Download Fresh tulips allow spring to start in the middle of winter. At the

Fresh tulips allow spring to start in the middle of winter. At the Horstmann
nursery in Kirchlengern in Germany, the cut flowers are being harvested.
BRING ON
THE SPRING
In early autumn, the tulips bulbs
are packed densely into crates.
On the tips of the young leaves
sits a dry brown bulb husk.
It takes several months for the bulbs to become flowering tulips.
From the end of January, double varieties are harvested too.
T
As soon as the tulip buds show their
colours, they are ready to be cut.
ulips are a tradition at this small family business.
“I grew up with tulips”, says head gardener
Heinrich-Wilhelm Horstmann. Growers like HeinrichWilhelm play an important role in supplying local
markets. A look behind the scenes at the nursery
founded by his father demonstrates the journey from
bulb to cut flower.
The bulbs arrive
It’s the middle of September when the tulip bulbs arrive
at the nursery. The precious cargo comes from the
Dutch tulip fields packed into boxes or loose in sacks.
Soon after their arrival the delicate tulip bulbs are
spread out to avoid them pressing against each other
and rotting. The main agenda for the next few days is
the planting of the still rootless bulbs. The bulbs are
separated by variety, planted in rows in earth-filled
crates, firmed in by hand and lightly covered with
earth. Each crate holds 80 bulbs. The nurseryman and
his team will bring around 100,000 tulips into flower
over the next few months, to be sold as cut flowers.
In small vases: The
fringed upper leaves lie
like a green collar
around the stem of the
anemones. With leaves
and flowers from the
garden, little works of
art are created.
SNOW WHITE
Surrounded by subtle
foliage, white anemones
in kitchen containers
take centre stage.
The reward for many hours’ work is a rocking
chair with a matt sheen and gentle curves.
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1) For the legs, which also produce
the armrests, planks are cut
into thin strips, glued together
and bent to shape on a form.
2–5) So that the side component
of the seat can be produced with
the right curve, three solid pieces
of wood are glued together, the
outline marked out and then it is
sawn and polished.
M
CURVACEOUS
COMFORT
André Findeisen discovered happiness in rocking
chairs. Since then, this sculptor in wood has
been producing items of furniture that can bring
enduring pleasure as heirlooms.
any a book has the power to
guide life into a new direction. This is what happened for André
Findeisen in 2011, when his fatherin-law gave him a book about the
American woodworker and furniture
designer Sam Maloof. He discovered
page after page of wooden furniture
with a timeless, smooth and mellow
appearance. He was particularly
fascinated by the rocking chairs.
“That’s what I’m going to make”,
he thought, and set to work.
neer, was busy studying Landscape
Use and Nature Conservation at the
College for Sustainable Development
in Eberswalde, northeast of Berlin.
But he took time out to pursue his
new-found passion for rocking chairs.
In 2012, he set up a workshop in a
former paper factory in nearby
Spechthausen. Until 1945, bank notes
were printed there, but in the past
few years a number of craftsmen and
artists have settled on the site.
A roundabout route
The entire area is surrounded by
forest. The deciduous trees look
almost directly into the craftsman’s
workshop. There, the faithful mongrel
Woody lies in front of the wood-burning stove, while his master is at work,
building a rocking chair with a seat
and back in cowhide: “I wanted to
make the chair lighter, and to provide
It took quite a long time before André,
now 35, had found the right shape
for the rocker. The first prototype
would hardly rock at all and now
serves as a coat stand. When he had
his life-changing experience with the
book, André, who had served his
apprenticeship as a hydraulic engi-
The inventive self-starter
a colour contrast with the wood.”
Everything that this self-taught
craftsman knows about woodworking
was acquired either during a work
placement with a furniture restorer,
or he learned by his own efforts.
He bought his machines secondhand at knock-down prices and often
needed to repair them himself.
Interplay of colours
“I don’t like throwing things away,
I prefer to repair them. With regard
to furniture, I want pieces that will
accompany me through life, and
may still be enjoyed by my grandchildren”, says this father of a
two-year old son. He is also gradually
expanding his range of furniture
pieces and chandeliers. He enjoys
matching together pieces of solid
timber that naturally offer a lively
play of colours.
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NATURE’S RECIPE
RAPE HONEY is very
light, often motherof-pearl coloured,
and has a sweet and
mild flavour. The
consistency is soft
to firm.
S
The light yellow
SPRING NECTAR
HONEY is harvested
after the fruit
blossom. It tastes
mild and is creamy
to firm.
FOREST HONEY is
brownish or
reddish. It tastes
strong, fine/fruity
and rather tart. It
is often liquid to
creamy.
SUMMER BLOSSOM
HONEY varies from
year to year:
sometimes it is a
strong yellow,
sometimes brown.
It has a fruity note.
CHESTNUT HONEY
is light to dark
brown. It tastes
strong and tart
and crystallises
slowly.
FROM THE
BEEHIVE
Honey is a sweet medicine.
ince ancient times, honey has been appreciated as a
food, a beauty elixir and gentle medicine. The word
honey comes from the Old High German term ‘honang’
and means ‘golden coloured’. However, honey comes in
many different shades, from almost white to very dark.
The reason for this is the range of plants in a region.
The weather also plays a role. Bees only fly when it is
neither continually raining nor too cold. As a result,
no two honeys are alike.
Bees faithful to one blossom
A honey’s colour and taste reflect the range of blossom
around the hive. For instance, beekeepers harvest a mild,
light honey from fruit tree blossom. For a kilo of honey, the
collectors visit 10 to 15 million flowers within a radius of
three kilometres around the beehive. At the same time, the
bees remain faithful to certain trees or plants. When fruit
trees are in blossom they especially fly to flowering trees that
offer them large quantities of nectar, and neglect smaller
Other bee products such as
pollen and propolis also have
beneficial effects.
Bees bring nectar and honeydew into the hive from their excursions. They fly up to three kilometres away.
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