We, inside Meridian Urban publication

Meridian I Urban. Curatorial Projects on Health presents five projects by international up-and-coming curators on the subject of “Health.” The projects artistically map the urban space of Berlin, using health-related motifs and identifying relationships between health and the lives of their visitors: they offer opportunities for alternative participation and identification. At various locations in Berlin, which can be regarded as especially interesting, conflict-ridden or significant for a healthy, urban life, they bring to light social, historical and cultural peculiarities. 

the book

We have made peace with the US, but the memories are still very sad.

Vy Thi Tuan Nguyen in her garden

My childhood was heavily influenced by the war. We didn’t have any electricity, only oil and it was difficult for us to do our homework, since between 1964 and 1975 everyday life was constantly interrupted by the bombs. It had been going on for 11 years. I saw so many dead people. We all had to flee to the south of Vietnam, there was only one street towards the Cambodian border and the border to Laos. We all had to carry all our possession on our back and any of us were injured, but there was not enough medical care. And there were constant bombing raids on that particular street as they tried to kill us. A splinter found its way into my head. Nowadays, of course, we have made peace with the US, but the memories are still very sad, since I lost so many friends during the war. It’s still painful. Whenever I feel unwell because of the memories I go to my garden, it’s like a therapy, it makes me feel better. Also, it’s good to have some company here, you always meet people. You can talk a little and get to know each other a bit, and if you are sad it cheers you up. Sometimes we cook and eat together, it’s a nice community out here.

Vy Thi Tuan Nguyen, Vietnamese, Wuhlegärten

48 Stunden Neukölln | Garten nr.3

Gayle Chong Kwan's, Potato, Collage, 2011

We have got card, paper, scissors and glue... join us and create your own ideal garden!

This weekend Invisible Twinning is attending 48 Stunden Neukölln and will create maquettes of ideal gardens. 
Everybody can partecipate! 
We are waiting for you!


Or do you have a secrete recipe to tell us? We will shot a video of you!

Hand in Hand, Rütlistr. 8, 12045 Berlin

Garden nr.3
Sa 18 Juni 14:00 — 20:00
So 19 Juni 12:00 — 18:00

program 2011 Hand in Hand

Neuer Garten auf dem Tempelhofer Feld und Gemeinschafts Garten im Bethanien

Berliner Allmende-Kontor

a new project in berlin

severin halder mounting the banner

I started gardening at 14, but of course I am not a "real" gardener. I have sudied biology and my thesis on urban agriculture in Rio de Janeiro where I was working with an Ong, however gardening is just one side for me. The social side is more important. Unfortunately we have not people with immigrant backgrounds that joined the project yet, but we have just started. We have to manage to involve people of the sorrounding areas. There are a lot of them from Turkey, Eastern Europe or Arabian countries that have a great knowledge about gardening and for sure had a garden in their Romenia, Anatolia or wherever. They grew up in the countryside and they are going to bring their knowledge in their graves. Of course it happens that you are closer to the people that mirror you, but we have to force ourselves to be more in tough with the others.

Severin Halder

the first plants planted

mila interviewing kristin radix

Plants from the south need more heat and sun. Here in Gemany, for instance, if you want to grow courgettes you have to plant them at home, but you need a good exposition. You have to plant them indoor around february and you can bring them out on april. Salad, onions and potatoes are robust, so you can plant them outdoor when you wish, end of march, april, may. Just the experience let you know when they are ready, for this reason elders have much more knowledge than youngers as they have benn in touch with the ecosystem longer.

carrying tools for gardening

Together with other 20 people, I am in the  organization of Allmende-Kontor, then there are almost other 20 people who help us and other 100 who are interested in and signed to join our meetings. We have just started but we have a contract for 3 years and we got 5000 mq2, so it is a very long and big process... and the starting is quite difficult as we have to  carry everything: soil, wood, boxes and cannot leave anything in the night for the vandalism.

Kristin Radix

severin pointing the first pees

malte zacharias

These are cauliflowers even if they have been just seeded and you cannot see them. For these reason we put these little sticks, to have an orientation and understand where the plants will grow. Inside the soil you always have a lot of different kinds of seeds, so you have to know which plants support and get rid of the weeds.
The canvas instead  - that has to be putted all inside the case - is to avoid the soil going out, as soil is so expensive and we already have to pay a rent for this area (1 euro for 1 meter, so 5000 euro for year), so we really cannot waste it.

