WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT CITYPLOT
Nancy: Our team had a great bike tour to the Pluk! Location at the Fruittuin van West. The Cityplot team is so motivated to guide you, to inform you, to inspire you and to show you their passion for what they love to do.
Elicia: I really enjoyed my farm tour led by Ann. It was personal, deeply informative, and so much fun! You get the chance to see parts of the city that you never would on your own, and you get the story behind the farming movement in Amsterdam. I would absolutely recommend this tour to anyone visiting the Netherlands!
Jules: I loved every part of the Get Down, Get Dirty course in Amsterdam. It really helped me to improve my gardening with permaculture principles and increase my knowledge of plants, soil, and creatures. Kylie and Ann made a fantastic duo, each bringing their own experience. They were approachable, realistic and knowledgeable and that created a great learning environment. We had a Whatsapp channel as a sort of gardening clinic to troubleshoot as well as celebrate our successes, and to learn from our failures. I also loved the element of eating together, that helped to bond and created a sense of community .
Sammy: I was delighted by Get Down, Get Dirty Berlin given by Leonie, not only thanks to the formidable content and extent of her knowledge, but also her motivation, enthusiasm and willingness to share everything she knows. I will put permaculture into practice whenever I can, keeping Leonie in my memory and hoping that we will meet again to share experiences, and both organic and spiritual food.
Ana: Thank you for the most inspirational workshop (Get Down, Get Dirty Berlin) I have had in my entire life. I honestly can say that it has take my life in other direction, towards self-awareness and appreciation. The world needs a lot of new baby gardeners, and together we can all make a change, little step by little step. Your workshop sparked my love for nature and gardening, and I hope we will share many more workshops and gain more knowledge together.
Sofieke: Most of all, I enjoyed the practical stuff during Get Down, Get Dirty Berlin. Working in our gardens. Making an insect house. Composting and seeding. Learning about plant combinations. The little tips: for example making a rooting tea from willow trees. I'm very much impressed and inspired by all of Leonie's knowledge and the way she is living, and I definitely want to take steps in that direction. I really appreciated the nice atmosphere at every workshop, with the delicious food and lots of care in the preparations.
Claire: I thought I knew a lot about gardening. But now I’ve learned that I have a lot to learn! And in so many ways, that’s such a wonderful feeling. This summer’s Get Down Get Dirty Amsterdam workshops with Cityplot have been real eye-openers. I learned to love my weeds. Take care of my worms. Share the seeds.
Sandra: I found the Get Down Get Dirty Amsterdam urban farmer year training very helpful, enjoyable and informative. Thanks to the training I was able to set up my own vegetable garden on my Amsterdam balcony and plant, grow and harvest tasty vegetables and herbs. The course is very well set up along the planting and harvesting seasons and teaches both the basics and the more advanced techniques. Suzanne and Ann are wonderful teachers and the lessons were varied because they regularly alternated between lectures and hands-on work.
Amrita: For a complete gardening newbie, the Get Down Get Dirty Amsterdam series was a fantastic eye-opener. Growing plants was demystified and I found out just how easy and rewarding it is to grow my own food. It also gave me a new appreciation for how much time, energy and resources go into the food I consume every day. I’m glad to say that I grew 3 types of potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, salad, spinach, rocket, blueberries, beans, garlic, herbs and more on my small balcony, and I can’t wait for next spring!
Anik: I thought the Get Down Get Dirty Amsterdam course was great. It covered a ton of material in a short amount of time, and it was all very practical. My balcony garden was much more successful this year than in years past! I also feel like I have a much better idea of how soil works, and what I need to do and not do to keep it healthy and active.
Karin: The Get Down Get Dirty Amsterdam year training was a revelation for me: I got all these little gems of knowledge and inspiration packed into powerful classes with step-by-step training, given by a knowledgeable and fun team. Annelies, Ann and Suzanne have years of practical experience and knowledge about growing food. Their enthusiasm is contagious. Each of the workshops was well prepared, inspiring and educational. They manage to create a group atmosphere in which everyone learns from each other. In addition they are always available for questions between the workshops. I recommend Cityplot workshops from the heart!
Carol: Cityplot gave me and my children’s garden project in Amsterdam an enormous boost. The cooperation with Ann was very inspiring in the workshops on the roof of the van Beuningenplein Youth Centre. Her love for plants and children and the calm she radiates resulted in motivated children who enjoyed sowing, harvesting, tasting, planting potatoes, making seed bombs and much more.
