An initiative of

Rob van Paasen - Life on land

The biodynamic greenhouse of Rob and his wife Sandra is situated in a so called Dutch ‘polder’ in a small village called Oude Leede. The farm could be described as a typical family farm which was originally purchased by Rob’s father and later passed on to Rob and Sandra.

THE NETHERLANDS

originally purchased by Rob’s father and later passed on to Rob and Sandra.

The greenhouse of Rob appears to be full of life: ‘‘The herbs and weeds that grow inside and outside the greenhouse, are part of our ecosystem. You often see biodiversity projects with beautiful flowers, but in order to attract native insects from the Netherlands, you need the plants that naturally occur here. Also, if you let weeds flourish, you create enough breeding ground for the insects. For example, I have a rough part full of weeds, and if you look underneath the leaves you will find all kind of beetles. When you have your ‘outside’ piece of biodiversity well balanced- including pests and insects- they won’t come inside the greenhouse.

Besides that, birds also regularly enter the greenhouse and ensure we are caterpillar free. One of the students that was helping out in the greenhouse found a very rare butterfly ‘Smerinthus ocellatus’ between the cucumber plants, it made me very excited’.

The horses that walk in the grassland outside the greenhouse are included in the ‘cycle’ as well. Every day we collect a basket with ‘waste’ peppers and cucumbers and we’ll feed the horses with it. We then collect the horse manure, and we sprinkle this among the plant rows for our crops. This will stimulate the crops, and completes the cycle’’.

Take a look at the full grower profile here.

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Take a look at the full grower profile here.

Recipes with this ingredient

Sustainability flower

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