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Self-Sufficiency Plan for Copenhagen Suburb


Contact: Knud Anker Iversen
mec@email.dk


Introduction

The Environment and Energy Centre (MEC) in Höje Taastrup (population 45,000), to the west of Copenhagen in Denmark, has developed a realistic plan to make the region self-sufficient in food.

By the year 2005, the centre aims to:

The plan, which has won a prize of 50,000 DKK from the Danish Eco-Village Society, also points out several further justifications for this radical programme: self-sufficiency means using less transport, having more security against shortages, educating consumers about food quality, enhancing biodiversity and developing a stronger sense of community.

'To provide a number of residents with chickens, having first taught them how to look after them' The centre's first steps towards enacting this plan have been to organise organic food market days; to lay on courses - in composting and beekeeping; and to provide a number of residents with chickens, having first taught them how to look after them.

Knud Anker Iversen, Miljö- og Energi Centret i Höje Taastrup, Höje Taastrup Boulevard 60, DK-2630 Taastrup, Denmark (tel 00 45 43 99 51 01, fax 00 45 43 52 08 54



Self-Sufficiency In A Suburb

Preface
The Difficulties
Status concerning self-sufficiency in Hoeje-Taastrup
Perspectives in an Agenda 21 -connection
Think in an overall way
Think crosswise
The increasing involvement of the inhabitants
The perspective seen in a global way
A long termed perspective
PLANNING THE SELF-SUFFICIANCY
Who do the planning?
How is the status
1) Production in your own garden. Busy families with jobs outside the home.
2) Production in your own garden: Pensioners, unemployed, etc.
3) Lots of time, but no garden;
4) Central but local food-supply.
5) Fruit exchange
8) Seed-collection/seed-exchange/ cutting exchange
9) Local production of honey
10) Day-care centres
11) Schools
12) "We are the young once the other youngster, won't play with
13) Education in self sufficiency
14) To strengthen the continuously culture
15) Having your own fish production, Aquaculture
16) Greenhouse production
17) The Globe shop
18) The supermarkets/ local shops role
The consequence of action

Preface

The future of our society will be carried in two opposite directions. More and more decisions will be taken centralised away from the local community, counties and parliament, for instead to be moved to central organisation likes EU, UN, WTO and multinational companies.

At the same time a development is going in the opposite direction. The democratic administration. Here you will, as a human being, have the experience of being respected and being listened to. This is the local environment, where you live, work, do your shopping and spend your spare time, where the people will use their energy. It is synchronised waves from here, which will more or less be the echo of the democratic forum.

We will notice it by the political consumer, who will increasingly be calculated as a force. The more the consumers synchronies their deeds, the more effect they will have.

We will see it at the grassroots movements, which is increasingly growing, and due to the failing of the public economy, are forced to undertake tasks, which used to be a public service - caring for the old citizens, self-aids groups of different kinds etc. You will se it in house building associations, where you as a tenant have never had so much power. A situation where smart tenants will be able to achieve a lot of things, if they actively put their mind to it, and use the majority which have been given to them by the governing body.

We can see it in the modern technology (PC and mobile phones etc.) This technology makes it possible to work at home; Life will come to the previously dead suburbs in the daytime, due to this technology.

Again we notice it, as the interest for home products are increasing. It is this part of the local society's rebirth that we will follow up on.

Hoeje Taastrup 31.10.97. Translated 19.02.02.

The Difficulties

Almost all our food to day comes from the supermarkets, which in turn gets it from a lot of different producers, both from this country and abroad. It is in these supermarkets that a developed and efficient system of distribution exists, and this is where the supply and demand is controlled.

It will be extremely difficult to change this well-developed and well-functioning system. However it is not the desire to close down the supermarkets, but to implicate them in the strategy, that the consumers are offered more local or local-prepared products.

Status concerning self-sufficiency in Hoeje-Taastrup

The town council of Hoeje-Taastrup has 45,565 inhabitants; this makes it one of the most populated town council in the suburbs of Copenhagen. In area the town council is the largest, as it covers 78,380 square kilometres. The town council contains of two large towns. Taastrup with approx. 28,000 inhabitants and Hedehusene-Floeng which has approx. 14,000 inhabitants. Apart from these a lot of villages are in the town council, of which Sengeloese is the largest with its 2.800 inhabitants. Roughly 60% of the town council is a country-zone, where farming and plant nurseries take priority. The town council area distribution, and closeness to the big city is a very good place to start, if you want to get experience with the necessary relocation in the form of more self-sufficiency.

