Planting herbs, pulling weeds, picking berries - everyone in Grafrath can do that from now on.
The “Klimaaktiv vor Ort” alliance has created several beds on public land.
This makes Grafrath an "edible community".
Grafrath -
The idea has existed for a number of years and has already been successfully implemented elsewhere: municipalities provide their citizens with areas on which they can grow and harvest food.
"We launched the initiative based on the example of cities such as Todmorden in Great Britain, Nuremberg and Andernach," says Cornelia Wiesmeier from the spokesperson for "Klimaaktiv vor Ort".
But there is already an example in the Bruck district: In Puchheim the project is known under the name “Stadtbeete Puchheim”.
Now the Grafrather can also be active without their own garden.
Immediately in front of the school, on the meadow in front of the children's home and at the turning hammer at the end of the way to school, the alliance created a total of five beds.
The members of “Klimaaktiv vor Ort” gave the starting shot themselves when they planted strawberries, gooseberries, kohlrabi and herbs there.
“Everyone can pick something there or take something with them,” says Nina Faltermayr, who has helped to plant.
If you want to grow something yourself, you can contact “Klimaaktiv vor Ort”.
But also the care of the beds is left to all citizens.
“You can just pull weeds in passing,” explains Monika Glammert-Zwölfer, who sits on the Grafrath municipal council for the Greens.
Risks Anantha Padmanaban from the Grafrath Youth Advisory Board was also present at the start and expressed interest in young people cultivating and planting a bed on their own. Begona Prieto Peral, also for the Greens in the local council, could imagine giving the advisory board one of the beds on the way to school. Or one elsewhere.
Because with the current five beds it doesn't have to be done, as Nina Faltermayr emphasizes. "If the project goes well, other locations are certainly conceivable." In addition, the aim is to make existing offers such as the herb garden of the local gardening friends better known as part of the "Edible Community" project. So everyone can have fun gardening and protect the climate at the same time: Because food produced on site reduces carbon dioxide emissions because transport routes are shortened.
