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Roses as far as the eye can see…
Some beauty and some infos!
We are in the middle of the Sammatz rose bloom and would therefore like to provide you with as much rose feeling as possible. Let’s go!
Did you know…
…The common history of humans and roses goes back at least as far as the Ice Age. Back then, thorny hedges could be almost insurmountable obstacles – the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty still sings a song about it.
As the rose is a light-hungry plant, it loves the edges of forests and meadows. When man began to reclaim land and create pastures, he created precisely those open areas that the rose appreciates as a habitat. The path to settlements and cultivation was not far away. At the same time, the vitamin C-rich rosehip has always been a valuable aliment…
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…The rose is an ancient plant of civilisation. There is no oriental culture that does not have a special relationship with it. The oldest depiction of a rose can be found on a Sumerian clay tablet from the 4th century BC.
In China, it is said to have been cultivated since the 3rd century BC; Confucius describes rose gardens for Beijing around 500 BC. In Persia, the land of roses par excellence, rose gardens also have a tradition dating back thousands of years.
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When the first yellow rose arrived in Europe from China in the 18th century, it was a sensation. Until then, only white, pink and red colours were known. At that time, the so-called ‘old roses’ were created and the range of flower colours from light yellow and orange to pink and dark red.
… ‘People love the rose – they just don’t realise it – because roses take up the very first memories of childhood. When we were children, other people were affectionate with us; they often made us smile. We have forgotten that. But we carry it within us in our moods. And the rose bush takes the memory that we ourselves have forgotten into its own interior during our nightly sleep.’
Rudolf Steiner
Perhaps much of our world is simply a fairy tale after all? Let’s discover it!
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Our favourite rose poems:
That the rose may become your example!
Sun, dew and sweet wind from the east
All the splendour and happiness of the earth
She knows how to savour freely and carefree.
It does not need the prophet’s wisdom
For she lives as he speaks.
Hafis, 1320-1390, Persia
The rose is without reason, it blooms because it blooms
She takes no heed of herself, asks not whether she is seen
Angelus Silesius, 1624-1677
The roses at Michaelshof:
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Shrub roses
The Mozart rose, a vigorous shrub rose with delicate pink blooms, which is characterised by a particularly long flowering period until late autumn, reigns supreme at the Waldsee. It alternates with the two other shrub roses Bukavu and Dundy.
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Falls – a waterfall of roses
A special feature are the rose bushes called ‘Falls’, which overhang our old stone wall opposite the café like a waterfall. In our gardens you will find the red-flowering Yosemite Falls, the white Niagara Falls and the pink Utigord Falls.
Wild roses in the ‘Arena’
On the eastern slope of the ‘Arena’ grows a long hedge of wild roses with beautiful specimens of Aicha, Pleine de Grace and Rosa X Dupontii. The Pleine de Grace in particular has spread here with a stateliness that is a speciality beyond northern Germany. It seems to feel very much at home here.
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Climbing roses
With growth heights of up to 5 metres and more, climbing roses (ramblers) can become impressive plants. For example, the white Madame Alfred Carriere at the end of the campus garden, the wonderful rambler in the cherry tree or our tallest climbing rose, which climbs up a pear tree at the end of the rose garden.
Processing the rose at Michaelshof
We grow the Apothekerrose in the medicinal plant field, harvest its leaves in the morning and process them in the manufactory at Eichenhof.
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We use the fresh rose petals to produce macerates (extracts in oils) and rose water as a distillate. The dried petals are used in tea blends and processed into rose petal salt.
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SamMarket
…the Sammatz online shop in a new look
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We are online! For all those who have a long journey and can’t do without the delicious Michaelshof products from the café and farm shop, there is a fresh solution: we send all our products in the best Demeter quality directly to your home!
The range is wide – from our wood-fired bread to seasonal veggie boxes, the Sammatz cheese variations, Demeter meat and sausage specialities, preserves, teas, cosmetics and the Sammatz postcard collections, there’s everything your heart desires.
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We ship ecologically as always! Cheese, sausages and meat will also arrive well chilled in eco cool packs.
So go ahead: browse and order a piece of Michaelshof for your home! We’ll also pack a few grams of country air – we promise!
P.S.: If you live in the region, you can now take advantage of our packing service! Simply put together your parcel online and collect it conveniently from the farm shop.
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Seasonal calendar in June
– News from the vegetable patch!
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Are you ready for super tasty regional vegetables from Sammatz? We proudly present the Michaelshof seasonal calendar for June! Summer is fast approaching with the following delicacies from the vegetable field:
Our absolute June highlight is, of course, the strawberry season. Last week, we were able to harvest strawberries in large quantities for the first time and picked no fewer than 136 punnets of the sweet berries from the field in one day. After supplying the farm shop, café and Konditorei with strawberries, and turned the rest into the first strawberry jam of the year in our preserving kitchen!
