Bloom – Planting seeds of change
World Food System Center alumni and friends plant seeds of learning and understanding at Bloom, a community garden project in Zurich. Recent highlights at the garden include permaculture and mushroom workshops and a film series.
Bloom is a community garden project. Motivated by their desire to learn together, a group of World Food System Center alumni and friends cultivate the garden on the hills of Käferberg in Zurich. By growing various fruits and vegetables, the diverse group aims to learn more about gardening and the plants behind the food we consume. Some are already experienced gardeners, while others are getting their hands dirty for the first time. The casual environment allows for all to learn, no matter their experience.
Planted seeds
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the garden was an oasis to spend some time and to have occasional meetings on the fresh air. While the pandemic brought many new challenges, going to the garden became like an anchor to remind the group about nature and its cycles. Also, the group had one edition of a garden meeting on Zoom (Bloom on Zoom).
One highlight of last year was the permaculture workshop. In this workshop, the group learned about the concepts of permaculture, including some practical examples of methods to use. During a site visit in the garden, the group reflected on the different functions the elements in the garden can have and how they work together and enrich each other. The group also took the opportunity to reflect on their own role within the system, discussing their needs and wishes for the garden.
A mushroom workshop was also a highlight at the garden last year. Participants planted mushrooms in wood logs by injecting little traces of the fungi and putting them in dry and dark places for multiple months. At the experience, the group also learned about different kinds of edible mushrooms and how to plant them.
Future seeds
The next highlight to come is a film series. On Sundays, movies with a focus on sustainability, agriculture and food production will be shown in the garden. The green surroundings make for a perfect backdrop for the movies and will enhance reflection on personal own routines and practices. And the movie nights are open to friends of the garden.
Sharing the bloom
The group comments that they are very grateful to be in this project and learn together about how plants grow, to lean what happens in the first step of the food production. One of the core learnings is that the community is helpful to remain motivated in our journeys. During garden brunches or BBQs, they all exchange not only on our gardening approaches, but also about other topics on sustainability.
And, the core group of gardeners always welcomes other World Food System Center alumni or friends to join for a gardening session or events.
