It was an extraordinary day at school: children from the Vötting elementary school went on a trip to the orchard meadow in Dürnast - even a television team came.
Freising
- Bringing schoolchildren closer to a cultural landscape that has become seldom - that is what the Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft (LfL) has been committed to for 20 years.
As part of the orchard school days in the “green classroom” at the Dürnast test farm of the Technical University of Munich, the children of class 1c from the Vötting / Pulling elementary school were able to get to know very special treasures on Thursday.
The around 50 trees that Sabine Weindl tends in the former “calf garden” of the state estate are old and typical of the region.
“It's like being in a large family,” says the LfL employee, pointing to a 20-meter-high apple tree of the “Grüner Stettiner” variety.
It is around 100 years old.
Next to it are younger ones.
“I planted the youngest six years ago,” she says.
From “great-grandchildren to grandmother” everything is included.
The way the apples and pears taste straight from the tree, that is somehow "different" said six-year-old Felix.
There is even a television team on site
A television team from Bayerischer Rundfunk wanted to know about the little ones on Wednesday. The children had gathered around the table at which Elfie Machmerth from VfL offered finely chopped fruit wedges. They are better, even if there are sometimes stains on them or even a worm has already bitten off. “At home, the apples are more sour,” was the verdict of the toddler. In three groups, the first graders were able to experience how it is possible to harvest apples, pears and plums on the beautiful, large orchard in autumn. “Why are there seeds in apples?” Asked Harald Volz, head of the cultural landscape and landscape development department at LfL. "So that a Nuer can grow", so the expert information of a first grader. And that the bees are needed, that the blossom can become a fruit,the children knew that too.
(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)
Another group was allowed to collect ripe apples from the ground, bring them to the “Schnipsel-Station” with a small trailer and then process them into juice in the cider press.
And a lot of strength had to be used in order to be able to enjoy the fruit as juice at the end.
To promote appreciation for the local cultural landscape, as well as the respectful treatment of nature and the importance of fruit in the context of a conscious and health-promoting diet, these are some of the points for which orchards stand, said Stephan Sedlmayer.
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From the Schnipsel station to the cider press: Katharina Riederer (LfL) with her young employees.
© Lehmann
The President of the Bavarian State Institute for Agriculture naturally also looked forward to contacting the next generation.
“What does orchard mean anyway?” He asked with a wink.
Prompt answer: "Eat." The trees are scattered in the landscape.
The fruits are different: apples, pears, plums and cherries, so Sedlmayer's answer.
It is different from how it is on orchards, where small intensive crops stand close together, said Sabine Weindl.
"The trees don't have the space to unfold and get bigger."
LfL-Expert names the origin of the idea for the action
The "Streuobst campaign" began 20 years ago, said LfL's orchard expert Stefan Kilian.
At that time there was a significant decline in orchards in Bavaria.
The management has become too labor-intensive.
With the actions at the schools, around 300 school classes have so far been able to return to this valuable living space.
It was clearly visible that this has also borne fruit with the schoolchildren from pulling.
After two hours of school it was difficult for them to part with the beautiful orchard with the imposing old trees.
Everyone had a lot of fun in the “green classroom”.
(Maria Martin)