Germany, anyone?

So here I am, maybe not in my dream place like in the tropics or south of Europe, but still theoretically a quite good place for permaculture. Would like to connect with other english speaking permies, I am in Hessen area. Happy to hear from you

Lana Weldon wrote:So here I am, maybe not in my dream place like in the tropics or south of Europe, but still theoretically a quite good place for permaculture. Would like to connect with other english speaking permies, I am in Hessen area. Happy to hear from you

Hi!  I'm in Hamburg.  I only have a Kleingarten, but as my German improves I'm hoping to find communities.  How did you end up in Hessen, and what do you like about it?  

Feel free to Purple Mooseage me, but I don't always see them quickly.

English speaking but not a native-speaker, does that qualify? ;-)
I am gardening in Southern Bavaria in my own little garden (plots are tiny here).
My winters are rather harsh (or used to be, at least), autumn tends to be very wet and foggy.

I do have contact with some people who garden in a similar way, but they probably wouldn't call themselves "permies". Just gardening in a sustainable way.

I do notice though that even elderly/more conservative people are getting more conscious about what and how to plant in a garden. The referendum on the extinction of many insects here in Bavaria (this year) helped to raise awareness.

Heidelberg here. We should do some sort of meetup/networking event. Maybe a garden blitz or some sort of workshop.

We are quite close in Mainz, south of the Rhine. Our garden project is in Rheinhessen, which actually has quite favorable climate. Where are you in Hessen?

We're in Leipzig, Saxony. Both native English speakers.
Been running our little garden for 3 years now. Yes, the other people in the allotment are mostly old folks with traditional views (e.g. rows of potatoes on bare soil), but we're trying to slowly educate them! Last year they marveled at our Rye cover crop...
We'd be keen for a meet-up!

Zugroaster apprentice permie from just outside Munich, born in Mannheim. Still soaking up. I won't be of much help for months to come.

Hey!

native german writing here
I am based in Berlin and have a balcony and garden around the house. It is our 4th year into gardening, especially growing food / medicinal plants for the family.
Happy to trade ideas since info on european climate and native plants is quite rare in the internet (yet!).

Ben

Hi Ben!
My sister lives in Berlin but she's horrified by permaculture thanks to me ;) because she's vegan now (after years of being vegetarian) and I'm into raising animals for food... in the future, for now I'm just buying them directly from farmers instead of shops.

Flora Eerschay wrote:Hi Ben!
My sister lives in Berlin but she's horrified by permaculture thanks to me ;) because she's vegan now (after years of being vegetarian) and I'm into raising animals for food... in the future, for now I'm just buying them directly from farmers instead of shops.

Why horrified? By what exactly?

We are doing the same: If we cannot grow it ourselves, we try to buy from the smallest and most local possible place.

Ben Klang wrote:Why horrified? By what exactly?

She believes that industrial agriculture based on soy and dietary supplements is better, because it uses less space and more can be left to nature. And that people should condense in cities to, again, leave more space for nature. This eliminates animals entirely from the system.
I tried to explain her how permaculture integrates nature gradually from zone to zone, but she's more impressed by her friend who's doing a PhD in agriculture and has these views.
And she's especially horrified by the idea of caring about an animal and then killing it for food all by yourself.

Hi @all,

i´m currently living near Frankfurt (Hessian Area) but we´ll be moving to Thuringia soon. At the moment i´ve take care of a small backyard garden mostly herbs, chilli peppers and some fruits. In Thuringia we bought some Land (760m²) & build House and i´m planning to shape the Area around the house based on permaculture principles. So i´m looking forward to have some discussions and get some insights from all of you :)

all the best and stay safe

norman mendel wrote:Hi @all,

i´m currently living near Frankfurt (Hessian Area) but we´ll be moving to Thuringia soon. At the moment i´ve take care of a small backyard garden mostly herbs, chilli peppers and some fruits. In Thuringia we bought some Land (760m²) & build House and i´m planning to shape the Area around the house based on permaculture principles. So i´m looking forward to have some discussions and get some insights from all of you :)

all the best and stay safe

Hi Norman, welcome to Permies!
Originally I am from Thuringia, the village where the garden gnomes were invented :). Where will you move to?

Hi there! Germany born-and-raised here, currently expatriated, but hopefully repatriating in the near future! We are looking to return to the Ruhr Area. Would love to connect with likeminded folks in the area!