Roberta from SOMO Amsterdam: Having Cityplot host our team building event was an awesome idea! Ann and Annelies led a friendly, funny and informative session about how to grow (and re-grow) food inside during the winter from seeds and scraps. Who would have thought that celery stubs can keep producing stalks? We also did some hands-on activities in smaller groups: building our own sprouting kits (it’s so fun to watch your sprouts grow!) and using dried flowers and herbs to make our own herbal tea bags.
Frances from Stadsregio Amsterdam: Incredibly fun and informative team outing workshop given by Ann and Annelies. They first showed us the wonderful world of plants, and then – enjoying the sun in the garden – we went to work ourselves creating sprouting jars and herbal tea mixes. Definitely highly recommended!
Shani Tim: A morning bike tour with Henrietta looking at gardens. We had a lovely morning with Henrietta. It was great to see the gardens she was involved with and check out the efforts of others. If you are looking for sustainable initiatives in Amsterdam there is no better way to start that with this tour. Thanks Henrietta!
James: Eva knows urban farming. We had a wonderful bike tour with Eva to local urban farms. She took us across the ferry to see an amazing urban farm run by a lower income apartment complex. We saw a crazy interesting farm run by houseboat owners that has a restaurant in the middle of it. Eva took us on a wider tour of the area of Amsterdam in our tour. We also had a nice picnic with homemade olive bread and a sweet coffee cake with homemade lemonade. A beautiful moment..
Libby: Thanks for a great experience! Thank you Sameena for giving Lars and I and amazing bike tour of not only the urban farm sites in Amsterdam, but also of the city and people. I really appreciate you taking the extra time and talking permaculture with you!
John: Thank you! We loved our bike tour with Ann. It was wonderful to be able to see some gardens and parks (and a ferry ride!) that as tourist we wouldn't have ever found on our own. Ann gave us great information about the gardens. She was very patient and gracious with one of our inexperienced bikers as well.
Monique, coordinator ‘de rivieren’ school: Wat een plezier en verbondenheid heeft de moestuin op school ons afgelopen jaar gebracht! De kinderen gaan er zo zorgzaam me om en werken zelfs na schooltijd in de tuin. Samen met ouders, teamleden en buurtbewoners vormen we een GreenTeam waar elke week met veel plezier mensen bij elkaar komen om samen de tuin te onderhouden.
Monique, coordinator ‘de rivieren’ school: The vegetable garden on our school grounds brought us much joy and interconnectedness over the year! The children are so caring, they treat the garden very tenderly and even help gardening after school is out. Together with the parents, team members and local residents we made up a Green Team; each week people enjoy looking after the garden together.
Arno, directeur ‘de rivieren’ school: De kinderen zijn rustiger en werken beter in de klas sinds we met de schooltuin begonnen zijn.
Arno, headmaster ‘de rivieren’ school: The children are calmer and work better inside the classroom since we started with the schoolgarden.
Marian, team member ‘de rivieren’ school: De kleuters zijn enthousiast en betrokken bij de plantenbakken op het schoolplein, houden de groei bij en komen enthousiast vertellen als het een en ander gegroeid is! Ook bij het oogsten waren de reacties enthousiast en betrokken bij het schoonmaken van de groenten, het koken van bv de soep en het opeten ! Ook lopen de kinderen regelmatig met de vergrootglazen bij de plantjes rond, ook het paadje door de tuin wordt regelmatig genomen door de kinderen. Het kleine beestjes zoeken blijft een leuke bezigheid !
Marian, team member ‘de rivieren’ school: The preschoolers are enthusiastic and passionate about the vegetable boxes in the schoolyard, they keep an eye on them and show up enthusiastically to share when anything had grown. Also during harvesting they were really involved with cleaning the vegetables, the cooking of the soup and eating! You can regularly find some of the children walking around the plants with magnifying glasses, and they love walking on the garden path. Finding small animals also remains a very popular activity.
Cityplot in the media
Article by Sarah Essbai about the Pluk! CSA in The Global Grid
Permakultur im Hausgarten: a German Permaculture publication in which one of our gardens features
Blog about the Curious Finch Educational Garden
Cityplot on worm composting in Het Parool
Cityplot founder Leonie Woidt-Wallisser about Cityplot Berlin
The Dinner Lab on Cityplot’s garden at the Open Coop
Ann’s family on worm composting in The Good Family
Suzanne’s interview on urban gardening with Greenpeace
The Hoge School van Amsterdam on worm composting with Cityplot
Tuin & Balkon on Cityplot bike tours
Video about Cityplot workshop at Greenpeace International
The Urban Observer blog on composting with Cityplot