Once upon a time, there was a green oasis in the middle of the busy city, an urban garden called “Himmelbeet” in the middle of Wedding, my neighborhood in Berlin. I say once upon a time because after years of presence and becoming an organic community component, it had to close its doors in late 2021, you guessed, for a construction site!
Luckily, a new location has been identified for the garden, however much smaller and in a less attractive area.
The garden was not just a piece of heaven with its plants, fruits and vegetables, meeting place, café, etc. but also because of the stone oven in the middle of it! Every Thursday the oven was heated and people could bring their pizza to bake, and later, when the temperature in the oven was just optimal for it, you could bake your bread in it!
Of course, when I learned about it, I was bringing my doughs in the evening, after work to bake them “for real”, as I know it from my childhood. And what a difference it made to the bread! I just loved the slightly burned crust giving the bread a special aroma. Also, the smoke and ashes of the wood used called for a particular smell and taste!
After a while, Meike, who was in charge of the project asked me if I’d like to volunteer since the garden was quite busy with all the hungry people wanting to bake their pizzas. I said why not? Soon I was handling the pizza shovel as a professional and could not wait to switch off my laptop and run to the garden, ideally with a prepared bread dough to bake after the pizza shift.
It was a great time baking the pizza for the folks, and after baking my bread, focaccia, cakes, and vegetables and sharing some of them right after they came out of the oven. Cause people were noticing of course the intense and seductive smell of the banana bread or the plum cake.
I remember that they were coming to me and begging for a piece of something. Once a mother wanted to pay for a piece of cake to give to her kid because the little girl just did not want to leave home without tasting it. Or a man was wanting to buy my bread because he thought it was for sale. The piece of cake I gave as a gift, but nobody can have my bread!
Baking was just one part of the fun, however, the most valuable thing was to be involved in a community, spending quality time, making new friends, and sharing food and knowledge. I am very thankful for the opportunity and I hope, someday the oven will be built up again in the new garden.
Until then, Berliner, have a look at a site of the community garden, because they offer a lot of other interesting participative and informative events about gardening, sustainability, and community work! Or if you know another community oven, just let me know!