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Of course, we also have great stored vegetables for salads and savoury side dishes, which keep for a super long time under the right conditions: Beetroot, potatoes and celeriac.
Fresh from the field, we have a variety of salads, parsley, dill, chives and spring onions on offer. We’ll soon be harvesting the first sugar snap peas and carrots and, with a bit of luck, we’ll find kohlrabi and cucumbers on our lunch plate as early as June.
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As always, you can buy our crunchy Demeter vegetables daily in the farm shop at Michaelshof, on Wednesdays and Fridays at the Lüneburg weekly market and now also as a vegetable box as a vegetable box in our online shop!
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Beautifying the school garden!
– about the ups & downs of spring weeding
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Everyone usually moans beforehand, the pupils loudly, the teachers silently: Project Saturday is the name of this wonderful endeavour. Once a month, there are lessons on Saturdays at our Selma Lagerlöf School in the neighbouring village. We often go on excursions in the region, but this time we stay at home. The school garden is in desperate need of a little update.
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Gardening with 20 kids is the order of the day and on Saturdays to boot … can that work? But then the sun shines and after the usual little teething troubles, we can only marvel: an eager crowd of pupils, teachers and class tutors scurry through the school building, through the beds and across the large break garden. The longer the morning lasts, the better the mood seems to get.
In between, the catering team invites everyone to the buffet for juice and snacks; those who aren’t the most diligent of weeders can be seen jetting off to the compost heap in a ‘monster truck’ with a wheelbarrow; and a dedicated house cleaning team has even taken on the window panes.
Once ‘Selma’ is up and running, nothing can go wrong and even the squabblers get along. Then the atmosphere suddenly becomes surprisingly peaceful and the school almost seems to glow a little.
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Victoria from Sweden
Volunteer stories…
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Hi my name is Victoria and I’m 21 years old, I traveled from Sweden to Sammatz in march and I’m staying here until June. In march I decided to pack my bags and travel longterm by myself for the first time. When I found Miachelshof on Worldpackers I could already tell that this would be a life changing experience.
Traveling here was an exciting but scary experience. But that fear quickly disappeared when I was welcomed with open arms. Coming from a small and introverted country this what a bit of a culture shock for me. To see all these amazing people with their own stories and so much talent, that was being shared together was very new for me but also so cool.
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After a few weeks I found a great group of people that I quickly connected to and evolved a strong bond with. This also made it easy to make the decision so extend my time from a month to a total of 3 months. Together we shared great moments working together, cooking in the blue house and also exploring Germany.
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During my time here I also got to watch the transition between seasons. When I came here I was weeding dead leaves in all the garden beds. And after a month I got to watch as nature woke up and spring made everything come back to life. Summer is now coming and all the work in the greenhouse with the vegetables are finally growing and soon ready for harvesting. To work with your hands and watch something you planted grow is truly a rewarding experience.
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Getting to be a part of this community and all these amazing people living here that makes this volunteering opportunity possible is truly amazing. I’m so grateful for all the people I’ve met and all the things I’ve learned, it’s something that I’ll always carry with me.
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The Arche-Hof sends its regards…
– Ducks, peacocks & co.
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If you’ve spent much time in the campus garden recently (perhaps weeding with us or just out for a walk), you’re sure to have noticed our two special feathered friends. One is our male peacock in the poultry enclosure next to the cowshed, who has been trying to attract the attention of the females with his incomparably shrill cry. Everyone on the farm has got used to it by now and some of the pupils, but more often the other farm animals, even join in the ‘singing’ from time to time in a rather atypical concert. You could almost think they are all in an important dialogue with each other when you listen to the evening air. If you follow the calls to the stables, it’s not unusual to find our male peacock in his stunning open plumage.
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Our flock of ducks is a particularly prominent feature of the campus garden. The funniest situations arise with our curious friends. Sometimes you can spot the duck family swimming around happily or landing elegantly on the water of the campus garden pond, sometimes sunbathing on the bank, curled up like glittering stones.
The campus garden ducks also love to go on excursions! You can see them waddling across the courtyard or through the gardens every day, as if they were interested day visitors.
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Sometimes they even venture to the road and wait for their duck taxi (which fortunately didn’t arrive). And if there’s a crocus or even a tulip bulb to devour after a weeding session, our ducklings are always on hand.
We simply love our feathery friends full of character! Take a look and get to know these nice fellows!
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Michaelshof up to date – all opening hours at a glance!
