Hello and welcome to the
How to Live in Denmark
podcast.
I'm Kay Xander Mellish
I've referred to the
Danish Year before on
How to Live in Denmark.
It's a series of events that
are simply expected to
happen every year in
Denmark, even if they
aren't
formal holidays.
This year, I'm going to try
to do a podcast every
month about aspects of
the Danish year and
how they fit in to the
overall context of where
Denmark is coming from
and where it's going.
April.
As the long Danish winter
finally draws to an end,
it's time for Danes to
start planting their
gardens.
Now.
In early April, it's
rhubarb, parsnips,
cabbage.
After the risk of frost is
gone in late April, you
can put down some beets
and chives and parsley,
all
good traditional Danish
food.
By May, you can try with
the tomatoes, which may
or may not ripen,
depending on whether or
not
you get a warm, sunny
summer.
Always a roll of the dice
in Denmark.
One year we ended up with
hard green tomatoes in
September.
The growing season in
Denmark is short.
If you miss the planting
deadlines, you're
probably out of luck.
And even if you're in luck,
the amount you spend at
the garden center will
far outstrip the amount
it would take you to buy
the same foods at the
corner market.
But Danes love to garden.
They love to touch the
earth.
Denmark industrialized
fairly late compared to
the rest of Europe, really
not until the late 19th
century, and even then it
focused on cooperative
agriculture for export.
Denmark is still known
around the world for its
butter and bacon.
The idea of the farm goes
deep into the Danish soul.
Many Danes still carry
the name of their family
farm in the name they use
today.
The Danish word for farm
is gaard, spelled GAARD
So the names of jewelry
designer Ole Lynggard or
golfer Nicolai Højgaard
or politician
Pia Kjærsgaard all
reference what was once
the family farm, the
gaard .
Danes love nature, which
is why weather is always
an appropriate topic of
conversation.
They're also very good at
historical weather.
They'll tell you that the
rains this April are just
like the rains of April
2014, or that we haven't
seen
this type of wind since the
summer of 2006.
If you live in Denmark
with a house in the
suburbs with land
around it -- parcel
houses, they're often
called.
You have a lot of room
for gardening, but people
who live in apartments
often have what is
called colony gardens.
Colony gardens are
patches of land set aside
in the cities and then
divided up for urban
residents to
have a garden. They
usually build a little
house on the plot as well,
although you're only
allowed to
live there during the
summer.
During the winter, the
electricity and the water
usually get switched off.
The houses are generally
wooden, small, cramped
and a little thrown
together.
In the tiny kitchen, there
are often chipped plates
and glasses.
Out in the main room, old
chairs with cushions in a
grandmotherly fabric.
A few board games ready
for rainy days.
Out front there is a
flagpole and a big Danish
flag on holidays.
Always, always, the
colony gardens are
surrounded by a hedge
for privacy.
Colony gardens are run
by an association, so
you're supposed to be
friends with your
neighbor
colony gardens, but keep
them at a distance.
Good fences make for
good neighbors and
all that.
Getting a colony garden
requires either buying
one or getting on a long,
long list to get one.
Which means that very
few of the 15% of the
residents of Denmark who
are not ethnic Danish
have colony gardens.
As I mentioned in an
earlier podcast, the list
of residents tends to
look like the 1957
Copenhagen phone book.
In my Copenhagen
neighborhood, which is
very diverse, there was an
initiative to change this.
A few years ago, a little
bit of land was freed up
by the railroad tracks
and the idea was to create
a unity garden.
Half of the land was set
off for people who were
not born in Denmark, and
half was set off for
people who were.
The idea was to meet up,
work together, exchange
knowledge, have summer
picnics and meet across
cultures.
Last summer I walked past
on an evening stroll.
The people around the
picnic table all appeared
to be Danish.
Walking along the
gardens, the ones with
Danish names on
signposts were
flourishing, full of
flowers
and fall squash, while
most of the others were
abandoned, full of weeds
and thorns.
Maybe the non-Danes did
not want to spend their
summer evenings and
weekends scrabbling in
the dirt for
food that you could buy
much cheaper in the
supermarket down the
street.
If you come from a poor
country where your
parents had to garden
out of desperation, or
where city
people look down on
farmers, you might not
want to spend your
weekend
play farming at your
garden,
getting down on your
hands and knees in the
mud, which is one of the
Danes' greatest
pleasures.
Diversity and inclusion
does not mean that
everybody enjoys the same
activities.
Colony gardens could
fairly be called
"pæredansk", which
translates directly to
"Pear Danish".
These are things that are
thoroughly, unmistakably
Danish.
Rugbrød, or the
distinctive Danish rye
bread is another thing
that is "pæredansk".
It's the thing that Danes
miss most when they
travel abroad.
Topped with fried fish or
liver paste or sliced eggs
for lunch.
It's one of those
traditional foods that
yeah, people still do
actually eat.
People can also call
themselves Pear Danish.
It has nothing to do with
pears, the fruit, or pairs
in the sense of couples.
"Pær" in this context
means "very".
You could also say that
something is "pærenem" -
very easy - or
"pærelækker", very tasty.
This can apply to either a
meal or a person.
To be Pear Danish, you
don't necessarily have to
be ethnic Danish, but you
have to
be thoroughly soaked in
all aspects of Danish
culture, pretty much to
the exclusion of any
other culture.
That's not me, even after
many years of living in
Denmark.
And it's apparently not
those neglectful
gardeners who signed up
for those tiny colony
gardens
down by the railroad
tracks, the gardens that
now lie abandoned.
Some Danish traditions,
like cake breaks and
"hygge" and long summer
holidays,
are adopted and
appreciated by
newcomers.
And some are not.
And that's the How to Live
in Denmark podcast for
this week.
Follow me, Kay Xander
Mellish, on LinkedIn,
where I post a lot about
Denmark and Danish
working culture,
or find all of our
transcripts at
howtolivendenmark.com
You can also book me, Kay
Xander Mellish, for a
speech or workshop to
your group or
organization at
events.
howtolivedenmark.com.
See you next time.