Saint Hildegard of Bingen  Welcome to our private wilderness we call Ecolanum or Botanical Garden Ecolanum
 ecological restoration by
"rewilding"
 back to the original nature as it was.
Saint Francis of Assisis  

For comments and questions
info@ecolanum.com
We may arrange a private visit if it is so wished

practical information on the Island of Ven can be obtained at
www.VENUSIA.se

our FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/Ecolanum2/
we are a marketing specialist/artist and a former UN diplomat in the area of Nuclear Safety, so we are learning about gardening.
en svensk version av sajten
www.ecolanum.se  utvecklas  

Our research indicate that Ven looked so for 2000 years ago.  Ecolanum aims at "rewilding" and re-establishing  the original flora and landscape.

Studying the accounts of the Ven's landscape for 400 years ago we could create the following approximation of the landscape in the eastern part of Ven. see photos below. The trees were cut some times ago and the area of our mark was covered marshes and swamps, grass and bushes. The land was not suitable for agriculture.
 
at wet period
 
at dry period
 
Tycho Brahe enlarges the ponds and collects the water to his paper mill



current activities



  eating what we grow


type of food we eat, photos, some recepties, some innovative approaches, fusion, inspiration from 20 countries we lived in. 
 


  plant profiles
plant profiles
discussion on issues related to problem with some plants  

  climate
climate, metrology, soil conditions on Ven


live Twitter account @ecolanum   


  media presence   

Botanical Garden Ecolanum   Richard Ecolanum Garden   Ecolanum Ven
ecolanum   Plato Today

  our objectives and motivation

"Glans at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of the earth." 
Hildegard of Bingen


Ecolanum is developing methodologies for the sustainable horticulture and small scale complementary food production. The underlying research ground is a Botanical Garden incorporating “edible forest” concept.
Until now the activities were conducted on the non-profit basis as the owners  dispose of the  private economic resources and  the emphasis was concentrated on the garden development phase and research 
As an example of an "edible forest" , the radicchio lettuce on the photo grows everywhere all the year round and summer time, in the second year flowers beautifully. 
our input to the
SEASON OF CREATION   

 

our objectives; Environmental Restoration and Rewilding
info@ecolanum.com
 

 

  our personal responsibility  

 

our "ecological footprint"
x

 

 

  location, we are here

 

we are on the main road, Landsvägen 66, 10 minutes walk from the harbour (the ferry arrives from Landskrona )  
 
looking towards the harbour 
 
looking from our location towards the harbour   

 

  moving from Vienna/Austria

 

In June we have celebrated a 5 years anniversary at the current location. June 2017, the truck with plants is boarding ferry to Ven, The island of Ven is visible at the horizon.
we have moved with our plants from Vienna/Austria to Ven/Sweden in June 2017 
For the sake of an experiment we try to be as self-sustained as possible.  As we are not generating any income we need to use financial resources from USA in order to subsidize the development phase which when accomplished should minimize needs of the external resources. Our objective is to  operate on a non-profit basis.
more

 

 

 

 

  Specific plant cultivation issues

 


click on the photo
GROWING PLANTS IN A WINTER GARDEN IN the NORTH EUROPE 
I would like to know how the following plants grow  in a winter garden
 
 
click on the photo  
HARDINESS
examples of the cold resistance of some plants in various locations and conditions
 
 
 
Vegetables in the forest "food forest"
 
 
 
early autumn, some flower still persist and some flowers which bloom early spring are already appearing
 
 

 

 

the  plants we have replaced. Some died in the last 10 years


 

 

  Climate, growing conditions

 

 

naturreservat The protection of Ven's nature reserve areas and ecological diversity
 

 

 

growing plants on Ven
climate, soil, problems

 

 

 

  inherited problems

 

   
Plastic contamination, the previous owner left.  
 

