Byhaven 2200 – Kitchen garden in Nørrebro

It is harvest time in gardens around the world. In Nørrebro, we have several neighborhood gardens, from DYRK Nørrebro to Den Fælleskøkkenhave (the logo of which is pictured above). This June we got a new garden–Byhaven 2200 [City Garden 2200]. It sits at the corner of Hørholmsgade and Stefansgade, on the same spot where drug dealers used to ply their wares.  It was organized by fellow members of the Københavns Fødevarefællesskab [Copenahgen’s Food Co-op] who, inspired by the ideas of permaculture and local food, wanted to start a garden in the city.

Permaculture is a system that supports interconnectedness in gardening, building, education, and economics. Such things as seed saving, biodynamic gardening based on the Rudolf Steiner method, cooperative and consensus based economic structures, organic agriculture,  and transition culture (actively preparing for an energy descent) are all part of this philosophy. The connection with a permacultural worldview is an interesting aspect of this new Nørrebro community garden.

The garden gets a lot of attention because it is on a major bike thoroughfare with people commuting to and from work. The garden’s scrappy fences and raised beds seemed to pop up over night this summer. When we first saw it, we weren’t sure it would last. But the organizers wrote a manifesto and maintained a neighborhood presence throughout the growing season. They plan to be around to cultivate more plants next year. There are even places for other would be urban gardeners to join in, you just have to email.

Byhaven 2200 received funding from Nørrebros Lokaludvalg [Nørrebro’s Local Committee] and Center for Park og Natur [The Center for Parks and Nature] for this urban gardening project. This has allowed the organizers to  rent the corner where the garden sits and bring water in for the plants, according to a recent article in the local Nørrebro newspaper.

By supporting the community garden in this location, the city’s interests in taking care of the drug dealers are served, along with those of neighborhood residents, who did not want the drug traffic either.

Unfortunately, the drug dealers still remain, having only moved their business over to a derelict picnic table.