Who knows what about outdoor education?

Like-minded people from all over Turkey met on Saturday, May 24, 2025 at the 2nd OELC Congress, and of course, Cansu Dogru, Tuğçe Bilal  Kasapoğlu, and myself were there too. Micro Farming with Children is at the heart of our EBİ Project-Based Kindergarten in Levent. In a three step workshop, we successfully demonstrated how a micro farm works in the center of Istanbul.

First, a variety of seeds are collected and stored in books or jars. Then, fresh vegetable and fruit scraps are processed into compost, with the help of hungry worms. In tandem, these form the base of a fertile vegetable garden. Nature takes over and we watch as our crops grow, intervening where necessary. Just in time for the autumn harvest, an earth oven is built with the children, allowing us to cook and process what we have grown. Thus, the circle in nature closes, and the microfarm fulfills its purpose:

A nature project with intensive learning opportunities that accompany us throughout the year - and which is a lot of fun for children and adults alike.

Hopefully, the workshop participants took away many new ideas, and I would be delighted to receive news and photos of newly established microfarms.

By Regina Kruse-Özçelik

Early Birds Istanbul Founder