MY FIRST GARDEN
― A personal reflection
↑ Jette Birkeskov Mogensen ― Courtesy of Schmidt Hammer Lassen
Jette Birkeskov Mogensen, associate partner and principal at Schmidt Hammer Lassen, specializes in urban design and integrated sustainability in architecture. With a holistic approach and extensive experience, she leads projects, harmonizing nature and design.
At the age of ten, I was lucky enough to receive an allotment garden through a youth organization called 4H. The allotment was a small plot of land measuring 3x6 meters, located on a nearby farm I visited weekly by bus. We were taught about planting vegetables and flowers, how to prepare the soil and measure the rows. And then we were given the full responsibility to do our own thing, with some support from the farmer and the tutors.
We had the freedom to experiment and follow our successes and failures. If you skipped a week or forgot to water, your plants would wither and die. Planting too many seeds in one spot would crowd each other, diminishing our harvests. The pure delight and pride of pulling my first carrot from the earth, cleaning it, and enjoying its fresh taste. And to bring a bunch of flowers home to my room. My own flowers!
I remember sharing that experience with the other children and my family. Together we learned about the wonders of life to unfold from a tiny seed to a giant sunflower. I gained respect for the energy and care that goes into food production. I now had a reference, when I went to the supermarket with my mother. And I became more interested in cooking, no longer seen as a chore. The connection between cultivation, food, meals and rituals became clear. It shapes a perspective on life.
I knew little about the building industry or that I would become an architect later in life. But I remember my fascination with dreaming up a garden, drawing the vision, planning the steps and carrying out the work to create my own space. A skill set, now used professionally on a large scale, can be traced back to that first summer on the 4H farm.
With the increasing number of children growing up in urban and suburban environments, the disconnect from nature and food production leads to a disassociation from the life cycle. The origins and final destination of food become abstractions. We owe it to our children to be able to experiment with growing plants as a demonstration of life. Future citizens need that comprehension and experience to nurture a healthy, sustainable world.
It only requires a plot of 3x6 meters to open a world of wonder for a child and the adults they will grow into!