Severin Halder

on the right, Elisabeth Meyer-Renschausen

the soil

I like gardening because everyone can learn just thanks to the experience. Nowadays all of us have to be experts in everything before doing it. But it is not true. You can learn just trying and experimenting and it is easy. In one day you can learn how to repair you bike, for istance. So you can be indipendent for food and transport and it is a lot! You feel so powerfull.

tempelhof

Gardening to me is mostly pushing garden movements. I wish to promote social issues through gardening. Social and political. We have to be coinscious of what we eat and need. We import so much even if it is possible that you grow your own things. This kind of lifestyle is not working. It is just for few people at the highest prices. And what you plant taste so different, even from organic food. I do not care about labeling (organic or not) but I make difference between good quality and not. I think that Italian granmothers going to the markets are conscious of which is a tasty tomato and which not. In Germany we cannot recognize it anymore. Going to the markets in Berlin is bohemian and expensive.

Severin Halder 

http://www.tempelhoferfreiheit.de/mitgestalten/pionierfelder/oderstrasse/ 

A nice walk in Bürgergarten Laskerwiese e.V.

Hana Gunkel and Andreas Pfenning working of their parcel

view of the supermarket

We have almost twenty parcels in the garden. Some of them are cultivated by just one or two people, then we have a big one that is cultivated by a house community of 8 people. We are like 30 members, I think, very different in ages but not in provenances. Even if this is supposed to be an intercultural garden, we have just one person from Turkey and another one from Argentina. Every second saturday in the good season we have community gardening as we have many community areas that are cultivated by all the people together and we do also have connections with other urban gardenings in the city. So I could learn a lot about cultivating as when we got the plot we knew almost nothing, but the neighbours gave us suggestions. I think this would not happened in a kleingaerten where everybody has its private and fenced parcel. They are really "private" places.

their proud baby

other parcels

Andreas and his baby

behind ostkreuz

There is a dogs area around here, so often it happens that dogs come in and shit everywhere. We had to plants some aromatic plants that dogs do not like to keep them away but besides this, sometimes it happens that also few young guys come in and destroy some areas as this still remain a public space and everybody can come in.

many people live around the area

the water is collected from the roof of the supermarket

The garden openend in 2004 or 2005 but we got our little plot just last year. I had just got my little baby and I had a lot of free time so we decided to start cultivating. We have different kinds of beans, strawberries, potatoes, , beetroots and some herbs... all vegetables are healthy. It is great to have a green oasi inside the city. I grew in the suburbs of Berlin where there are a lot of green areas and I missed them.

the family

cauliflowers

the pond is a community area

A neighbour of ours did not have so much time to look after his plot, so when he came again after weeks he found it completely invaded by calendula and he has a little child so when he saw his plot he just sayd: "Oh, we have calendula!". And he used it everywhere, for tea, oil, oinment... giving it to his child.

a place to play

Hana Gunkel, German, Bürgergarten Laskerwiese

http://laskerwiese.blogspot.com/

Une blanquette de veau

a recipe by fredji powell

Where are you from?

I come from France, my father is american and my mother is french.

Why did you come to Berlin?

I lived in Barcelona before for long time and i learned german there, after the spanish language, and somewhen I wanted to speak the leanguage, to go there where german is spoken, and Berlin because it sounded romantic.

Which food can you not find in Berlin from your country ?

Well, I didn't really have the impression that there is or there isn't a particular food,

I never really made myself this question. I cook myself very much.At home we have always eaten very mixed, american mixed with french, a lot of chinese... When I miss something for example a good quiche or something like that then I cook it myself and the ingredients for it are easy to find.

What is your favourite recipe form your country?

Th quiche, you can throw everything inside it, and it's always delicious with crème fraiche, with eggs and with emmental cheese. The classic quiche is also with diced bacon, then you make a "Pâte brisée", it' like a dough, and then it can be with vegetables or meat, you can eat it cold, warm, it is always delicious.

Did you cultivate fruit, vegetables, herbs in your country?

Well I am really grown up in the countryside until 17 years old.

There we always planted carrots, salads, and vegetables, but since when I am travelling around I didn't really had the opportunity, this is the first 
garden where I think I will become member and make something.

Do you cultivate fruits, vegetables, herbs  in Berlin?

I would like to grow fruit trees, for example I would like Cherry trees.

What food, herbs or vegetables is used in your country for medicinal purposes?

Well that I know, that there is here as well like sage for throat infection, also for the stomac I think or for digestion, thyme in any case and lavande, from which there is quite a lot in south France and I know that it should be good for calming , for children for example.

Fredji Powell, France, Pyramiden Garten

 

A pumpkin and a pumpkin

a twinning for many others

This article is about an African plant, known as the Ugu, among other names. For other uses, see Ugu (disambiguation).


