Felix ter Hark & Indigo Janka
Edelgart Farm
Location: Hanau, Germany
Farm Size: 0.5 ha
Methods: Community Building & Social Inclusion Cultural Events & Gatherings On-Farm Training & Workshops
Practices: Composting & Compost Extracts Minimum Tillage Policulture & Intercropping Use of Locally Adapted Varieties
Types: Horticulture (vegetables, fruit, herbs) Market Gardening
Building from the ground up
We both came from completely different worlds before we found farming. For Felix, it was about working outside and doing something that would actually contribute to solving what our planet is going through. For me, Indigo, it was about reconnecting people with nature and their food. Before we started Edelgart, we spent a year travelling, working on different farms, reading and studying everything we could get our hands on about regenerative farming. Edelgart is the conclusion of that journey, and the start of a new one.
When we arrived on this land, it had been neglected. Too small for big farmers, it had passed through multiple stewards over the years and had been in constant flux, yet never actually cared for. We put down permanent beds, incorporated blossoming strips and designated wild areas across the plot. Then we started bringing in compost and woodchips to kickstart the process, alongside very diverse plantings from the very beginning.
Regenerating the land and the community
The changes have been remarkable to witness. When we first arrived, the bees from the hives close to us were the most common pollinators we saw. Now we regularly have huge quantities of carpenter bees and different varieties of bumblebees all over the farm. The bird life has increased sharply too, some drawn to the old sunflowers we leave standing, others keeping the mice in check. And the soil, it is alive again. Worms everywhere, fungal networks spreading, wild mushrooms emerging next to our woodchip paths. The place is full of life in a way it simply wasn’t before.
Our customer community is wonderfully diverse, and they genuinely come together here, in the garden, at our events, picking up their vegetable boxes. We also support a refugee integration programme run by the city, and we collaborate regularly with local businesses, from the pastry shop to the florist. What we love most is this: people who would never meet in their normal day-to-day lives end up sharing meals at our events, exchanging recipe ideas for vegetables from the boxes, and connecting over a shared passion for food that is healthy, for the planet and for people. That is what Edelgart is really about.
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