Would you like to visit Bodemzicht? Unfortunately, it is not possible to drop by unexpectedly, because we need our time to farm. If you would like to have a look around at the farm, reserve a place at one of our farm tours. If you want to learn more about regenerative agriculture or get personal advice, have a look at the Bodemzicht learning place programme. Hopefully we will see you there!
Climate farmers for life
We are climate farmers for life.
We grow healthy food and abundant landscapes.
We farm climate positive and increase biodiversity.
We are passionate about integrating nature, agriculture and communities.
We invite you to our demonstration farm and learning place.
We invite you to regenerate!
Bodemzicht box
Would you like healthy, regenerative vegetables, herbs and climate eggs delivered to your door every Friday afternoon? Do you want to contribute to biodiversity, a healthy climate and eat like a chef? We work together with top restaurants such as De Nieuwe Winkel, Vesters, De Vereeniging, Bistro Flores, Ultimo and De Meesterproef. And from May we also deliver boxes to your home in Nijmegen, Malden and Berg en Dal!
This year we have a very nice Bodemzicht box with regenerative vegetables from our own garden, local mushrooms from the Versfabriek (new!) and fresh additional Bodemzicht climate eggs. In 2022 we will work with solidarity payment and we will fully commit ourselves to the food transition. Payment in terms is available on request.
More information about the 2023 box and all conditions can be found in the PDF below. You can reserve a Bodemzicht box via the link at the end of the PDF.
Climate eggs
We sell regenerative eggs from chickens that eat fresh grass and insects all year round. By grazing holistically with chicken mobiles, we stimulate abundant grass growth, build living soil and actively sequester CO2. And all this right next to Nijmegen. You can taste all that goodness in our eggs!
You can pick up the eggs until May 7 on
Fridays or Saturdays between 10:00 - 19:00
The eggs are available in boxes of 10 in the hall of our egg packery. Because the eggs are super fresh, you can store them for at least 4 weeks!
Price for 10 climate eggs is 6.30 euros
Price for 20 climate eggs is 12.60 euros
Price for 30 climate eggs is 18.90 euros
You pay for the eggs by transferring the money to:
Boerderij Bodemzicht
NL72 TRIO 0788 8288 35
Reference: Eggs
How to get to the farm
Bodemzicht farms on the estate of Grootstal. The entrance to the estate is St Jacobsweg 13a (a metal gate at an opening in the hedge along a white gravel road). As soon as you enter the estate at the gate, drive straight ahead, past ‘Het Heerlijke Land’ on your left and the LandgoedLAB (wooden building) on your right. Follow the road to our working station (black wooden building). On the yellow coloured small window of our working station there is a note with instructions on where to find the eggs.
Farm
“Ultimately the only wealth that can sustain any community, economy or nation is derived from the photosynthetic process - green plants growing on regenerating soil.”
Allan Savory
In 2020 we started our regenerative demonstration farm Bodemzicht ('Soil perspective') at landgoed Grootstal, right next to Nijmegen. Our mission at Bodemzicht farm is to facilitate life in such a way that it results in an abundance of high quality and tasty food. Regenerative agriculture grows top soil, sequesters CO2, build communities, increases biodiversity and ensures an honest salary for the farmers. This form of agriculture stems from centuries-old insights practised by indigenous communities, often labelled in the west as permaculture, and by black pioneers, such as George Washington Carver. Together with Bodemzicht foundation we work on changing the perspective in Dutch agriculture: from boundless, degrading monocultures to grounded, resilient farm enterprises. We think this involves no less than a culture shift, in which we can learn a lot from listening carefully to other world views and to plants, animals and microbes. Bodemzicht farm starts from 21st century challenges as climate change, biodiversity loss and the farmers' crisis and translates these into carbon positive, biodiverse and profitable agriculture that revolves around communities.
Where sustainability often concerns reducing a negative impact, regeneration is about making a positive impact. We farm for ecological and social and economic profit. For example, we do not hoe in the vegetable garden and we do not use pesticides, which leads to more soil life, more pleasant work in the garden, tasty vegetables and higher production per m2. We market our products directly and collaborate with lots of other regenerative initiatives to build a close-knit community around the farm. The chickens mobiles are constantly moved and do not "get back to start" until the vegetation looks better than it looked before. In this way we can build top soil, capture CO2, increase water retention and fruit production and the chickens can eat fresh grass and insects every day. Where it minimises waste, increases value and strengthens our understanding and collaboration with other life farms, we use both low and high tech.
