Bonn

Its only been four days since I left the U.S. and embarked on the most extensive travel experience of my life so far.  We aren't even a week into it, and already its been a wild ride. 

There have been some frustrations, mainly dealing with arranging transportation for weekend excursions, but I am having the time of my life.  Fighting through the jet lag, our group 18 eager American veterinary students have encountered organic farmers, researchers of all focuses, dairymen, holistic healers, and the thousands of Bonn residents.  One thing that has struck me in Bonn is the constant beauty of the place.

On Monday, our group got up early, enjoyed an authentic German breakfast of warmed rolls, cold cuts and cheese, and sliced bell peppers and tomatoes.  Jams, Nutella, and breakfast cereals were also made available to us, and of course, lots of excellent coffee (which I already know I will miss dearly when I return home).  At 8:20, we all headed toward the Deutsche Bahn to catch the 8:30 train to the bus station.  From there we took a bus to the historic farm turned organic, the Gut Ostler.  The farm's history can be traced as far back as Bonn's own to the time of Ancient Rome, but in the last twenty years has been transformed into a self-sufficient organic farm. That's right.  Completely organic.  No chemicals, no castrations, and no docking of tails.  Nichts.  But they have everything.  The farm grows a plethora of vegetables and fruits, raises pigs, geese, chickens, and sheep and even keeps a colony of wild bees. 

The fact that this farm remains nestled in the center of the city of Bonn is amazing enough, however, I had not expected to gain the appreciation I now have for what the organic farmer's main goals are.  Gut Ostler maintains a "do no harm" method of operation and carry out all of their work in absolute balance with the themselves, the animals and the environment. 

They do not use chemicals, so they do not use pesticides on their crops.  Instead, they rely on the potent repelling effect of distillations from plants like stinging nettles to ward of aphids and other pests.  Sometimes the bugs win, sometimes the farmers win.  It is a very "live, and let live" mind set.  If a certain batch of veggies was decimated by invading insects, the response was "I will not worry about that one crop, I have so many others to sell."  Even the weeds that might be considered unsightly, however, harmless, were left in rows to be sorted out when the crops are harvested.  Its as if they trusted the environment to be what it was meant to be, accept the losses, but reap the greater benefits.  The whole philosophy is so different from that of the mass scale productions.  There is a strong connection to the land (an ancient German concept) that is maintained in organic farming and the consideration of consequences on the land itself that I think should be greatly considered in our efforts to improve agricultural product quality and health of the environment.  I do not know very much about the agriculture industry but I do know that the small farmers are succumbing to the influence of large scale corporations.  While small scale organic farming might not seem like the most practical method, there are some things they have very right, and warrant greater consideration.

This post is already long enough so I will stop here.  Tomorrow its up at 5:30 and on to the Cologne Zoo!!

Tschuss!