The garden is an important part of Suderbyn Ecovillage. We have a dedicated garden team, but anyone can sign up to help out with the daily tasks necessary to keep our garden happy and healthy. Here, you can read about important aspects of the garden.
We follow a permaculture design process. Thus, our garden is a mirror of the values and principles we want to embody as a community. This means that we aim to create and maintain an ecosystem that provides food all year round, while also acting as a source of medicine and other useful materials such as tinder, building and crafting materials, toilet “paper”, etc., The garden is organised and maintained in accordance with the ethics of People Care, Earth Care and Fair Share, the principles of Mollison and Holmgren and the imitation of natural systems.
We aim to become more self-reliant and base an extended part of our sustenance on the food we grow, not only to be more resilient as a community but also to eat, live and work in a way that fits our values and worldviews. We use home-grown seeds, collect rainwater to water the garden, and make our own compost. Considering our garden as part of larger ecosystems and not as an isolated bubble, we realize the greater importance of making ecologically sustainable choices. By ensuring that our garden embodies the practices and values of permaculture, we “walk the walk” instead of only talking about it. We respect the soil, not only because of practical reasons but also because we see gardening as an occasion to observe, respect and reconnect with nature.
We choose to work with hand tools and equipment powered with renewable energy and human power. Except for rare situations, we don’t use oil powered machinery.
We work with the seasons and align our garden work to the different conditions of the seasons of nature. Each season has its main themes, around which most of the work occurs. Wintertime is mainly about reflecting and planning the upcoming growing season. In spring, we focus on preparing the beds and sowing. In summer, we take care of the plants and the harvest season begins. In autumn, we continue harvesting, preserve food for winter and step by step prepare the garden for winter.
We plan and work together. In order to keep track of the work and processes, we meet once every week with the domain to check-in and plan the upcoming week by going through the current list of tasks and their priorities. When there is less weekly work, like in winter, our meetings are more focused on long-term planning. In the garden, everyone is welcome to volunteer and more hands and heads are always appreciated.
