In the house of Tamara Donker (37) in Nieuw-Buinen, spring is already on the windowsill. Growing containers, pots, labels, she is already warming up. “The homework is over,” she says. “Now the real work can begin.”
What started with a few dahlia tubers in the backyard has now grown into half a hectare of empty land. It should become a food and flower picking garden on an old municipal football field.
“I’m a bit obsessive,” Donker laughs. “If I like something, I dive into it. I buy books and Google all sorts of things.”
So three years ago she planted dahlias in her own garden. Simply because they are such beautiful flowers. More the next year, until the garden exploded in color. The flowers were initially given away to neighbors, friends and family.
“Then I thought: maybe someone would want to pay for this.” Her husband didn’t see it happen. “Nobody’s coming,” he said. Donker set up an open evening anyway. Every evening was full, people from the village came by, but also far beyond. “Then I thought: Wow. This is not just a hobby anymore.”
That got Donker thinking. The old football field behind her house looked a bit lost. “A desert for birds and insects,” Donker calls it, despite the fact that the forest edge is beautiful. She called the municipality, they were not allowed to buy the land, but they were allowed to manage it. Provided it became broader, more responsive to a social function and focused on biodiversity. “And that is perfectly possible with a food forest, in combination with a picking garden.”
The conversation with the municipality turned out to be the start of something bigger. There was guidance, subsidy advice and a neighborhood meeting. More than sixty people showed up and a year and a half later the foundation is a fact, the budget is complete and the energy is greater than ever.
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