Even though there is local farming and plant nurseries, the surrounding area gets no advantages of this, though there are some exceptions. (For instance a larger cauliflower production) The plant nursery production includes flowers, which go through the traditional channels. The same goes for the production of corn, which is grown in the country-zone.

Roughly half of the inhabitants, are living in houses with gardens. The other half lives in flats.

In some of the houses with gardens (approx.10%) they have their own production of vegetables and (approx.5%) of the population keeps poultry, and in this way have an egg-production.

In 5-10% of the gardens, the organic waste is decomposing manure, and in half of these the kitchen rubbish too. This decompose manure is an important part as raw material in the food chain.

47 families have joint up in so-called cow companies. This takes place on a meadow, where 32 families have 8 calves and 6 lambs in order to slaughter them in the autumn, and 15 Taastrup families and 29 Albertlund families have 11 calves and 14 lambs grazing in a joint area on the borderline between the two city-councils. In addition to that roughly the same amount of families get meat from local farms. (mainly pork)

Perspectives in an Agenda 21 -connection

A plan for self-sufficiency for the citizens of Hoeje-Taastrup, can be a mutual goal, where everybody in one way or another can play their part.

All, of course, depending on how much the citizens wants to join in on the idea. In the following plan, we will try to document that all can be a part of it. This, which started as a small seed, can develop into a flowering field. Apart from the idea can get people together in the local community, if you go about it the right way, a plan for self-sufficiency, has a lot of other perspectives, here using the example of Agenda 21:

Even though it is now 5 years ago, the Rio plan went into force, to secure a carrying capacity both world-wide, as well as local - no remarkable changes have been made in Hoeje-Taastrup. An active support to the self-sufficiency plan could be an indication for Hoeje Taastrup to take the Agenda 21 seriously. The Agenda includes central elements, among other things more self-sufficiency. As a starting point for the Agenda 21 it is referred to start thinking crosswise, we have to thing as a whole, the citizens have to be taken into account and we will have to think in long terms, we have to have global perspective.

Think in an overall way

We have to think in unity. An increased local sufficiency changes a lot of things: our social life, our way towards nature, young and older people can mutually rely on each other, we will be able to in a constructive way use immigrants special knowledge about food and growing vegetables etc. The main point is not to work on our specialities /opposites, but to find a better way where everybody can contribute with special qualities to make a whole local society.

The town council is a location, where the citizens set the goal: to be able to stand on their own two feet. The best way to do this is to use the local units within the town council. For instance house owner communities, gardens communities, and flats communities. Within these geographical boundaries a local goal has to be set, where self-sufficiency is a part of it.

Think crosswise

Agenda 21 underline the necessity of thinking crosswise. This is mainly pointed at the public administration, where the demarcation gives a lot of problems whenever realisation comes in to it. Far too often you get, as a normal citizen, pushed from one administration to another, and often you end up with the feeling that nobody knows or understands how things work. The increased self-sufficiency is not to be placed in a certain administration of the town council. It will cross all the administrations. There is no administration for food. All the administrations will be in touch with it, as it an essential part of our lives:

The highways department has to make demands for our water supplies - no pesticides, they have to make "green accounts", and make sure that the town council is in front. They have to make rubbish regulation, in order to support local initiatives (for instance decompose manure can be used locally)

The culture department has to encourage the association life, support the cultural manifestation in order to assist the self-sufficiency.

The social department must support the crime preventive effect that increased marginal groups will need; they have to make sure that people on welfare do not get caught in the system, because they might make a little money on the sideline.

The children and youth department must be in front to ensure that the schools, in a higher rate, are used as activity-centres (Agenda- Centres), where you can meet each other and together enjoy a meal of partly self produced food. Schools and day-care-centres should be in front, and with the still few products available - deliver the local products.

The above mentioned is just one way in which the local self-sufficiency can work in all of the town councils unites. Through the efficiency in the food production - they are kept free of crime; it is the state that benefits from this, as crime and preventing crime is under the state.

The same goes for the overall authorities. If you do a great effort for the youngsters, and involve them in the self-sufficiency and ecological food it might improve their health and it will be the county who benefits, as the hospitals are under this. It is for sure, that a long line of other surroundings, with other independent trades, will have to acknowledge that their effort as a whole, crosses the trade differences.