Not exactly on topic here, but just wanted to post something the is more commonly seen in Germany and would be a great project for those who enjoy turning nice slabs of wood into useful objects.  The photo below shows three plates that I bought at a Woolworth store....in Heidelberg (??)....can't recall just now. I was doing a bit of the post-college tour with an American friend who was born in Heidelberg and we spent most of the time visiting his friends and relatives, from Konstanz to Essen to Lubeck on onto (West) Berlin. As that was around 1985, the plates have endured much in 35 years.  I have no idea what kind of wood they are made from, but the design, with the depressed ridge around to edge to prevent drip-over, is quite brilliant.  They are perfect as a sandwich, bread, and cheese board, but also can be used as a base to press out pie crusts, knead bread dough, and, of course, to cut meat and vegetables.  My friend and I would eat our quick repast on the train en route to various visits and stops and just brush them clean before stuffing them back into the back-pack.  Don't know if they can be found in the States, but worth looking into making some from oak or maple or other hardwood.

John, funny that you should mention those!
Dinner in Germany (especially in the Northern parts) is often bread, cheese, cold cuts, pickles etc. (in my family we sometimes had bread, sometimes something hot). And many German families have wooden slabs for breakfast or a cold dinner.

But I never considered these round slabs as typical German, on the contrary! I have a pile of those in the pantry and my husband from Argentina brought them into our household! It is very typical there for the Asado style meals, that is a huge piece of meat (and sausages called chorizo), either plain or with a dip called Chimichurri, and as a side dish - if any - some very conventional salad and tasteless bread. The beef is the main character ;-)

So I used to complain how unpractical these plates were: Cumbersome to eat with and clean, so they never make it to our table these days.
I think they do have a place for cutting or presenting cheese and cold cuts.

Hello fellow Permies in Germany. We are in S. Germany and happily soon to search for our own land and home. We are not sure where to search yet? But would prefer to stay in the Bayern region. I heard it is expensive compared to other places. Is that accurate? Is it possible to place a tiny home in some land here? Or lease some land and place a tiny home on it? We are not from Germany and are confused haha. It would be nice to meet other Permies. As we are confused perhaps we should hire a lawyer to review our land purchase?
 It’s time to start going through your seeds. Unfortunately we do not garden at our rental. But I am germinating some redwoods seeds I found to plant somewhere. As the daylight gets longer.

Hi - I'm in Vorpommern, small farm cottage, big barn, 2 apple / pear / plum orchards, about 1000m2 land, own well (pumps not yet in commission), small smokehouse... I'm on one of the sandier "islands" in a peat boggy area 1.5k from the Peene. Just started growing a bit of food last year, doing more in (not very) raised beds out front this year. Should do a Hugelbeet really! Want to build a solar dehydrator.

I am 50, and work for a company that does solar but can't get it myself from them as my roof tiles are cemented on! My barn/garages have asbestos roofs .  It's damn windy here usually, heard that wind turbines under 10m need no permission?

There's only me earning money, so it's tight. It helps that my 60+ housemate fixes things (cars, heating, motorbikes, lawn tractor) and does a bit of garden labour.

Looking for advice/sympathy in how to deal with German rules and regulations (e.g. I hate having to pay PER STOVE/ FIREPLACE for the Schornsteinfeger...). Got one Kachelofen and one Kaminofen - the prev owners put in an oil burner and radiators in the early 90s ... and trashed the other Kaminofen . Most of its in the barn in bits but I don't think it's ALL there...

Also got a sailing boat but don't know how to fish!

Interested in all things food and frugality! I've no private pension to speak of (state one will be ok if I keep earning next 20 years...) so I'd love to get my bills as close to zero as possible long term...

Do please say hi ! There is so much good stuff on the web but so much is US-based... let's get some European discussion going!

Hi to all !

I will be volunteer Permakulturpark am Lebensgarten Steyerberg in Germany in this summer. This experince will be my first time so , Is there anyone that became volunteered in there or similar project ? I would love to hear any kind of experiences or advices.

Best wishes,
Busra

Hi Busra,
good luck with your volunteering! I have no experience of my own.

Kirsty, in a similar vein I cannot give any advice as I am in a little suburban-ish plot with no expectations to go bigger - either energy-wise or big style food growing.

Regulations can be tough actually.  I guess in your area (with less expensive land prices) there should be a couple of people in similar positions.
Try googling, or look on Facebook.
There is also a forum called Selbstvers.org (Selbstvers.org) which is covering a lot of areas (all things growing, animals, energy, regenerative agriculture, surely also regulations etc.) but it is in German.
I would definitely look there.
Good luck!