Koolrabi

Today I will talk about a different vegetable for those who are not European, koolrabi. Koolrabi is one of many types of cabbage cultivation. I'll start posting a picture for you to understand better what I'm talking about.

This plant originated in northern Europe, it is a medium or small tuber grows above ground and belongs to the Brassica family.

The easiest cultivation of this plant is to Autumn, because it is the time when we do not have many differences of hours between day and night, and thus have better results with the yield of this crop. Remember that this is a very sensitive culture, carrying if you want to make a primaveraou cultivation in summer the ideal is that you do it in a protected environment and keep the temperature around 15-20 ° C.

This plant has small and shallow root system, so it's important that you maintain adequate nutrition and moisture. Furthermore, the growth is hampered in very acidic soils.

This week and last week we harvested a few boxes of this plants with hands here in BioRomeo. Geralemente after harvest are placed in small boxes 10 accommodating the drives vegetables. Sampling shall preferably be done when the lamp or hypocotyl has a diameter between 7 and 10 cm.

Depending on the species, the tubers can be pale green or violet-blue color on the outside, internally both varieties are white-green.

This vegetable is healthy and low in calories, only 24cal in 100g. It contains lots of iron, vitamins B and C and carotene.

Learning

After talking about my main difficulties in Holland, I also decided to talk about my main learnings, which certainly far outweigh the difficulties.

An exchange is a very intense phase, and this also extends to the learnings that we take when we returned home. Of course I learn a lot about agriculture here, especially the organic and biodynamic; but there are certain things that I learned that really no book would teach me.

Below I will list my key learnings out of agronomy.

1 - Some people you only see once in a lifetime so do not miss the chance to know them.

2 - When you know that your time will end you actually live with more intensity, which we do not realize before an exchange is that life will also end and we do not know when, so alive with intensity always.

3 - The more languages ​​you know, the more people can communicate; and believe me, when more you communicate the more you grow and learn.

4 - For the difficulty in verbal communication, I began to create more empathy, often can not understand what a person speaks, but I can recognize that it is in need or feeling.

5 - Try new foods and do new things. It's like I'm no more a chance to do it again, I just experiment.

6 - The impossible is just a matter of opinion even I did and do things here that even I thought were impossible for me. Today I know that a lot of doing things are not impossible, they just need a special dedication.

7 - Listen. As I am in a country that does not speak my first language when someone is talking to me you need me to put some attention and even take a break in what I'm doing.

8 - I'm not as essential as thought. It's not easy to hear, but it is reality, no one needs you to go on living; the problems you solve, someone will solve.

9 - Tell people how much you love and how to care for them. Now I know that any moment could be the last time I see and talk to someone.

10 - You can not drop everything and go running to her parents' home when things do not go the way you would like, you simply need to face.

11 - It is important to accept others' opinions, and people as they are. You can not just come in and impose things the way you want.

12 - You do not need to be in extraordinary places or occupy important social positions to lead a really interesting life, it just depends on you and how you lead your life.

13 - His life is based on the priority you give to things and people, and it is these priorities that might make your life more interesting or more monotonous.

14 - What people think of you is really their problem. The important thing is to be good about yourself.


I will end this post with a quote from Montaigne, it helps to describe the experience of living in another country:
"We seek another reality we do not know how to enjoy our own, and we left within us the desire to know how our inner"

BeeBox

On last Thursday, September 10, I had a day job a little different, I was making a delivery in BeeBox, company've talked about here on the blog, and asked to work for a few hours there with them. I will tell a little about the company, talk about the job and then show you some pictures.

The BeeBox is a cooperative formed between farmers, investors and consumers; It began in October 2012, and a major goal of this company is to shorten the distance between farmers and consumers, causing the plants reach the freshest houses.

Some things I found interesting in BeeBox:
 - The box containing the food is returnable. Thus, the customer always receives a full and an empty box delivery, in my view this is a relationship of fidelity on both sides.
 - The bread is unique. A bakery makes bread especially for BeeBox; this is a way to make consumers feel special and unique. Also you can tailor the type of bread that their customers prefer.
 - There are 4 types of boxes, after all they serve 2000 families a week, and we must try to adapt to what each want to consume.
 - The products are all produced in the Netherlands and 90% of them are organic.
 - The company name is really interesting and has help in marketing, it is as if the company were the bee goes from flower to flower (representing the farm) and take nectar (box) to the hive (representing the homes of consumers ).
 - Consumers do not pay more than they would pay for food at the supermarket.

Work on BeeBox need to be agile, because during the Thursday morning all the boxes need to be made, and delivery starts at 14:00. I worked on the assembly line of the basic boxes.

Importantly, they deliver meat and yogurt as well, and this will in a separate box, which allows the preservation temperature of these foods. Once you reach the houses, the drivers give the meat belongs to the kind of box and places it in the box.

I will leave the company's site here for those who did not see the other post: www.beebox.nl

My greatest difficulty in interchange

An interchange is a period of life too intense, a lot to learn, you know a lot of people and different places, among other things. But not everything is flowers, also have been through difficult moments and they teach you a lot, mostly about how we react to the adverse situations of our lives.
That's why I listed some of my main difficulties in live on an organic farm in the Netherlands.

