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Berlin Cultivates Garden


PLANTED IN THE MIDDLE OF BUILDINGS soulless tomato field defies bitumen Berlin. Three years ago, this urban farm, however, was colonized by a wasteland waste of all kinds. At the time, a young filmmaker, Robert Shaw , returned from a trip to Cuba , where community gardens bloom at all street corners. Excited, he decided with Marco Clausen, a historian friend, create a similar space in Berlin, their hometown.

“We are more and more people live in cities and we consume only 70% of our resources the planet , says Marco Clausen. This system is not sustainable in the long term, especially if we face climate change. Behind this garden, there are plants that heirloom vegetables to make vibrate sores. It is the idea that we ought dwellers, meet our needs and cease to act as mere consumers.”


They travel THEN THE CITY looking for a space to rent and settled in a modest neighborhood, next to the Moritzplatz. “It was just an article in a local newspaper to attract 150 volunteers who helped us transform this former landfill in fertile soil. ” But the project is not limited to organic farming in the city center. “We were not gardeners, it took all learn and listen to those who know better than us ” , says Marco Clausen. This exchange comes the desire to create intergenerational educational workshops, courses bike repair, concerts, debates.

A farm is added a cafĂ© and a restaurant run by a French chef, offering a daily vegetarian dish for six euros fine. “We do not make any money but we do not lose. importantly, we create link social ” , explains Marco Clausen. Sitting on office chairs recovered here and there, alongside the trendy Turkish immigrants who come to share their knowledge of the land, while passing visitors cut fresh herbs and organic pick tomatoes they came to buy.


End of October, Prinzessinnengarten close its doors until spring. “At least we hope so because the landowner does not undertake never more than twelve months. This is why we have launched a petition which has already 20,000 signatures ” , rejoice both partners. Goal? Convincing other capitals in making this a model community garden for the future.