The increasing involvement of the inhabitants

With an increasing self-sufficiency, we can serious talk about efficiency for the inhabitants. Here you are as inhabitant actively involved to the extent you wish to be, it is close by, and the active contribution is not just fiddle-dedee, but a constructive effort to strengthen the local society - and one self.

In the plan itself, we will look into how we imagine the inhabitants - in many different ways - will be taken in, " in this operation self-sufficiently"

The perspective seen in a global way

The self-sufficiency has at the very outmost a global perspective. We have this plan, that we should buy fewer potatoes from Marocco in February, and less tomatoes should be flown to Denmark, also the farm animals should have home produced food, instead of for instance gene modified - Soya beams from the USA.

The consistency of this deed will be that at least 3 countries are encouraged to do the same. Grow and use your own crops, instead of producing for richer and far away countries, to consumers on the other side of the world.

Local sufficiency does not mean any trade at all. There will still be an awful lot of products that we can not produce, due to our climate, for example coffee, tea, bananas, lemons etc.

A logical consequence could be, that we for these products make sure to have a fair capacity and trade- for instances the concept of marking "Max Havelaar"

The intention of growing so many different crops, where you actually live, has to be made clearer. Partly by the marking of "Max Havelaar", so the farmers in their own countries in the 3. World, can grow their own main crops and partly to inform them about this, we in this way do, more and more in the richer countries.

A long termed perspective

A local self-sufficiency has of cause a long termed perspective. Over a long period new elements, new possibilities, new perspectives come along. We are here talking about a long tough drag, where the support will be the main power. How far did we reach this year? On what areas have we taken new initiatives? And how far have we exactly increased the self-sufficiency.

Planning The Self-Sufficiancy

Who do the planning?

The following plan is done by the Environment and Energy Centre in Hoeje-Taastrup. It is an independent institution with 70 members, which started in September 1993. The Environmental and Energy Centre has accommodation with 245 m2 shop and basement, close to the Hoeje Taastrup station. Both the town council and the ministry of energy and environment and some fond support the Environmental and Energy Centre. The Environmental and Energy Centre has employed a "green guide" (supported by the Environmental Green Fund, and an energy counsel supported by the energy-management).

The Environmental and Energy Centre has for a long time been engage in questions about the local food supply. The following vision has in this way been based on our own experiments, which has been collected in the period of 8 years in which the Environmental and Energy Centre has existed.

How is the status

In the connection with the realisation of the plan, it will be useful to make a kind of status on the local advancement of self sufficiently.

A statement, which is far more precise and detailed than the previous statement. In this plan a line of percentages is included to show how far the inhabitants have come according to the plan. These percentages will obvious be uncertain due to the lack of incoming statement.

Students, who focus on the town council, will typically make the statement.

The report will include the following:

How big are the town-council potentials according to:

1) Professional production of vegetable and animal products.

2) Production of vegetables and animal products grown privately (poultry for instance)

3) How much space do we have to our disposal?

4) What is imported to the town council?

5) What is exported from the town council?

This statement report is not essential to the realisation of the plan, but will be a very good tool.

1) Production in your own garden. Busy families with jobs outside the home.

Gardening

The experience shows that busy families with children, where both parents work outside the home, do not have the energy to do much work in their garden. It will typically be a flower garden with big lawns. A few families have however put priority into having a small vegetable garden.

This situation will only in a small way be changeable considering the long working-hours and the stress- factors, which exists in wage-earning families.

A change, which is realistic, would be to decompose the gardens organic rubbish, and at the same time double the number of vegetables garden. To day a tremendous traffic of cars to the waste disposal site is going on. They take the rubbish for free. The town council agrees that this traffic should be stopped, and instead the rubbish should be pick up at the addresses and at the same time, an offer of bringing decomposed manure soil. The garden owners ought to be encouraged to prepare their rubbish in order to help easy collection from the homes. House-owners associations ought to take more interest in the joint community, for instance in investing in a good garden shredder, garden milling, cider press, ladders and power saws.

Starting point and goal:

Roughly 3-4% of the people are engage in active employment have their own crops, though it does not cover their needs. This percentage is expected to rise to roughly 6-8%.

