From Community Gardening to Rooftop Farming: Oslo Hosts the Network’s 2nd International City Exchange

by | Oct 14, 2022 | News

After the first EdiCitNet City Exchange happened in Berlin at the end of August, the second in the series of events took place September 13-15 in Oslo and was organised collaboratively by all project partners in the city, led by the Agency of Urban Environment. Participants from a total of seven cities took part in the event.

The entire first day took place on the grounds of the beautiful Linderud Manor, a historical estate in Oslo’s Bjerke district, whose garden, the Linderud community garden (in Norwegian Linderud nærmiljohage), hosts EdiCitNet’s Living Lab. After a short introduction round, participants could meet the Oslo City Team and other initiatives working on site. The numerous projects happening on Linderud’s grounds range from job training offers for people struggling with drug addiction, organized by the Salvation Army; through outdoors teaching programs for the children from the local school; summer job opportunities for teenagers organized by EdiCitNet partner Nabolagshager; to green urban food entrepreneurs growing herbs and mushrooms in the garden. The busy day ended with a dinner in the garden, prepared by the lawyer-turned-chef Inka Chef, who used onsite-grown ingredients to prepare one of the most delicious veggie burgers we have recently tried!

The second day of the exchange took off at the recently built Økern Portal center, where, thanks to the presentations of municipal workers, participants could learn more about Oslo’s Strategy for Urban Agriculture 2019-2030, its funding scheme for urban agriculture-related projects, its Sustainable and Healthy Food Program, or the role of the Oslo center for urban ecology. Furthermore, the Økern portal is home to one of Europe’s biggest rooftop gardens, managed by U·Reist, who were kind enough to give us a tour of the CSA, the public park and the comercial garden that top the center. What a sight!

On the last day of our visit, we got to know a series of urban gardens, as diverse as Oslo itself! Our first stop was Ulvenhagen, a newly established community garden, which is a real green oasis between two major roads in an area of the city that is being quickly developed. We continued towards one of Oslo’s most famous urban gardens, Losæter, where we met the director of the Environmental Agency, learned about the experiments the gardeners are doing with companion planting and had lunch. Our City Exchange finished at the school garden Geitmyra, where every interested school in the city is offered a plot, which they can manage according to their own criteria. Additionally, the garden offers crash courses in gardening for the teachers who will later be in charge of the school plot.

Three days full of inspirational talks, networking and, above all, Oslo’s edible side! A heartfelt thank you to everyone who made this experience possible!

The Edible City Project is presented at Envirofest 2022 in Tunisia

by | Aug 1, 2022 | Sin categorizar

An awareness action on the edible city concept of the EdiCitNet project was carried out by the project team within REACT in collaboration with the project “To preserve in herbarium the flora of Tunisia and to work out a tool of assistance to its identification: FEM/SGP” in the framework of Envirofest. The activity was aimed at children under the title “Let’s learn botany by playing”. The children were asked to guess and define seeds and plant parts while closing their eyes. They had to (i) define the name of the plant and/or seed, (ii) identify if it was a vegetable, spice or fruit while using their other senses: touch, smell and taste. This activity allows them to develop their sensory abilities towards the plant world, to create other links with plants and to identify/visualize plants daily used in our food. Seeds of spices (Coriander, Caraway, Cumin), vegetable seeds (Pumpkin, Corn, Carrot, Parsley, Chard) and aromatic plants (Jasmine, Thyme, Rosemary) have been carefully selected for this event. The exercise is not easy for the children. Expressions of astonishment, surprise and curiosity were complemented by questions that were often abundant. Laughter broke out throughout this highly appreciated awareness activity. Samples of seeds (pumpkin, corn) were distributed to the children with explanations on the steps to follow to sow them since it is the right season for planting.

The Edible City Project is presented at Envirofest 2022 in Tunisia

by | Aug 1, 2022 | Uncategorized @sl

An awareness action on the edible city concept of the EdiCitNet project was carried out by the project team within REACT in collaboration with the project “To preserve in herbarium the flora of Tunisia and to work out a tool of assistance to its identification: FEM/SGP” in the framework of Envirofest. The activity was aimed at children under the title “Let’s learn botany by playing”. The children were asked to guess and define seeds and plant parts while closing their eyes. They had to (i) define the name of the plant and/or seed, (ii) identify if it was a vegetable, spice or fruit while using their other senses: touch, smell and taste. This activity allows them to develop their sensory abilities towards the plant world, to create other links with plants and to identify/visualize plants daily used in our food. Seeds of spices (Coriander, Caraway, Cumin), vegetable seeds (Pumpkin, Corn, Carrot, Parsley, Chard) and aromatic plants (Jasmine, Thyme, Rosemary) have been carefully selected for this event. The exercise is not easy for the children. Expressions of astonishment, surprise and curiosity were complemented by questions that were often abundant. Laughter broke out throughout this highly appreciated awareness activity. Samples of seeds (pumpkin, corn) were distributed to the children with explanations on the steps to follow to sow them since it is the right season for planting.

The Edible City Project is presented at Envirofest 2022 in Tunisia

by | Aug 1, 2022 | Sem categoria

An awareness action on the edible city concept of the EdiCitNet project was carried out by the project team within REACT in collaboration with the project “To preserve in herbarium the flora of Tunisia and to work out a tool of assistance to its identification: FEM/SGP” in the framework of Envirofest. The activity was aimed at children under the title “Let’s learn botany by playing”. The children were asked to guess and define seeds and plant parts while closing their eyes. They had to (i) define the name of the plant and/or seed, (ii) identify if it was a vegetable, spice or fruit while using their other senses: touch, smell and taste. This activity allows them to develop their sensory abilities towards the plant world, to create other links with plants and to identify/visualize plants daily used in our food. Seeds of spices (Coriander, Caraway, Cumin), vegetable seeds (Pumpkin, Corn, Carrot, Parsley, Chard) and aromatic plants (Jasmine, Thyme, Rosemary) have been carefully selected for this event. The exercise is not easy for the children. Expressions of astonishment, surprise and curiosity were complemented by questions that were often abundant. Laughter broke out throughout this highly appreciated awareness activity. Samples of seeds (pumpkin, corn) were distributed to the children with explanations on the steps to follow to sow them since it is the right season for planting.

The Edible City Project is presented at Envirofest 2022 in Tunisia

by | Aug 1, 2022 | Uncategorized @no

An awareness action on the edible city concept of the EdiCitNet project was carried out by the project team within REACT in collaboration with the project “To preserve in herbarium the flora of Tunisia and to work out a tool of assistance to its identification: FEM/SGP” in the framework of Envirofest. The activity was aimed at children under the title “Let’s learn botany by playing”. The children were asked to guess and define seeds and plant parts while closing their eyes. They had to (i) define the name of the plant and/or seed, (ii) identify if it was a vegetable, spice or fruit while using their other senses: touch, smell and taste. This activity allows them to develop their sensory abilities towards the plant world, to create other links with plants and to identify/visualize plants daily used in our food. Seeds of spices (Coriander, Caraway, Cumin), vegetable seeds (Pumpkin, Corn, Carrot, Parsley, Chard) and aromatic plants (Jasmine, Thyme, Rosemary) have been carefully selected for this event. The exercise is not easy for the children. Expressions of astonishment, surprise and curiosity were complemented by questions that were often abundant. Laughter broke out throughout this highly appreciated awareness activity. Samples of seeds (pumpkin, corn) were distributed to the children with explanations on the steps to follow to sow them since it is the right season for planting.

EdiCitNet