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

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Internship coming to an end....

Now that my internship officially has ended, I have definitely made some changes to my original research question. I have been playing around with different questions for my bachelor thesis, for example:

What does it take to run a community project such as Byhaven 2200? What characterises Byhaven's leaders or initiators to keep this project alive after three seasons? What do they gain? How do they attract so many people and manage to have a relatively stable volunteer group? 

Why do people volunteer season after season? Why do they feel attracted to a place like this? Is it the people they meet, the activities they do, knowledge they gain? Do they feel an important part of this project? Do they feel they are learning something? Are their lives affected by participating in a project like this?

So many questions were popping out of my head during these three months and now I have decided that I wish to focus only on the initiators of this project. They don't have titles, offices, meeting hours but still play a very important role as leaders and for the purpose of my research I have decided to give them this title. 

I am particularly interested in analysing the leadership style, if there is one that fits into the characteristics of this project. Event though they claim to follow KBHFF's organisational structure, I would like to define the characteristics of Byhaven's leaders and the impact this has on the project. 

So where does Public Health come in? Well, literature reveals that community gardens are good platforms for changing people's lifestyles, particularly eating habits and mental health. I believe that this is possible as long as community garden leaders have or attain leadership skills that reflect on volunteers active participation and maybe impact their personal lives and mindsets. 

As any other research question, this might change over the following months but for now, this is where I stand.

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

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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.

Candela explaining how to start building the hotel

Materials to be used. Cardboard, hay, bark, sticks, dry leaves, wood....any natural material.

And the results.........

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Byhavefestival Nørrebro

On June 14th, Nørrebro Lokaludvalg and five city gardens located in Nørrebro, Copenhagen came together to celebrate urban gardening, to share their green areas and spread some ideas to neighbours and passers-by. Nørrebro Lokaludvalg sponsored most of the activities and had representatives at the event as well. 

Byhaven 2200 in particular arranged a full day with interesting activities from Morning Yoga, sharing a healthy brunch and learning about Bee Keeping. Corissa, Sarita and I were in charge of the brunch to be served at 10.30 am for approximately 50 people.

The program of the day was:

9.30 am Morning Yoga with Nina Kofod

10.30 Brunch 

A free brunch for all was served at Byhaven 2200, we made sure to use as many organic and local ingredients as possible. Salads were made from all the edible green leaves and flowers from the garden. Herbs were used for pesto and butter. Swiss chard for the savoury tart and elderflowers for the pancakes. There was also homemade strawberry and rhubarb compote, hummus, bread, cheese, yoghurt, granola and so much more!

And everything was gone within an hour!!! 

11.30 - 13.00 Face painting, Slackline and mingling with visitors.

13.00 Permaculture: Theory and Practice with Candela Vargas 

Byhaven 2200 follows Permaculture Principles in its design, organisation and working areas. Candela gave us a quick talk of Permaculture's definition, principles and history. Basically, Permaculture refers to how to practice permanent agriculture along with permanent culture (social aspect) to create and enhance a sustainable social system that works with nature, not against it.

14.30 Seed Collecting

This workshop focused on the importance of biodiversity and conservation of our seeds. At Byhaven 2200 there has been talks around developing a seed bank to preserve our plants and become more independent of seed producers.

16.00 Biodinamic Bee Keeping

Byhaven 2200 will have in the future a beehive and for this reason it was important to listen to experts about the best way to maintain a beehive and keep our bees healthy and productive.

 I think the festival was a great success. We shared, learned, experienced and met many different people. To offer a social platform where people can come together, work together and exchange opinions is one of Byhaven's main goals and I believe these kind of events are ideal for accomplishing them.  

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Qualities and Characteristics of Byhaven 2200's members

After four weeks of interning at Byhaven and meeting many different people, I think the most important quality for being part of the garden is to be sociable. One has to come with an open mind, spirit to work with others and thirst to hear stories from other members. 

One of the main objectives of the garden is to offer a platform in the city where people can meet and share ideas, work together and build a community regardless of their age, gender, political, religious or cultural beliefs or background.  

In my experience, people have been very welcoming, friendly, curious about our internship and contributions, interested in debating on different topics from gardening, food to conspiracy theories. 

An important quality is to be independent, take the initiative and not wait around to receive instructions. There is always someone that can assist newcomers, after a couple of weeks one gets to know the basics of the garden and start feeling free to experiment, play, propose, cut, eat.........

I see Byhaven 2200 as a place where individuals with common interests such as gardening, the environment, food and other topics meet and become a unit working towards the same objective. We want to experience the city in a different way and through different eyes. 

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About Byhaven 2200

Byhaven 2200 is a community garden in Nørrebro, a lively and colorful neighborhood in Copenhagen. The garden is situated in a public park and is open for everyone to use as a recreational space or to volunteer and learn some gardening skills. The garden's inspiration and ethics are based on Permaculture Principles and you will learn more about this concept while you garden.

Byhaven was established in 2012, this is its third season thanks to many working hands and engaged members that have kept the gardening spirit alive. Politics and commercial interests are left outside the garden.

Byhaven 2200 has four working groups:

1. Grow-it group: in charge of maintenance of raised beds, planting seedlings, harvest produce, putting up signs and making sure that permaculture principles are respected.

2. Build-it group: in charge of gathering all types of materials that can be used at the garden and maintenance off structures already built.

3. Communicate-it group: in charge of matters outside the garden such as meeting with the municipality, up-dating social media, giving interviews to journalists, students or researchers, building local partnerships, and more.

4. The board: in charge of administrative tasks such as applying for funds, organize workshops, special events, working days and also communicate with partners when needed.

If you are interested in gardening or have some spare time, make a useful contribution and join us! We are at the garden every Wednesday from 15.00 - 18.00 and Saturdays from 12.00 - 16.00.

http://byhaven2200.dk/

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Week 1 at Byhaven

During the first week at Byhaven, I have been busy talking to different people in charge of the garden while we all get dirty from working with soil and plants. We have been exchanging our experiences and stories as gardeners, ideas and approaches to the work done at the garden as well as personal interest and lives. I am surprised by the number of volunteers showing up on every working day and the enthusiasm they bring into the scene.

I am interning with two other students from my class, Corissa Peterson http://m13-corissajadepeterson.tumblr.com  and Sarita Shrestha http://m13-saritashrestha.tumblr.com and on our first day of work we discussed the different activities we would like to contribute to the garden and our personal goals for the internship. I think working with Sarita and Corissa will be an enriching experience as we all have different points of view and research interests.

I have met with Sandra, our internship host who is very pleased with the extra hands and ideas. We have discussed practical issues such as schedules and day to day activities to be done in the garden. She shared information on future events we can participate in and how to contact the people in charge. We are basically free to do whatever we want as long as we respect Byhaven's principles.

Besides networking and exchanging stories with people, we are there to garden!! This first week has been full of new information for me. Even though I have been gardening for some years now, there is always new things to learn. I have learned to identify different types of weeds, a different mulching technique, properties of certain plants that help others to grow stronger and many more to come.

It was such a rewarding week full of inspiring people, incredible stories, great lunch breaks, interesting gardening lessons and great weather.

Looking forward for more work to do!

Our green house ;)