Achieving the goal:

Keeping poultry

Apart from keeping vegetable gardens, a lot of people have started to keep poultry; especially people with children can have fun with this in the back garden. It also gives children closeness to the nature and teaches them to care for it.

Also the supply of eggs from happy creatures keep the family and friends with this product. At the same time they keep the decompose manure with attractive material, which improve the earth quality.

The Environmental and Energy Centre is already playing its part, by agitating for hen keeping. This is done in several ways:

Starting-point and goal;

Our ambition is to increase the self-sufficiency of eggs from the approx. 5% to 25 % in the period of our plan.

Achieving the goal:

2) Production in your own garden: Pensioners, unemployed, etc.

When we talk about the people who are not active employed; we talk about the people who have the time, but seldom the space or the money, as the active employed.

The great potential in having the time, has to be used much more, than we see to day.

Pensioners and unemployed, which have their own garden, should be more encourage to produce vegetables in order to sell them locally. We want in the future to start a campaign where pensioners, who grow their vegetables in an ecological way to be able to use the town square at Hoeje Taastrup for free. Most of this square is already available for The Environmental and Energy Centre and in the season from 20.06. to 15.10. pensioners can use this opportunity.

The town council ought to back up this plan with information material and information about taxes. In the long run the rules about taxes should be change, in order to support the local production.

Starting-point and goal:

The pensioner's part of production of food is today 5-6%; our target is 12-14%.

Achieving the goal:

Environmental and Energy Centre has to continue to make the square available for the pensioners, who produce 100% ecological products in order to sell them.

3) Lots of time, but no garden;

A major part of the population, who are outside the active working market, have however no access to their own garden, as most of these people lives in apartments without gardens flats. Several of the larger residential quarters are close to big areas, which are more or less unused. These ought to be used in order for the unemployed to get the possibility of growing their own vegetables.

We believe here in the power of the example. We have now in connection with two large residential quarters taken the initiative to provide for kitchen gardens close by. We believe that the good examples will inspire other people. Not only is it a good recreationally-, but also an economical burst to people, who do not have too much money.

When the demand exceed the supply locally, we will have to look into alternatives elsewhere. Keeping hens will properly in a small way also be possible in a build up area. We will co-operate with the inhabitants in other small towns and village, compare our experiments according to responsibility, and complains from neighbours.

Here too, will hen keeping add to the reusing of the organic waste and egg-production.

Starting point and goal:

140 local inhabitants (mostly people without garden) have access to kitchen gardens through AOF´s (the workers information union) this is supposed to be extended to 400 gardens for the local inhabitants. To day there are no hen houses in residential quarters, but in the planing-period is expected to establish 50 hen houses in these.

Achieving the goal:

4) Central but local food-supply.

As mentioned before, we have already 2 cow-grazing companies that more or less supply 47 local families with their need for veal and mutton.

It is possibly for one to two other places to have something similar, but then the area will be full up.

On the other hand, it might be possible to make production agreement with farmers and other landowners within the town council. One has already volunteered. A farmer has agreed to produce 25 ecological pigs to be sold locally. Apart from that there are two farms with free-range pigs and another where your can buy poultry.

Similarly agreements will properly be able to be establish in a larger scale: The farmer has promised to have 10 calves on grass and 40 families have promised to buy them at a certain price. Which everybody has agreed on. In return the families get to follow them as they grow, and this goes also for the pigs, lambs, goats hens etc.

The same condition goes for vegetables. Her we are talking about an actually investment in a farm connected to a town. The idea is that some people from the nearest town make a co-operative and employ a farmer to grow ordinary vegetables on his own farm, which are weekly delivered to the consumer. This kind of farms does also exist in Britain.

Starting-point and goal:

Roughly 80 families (including the cow-grazing companies) are today partly covering their need for meat locally. This covering is expected to rise to 400 families. There are a few and spread out agreements.

Achieving the goal:

Local production of nutritious matter.

Through the planning-period, there has to be gained experiments with the production of nutrition. These experiments will primary be gained in the rural zone, where there is no joint sewerage. From The Environmental and Energy Centre we actually want to join in the process of separations- toilet, a toilet where urine and excrement are separated or perhaps decomposing toilets, as this families who now have to clean their own waste-water. Especially the urine has to be used in the production of vegetables. Excrement we want to, due to the hygienic reason, to put under bushes and flowers etc.

In the long run, further than the planning period, the sewers are bound to break down in the cities and towns and then separation toilets should replace the existing toilets.