Telfairia occidentalis 

Telfairia occidentalis is a tropical vine grown in West Africa as a leaf vegetable and for its edible seeds. Common names for the plant include Fluted gourd, Fluted pumpkin, and Ugu.
The plant is a drought-tolerant, dioecious perennial that is usually grown trellised. The young shoots and leaves of the female plant are the main ingredients of a Nigerian soup, edikang ikong. The large (up to 5 cm), dark-red seed is rich in fat and protein, and can be eaten whole, ground into powder for another kind of soup, or made into a fermented porridge. The fruit of the plant is large, weighing up to 13 kg, but inedible.


Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Genus: Telfairia
Species: T. occidentalis

Austrian records

austrian frittatensuppe

Giulia: Where are you from?
Susanne: From Austria

G: Why did you come to Berlin?
S: Because in Berlin there are things that there aren't in Austria, yes, personal freedom.

G: Which food (also vegetables, fruit, herbs) from your country do you miss?
S: There is everything here, well mostly soups, this "frittaten"(omelette) soup, but there are Austrian restaurants here.

G: What is your favourite recipe from your country?
S: Frittaten soup, it's a soup, the dough is a little bit like crêpes,than you cut it, very easy, you make it like Palatschinke, it is also Austrian, well Palatschinke means in german Pancake I think, and then this is very easily sliced, but the soup is just delicious, and bevor the soup, the broth is prepared, it lasts quite long.

G: Did you grow any fruit vegetables or herbs in your country?
S: In Vienna there is a farmyard where you could rent a piece,
it costed something but not much, yes, I grew something there.
It was already set, and that was everything, all the vegetables, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, everything that I make here.

G: Do you grow fruits, vegetables, or herbs in Berlin?

S: Yes, cucumbers, all possible herbs, and I try tomatoes.

G: What food, herbs or vegetables is used in your country for medicinal purposes?
S: I can think only to camomille.

G: What do you like to eat to feel better/happy when you are ill?
S: Citrus fruits, oranges, lemons with a lot of vitamin C.

Thank you!

 

Susanne Eybl, Österreich, Ton Steine Gaeten

A tipical recipe from Nigeria

What I love most from my country is ekpan-nkukwo, it is a sort of pudding made of cocoyam, fish, meat or whatever cooked for a long time... when I am home sick I always have it!

And when I have a cold or simply the weather is cold, I take a pepe soup. Black pepper leaves are very aromatic and healthy and make you warmer, we use simple methods.

Vegetagles, vegetable, vegetables!!!

Susann, Nigerian, Rosenduft Garden

Today we cook turkish Poça!

Susi Butscher | Ton Steine Gaerten

Gayle going to Ton Steine garden

Susi, Gayle and Giulia

It was like the first summer last year so it was like making our experiences. They started out last year around this time, I think I joined in April. I saw the garden, then in March I asked to participate and they had a little plot for me.  Mine is the one on the corner with the table.

Allotments at Ton Steine garden

Now we are full, there’s no free plots left and but in the beginning it was like whoever came just like they should accept that it is more of a group things than an individual, like ‘Its my land and I will not talk to anybody.’ So it’s a really mixed group, a really mixed group, we didn’t expect it to be like this.

Turkish people, because a lot of Turkish people live here, but like even old Turkish people who do not speak a lot of German, and some, I don’t know where in Africa, but some. The Turkish women always have a Samovar and during the summer time they make like a picnic and serve tea to the others.

There’s one Turkish thing, I dont know the name, because its like kohl, cauliflower, but its only the leaf, not the whole head, that’s something that is typically Turkish and they are happy because that is something that you cannot buy here. But then there’s one of the African guys, then he was really happy too because he knew the same plant.  So they are connecting in some way. They make like what you usually make with vine leaves, but they do not take the vine leaves, but this thing.

Gayle and Susi talking

Different ways of fencing

the Turkish corner

However we didn’t expect it to be like this much, because we had these tomatoes there by the corner of the side walk and they were like phswww, gone, so well the local government did not want us to put fences because they say it’s a public space.  But still we want it for the dogs because the dogs come, you know people walk with their dogs, the dogs run in, so I think we will work on this, so at least we have a little door so that the dogs cannot come in.

Ton Steine overview

   

There’s a Spanish girl who asked to put a recipe on the wall, and its what we did, and we cooked this recipe.  She says that she did this all over the world, especially to make people, when there are ethnic tensions, to make people think, to make people more in contact with other ethnics.  The ingredients were grown from here, but we do not have eggplants.


http://gaerten-am-mariannenplatz.blogspot.com/ 

the recipe