Often we hear: “You are what you eat”. But how we act towards food?

Our daily behaviors often show a big distance between nature and us. For example, why do we go to the supermarket to buy the basil, when we could have a small production of herbs on our balcony? We often transmit the distance of the rhythms of nature to our children who are not always aware of what are the fruits and vegetables of the season.

Why don’t we teach it?

Bring humans closer to nature is one of the challenges that has agreed to take the German pavilion. At Expo 2015, Germany presents some ideas for a global sustainable food system. Under the motto “Be active“, the German Pavilion raises awareness amongst its visitors of the significance of nature as the basis for food and for an appreciative use of this. The idea to transform the pavilion into plowed fields shows the landscaping aspect of the structure, where are recognizable cultivated areas and stylized plants: the “shoots of ideas.” The pavilion offers a course from supply sources (soil, water, climate and biodiversity) to the food production and consumption in the urban world. Thanks to the use of technology and some simple ideas to be realized, the pavilion embodies the various German goals for the future of food.

Create your “garden of ideas”

One of the best ideas proposed by Germany pavilion is to create a garden for our family or for our school with recycled materials.

Simple jute sacks may be used as jars. Plastic bottles can contain the plants and be used as irrigation channels that filter the water: put one over another water irrigates the plant below without waste. You can also create small greenhouses hang on the ceiling by using a string tied to a nail set on top of the glass amphorae in which you can enter the soil and the plants you want to expose.

The idea is to give awareness to nature as the basis of our diet, and present some ideas for natural food security for the future. Living in the city does not have a sense of what are the perfumes of nature, buying everything from big producers, we do not have the opportunity to touch and feel the fertility of the land, or to see seeds grow. With the creation of vegetable gardens, both public and private, we can admire with our eyes and perceive with our senses the natural processes, passing on this knowledge and this sensitivity to future generations.

We collected many creative ideas to create a small vegetable garden, in this album on Flickr .
 
Here’s a simple and fast way to create a vegetable garden at school using empty drink cartons:

Written and translated into English by Racha Sbaiti