Amsterdam buildings by markopoulos (flickr)

I have just been sowing vegetables on my balcony and window sill in the city of Amsterdam. Been building boxes out of wasted building materials and I am also uses wooden orange creatres to sow in. Also have been scavenging the area for things that people are throwing away. Have sowed salads, spinach, herbs, brocoli and pumpkins. Soon will be sowing tomatoes, zuchinni and other tasty vegetables. I have also sowed some flowers which I hope will attract good insects and butterflies. As I wish to grow my food organically, I had to make some effort finding the right soil most soil for pots sold at the big gardening centres and flowers shops contain artificial fertilizers, this will not explicitly be labelled on the package, rather confusing and maybe misleading. I called the supplier of the conventional soil and he confirmed that there was artificial fertilizers in their mainstream product, he added that they also make organic soil based on coconut. He also told me that they do demand in Amsterdam is not very big for this particular organic soil so the mainly sell the conventional stuff. Eventually I found an organic food shop that was selling organic soil and organic seeding soil, this does not come cheap. To get the soil I also need to make quiet a bike trip, so there I was lading my bike and backpack with bags of soil. But it is worth the effort, in the future am thinking of hiring a 'bakfiets' a carrier tricycle.

I have also been searching for sources of natural manure, in my home village, I went to visit a farmer and he was happy to supply some horse shit mixed with straw. We started chatting and he told me how he does not like the big mechanized agriculture and he makes an effort to do it naturally. He had sheeps and as it is spring time the lambs where also out. He told me how other farmers in the village would let the lambs out for a couple of weeks and then put them in doors and give them bagged animal feed, did a bit of research on this. The farmers will give them growth enhancing feed so that the lamb will reach slaughter time faster whereas he would let the lambs out during the whole period and the lambs can munch on fresh grass and herbs. He says that the quality of his meat is far better then that of his fellow farmers.

I have been posting messages at various places (health food stores, squats, vegetarian restaurants etc.) to start an organic balcony working group, have not had a lot of replies as yet (any tips are welcome). I have also been tending the 'geveltuin' of our appartment block. Each house is allowed a certain space on the sidewalk against the front of the house, to make into a front garden, they are allowed to be 30 cm wide and the length depends on the length of the house. This is a very good initiative which was started about twenty years ago by some citizens and squatters. The squatters where doing it illegally, basicly taking out the stones from the sidewalk and putting in earth and plants. Now this has really taken of and there are even 'geveltuin' days which is a market where people can get the right plants, exchange plant, receive advise and children can help with painting flower pots, the squatters are still involved and the organizers will order a lot of soil (buying in bulk is much cheaper than in small sacks) which these squatters will deliver with there carrier tricycles to the people who are unbable to carry it themselves (old or handicapped people). At the same place where this initiative was started, a group of citizens also started creating float gardens. In some canals you will see these floating gardens full of reets and flowers, they create more living space for animals in the city and also help cleaning the water. As I am doing a lot of walking these days through the city of Amsterdam (working a postman) it is really nice see these tiny patches of green space everywhere and it also nice to see the care people take for these tiny patches of green space, the social connecting it brings and it also becomes a bit of a competition, as 'I would like mine to look better then my neighbours'.

Any suggestions or exchange is welcome and I shall keep you all posted

love and light

Tom