1- Eating habits are really different. A difficulty for me is the lunch because they don't eat hot food at this time, it's only a sandwich; already in Brazil that for me was one of the main refeirções. Here, only eat hot food at dinner; and this was a meal I'd prefer a lighter food in Brazil.

2- The work is heavy. This is my first job; and during college I worked more with the mind than the body, so I'm always tired and in pain in the body. But over time, it is easy to get used to the work.

3- Most days we have rain. Those who know me for some time know I don't like to leave home in morning rain, and formerly this used to be my biggest reason for not going to class; but now I'm learning to live with the same.

4- The temperature is always low. We are at the end of summer and beginning of autumn here, but for me it's already winter temperatures. In addition, this windy, which makes it look like it's even colder.

5- The language is also one of the difficulties. I'm not fluent in English, and English is not the first language here in the Netherlands. In addition, live with people who barely speak English, which makes even more communication.

6- Healthy habits. The people closest to me know, I never liked to go to the gym (I started attending this year because age comes to everyone hahahahaha) and don't dismiss a Coca-Cola and a mc donalds; but since I've been here I've been regularly biking and I only went to mc donalds once on a trip, only drank Coke once. Not that it makes a lot of missing in my day to day, but sometimes I feel like, most notably of Coca-Cola.

7- It's not easy for me to admit that I'm wrong, or change a thought that I think is correct, but here I have practiced these two things almost all the time. Here everything is very different for me and I think I'm learning to be more flexible and accept when things are not the way I want.

8- I had some resistance to trying new things, especially food; in addition to always have been very difficult person to eat (those who know me know it!). But here as many of the foods are different, it is necessary I try new things always; and for the happiness of my mother I'm eating everything and enjoying it.


In this site you can know the most difficult situations in an exchange: https://catracalivre.com.br/geral/viagem-acessivel/indicacao/13-momentos-desesperadores-da-primeira-semana-do-intercambio/

Kramer zuurkool

Last Saturday I visited a factory of sauerkraut, Kramer zuuerkool, located in Zuid-Scharwoude. Sauerkraut is a product made from cabbage, passing through the fermentation process so that it can be maintained. The most traditional recipe of this German cuisine food just needs cabbage, water and salt.
The visit started with the tour of the factory, which showed some old photos, telling a little of the history of the factory and followed with the manufacturing process of the sauerkraut.

After a bus took us to a Museum in which a part traveled by boat. This museum has shown us a little more of the story of this winter's food, how the vegetables came to the factory and about as if they were sold the vegetables.

If you know more about this factory and sauerkraut, you can visit the website: http://www.gkz.nl

Den Haag

On the last weekend, I and two friends, who are internship in Netherlands too, went to Den Haag. This city is the capital of South Holland.
Den Haag is the official seat of Government of the country, although not the capital. It is also the headquarters of the United Nations and peoples representatives (UNPO), the Organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons (OPCW) and other organizations.
The city also has a coastal region, known as Scheveningen.
Some places that can be visited in Den Haag:

1 - Mauritshuis Museum - What has increased the fame of this museum is the painting Girl with a Pearl Earring Vermeer. The Museum also has other important painters screens, such as Rembrandt. The Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday and you have to pay 12 euros to enter. If you want, you know more about on the site: https://www.mauritshuis.nl

2 - Parlamento Binnenhof 8 - Open from Monday to Saturday.

3 - Vredespaleis ou Peace Palace - It was built with the collaboration of various Nations, so it takes that name. If you want, you know more about on the site: https://www.vredespaleis.nl

4 - Escher in Het Paleis - Displays the works of M.C.Escher. If you want, you know more about on the site: www.escherimpalast.com

Bionica Potato

On the last Tuesday we harvested the potatoes at the BioRomeo. The potato is one of the principal products to the farm. Here are produced some kinds of potatoes, besides the purple potatoes.
The potatoes harvest on Tuesday afternoon are Bionica potatoes, this is a resistent variety Phypotphthora and was select at Niek Vos' farm. The duration of the select process was about 35 years. 
Phypotphthora is the causative agent of the disease known as "potato late blight" and is one of the most destructive diseases of this culture. The disease mainly attacks the leaves and crop destruction by this disease can cariar 10 to 100% depending on the degree of susceptibility of the cultivar.
The average productivity of the harvested area on Tuesday was between 40 and 50 ton/ha.

Visits

On day 14 of August I, Rinie and Krispijn went to Lindenhoof. Lindenhoof is a farm, that produces a special meet and some types to vegetables, but  they buy eggs and others vegetables and fruits of other farms. This company sell all this products to restaurants. Only 10% of the products sold for this company are organics, for them the most important is the taste. Although this, BioRomeo wants to sell their products for this company.

After this visit, we went to Amsterdã and met with Thomas. He is owner to bee box, that company gather vegetables, fruits and others organic products. There are four kinds of boxes: box basics, box extra, box maaltijden and box leefstijl. All products are organics and made in Netherlands.

You can learn more about this company on the site: www.beebox.nl

Krispijn and Thomas

After this meeting, we met with Guus at the same place. He is one of the directors of this place. This place is a business building and its name is B Amsterdã. This building has one restaurant and two small canteens. BioRomeo want to sell its vegetables for this place.

You can read more about this business building on the site: http://www.b.amsterdam