Gardening
Along with a group of other ladies from the press, who were also garden enthusiasts, I was invited to a press meeting in the beautiful Bakkehuset (The Hill House) museum in Frederiksberg.
May 2022
Bakkehuset
Rahbeks Alle 23
1801 Frederiksberg
The event was hosted by Fiskars, and the main attraction was Chief Curator Rikke Lagersted-Olsen, who spoke about Kamma Rahbek, in particular her passion for gardening. Another draw was a lovely lunch, served by the (highly recommended) museum café, which occupies an octagonal orangery, designed by Rønnow Arkitekter, in the museum garden.
My fascination for Kamma Rahbek was rekindled. Rikke Lagersted-Olsen gave an engaging and interesting talk about how systematic Kamma and her assistants were in growing both flowers and edible crops on nine and a half acres of land. She was not only self-sufficient with vegetables, which was quite an accomplishment, considering the many dinner parties she threw, but was even able to sell some of her crops, thus contributing to the household income.
Rikke Lagersted-Olsen showed us the meticulously kept journals and accounts and explained how Kamma Rahbek exchanged experiences and plants with others, including the head gardener of the Copenhagen Botanical Gardens, Frederik Ludvig Holbøll.
Even though all this gardening knowledge and, not least, the thorough management of the garden almost make me ashamed of how unsystematic and haphazard I am in managing our own little plot of land and its potential, I nevertheless take the liberty of showing a few photos from my wild garden, where I am occasionally able to harvest enough for a meal or at least supplement what I bought with the fruits of our own labour.
This year, my affinity for flowering cabbage plants is getting in the way of my desire to put in new plants; I need to find a compromise. Meanwhile self-sown Jerusalem artichokes are presenting an obstacle for planting out lettuce …
In any case, my love of gardening is intact, and it is, honestly, mainly an aesthetic pursuit.
This brings me back to Fiskars, which hosted the event. After lunch, the company demonstrated its many clever tools for gardening enthusiasts, amateurs as well as professionals.
Most Fiskars devices are in the characteristic orange and black colour combination that, although I appreciate and enjoy the functionality, makes me dream of having the same functionality but in an expression that is closer to another Fiskars gardening collection, the beautiful red Fiskars Classic series with ash handles, which dwells in our shed and helps me out in the garden.
Bonus info: the red tools have Danish roots, and before they became part of the Finnish Fiskars universe in 1989, they were called Zinck-Lysbro, the result of a merger between Zinck, founded in 1858 in Godthaab near Aalborg, and Lysbro, founded in 1899 in Lysbro near Silkeborg.
Bonus info: the now much smaller garden by Bakkehuset (land in Frederiksberg is expensive, so most of the land around the house has long since been sold and developed) was designed in a Romantic style by landscape architect Charlotte Skibsted in 2017, the same year that the octagonal orangery was built.
For nylig var jeg sammen med en flok andre haveinteresserede pressedamer inviteret til pressemøde i det smukke Bakkehuset på Frederiksberg.
Det var Fiskars som inviterede og trækplasteret var museumsinspektør Rikke Lagersted-Olsen som fortalte om Kamma Rahbek og i særdeleshed om Kamma Rahbeks haveinteresse, og ikke at forglemme en dejlig frokost tilberedt af museets (anbefalelsesværdige) cafe, som er man finder i Bakkehusets have, et ottekantet orangeri tegnet af Rønnow Arkitekter.
Min fascination af Kamma Rahbek fik ny næring. Rikke Lagersted-Olsen fortalte levende og engageret om hvor systematisk Kamma og hendes hjælpere dyrkede både blomster og spiselige afgrøder på syv tønder land! Hun var ikke bare selvforsynende, hvilket i betragtning af husets mange gæstebud i sig selv var en bedrift, hun solgte også af afgrøderne og bidrog på den måde til husholdningens økonomi.
Rikke Langersted fremviste omhyggeligt førte notes og regnskabsbøger og fortalte om Kamma Rahbeks erfarings- og planteudveksling med blandt andre overgartner ved Botanisk Have i København Frederik Ludvig Holbøll.
Selvom al den haveviden, og ikke mindst al den grundighed omkring driften af haven, næsten får mig til at skamme mig over min usystematiske og skødesløse omgang med vores jordlod og dent potentiale, så tillader jeg mig at dele lidt billeder fra min vilde have, fra hvilken jeg nu og da kan høste til et måltid, eller i det mindste supplere det jeg har købt med noget af egen avl.
I år står begejstringen for de blomstrende kålplanter lidt i vejen for at plante nye, jeg skal finde et kompromis, og selvsåede jordskokker står i vejen for udplantning af salat…
Men haveglæden fejler ingenting, og den er, ærligt indrømmet mest drevet af æstetik.
Hvilket bringer mig videre til Fiskars som inviterede og efter frokosten demonstrerede deres mange snedige redskaber til haveelskere, såvel amatørerne som de professionelle.
Det meste Fiskars i den karakteristiske orange-sorte farvekombination, der selvom jeg værdsætter og yder godt håndværktøjets funktionaliteten, få mig til at drømme om samme funktionalitet, men med et udtryk mere i retning af en anden del af Fiskars havekollektion, den smukke røde Fiskars Classic kollektion med asketræskafter, som bor i vores skur og hjælper i min haven.
Bonus info: De røde redskaber har danske rødder, og hed inden de i 1989 blev en del af finske Fiskars, Zinck-Lysbro. Zinck-Lysbro var en fusion mellem Zinck blev grundlagt i 1858 i Godthaab ved Aalborg og Lysbro som blev grundlagt i 1899 i Lysbro ved Silkeborg.
Mere bonus: Bakkehusets nu lille have (jorden på Frederiksberg er dyr og for længst solgt fra og bebygget), er anlagt i romantisk stil af landskabsarkitekt Charlotte Skibsted i 2017, samme år som det ottekantede orangeri blev opført.
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