New Orleans, Helsinki and Food

Turns out that some of the coolest stuff is happening to connect people to where food comes from—especially in New Orleans and Helsinki.  So much so that Richard McCarthy, Board Member of Edible School Yard and (farmers’) Market Umbrella, and Bonnie Goldblum, community garden activist and travel blogger for 1wrongturn.com, traveled here to network and learn.  And, of course, to eat and have fun.

It’s not actually very surprising that learning to raise your own food has long been part of Finnish school curricula.  We went to visit Kumpula, the oldest school garden in Helsinki (since 1922—happy 100^th anniversary!—when it began as a philanthropic effort to help working class families in times of food scarcity), with School Garden Coordinator, Janne Länsipuro, and some wonderful teachers and kids.

It was sort of a dream world.  A huge field was sectioned off for different teams of kids to plan what food to plant where.  Along the way, they are told about companion planting—plants that like the same kind of soil and water and light and that support each other.  Then the kids try to figure out areas of their allotment where those plants can live together.  They draw up a garden plan and divide up the work to get it done.

Joska and Sonja show me their garden plan with the Kolme Siskoa (beans, corn and squash) in the middle (from the Iroquois tradition)

Then there is garden art that can happen.

Here are the kids creating a millipede from the earth since they have learned to nurture them in the soil, not to be afraid of them! Most bugs are good for gardens.

A huge part of the property—which is totally enclosed by fencing but you would never know it—has been left wooded and the place is magical. When the young farmers have had enough sun, they can head into the woods. We found mysterious ‘made’ objects and symbols along tiny trails that were part of secret communication and games that develop over the course of weeks together in sunny fields and shady forests.

Bonnie finds the last of the fragrant lilies of the valley for the season on the forest floor.

Richard McCarthy addressed the group of teachers and local farmers to explain how New Orleans has found that local food is a topic that brings very diverse groups of people together. Parents who never visit schools are actually delighted to visit the garden of The Edible School Yard and often end up getting involved and volunteering for the first time in their lives.

Richard explains that the Crescent City Farmers Market has an annual economic impact of $11.2 million—part of the old adage that ‘One dollar spent on a local product generates five dollars for your local community.’

Richard deeply inspired everyone about how growing healthy local food and buying and eating healthy local food ripples out to health for our whole little garden planet.

Ville Relander is doing good work with Helsinki’s Food Culture Strategy. Liisa Hertell showed us her school garden at the Vantaa Steiner School. Kirsi Arino specializes in garden pedagogy and has developed a school garden where she teaches at Käpylä school. Janne Länsipuro (who put it all together) is between Ulla and Jaana Mäkinen of Helsinki’s Happi Youth Center where Helena (on the far right) is working the charming rooftop garden. And there’s our charming Dodo friend, Pinja Sipari, who is teaching at Kumpula this summer!

In a day full of delight, one of the highlights was seeing my husband get time away from a crushing construction schedule to commune a bit…

with kids…

with wildflowers… (koiranputki = cow parsnip = Anthriscus sylvestris)

and with a rhubarb leaf hat as natural air conditioning!

For lunch, we all descended upon Dodos’ Kääntöpöyta or Turntable restaurant, housed in a relic of train equipment refashioned into a greenhouse.  We had a wonderful soup, bread and even dessert—all with ingredients from the greenhouse, sack garden or foraged from the woodlands around the train tracks.

Great thanks to Janne Länsipuro, Richard McCarthy and the whole group, including the kid farmers, for the wonderful work that each is contributing.  And here’s hoping that in my next life I can come back as one of those kids in the Kumpula school garden program!

Cody Douglas Oreck
U.S. Embassy Helsinki