In this connection the experiments are important, as we to have as many as possible, before the extensive renovation which will be necessary. We do know that this is against the plans of the town council and the country. However, we do also know what importance the nutrition which go through the severs are to us. In the town council an immense production of decomposed manure from Nymølle Decomposing manure heap are happening. This decompose manure are delivered by among others VEGA (a dumping place) back to the garden owners.

Starting point and goal:

At this moment there is no separation / decompose manure toilet locally. There will be provisions for 50 families in the period of planning to get these.

Achieving the goal:

6) Fish in town

In Hoeje Taastrup - as in lots of other towns - the streams are put into pipes. This happened in the fifties in connection with the need to eliminate the bad smell from the streams. The installation of pipes was also an attempt to make free areas, which then were ready to build on.

To day the situation is completely different. A detached stream will not give a bad smell, as the wastewater is now cleaned before it runs into the streams, and around these hidden stream there is now build up areas, as it was then wanted. The streams have to have a reconstruction back to nature so the streams can run free again. There is many a good reason for this. For example, by getting the streams into the town again, it will improve the recreation local environment. The recreation has to be where we live, and not some place where we have to go by car to visit. The streams in the towns give us the closeness to nature, which we miss and which makes us strangers to it. It will be possible to follow how the nature develops. A missing closeness there can cause a lot of unhappiness in the mind in many a person. Finally the streams has to run free in order to make fishing possible again.

Starting point and goal:

So far 20 metres of pipe-laid streams has been exposed to nature, this happened in 1997, and in the planning period the goal is 500 metres.

Achieving the goal:

An exposure of the streams will take many years, and cost a lot of money. In co-operation with the authorities and the citizens - and preferably in communication with The Environmental and Energy Centre - a plan has to be made, as this is a massive program. It has to be clarified, where the closed up streams are. You have to look into where it is least painful to start, and a plan called "Fish in town" made by the people is to be started involving the local community. The initiative has to be taken in co-optation with the county, who has the overall responsibility for the streams.

7) Fruit exchange

Through the later years a problematic development has occurred concerning apples and pears. We import more and more fruits from the south of Europe. Fruit, which is sprayed with more pesticides, than our own fruit and travels a long distance before this gets to the shelves of the supermarket.

This development we have to work against Locally we can grow a long range of apples and pears, without spraying with poison and without the long transport.

We have local expertise about fruit trees as we have the local pometum of the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural college nearby with over 700 different sorts of apples. The main part of this can also grow in private gardens. This has to be encouraged, in order to make more people grow fruit.

Starting point and goal:

A limited part of Hoeje Taastrup´s inhabitants, get in the fruit-season their need for fruit covered from local fruit trees, that is approx. 1 - 2% and this should increase to 6 - 8% in the planing period.

Achieving the goal:

Windfalls fruit

The fruit season is very short and the garden owners will not be able to consume all the fruit, especially the apples that do not keep long. It is therefore a good idea to sell some of the fruit, and if this is not possible, to go and get the windfalls fruits. The Environmental and Energy Centre has for two seasons tried to advertise in a small way. The Environmental and Energy Centre has tried to put people with too much fruit in contact with people who have none. However this has not been a great success.

A third possibility is to press the fruit to juice; a fruit-presser is an obvious thing to buy jointly in the house owners' association.

Starting point and goal:

Roughly half of the fruits are not used because of windfall. This has to be limited, while at the same time more garden owners get more fruit trees. The waste percentage has to be reduced to 25% in the planning period.

Achieving the goal:

8) Seed-collection/seed-exchange/ cutting exchange

Often you will get the same perhaps more profit, by using your own seeds, instead of buying the central coated and raised seed and plants. At the same time, we have a great waste, as we are seldom able to use all the leaks for bedding out and carrot-seeds that we have to buy in portions. This is a foundation for the locals, who have the time and enthusiasm, who are willing to be in front to make sure to harvest seeds for the next season, and the left over bedding plants is communicated to those who might want them. The Environmental and Energy Centre has in a small way tried to make different garden owner associate with each other, but without much success. People do not thing that it is worth while to drive or cycle to get these seeds or plants, and will rather buy them in the local shop. We have however had very positive response when we arrange days where herbaceous are exchange. Exchanging is not so far from the Danish way of thinking.

We believe that in the long run there will be more exchanging of seeds etc. The seeds are getting more expensive, there will be more talk about the problem with the coating of the seeds, and plants which are seldom grown in this country, will be appreciated as exchange plants.

Starting point and goal:

Only in a very limited way are seeds and bedding plants exchanged. This activity ought to be strengthened the plan period especially in the local areas.

Achieving the goal:

The exchange can start from two different places:

9) Local production of honey

A rising part of our honey is imported. This is among other things due to falling production. There are more than one reason for this: the prices are high, diseases caused by the varoa mite and other diseases, the cutting down of the so-called weeds on the side of the roads and ditches. This will be a problem when new generation takes over, as young people do not find it very interesting. Never the less, bee keeping is vital to pollinate the vegetables and fruit trees. Finally, the Danish honey is a very nutritious product.

The Environmental and Energy Centre has a close co-operation with the local chairman of the beekeepers association, and with him we are working at 4 schools so far. We have also had beekeepers out to tell about bees and answer questions that people might have.

Every year we arrange a presentation of the honey harvest on the square, and at the same time we inform people who want to start keeping bees. The beekeeper chairman has every year a study group for future beekeepers.

Starting point and perspective:

There are only two places in Hoeje Taastrup where bee-keeping are held for the purpose of sale. Apart from this, there are beekeepers who do it as a hobby, in less proportions.

In the plan-period the amount of beekeepers, who want to sell their honey should increase so we will have 4 -5 beekeepers and the hobby bee keeping is to increase with 100%.

The amount of schools with demonstration hives, has to increase to 8, and in connection with each demonstration there will be established visiting teachers.

Achieving the goal:

10) Day-care centres

The day-care centres can in a very small way keep themselves with food. Firstly it will be an well-assorted herb-garden, where you can keep herbs. On few occasion the day-care-centres will be in front when we talk about keeping hens or kitchen gardens.

Most of the food supply, which the children's "workplaces" shall have, they have to get from other places. 10 day-care-centres have started deliberately and gradually to change over to ecological food, at the same time as the local counsel - via "Green Job Patrol" - are trying to make a supplementary training of the kitchen staff in 45 day-care-centres. In this connection there are a consciousness about the ecological justification, as a still growing part comes from the local community.

The Environmental and Energy Centre co-operate with the local "Green Guide" about a project "Green Flag in Day-care-centres". In this plan we will also enter into how the day-care-centres can increase their own production of fruits and vegetables.

Starting point and goal:

5 day-care-centres keep hens. Roughly 10 has a herb-bed. Apart from that there is a central area where the day-care-centres can grow vegetables and flowers. The number of day-care-centres, who keeps hens, should in the planing period increase from 5 to 20. Apart from that, the area where vegetables, herbs, and fruit trees-and bushes grows shall increase 3 times. We acknowledge that with even this increase, the day-care-centre will only be self-sufficient in a symbolic way. As an important parameter, when the day-care-centres have to choose an ecological supplier, it has to be a local supplier.

Achieving the goal:

11) Schools

The schools are a good starting point to strengthen the local self-sufficiency. Schools that are functioning will in a larger or smaller way be a local activity centre. The primary contact group is of course the families with school children. The school-kitchen and other workshop facilities are the most popular places. Especially the school-kitchen can be a place for gatherings and cooking and eating together. With a good education, the children can bring good nourishing habits home with them. This goes especially for school-gardens, which is an outdoor activity, and they may be able to make a profit by selling vegetables if they have too many of them. A school-garden is an obvious way where the knowledge that the pensioners have, will come in handy for the schoolchildren. In this way they can enjoy each other's company and learn from each other.

A well-functioning school-garden will make use of a lot of other subjects. For instance mathematics, when they plan and measure the garden, and when they try to sell the ecological vegetables, nature, technique and biology. When they want to grow their plants ecological, they will learn about much different kind of plants and insects. Danish if they want to write to the school-paper, reports etc. Learn to speak up, when they explain their knowledge to potential customers. To the schools there are "Green Guides" attached from the Environmental and Energy Centre as a networking group to encourage and inspire, and perhaps make joint arrangements.

Starting points and goal:

There are 13 schools in the council of Hoeje Taastrup. Non of the schools have an actual school-garden. Two keep hens, and a few are trying to get a bed with herbs. A single one has a lake with fish, but none of the schools have been able to get the "Green Flag"

One of the schools is functioning as an activity centre, and many schools want to copy their model, but have not yet done so.

