Volkstuin

Volkstuin - The Peoples Garden. It sounds like something out of Communist China, doesn’t it? I think this notion is pretty common in most major metropolitan areas where space is at a premium. Here in Holland, they’ve mastered the concept.

The idea is that each city sets aside numerous large parcels of land to be used as green space. Some of that land is earmarked for parks, other chunks are used as sport fields, and of course you all know about the Holland’s famous “WandelBossen”, right? But in addition to all of that, a significant amount of ground is set aside for Volkstuinen. A city the size of Haarlem has probably 20-30 Volkstuin parcels. Each of these large parcels is carved up into hundreds of small plots which are then leased out to people in the community resulting in thousands of plots scattered about the city. Anyone owning a lease can then have their own private plot on which to grow vegetables, trees, fruits, berries, marijuana, whatever. It’s Holland’s version of the “Ranchette”.

Well call us Urban Cowboys and sign us up! We’ve just leased a nice 200 square meter plot (2200 square feet) across the railroad tracks in the nearby village of Bloemendale. We’re sharing the costs with our friends and will be anxiously planning the garden throughout the winter.
The plot that we picked looks out over a horse pasture and has a small shed and a nice patio for summer evening Barbeques. There are numerous fruit trees and berry plants that are already in production so we’re guaranteed a harvest the first year. Of course, the first thing that we’ll have to do is build a small pen for the dogs …