Arche-Hof:
Mon-Sun 9.00 – 19.00
Café:
Mon-Sat 8.00 – 18.00
Sun & holidays 9.30 – 18.00
Farm shop:
Mon-Sat 10.00 – 19.00
Sun & holidays. 10.00 – 19.00
Der WAGEN in Lüneburg:
Wed & Sat 07.00 – 13.00
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Sat., 08. June – 19.00
Concierto Internacional
The Concierto Internacional invites you to get to know the international, spontaneous, creative and above all musical side of Michaelshof! Every year, many talented musicians come to Sammatz to share their art with us at a private concert or an evening jam session in the volunteer house.
We want to share this experience with you! We don’t yet know who will be performing, but it will certainly be a colourful mix of different musical genres and artists. An informal and varied concert for everyone!
Free entry, donation requested!
Mit Anna, Hans Michel & Co.
Just drop by!
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Sat., 22. June – 12.00-15.00
Dragonflies – Nature walk 1
On our nature walks, we take you into the fascinating world of plants and insects and focus our attention on one of their species. Today: the dragonflies!
Who hasn’t marvelled at their wonderful physique, elegance and beauty? Dragonflies are excellent hunters and hold the insect record for speed. Let’s look for ‘blue-green mosaic dragonflies’ or ‘banded damselflies’ together and find out more about this fascinating group of animals!
Free admission, donation requested!
Mit Sara Groß
Registration required!
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Sat., 29. June – 15.00-18.00
Vegetables – Nature walk 2
How does vegetable farming work? Which soil does which vegetable need to grow optimally? We’ll talk about the ins and outs of our Demeter vegetable garden, talk about differences in crops, crop rotation and fertilisation and share valuable tips and tricks with you!
June is an exciting time for vegetables! On the one hand, we are still in the middle of planting cabbage & co. and on the other, we are harvesting the first summer fruits – lettuce, strawberries and much more are already enriching our menu.
Free admission, donation requested!
With Gabi, Nadja & Daniel
Registration required!
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The seven Liberal Arts
…a journey into the Middle Ages!
A much-photographed formation in our gardens is located at the foot of the arena, between the small pond and the stone garden. In the midst of the ‘Miscanthus sinensis Gracillimus’ – a lush green reed that is still growing or already vigorously standing tall, depending on the season – we find the graceful wooden figures of the ‘Seven Liberal Arts’ nestled inside. The human-sized figures by sculptor Waltraud Schroll are distributed in the grass at symmetrical intervals; a small path leads to each one.
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The seven liberal arts have been characterised in this form since the Middle Ages and are made up of the trivium (three paths), i.e. all linguistic and logical-argumentative subjects such as grammar, rhetoric and dialectics, and the quadrivium, i.e. the mathematical subjects such as arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. All of the arts combined are ‘worthy of a free man’ (Seneca) and thus, according to the view of the time, form the foundation for a free man. In the Middle Ages, they also served as preparation for the study of theology, jurisprudence and medicine.
If you consciously approach the Seven Liberal Arts, you can still sense much of their relevance today. We love the wooden figures very much, as well as the idea of being able to develop the free person within a community.
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Open your ears!
As we do every month, we take you into our musical world and link to a few songs from the community: Music tips from…
…Hans Michel: ‘The Dead South with Bootsa motivational song for all those in a hurry!
…Anna: ‘Unwritten by Natasha Beddingfield has been a wonderful accompaniment to the last few rainy days: feel the rain on your skin!’
…Aslı: ‘This month with the new song by Hozier: Too Sweet!’
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+++ NEWSTICKER +++
Impressions from everyday life in the community…
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…today in the micro view: Rose beetle on knotweed (a great sight, but we’d rather have the little helper in the compost than in the flower bed)…
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…Emmanuel and Daniel on their way to the café…
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…ultimately idyllic rose garden perspectives…
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…landscape romance in the barley field…
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…international lunch views in our roundabout in front of the community kitchen…
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…German course views and flower meadow happiness!
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Reason Nr. 11: More than shopping in the Michaelshof online shop!
You can also support us with your weekly shopping! When you choose our online shop, you are not only buying delicious and healthy food, you are also contributing to a vibrant community and a more sustainable future. In this way, you enable us to expand our projects in the areas of environmental education, biodynamic agriculture and community development.
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We are looking for committed and dynamic people for our team who like to take on responsibility and have a passion for rural life. Is a meaningful job more important to you than a ‘9 to 5 job’? Then you’ve come to the right place!
We are looking for specialists or interns in the following areas:
Social:
Office:
Hands-on:
- Service-help in the café at Michaelshof
- Gardener
- Construction worker
- Retailer
- Pharmacist
Your qualification is not listed and you are still interested? Just give us a try!
Please send your application with photo to claudia.brady@sammatz.de – we’ll get back to you!
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…a small preview of the Flachsenberg outdoor planting progress!
Keep following our newsletter closely, we’ll soon be planting and making things even more beautiful! We are looking forward to it and will report back to you!
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Best regards and see you next time from Anna
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