The goal for the planning period is that 6 of schools should have the "Green Flag", where local food should be a part. The schools should establish school-gardens, hen houses and fishponds, which the younger pupils can take care of.

Achieving the goal:

12) "We are the young once the other youngster, won't play with (A Danish song)

In Hoeje Taastrup we have special schools which are for mentally slow youngsters.

The idea is, that to many of these fine people, whom other people do not count for much, are in front when it comes to self-sufficiency for themselves and their neighbours. They can sell their product on the square of Hoeje Taastrup or directly from their institutions. They can also make agreement with a kindergarten or so to secure the supply of vegetables, fruit and berries. This has been tried out but did not work as the producers could not supply enough.

It can be tiring to sit a whole day under a redcurrant bush, picking redcurrants if the whole profit goes to the institution. Arrangement could be made, where the people themselves get for instance half of the profit, when they have sold it. Not so much for the actually money, but for the acknowledgement which money also represent.

13) Education in self sufficiency

A corps has to be trained from the people who" The others once wont play with", they are to take different kinds of training causes which will support the self sufficiency.

Her we will suggest some:

- To keep bees.

Bee keeping is retreating, among other thing, due to different kind of diseases, but also because of centralising the bee keeping. This noble trade has to have a revival, So Hoeje Taastrup surroundings should have far more beehives than is the case now. Local produced honey will always be to prefer to honey from abroad where we do not know the amount of pesticide used.

- To trim and preserve trees and bushes

Too many trees and bushes in the private gardens carry too little fruit, only because they are not trimmed often enough. This can be done by, "The youngsters the other on's won't play with".

-To keep a decomposing manure heap,

Since decomposed manure is much more popular, and the council favour home decomposes manure more and more people want to give it a try. If they do not know enough about it, there is a risk for the whole thing will break down. Instead of just giving up, they have the possibility to get practical help from people who have taken a course about the subject, and have experience.

- Turnout, when many berries have to be harvested.

People with a large area to cultivate are reluctant to grow various forms of berries, only because of the difficulties they have when they harvest. Here could the above mentioned people give a lending hand.

Handicap-gardens.

Another goal in the planing-period is, in co-operation with the county, to establish a fruit and berry garden for the disabled. The garden should be made in order for people in wheelchairs can trim the bushes and pluck the berries. The garden should be a kind of a sense garden, where also blind people can enjoy coming and work. The garden should also be useful for healthy children, who can help and support the handicapped.

Achieving the goal

14) To strengthen the continuously culture

In the council of Hoeje Taastrup, we have in a small way, gained experience in continuously culture. The continuously culture is a way of cultivate the soil with more energy from the sun than is used at harvest. At the same time you systematise a polyculture, so the organic waste from one place can be used at another place. In the village Reerslev, we have a group of people from Copenhagen who have established a continuously culture farm on 3 hectare.

Here they use the biomass of fast-growing trees as nourishment for the other plants, and the manure from a fishpond, while the leaves etc., from the cultivated plants are used to feed the carps. The energy from the wind makes sure that the water goes where it is to be used etc.

The project is far from optimal, but has a lot of exciting perspectives. In connection with a self-sufficiency plan, the continuously culture can inspire others to do the same. You do not have to have 3 hectare; it can also be done in a small way.

Starting point and goal:

The Environmental and Energy Centre and the local subdivision of Denmark's Nature Conservancy Association have held two open arrangements for the locals, where they had the opportunity to gain experience. It is the intention to continue and do it more intensive, in the hope that we can establish at least two more "continuously culture" farms.

Achieving the goal:

15) Having your own fish production, Aquaculture

Garden ponds can be extremely interesting for garden owners. The Environmental and Energy Centre had in 1995 an arrangement about this, where a biological self-cleaning garden pond was presented. Between 120 and 130 people came to this. However, most people use the pond for ornamental fish.

When it comes to self-sufficiency, it is never the less very interesting that it is actually possible to cultivate fish, and later use them as food. In a school on the island of Fyn, the teachers have a pond where they cultivate carps and trout for there own use.

It must be possible to convince some of the garden owners to change out the ornamental fish to cultivated fish and in this way get more experience in looking after them and appreciate the quality.

