Dike house Baltic Sea

The Mandala Garden at the Field Houses in Hohwacht

In 2021 Susanne Herbst and Andreas Brandt moved from Hamburg to the Baltic Sea. In the same year two apartments have been newly developed, the small field house next to the Mandala Garden and the studio at our dyke house, 200 meters as the crow flies to the sea. We established the new tradition of Tiny Houses, nestled in nature, welcoming our guests.

The land between the field houses and the Hotel Genueser Schiff, which is run by Andreas Philipp Brandt's brother, has been cultivated in a natural way since 1950, that is, for more than 70 years, and above all, it has been cherished. Our mother has left us both this beautiful piece of earth and entrusted us with the protection and further development of this coastal strip on the Baltic Sea without any major conditions.

In 2021, the Mandala Garden was created directly on the edge of the forest. It follows the principles of permaculture. Permaculture describes a system of designing and growing herbs and vegetables that replicates the natural, nurturing relationships of plants and the earth in a garden. When nature is carefully observed, gardeners can replicate the diversity that exists. This diversity allows us as gardeners to grow a very different combination of plants that reinforce each other and create an almost self-sustaining biotope in the long run.

The secret of this particular Mandala Garden is, on the one hand, its close proximity to the adjacent forest on the edge of the "Großer Binnensee" nature reserve. From the understanding of a "forest gardener", trees, shrubs and shade-loving herbs strengthen themselves both through a special air exchange, as well as underground through a widely ramified system of fine roots. This system is supported by Andreas through the use of a very special soil, Terra Preta as the "gold of the earth". Terra Preta in this context is a compost mixture inoculated with fermented charcoal and special microorganisms. In its rediscovery, the production of Terra Preta follows a wisdom of gardeners in Peru in Latin America that goes back many hundreds of years. This mixture of soil and microorganisms, combined with large amounts of organic matter introduced underground, such as branches, wood bark and foliage, thus recreates the natural forest ecosystem.

It is not difficult to see how incredibly diverse this small mandala garden at the edge of the forest of the field houses shows itself to us. And the grown and harvested herbs, vegetables and fruits delight our guests as well as restaurants, e.g. the Strandkorb Restaurant of the Hotel Genueser Schiff in the immediate vicinity. The Mandala Garden is also an example of how the traditional form of gardening and agriculture can go completely different ways. And in the future must also go, in order to make possible the preservation of our blue planet on the green level.

Welcome to our Mandala Garden - and welcome to a small piece of worked and lived future!

Yours Susanne Herbst and Andreas Brandt