Bodemzichi farm wants to provide a realistic regenerative alternative to current agriculture ánd create a long term perspective for farmers in the Netherlands and Europe.
Towards a truly sustainable agriculture!
Farm tour
Visit Bodemzicht in 1.5 hours and learn more about no-dig market gardening, holistic planned grazing and the latest developments at the farm. There is also lots of room for questions.
At Bodemzicht we are constantly working to improve soil health, increase biodiversity, a healthier climate, tasteful food, valuable communities and a fair income for farmers. The time we spend giving tours is time we cannot spend working on our land, which is why we ask for compensation. We do, however, want to ensure that our tour is accessible to a diverse group of people with diverse incomes - which is why we maintain solidarity payment. This entails that you yourself can decide what you can pay for our tour and the knowledge we share with you during our tour (children can always join their parents/guardians for free).
The compensation we ask for per person is a minimum of €13,50 p.p. (children free of charge). In case you are able and willing to pay a little extra for our tour, we are very thankful for your donation!
“Earthworms will dance”
Joel Salatin
Learning place
“All flourishing is mutual.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Bodemzicht learning place concerns itself with the question “how do we build a regenerative society?” Farmers, citizens, policy makers, organisations, artists and students are invited to think and work together on this question. There is a special programme for starting regenerative farmers: from people with a general interest in regenerative agriculture to professionals. The learning place also hosts the ‘regenerative insights’ series that covers fundamental ecological insights: from the holistic management at Bodemzicht farm to new or other world views befitting the Anthropocene. In all cases, theory and practice meet. We need radical interdisciplinarity, courage and diversity to work towards a regenerative society. Are you building with us?
* Please note that prices for the 2023 courses may still increase due to inflation.
The prices will be announced by the end of this year.
Courses:
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Is regenerative farming for me? (digital course in development)
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How to start a regenerative farm? (10 days, 1450 euro no vat)
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Regenerative apprenticeship (9 months)
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No-dig market garden course (2 days, 350 euro no vat)
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Personal advise (3 hours, 300 euro no vat)
For the descriptions and the application information of the courses see the pdf below.
Bodemzicht learning place is part of the non-profit Bodemzicht foundation. The goal of the foundation is to, practically and ideally, build a regenerative society and to facilitate the transition towards a regenerative (agri)culture. Bodemzicht foundation has an ANBI status (public benefit organisation).
Residency
“Nature is no longer outside us, but beneath our feet, and it shakes us.”
Bruno Latour
Bodemzicht foundation works on a regenerative residency in which thinkers and doers - artists, scientists, designers, farmers, chefs – research regenerative agriculture at landgoed Grootstal. The residents offer diverse quantitative and qualitative insights - from carbon data to poems and menus - in relation to the development of Bodemzicht farm and Landgoed Grootstal as a transition place. Feedback from residents improve the farm continuously.
ANBI
Bodemzicht learning place, the residency and the development of prototypes - from a regenerative working station to a holistic grazing plan - are covered by the non-profit Bodemzicht foundation. Bodemzicht foundation is there to builld, practically and ideally, a regenerative society and to facilitate a transition towards regenerative (agri)culture.
Bodemzicht foundation has an ANBI-status. Donations to the Bodemzicht foundation (bank account NL 05 TRIO 0320 1650 35) can be deducted from income or corporation tax.
The foundation realises its goal:
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By making Bodemzicht a leading demonstration farm, where the practice, challenges and benefits of regenerative agriculture are shown to a wide audience. Bodemzicht wants to be a flywheel for regenerative agriculture in the Netherlands and Europe.
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By training regenerative farmers in a specially tailored Bodemzicht learning programme and by supporting, where possible, staring regenerative farmers.
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By organising meetings, events, lectures with students, farmers, citizens, scientists, policymakers, artists and other professionals in which a regenerative society is practically and ideally built.
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By organising residencies that reflect on and tell stories about regenerative agriculture and / or society at Bodemzicht farm.
The board of the foundation consists of:
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Chairman Erik de Jong, emeritus professor of culture, landscape and nature at the UvA, strives for a holistic natureculture and the interweaving of biodiversity, nature, garden, park, landscape, art, culture and science in the Anthropocene.