 

                
plastics

 



thin silage plastic disintegrates contaminating ground water and the sea,
we have "inherited" a large amount of manure
unfortunately it is a "lasagne" of manure and plastics 
Contamination,  plast förorening
SITUATION 2017
SITUATION 2020-03-07
 
SITUATION - JAN 2020
 
here are some idea what to do with it
 
We received some ideas but more are welcomed
Microplastic, scientific view
 

 

 

  garden and eating it's products

 

MAT/FOOD we eat
Hares we are almost forced to eat, for the sake of reusing resources. (sustainability cycle, about Ven's ecology, why in normal condition we would need to eat meat )
 

 

  other gardens

 

   
"art in the garden"
we are inspired by the Austrian artist and garden owner  Andre Heller
https://www.anima-garden.com/experience/
(den har vi inte besökt)
http://www.hellergarden.com/en/
http://www.ecolanum.com/it/
Parco_dei_Mostri/index.html

 

 

 


Axel Munthe
Garden and the wellbeing of soul 
 
 
 

 

 


Franziska von Wertheimstein
Franziska von Wertheimstein, on the right, and her famous  garden in Vienna 
Franziska von Wertheimstein, aspirations of the new Jewish upper class
 

 

 

Parco dei Mostri
16-century garden in italy
fantastic maneristic sculptures

exceptional in the world
  

 

 

  koi fish

 

 

Koi 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

  our italian past

 

 

Italia nostra
 
 
 

 

 

  Issues and problems, reasearch areas

 


Concepts and means of the rain water management, solutions, ponds, water retention etc.
Soil PH level management, the soil on VEN is very  alkaline
Concepts, various solutions and biological and mechanical management of weeds, methodology of reduction of weeds in large areas, replacement by other viable plants.
Design of the system aiming at extraction of plastic/micro plastic  from contaminated soil
pollination principles, for chestnut trees, persimmon etc. 
bee keeping 
Evaluation and improvement of the biological water filtering system installed around the koi pond.  
Assessment of needs for a natural habitat for roe deer which were introduced to the island and which are fed to survive.
9 reduction of nitrogen in the soil

 

 

  Miscellaneous

 

 

our dog
 
 

 

 

 
Trying to home pigeons
The mink has decimated our pigeons
The pigeon on photo, Suzzi survived with a demaged wing. We fixed the wing and is able to fly.
Warning, unpleasent pictures
 

 

Garden Design Design 
 

 

Breaking through own fears and doubts

 

 


22 May
Reason why we have fences, the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), damage our plants

 

  about us, personal notes

 

 

  archive

 


concepts
 
 
 

 


Some intresting links and publications 
 
 

 

 

  Socio-economics of Ven     
Demography: Between 370 and 380 people live permanently on the Island. By very superficial evaluation we have an impression that the demographic (age group) pyramided is very skew. Proportionally there are very few children and young people living permanently on Ven. Many houses are owned by summer guests and the population increases manifold during the summer months.  
Socioeconomically we belong to the group of retirees whose interest is to maintain wide spectrum and good services; we do not care about tourism and try to protect our gardens from the roe deer. On the other hand the level of local services is dependent on the prosperity and activates of all other groups. No activities on the island means no base for social services.  

      2020-08-27 11:44

about
us
parco dei
mostri

food
art in a garden
conta-mination  microplastic

 

our best dishes
gardening on Ven
Franziska von Wertheim-stein
recepies
our movies

 


ecolanum
Latest
2020-10-02
FOOD
 
our objectives
Environmental Restoration
Rewilding 
 
our mottos
in Swedish
 
our twitter
 

 

 

'

 

 

 

taiwan sorting old pictures  
I was  nervous to make photos as i was not sure if it was OK, but i was encouraged and explained to feel free to make photos.  
Taiwan, Chinese tempel del 1
Taiwan, Chinese tempel del 2

 


     




Our inspiration and the source of ideas 
 
 

 

 

 

 

the site is growing chaotically every day, like a garden