Let’s talk about summertime. About freshness. No. Not about the fresh temperatures. But about fresh things that you can find now everywhere.
Fresh vegetables, fresh herbs, fresh drinks, juicy fruits…
Wolfenbüttel has been a gardener’s town.
More than 100 gardeners grew vegetables and provided people with tubers and salads. Today unfortunately not much is left. But we looked out for some traces of the old times and searched for gardeners.
When we were strolling through town we not only noticed the numerous half timbered houses with all the tiny details. But we also came across a special flower-bed. In front of the church St. Trinitatis. This one was looking different to the other flower-beds. And when you take a closer look you will realize. Those are no flowers. This is vegetable. In the middle of the city. No wonder. As this flower-bed is right beside the gardener’s memorial. And there they really grow vegetables.
Also some seldom varieties. At least we had to ask at several points to find out what it is. Some vegetables we knew. Like mangold or lovage. But there were others. And – as always – we were curious and asked around. The answers were vague: „Maybe green cabbage. Or a special sort of savoy cabbage?“ „No this is mangold. A special type of mangold.“ Hmmm… nobody really knew.
So we went to the gardener’s museum.
200 people are caring for this museum in their free time. Among them are also some gardeners. They should know. Of course they did! It is a special type of green cabbage, called: „Lerchenzunge“. (Lark’s tongue). Wonderful. So this is cleared.
Once we are there we can as well have a look around. The museum is right to my taste. Ha, ha. Taste has a double meaning here! Because this museum is not only about theory. Here you can do some gardening. You will find a lot of vegetable patches and some flower-beds. Everything grows here. And therefore the taste. You may harvest here. With competent support you can learn about plants and gardening and you may try it out yourself. Especially the harvesting of potatoes is supposed to be very popular. With a tasting afterwards of course! As I said. Totally to my taste.
So I had a look around the patches and found something. I only say: Yummy! But I get distracted…
In the museum you will hear all about the history of the gardeners and learn about the tools and equipment. You can stroll around in the garden and – as mentioned – do it yourself during guided tours. One tool has even been invented in Wolfenbüttel. The „Schüffeleisen“. A special tool to get rid of the unwanted plants. Again something learned.
In the house everything is like in former times. From the washstand over the oven in the living room to the cooker and the welsh dresser in the kitchen. And there even is a boiler room. In those boilers everything has been cooked: sausage after the slaughter, clothes from the whole family and apples to make apply syrup. They still work though. At special days the boiler will be fired. So the gardener’s museum is worth a visit. As it does not open on a daily basis here is a tipp from us: When the colourful ribbons are flutter in the wind on the flagpole the museum is open. By the way: There is also freshly baked cake.
Enough talk bout fresh and gardening and harvest. Now we want to do it ourselves and want to cook something. No sooner said than done.
Right now there is so much ripe for harvesting. Everywhere fruits twinkle below the leaves. Salad is shining green. Herb gardens flow over. Corn fields glow yellow or are just harvested. At the market so much is offered. And the air is full of smells and flavours. And there are still a handful of gardeners in Wolfenbüttel. So we went to see the „Gemüsescheune“ (vegetable barn). Here vegetable is still grown. So we harvested a salad and some herbs.
The first ingredients were there. Then we went to the flower-bed at the gardener’s memorial to harvest mangold. There are some plant with various glowing colours. Wonderful. The other things we had to buy in the supermarket. Next time we have to find out where we can get fresh eggs, butter and milk from a farm. But that’s a different story.
Good. So we went to the chef of the „Jugendgästehaus“. A kind of a youth hostel. There we cooked with all these nice things a mangold strudel. How it is done you will find in detail in a different article:
It was really funny anyway to work with such nice fresh stuff and cook with it. After work we enjoyed some fresh air. You can get around quite well by bike in Wolfenbüttel. We rented e-bikes from the tourist office and cycled through green parks and along the water. Did you know that the air is little bit more fresh at the water? They say it is about one or two degrees.
You can also experience some fresh air right in the city. We like to sit outside and enjoy a coffee. Have we talked about freshly roasted and freshly made coffee, yet? Or how about a freshly baked cake? Or a freshly grilled bratwurst? Everything is available.
And there is freshly brewed beer. Yes, we found that as well. There is a new brewery – Mad Dukes Brewery. They have celebrated a party for their first fresh craft beer. There were some nice varieties: An espresso-stout, a pale ale and the new „Weizenbüttler“, a wheat beer. For the special burst of freshness try the beer ice cream. There were all three of them as ice cream. It’ s a must. An explosion of flavours.
After all this partying we went to the beach. Quickly we arrive with our bikes at the „Strandwolf“ and had a freshly made cocktail while we were playing with our toes in the sand. Great! If you need more freshness put you feet into the water.
There it is again. The feeling of freshness. „Wellbeingbüttel“. At summertime.
So? Where do find freshness in Wolfenbüttel?
All photos © DieMeurers
One more thing: half timbered houses in Wolfenbüttel
Anf because Wolfenbüttel has so many awesome half timbered houses here are some more impressions:
Sunset over Wolfenbüttel
