From our perspective, we need to go beyond reducing transport and carbon emissions, making our economy more local again and producing most of what we eat near where we live. 

We want to provide as many individuals and families close to us in Berlin with the fresh food they need.

But not only is it important to us that we produce food – possibly even more important is how we produce it. The best term we’ve found so far to describe our methods is “future-proof”.

Humanity has practised organic farming for most of their history (until synthesized chemicals were introduced after WWII) and still degraded their soil to such extents that whole civilisations declined. We believe a far bigger commitment is needed to overcome our global challenges:

• Keeping the soil covered with plant canopies and mulches to protect its microbiology, preserve organic matter and hold moisture in.

• Have living plants in the soil for as much time as possible throughout the year, e.g. through the use of cover crops.

• Minimising soil disturbance through plowing/tilling.

• Working with permanent beds and paths to allow more targeted soil amendments

• Having a high diversity of crops instead of monocultures. 

• Incorporating trees and shrubs in vegetable growing areas (agroforestry).

• Providing habitat for wildlife like birds, beetles and toads to outbalance pests 

• Working on a small scale with hand-tools that don’t compact the soil instead of heavy machinery

• Using open-pollinated seed varieties instead of modern hybrids for less dependence on external plant breeders

• Using only renewable energy produced on site

• Minimising the use of plastic for crop protection and weed management

• Not using chemicals like artificial fertilisers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides.