Himmel & Humus — Project Story

Himmel & Humus is a small-scale farm and living experiment at the heart of Wir bauen Zukunft, an ecovillage and futuristic place in a botanical garden in a remote but vibrantly networked rural region of Germany. Here, very few people live — but a great many are building something. Four food, craft, and agriculture startups share a startup hub. Local villages, a national park, and a biosphere reserve are close partners. A web of small initiatives is quietly growing into something larger.

I did some research before founding this project and visited farms and interviewed different people. At the center of it was a question that most farming projects don't ask: what about the people doing the work? Who lead these projects? What do they and their bodies need?

I, Amelie, started Himmel & Humus because I saw a pattern I couldn't ignore — regenerative agriculture is great in regenerating the land but often people burn out and don’t have a really regenerative working environment. Young farmers don't stay. Women in farming carry invisible loads. Human capital drains out just as the soil begins to recover. The land gets attention. The people don't.

My trial and answer was and is a cyclical working model, built around regular check-ins and rhythms that match human energy to seasonal and biological cycles — already practiced at Himmel & Humus and ready to share. The project combines active market gardening with biodiversity and climate change measures, and a growing program of workshops and learning spaces for other farms and agricultural initiatives. We help women launching small agricultural businesses and farms to get into new work practices.

The goal is not just one thriving farm. It is a transferable model — for any agricultural project that wants to keep its people as carefully as it keeps its soil.