As below, so above

by Maren Preiß

End of May I participated in a bird watching tour with the ornithologist Marc Török, one of the shareholders of the CSA farm Kattendorfer Hof. The tour led across the Neverstaven estate and its adjacent fields. Neverstaven is the second farmstead of the CSA farm. For me this walk was another example of what makes the CSA model so valuable: as the farm works according to biodynamic principles (which means, among others, no chemical fertilizers but cow manure), farmers and CSA members make a significant contribution to the preservation of soil and thus biodiversity: as below, so above.

Next to the organic way of treating the living soil, the farmers sow flower strips on their fields, and cabbage is sown next to cornflowers. The latter attract the natural enemies of cabbage pests such as charcoal owl and cabbage white butterfly, which in turn provide natural pest regulation. In times of massive species extinction these actions cannot be valued highly enough.

Anyone who has ever seen the deadly dreariness of a maize monoculture (some call it “green asphalt”) cannot help but be amazed by this special kind of a springtime walk through the fields of the farmstead of Neverstaven: the beauty of the landscape and the sounding life we encountered along the way was heartwarming.

Equipped with binoculars, field guide and a list with bird names we wished to encounter, we started our stroll. We walked. We chatted. We listened. We stopped. We listened more closely. We lifted our binoculars in the hope of seeing the bird whose song just had enchanted us or whose body we spotted on a rooftop, on the branch of a tree or high above in the sky. Some used their smartphones to identify the birds. For ornithologist Marc it must have been like visiting old familiars, meets and greets everywhere. Even though he calls himself an amateur, I was impressed by his knowledge. 

After a three hour walk the group had spotted 38 different species. Even on the television tower, which I always try to keep out off my photos when shooting on the farm, nature is present. While Marc was setting up his tripod with the spotting scope at the edge of the rye field to introduce us to a special guest he suspected there, my gaze went over the chest-high rye field with its still immature ears. Countless insects were dancing above them and made my heart dance too. You wouldn’t find this kind of a dancing party on the green asphalt of a maize monoculture. And what is the humming of a biogas plant compared to the buzzing of insects?

Then it was my turn to look through the lens of the spotting scope. And what I saw was soul-stirring: I recognized a majestic kestrel sitting on one of the railings surrounding the tower. Then the kestrel spread its large wings and flew away over the rye field.

When I was back home, I ordered one of the books Marc recommended at the little get-together that followed our walk. Lena and Lukas, the young couple who together with a small team runs the farm in Neverstaven, welcomed the birders with homemade apple pie and cinnamon buns. The book I had ordered that day was a bird guide. I want to learn the name of the birds, how they look and how they sing. These birds were the first I have added to my list:

Blackbird, Wagtail, Tree Pipit, Blue Tit, Linnet, Chaffinch, Pheasant, Skylark, Tree sparrow, Treecreeper, Garden Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer, Grey Flycatcher, Greenfinch, Redstart, House Sparrow, Stock Dove, Coal Tit, Crane, Buzzard, House Martin, Common Crow, Barn Swallow, Wood Pigeon, Song Thrush, Starling, Wheatear, Goldfinch, Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Wren, Common Chiffchaff, Northern Raven, Red Kite.

CSA, for me, means not just shared responsibility for the foundation of our lives, it means above all: being connected to what keeps us alive.