kulturlandschaften: Visit to the beekeeper

kulturlandschaften

Kulturlandschaften was a participative urban gardening project by Meike Schalk & Erika Mayr together with Donne Nissà for Summer Drafts, in Bolzano, 3-11 July 2010.

Donne Nissà is a grassroots association of and for migrant women, http://www.nissa.bz.it , who engage in a number of activities such as giving legal advice, supporting women working in the care sector, running a kindergarten, and a number of cultural projects that deal with multiculturalism such as theater, literature, café, and course activities. Donne Nissà is based in the district of Don Bosco where they obtained the permission to re-cultivate a part of 1000 sqm of overgrown public land for community gardening, at Via Bari off Via Alessandria.

For more information on Don Bosco, see: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Bosco_(Bolzano)

Summer Drafts involves various migrant and civil society associations based in Bolzano. Every year a number of international guests, artists, activists, and theoreticians who work in a participatory way are invited to spend a period between 7-10 days to work in collaboration with one or more organizations around a set of issues that are identified through a common process, http://www.summerdrafts.org

Urban gardening is a way of caring for nature and communities. The reasons to start are as diverse as the people who have a passion for it. Gardening not only enables to grow and harvest own fruits and vegetables, it also brings individuals together to share knowledge, their products, tools, and work, and to enjoy. People involved in gardening often experience closer relationships to their surroundings when they grow, cook, and harvest their own food together. Growing food in the city gives back the responsibility for ground, nature, and production processes.

28/07/2010

Visit to the beekeeper

Visit to the beekeeper Doris Putz Vieider in Girlan.

Doris and her husband tend 90 colonies and rear their own queens for 25 years. Most of the colonies are up in the mountains to fly in the good honey of the "Alpenrose".

suggestion: animal husbandry is an important part of urban agriculture. Since the practice with animals such as bees, chickens, goats etc is not commonly known it is important to visit farmers that work with animals to learn and experience regularly. This takes the fear away and shows how intimate the relationship between people and their animals can be. Accordingly it connects and builds up relationships with farmers, as it is always useful to have the possibility to ask questions during the farming year.

Bees are important for pollination. Beekeeping on a mirco economic scale furthers a common product for the gardening community. It can be shared, given as presents, and sold through nearby shops, cafes and restaurants as a local product. Contacts to local beekeepers can be found through: http://www.suedtirolerimker.it .