It is a goal for the Environmental and Energy Centre to have 40 or 50 gardens in the council with pond, from which you can keep yourself with cultivated fish.

Achieving the goal:

16) Greenhouse production

Some of the houses in Hoeje Taastrup (roughly 5%) have greenhouses, in different sizes. A large part of the greenhouses are used for growing tomatoes, cucumber green peppers or eggplants. In most places the growing of these plants are done by using pesticide and fertiliser.

Starting point and goal:

To make these people stop using pesticide and fertiliser is a goal in itself, also to accumulate rainwater for watering the plants. Apart from that it would be interesting if more people would grow this greenhouse fruits/vegetables for their own use and perhaps others.

Achieving the goal:

17) The Globe shop

It is a desire to open a new Globe shop on a new address in co-operation with the local voluntary centre who share the address with the Environmental and Energy Centre. It should primary be run by volunteers (pensioners and others who have the daytime off).

We imagine that a long list of partners will back this up - local churches, local centres, local warm shelter, pensioners clubs and the social office of Hoeje Taastrup.

The globe shop is to have multiplied appearance:

Finally the Globe shop is to make sure that the Global dimension in self-sufficiency is intact. This can be done by one of the volunteers who is also connected to the project, makes material, wall sheets etc. to illustrate how the model of self-sufficiency is global useable. For instance in a south American village, where they use to have a mono-culture, producing coffee to the rich up north, they are now producing vegetables for there own use.

Achieving the goal:

A contact to all the potential working groups has to be established, and together apply for the needed financial help, to make sure that the economic is in order, primary for the renting of a place and wages so at least one person can keep an overall eye on everything.

18) The supermarkets/ local shops role

As mentioned before, it is not the plan to make superfluous supermarkets or any other local shops. As more and more food products find their way from the producer to the user, without using a middleman, the supermarkets will be motivated to sell local food-products.

This could be by making deals with a local gardener who can deliver vegetables and fruits in the season. To deliver strawberries in the summer, leaks in the autumn in bunches of ten, pensioners can join together and in that way deliver more regularly through the season. What this means to the supermarket depends on the demand of ecological food. To day the demands on ecological food is very big, but by knowing that it is local products, and perhaps having knowledge to the producer entice people to buy this. Perhaps trust plays a part here.

The local trades are expected to back this up. For instance restaurants, hotels, pizza-bars etc. cold put sign up to show that they use these products.

The consequence of action

County and council:

In the following agenda some of the initiatives will be described, which will be favourable for carrying out the plan:

The consequences of the water supply

A series of drillings have been closed down in the council of Hoeje Taastrup, as in many other places. This happens because of the seepage of poisoning from the industry and farming. The larger part of the council's water is imported via Copenhagen from the surroundings of the small town Lejre. There are still 15 drillings, which together supply 13.000 people. These are however also in danger of being closed, because of leftovers of poisons.

A local ecological food production is also based on the water supply. The considerate local cultivation of the earth ought to, in the long run, make the water clean again, so some of the drillings, which are closed now, can be reopen, but a cleaning will probably be needed. This cleaning is to be thought over carefully, if it is to be connected close to the collected strategy of a clean council.

The consequences of the way of life

If the local communities in Hoeje Taastrup and elsewhere, more and more want to base their life on self-sufficiency, it will have unexpected consequences for the way of life. In the future we will be forced to think differently. For instance:

Total organising

If an ambitious plan like this is going to have success, it will be necessary with an overall management. The following elements should be taken into account:

Postscript

The main thing in the above-mentioned suggestion is to make a sustainable agriculture, development. That natures own products should be used. There is no need for pesticides or fertilisers. If this is what we want, we have to remove anything that can disillusion us.

People have to experience, that we appreciate their action, when they produce the local community with food-products. Therefore we have to pay them, even if they get pension or social benefits or something like that at the same time.

In the development of our society we have to have certain direction marks, showing the direction we want to take. One direction mark is that we want it to be ecological. Another is that we want the producer and consumer to be as close as possible to each other. This will strengthen the connection power; we so often are panting about.

When we are to choose between a society where "Big brother" is watching us, or a society, where it is actually the people we are concerned about, it is our belief that the priority will be on the last solution.

Supervising and mistrust kills the joy in the local community. Helpfulness and flexibility gives life to the community.






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Revised March 2, 2002

Published by City Farmer
Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture
cityfarmer@gmail.com