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Secretary Bonnie Chopard works with InLandschap as a Bio Insipired Innovation architect working with biobased materials, circular and nature-inclusive projects. In landscape architecture and public space, species diversity, climate adaptation and soil life are the pillars for a regenerative living environment.
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Treasurer Mark Aink helps companies, brands and people reconnect with nature and their nature, so that they become a driving force for positive change with his Native Circles. In 2020 he also started Decade of Action to help accelerate the transition to an 'ecology economy'.
Below you'll find the policyplan and annual report of Bodemzicht foundation (see PDF).
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Ricardo Cano Mateo
Ricardo Cano Mateo (1985) is a Spanish biologist and co-founder and farmer at Bodemzicht farm. Ricardo also teaches allround at the Bodemzicht foundation. Bodemzicht started for Ricardo with a shifting perspective on nature conservation. "Everyone was focusing on human-exclusive nature conservation, while I observed in Costa Rica how much human-inclusive agroforestry contributed to the rain forest. Years of intensive studies into nature-inclusive agriculture followed. Later I experienced the positive impact of regenerative agriculture on landscapes and communities during my work at Ecosystem Restoration Camps in Spain and Ridgedale Permaculture Farm in Sweden."
Anne van Leeuwen
Anne van Leeuwen (1987) studied art history, cultural analysis and biology. She is co-founder of Bodemzicht farm. Her main focus is coordinating the Bodemzicht foundation, but she also continously works at the farm. The idea for Bodemzicht emerged from her search to bring natural and cultural worlds together. "During my studies I struggled with the division between nature and culture. Working at ARTIS I discovered that storytelling is at heart of transformation. With a growing sense of urgency, I decided it was time to start a fundamental and earth-bound ecological learning place."
About
Merel Gerritse
Merel Gerritse was raised in the Randstad. Several years ago, she swapped her office job for a life as a gardener in Nijmegen. Producing healthy food for humans, animals and insects, and regenerating soils while building communities around a farm gives Merel lots of energy. Next to her job as a climate farmer at Bodemzicht, Merel also organises impactful nature experiences and courses for children and adults with her company Kruisbestuivers.
Greet Jongerling
Greet Jongerling was born and raised in Beverwijk and is the tower of strength at Bodemzicht. In the eighties she started the first natural food store in Beverwijk together with friends, called: the Black Cat. Here she was able to express her passion for healthy food. For a number of years she helped set up the automation processes and further professionalised the cooperative. Now she takes care of all the administrative jobs at Bodemzicht with great care and a big heart for regeneration.
Jordi Benning
Jordi Benning is the first generation in his family not raised at a farm. Yet over the years he started to feel the urgency to farm and get back to the land. But how can you farm in a fundamentally sustainable way and with an eye for the future? That is how he ended up at Bodemzicht and regenerative agriculture. At Bodemzicht, Jordi works as an apprentice farmer to learn the trade and as a courier delivering the Bodemzicht boxes.
Helen Weeres
Helen Weeres, raised in Arnhem, studied poetry and Literary & Cultural Analysis in Amsterdam and worked i.a. at a rapidly growing startup. After years full of thundering trams, screaming seagulls and tourists attempting to pronounce ‘Leidseplein’, Helen craved small-scale living with increased connection to her surroundings. Thus, she returned to Gelderland and joined Bodemzicht foundation. Helen is made possible by De Roeper foundation and Vivace foundation.
Contact
We get a lot of messages and are a very small organisation. To keep it workable for us, we hereby provide answers to the three most frequently asked questions and topics.
Internship
At Bodemzicht we have our own apprenticeship. More information concerning the Bodemzicht apprenticeship can be found in the PDF under 'learning place.' We do not offer any other internships or learning trajectories at the farm.
Advice
Unfortunately, we cannot answer loose questions about your garden,farm or project. It is, however, possible to ask questions during the tour, and more in-depth during the courses or by booking a tailor-made advice (for a fee). Information about this can be found in the PDF under 'learning place.'
Visit
It is not possible to drop by at Bodemzicht. This simply because we need a lot of time working with focus at the farm. If you want to visit Bodemzicht, you are most welcome on a guided tour, open day, event or by appointment (in the case of a collaboration).
Any other questions and messages are welcome!
Ricardo Cano Mateo
Anne van Leeuwen
