Blossoming business in Brussels as urban farms offer sustainable flowers

Tulips, allium flowers, grass and insects sketch their own natural painting at Pascale Malilo van Clooster's orchard just outside Brussels city centre.

Lulled by a soft wind, these flowers are a treasure trove for plump bees that dive inside in the avid search for pollen.

Creating a biodiversity heaven for pollinators was one of Malilo van Clooster's goals when she started her sustainable flowers business four years ago in Linkebeek, a green suburban area on the outskirts of the Belgian capital.

Malilo van Clooster's orchard is part of Cycle Farm, an urban garden that includes larger land parcels devoted to vegetable farming.

On a sunny June day, the flowers are ready to be picked up by environmentally conscious clients who seek a local, pesticide-free alternative for their bouquets.

All flowers here bloom from organic seeds originating from Belgium or nearby France and England.

They're grown without pesticides and only according to their natural life cycle, Malilo van Clooster explains. This means the orchard is closed in the winter months.

"I plant my flowers according to their blooming season. I don't sow seeds that wouldn't be able to blossom at that particular time of the year," says Malilo van Clooster.

"We have access to a greenhouse that works as nursery and that can help a bit (with the flowers' development) but the greenhouse isn't heated and I don't work out of the seasonal schedule so I can't say 'here, I have large quantities in the month of December'. It's impossible to do that here in Belgium."

Pollinators abound in this stretch of land. It's easy for them to transport flower seeds to the vegetable garden nearby where wild flowers grow in between snow peas and broccoli.

Sometimes flowers blossom spontaneously.

Spring varieties here include California poppies, Rose campions, dahlia and the Purple Rain variety of the Allium flower.

Their bright red, yellow, purple and orange hues attract a large population of insects, making this place a biodiversity haven.

Environmental concerns are prompting people to embrace sustainable flower gardening and to distance themselves from farming on an industrial, international scale, Malilo van Clooster says.

Much like urban vegetable gardening, this trend has to do with respect of the natural life cycle, she adds.

"Many young florists and new projects no longer wish to work with flowers that come from Kenya, Colombia or from the end of the world, that are transported by plane, put in a fridge for months and months and grown out of their natural schedule. It's a bit like vegetables; it's the same thing".

After working as an architect and graphic designer, Malilo van Clooster took up a new career challenge by training in organic farming and edible flowers. But it's with sustainable flowers that she found her call and a business that allows her to place trust in the natural world as much as in humans.

"What suits me best is to continue to work with flowers but to have an open system, based on trust, that allows people to come and create their own bouquet, cut the flowers and honestly pay the price by inserting money into a box."

"I'm actually very happy about this system; and I'm happy to be based here in Linkebeek because people are respectful, they're nice and now we also people coming from other areas. It works well," the flower grower says.

Scissors in hand, customers come to Malilo van Clooster's orchard to can cut their flowers of choice and create their own flower arrangements; the price depends on the bouquet size.

When it's time to pay, clients insert their bouquet into one of the five holes of a metal bar; each hole corresponds to a different price and ranges from $3.4 to $22. A money box sits next to the metal bar to collect the money.

The ability of buying pesticide free, local products directly from growers is an attractive idea for Cycle Farm clients.

For Cycle Farm customer, Jocelyne Coster, shopping for flowers and vegetables has an added psychological and social value that makes the experience all the more worthwhile, she says.

"I love this project that's based on trust. I find it worthy of respect considering the times we're living in; what's more, the place is wonderful. To come here to pick up a bouquet of flowers or vegetables is a zen moment and I enjoy it a lot," Coster says.

Cycle Farm is an example of urban farming that in its various declinations – back gardens, rooftop or balcony orchards – has been proving popular in Belgian cities in recent years.

In Brussels, the capital's environmental agency, Bruxelles Environnement has taken the development of urban farming under its wing.

The agency's "Good Food" programme was launched five years ago and aims at increasing local food production and develop a more sustainable food system.

Urban farming is a central element of the "Good Food" strategy; the goal is to produce and distribute products that respect the environment, reduce food waste, promote organic farming, local and seasonal food varieties, as well as foster biodiversity.

Lison Hellebaut is an agronomist and urban agriculture specialist at Bruxelles Environnement.

Hellebaut says urban farming has a strong positive impact on the city and a ripple effect on its population, with beneficial consequences on the environment, food quality and social life.

By increasing social connections and solidarity; by helping residents to eat well with little impact on their environment urban farming helps cities build resilience, the agronomist says. It also creates green oasis where people can rediscover the land and enjoy working on it, she adds.

"These green spaces in the middle are biodiversity spots. They help fight global warming and allow water to penetrate into the ground, for example."

"They also allow people to reconnect to the land; we see that people need to be closer to the land.
These places (urban garden) are a meeting point that foster social relations in the neighbourhood. They're also places where consumers can meet producers, change their eating habits and gain new awareness when it comes to food," Hallebaut explains.

Nicolas Vlaminck gave up a career in tourism to go back to the land and make growing vegetables his job.

Vlaminck farms seasonal, local vegetables all year round at Cycle Farm. He follows organic farming rules and doesn't use pesticides with the exception of an organic snail control product.

His vegetable garden serves 110 customers who pay a yearly fee ranging from $360 to $450 per person a year.

In exchange, clients can come here on any given day, cut and bring home the vegetables available in Vlaminck's orchard. Only when vegetables grow in smaller quantities are customers asked not to pick more than a certain amount per person.

Vlaminck says he grows 60 different vegetable varieties and that most of his clients come from the neighbourhood.  

The farmer says urban farming is a rewarding activity that allows him to make a living.
It was the idea of reconnecting to the land and eating healthy food that prompted him to change career, he explains.   

"I think the main reasons are to grow organic vegetables, to grow them while respecting the environment. I also think that many people want to work the land, they feel the need to go back to the land, to dig their hands in soil."

"It's a basic gesture that we've somehow forgotten about. We were so disconnected from the place our vegetables came from."