Posted on

Another World Blog

A friend of mine who lives locally has a travel blog called Another World Blog.

Since he’s recently moved to the Netherlands he’s now writing a lot about the country from the point of view as an immigrant.  At the moment, he’s very interested in exploring Dutch customs and traditions.  He’s also travelled other places and written about those too.

I often don’t write much about living in the Netherlands.  For this reason I like to recommend other blogs with this kind of material.  I hope you have a look at his blog, and maybe leave a comment or two…

Posted on

How the Netherlands Got Its Cycle Paths

From time to time I read about interest in the US or other places about how Europe does it’s traffic engineering.  For example I’ve heard a number of US cities are adopting traffic circles modelled after those in the UK.

A few Dutch cities with particularly dangerous and complicated intersections have apparently pretty successfully implemented the ‘hands off’ approach, and removed all signals and warning signs.  This is in the theory that everyone approaching a dangerous situation tends to see it, slow down and be more careful.  Apparently having too many signs is a distraction.  A lot of attention has been paid to these recently.

Anyway, the question comes up from time to time, how did the Dutch get their amazing network of bicycle paths, which can be found everywhere in the country?  If you’re like me perhaps you might think it’s just a natural thing, because the country is so flat or because cycling is so popular.  Actually, there’s a story about this, and a lesson to be learned.  Here’s a video I found recently.

Posted on

Gathering Call Geneva, Switzerland on 20 October

Since I have readers all over the world, I don’t normally post things that only apply to specific places.  I think however this is important.  If you can travel to Geneva consider attending the following next week:

*GATHERING CALL *
*Thursday 20 October 2011 from 12.00 pm to 2.00 pm*
*In front of the UPOV**building*
*(Union internationale pour la protection des obtentions végétales)*
*34, Chemin des Colombettes – Geneva*

*For the immediate recognition of farmers’ right to re-use and Exchange freely their seeds, to protect them from biopiracy and contaminations from patented genes. No to seeds multinationals’ grip!*

*No to the 1991 Proprietary Variety Protection Act, to any form of patent on plants, part of plants, their genes or extraction processes.*

Since 1991, the UPOV seeks to forbid farmers to use part of their own crop for seeds, or to force them to pay royalties to companies holding a Plant Variety Certificate. Yet, any of the seeds sold by the industry is still a product of seeds collected at no cost in the fields of farmers who have selected and preserved for millennia all food plants we feed on to this day. The Convention on Biological Diversity did introduce in 1992 in Rio the principle of a fair sharing of advantages which should force companies to pay farmer’s whose seeds were used as resources. Today, the UPOV seeks to apply at any rate its reverse sharing where it is the bio-pirated farmer who has to pay the bio-pirate!

*Yet, the right of farmers to re-use and exchange their seeds is essential for crops’ adaptation to climate change and local adaptation, which is the only way to decrease the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It ensures the security of seeds stocks and thus of food security. *

The growing number of patents on natural genes, muted or manipulated, of commercial seeds already protected by Plant Variety Certificate reinforces further the confiscation of all seeds of our planet by a handful of seeds multinationals that seize peoples’ right to food. The detrimental alliance of the UPOV and the Patents Office threatens directly food sovereignty.

*Come on and join us:*

*Farming Mystica, theatrical sketches, pacific and militant actions are awaiting you there!*

Contacts :

Uniterre, Swiss member of the European Coordination Via Campesina +41 21 601 74 67 www.uniterre.ch
European Coordination Via Campesina Rue de la Sablonnière 18- 1000 Bruxelles-Belgium- www.eurovia.org

Please RSVP

Posted on

Warmonderhof

The Warmonderhof is the place I buy most of my vegetables from at the local Farmers’ Market in Amsterdam, and a few weeks ago they had an open house day at their farm.  They’re about an hours drive from Amsterdam, and Steph and I decided to make the trip.

They’re actually much more than a farm.  They’re a school, and they issue a degree similar to what Americans would think of as a Junior College degree,  however it’s a 4-year program instead of 2.  It’s basically vocational training in a formal college setting.  The Dutch call this degree an MBO.  I think the program they have is pretty unique, and I’ve never heard of similar programs elsewhere although they may exist.

Basically they are a fully functioning Biodynamic and Organic farm, and their program includes everything from growing the food to selling it at the farmers market.  Not only do they make it a point to have every possible type of vegetable, but they have chickens, cows and bees.  Because what they grow is used for teaching classes, everything is nicely laid out and organized, and very presentable.  It made for a nice open house.

A lot of what they produce they don’t offer for sale, for example dairy or eggs, probably because they feel they can’t produce them in sufficient quantity or profitably.  It looked like they were offering their eggs to people locally via a CSA sort of scheme, but I’ve never seen them at their Amsterdam market.

They also aren’t afraid of buying produce from elsewhere, and I’ve occationally been told I was buying broccoli from Spain or whatever.  I guess you can’t avoid this completely, because not everything can be grown on a single farm in season.  It’s still a little annoying sometimes when you think you’re buying something local from a farmers’ market.

Interestingly enough, they even have an art gallery, and I guess art classes are part of their program.

Of course they had fields of vegetables to see, some of which were on offer for people who wanted to pick their own.

The theme of the day was ‘Family’, and there were lots of things for the kids to do.


I do actually have some misgivings about buying my vegetables here.  I’m buying from them now, because I go to the Wednesday market which is smaller than the main Saturday market, and the only other vegetable stand is really bad.

You might wonder what could be more perfect than so many vegetables grown locally, but the problem is they’re too perfect.

They are a school, with students who pay to go there and give free farm labor.  They also get funding directly from the Dutch government for this.  There’s no denying this amounts to a massive subsidy for their operation, and it makes it hard for other small farmers to compete with them.

They do sell their vegetables at what I would call a normal price, and it is possible to buy cheaper at other stands.  The main problem is they have everything, and it’s of exceptional quality.

I think they’re a bit sensitive to this problem.  They try to cooperate with other stands, and aren’t afraid to refer their customers to them if it’s appropriate.  They talk about competing stands as their colleagues, rather than their competition.  What do you do if you’re like them in that situation? It’s hard to know what the right thing to do is, but I do try to give my business to other vegetable stands when I can.