutional project I visited was subject of one of my earlier blogs. This green
pearl was opened to the public over 2 years ago. After being used as a
parking lot for years, the users of surrounding buildings decided for it to
have more potential. And they were right! The garden now is enjoyed by office workers
having their lunch break and in summer there is an outdoor film program. The
garden is such a success that an adjacent parking
flat decided to join-in and made its face green as well! Another hurray for
this initiative!
Before
heading back home I quickly passed by the New Babylon tower, and more
specifically their restaurant.
The tower is still under construction, but the Mediterranean oriented restaurant
is already welcoming their guests. The young host kindly showed me around and
explained us all about the spices in the garden bordering their terrace. Every
day the chef goes into the garden and decides what he will use for that days
menu. As soon as the offices and houses are inhabited as well he might get some
help - and competition – from them. An
interesting project where commercial and private use should come together in
one garden. Hope they succeed to make it a success.
These two
days of visiting green projects in the Netherlands was great, but by far not
enough to visit them all. As I said before, the country is full of cool initiatives,
which can inspire many others. Don’t hesitate to let this happen to you and
create you own ‘urban farm’.
