So last weeks it has been just the three us (Jingni, Javier and me) since Ricardo and Zeljko had to join us using Skype and email from abroad. The team has been working on the UEF proposal, CS Queensday event and the Urban Gardening. Especially the last one is what's done physically in the Voorstraat at this moment and in this post I want to wrap up the last few weeks on the Urban Gardening process.

Visiting Biesbosch 
We started with a visit to the Biesbosch, this is a forest/swamp area close to Dordrecht and you can get there using a bike or, as we did, the Waterbus which is only 5 mins walk away from our place. This was in the first week of March when the weather was just right, cold but sunny. We were amongst the first to visit the area this year and as such saw the nature still inhabited by deer and beavers and not yet filled with people. To me it was a great experience to be out of the mass of bricks and back into nature again. I think it shows there is an opportunity to bring nature back into town, it can make it feel more friendly and more "liveable."

Visiting Urban Gardens in Rotterdam
After that we also visited the garden of Joost in Rotterdam, and had a walk through the Blijdorp area of Rotterdam to look at some examples of Urban Gardening. What I found most fascinating was that some parts of like bushes in the street normally planted and maintaned by the municipality in the cheapest way had been given to the community to work with. This resulted in small public gardens/parks who everyone could use but where the inhabitants of the street could put their mark on and design and grow what they liked. 

Brainstorming & Villa August
We went brainstorming with Kristina in the street and at Villa August, looking at what is going on and where opportunities arise. Jingni already wrote a nice post about the Brainstorm here so I'll comment on some of the other aspects instead. I think Villa August is a great example of what we are trying to do, it's a combination between farm and restaurant/hotel just outside the centre of Dordrecht where they grow the menu themselves. Of course it's more professional and bigger than people can do in their balcony or on the street, but it shows (and allows you to taste) how well you can use space inside town to grow your own food easily.

Some of the ideas we came up with during the brainstorm:
- Floating garden: using the canals behind the streets for small pontoons/boats as garden, maybe you can even take your garden to somewhere (as it's a boat) to enjoy the weekends. 
- Moving garden: using i.e. a wheelbarrow to make a garden move through the street, maybe you pass your garden on to the neighbors the next day or use the wheelbarrow to grow food and then transport it afterwards, sharing with the community.

Working with seeds and new plant pots
We experimented with different seeds, plant pots and more. This includes our sandwich-sign which has strawberries growing on it, so that people can not only read what we have to say but also taste it. We're also using egg-packaging and such to grow seeds in, it looks nice, absorbs the extra water and is fully compostable. In the end it allows us to grow the seeds and provide nutrients for the plants in the next stage, no garbage at all!  

DIY work for everyone
Yesterday we continued with our own products from growing plants including paper plant pots, a variation on the egg theme and a way of composting garbage in other garbage. The DIY postcards to explain people how to make these themselves will follow later today.