REwild farming

past.

rewild farming started in fall 2024, when benjamin onno dikmans and bram de vos began collaborating to lower barriers to farming land autonomously and sustainably. as part of onno’s graduation at DAE, a starter kit was developed; a modular workspace in a repurposed shipping container. now it is being tested on a piece of abandoned green that we claimed and transformed into a fertile ecosystem where human care meets more-than-human localitiy.

humans did never passively adapt to their environments; they consciously maintained cyclical relationships with the ecosystems they encountered. crop cultivation and organised subsistence practices were often deliberate social choices against socio-ecological exploitation. relying on farming, herding, or foraging was not a one-way evolutionary path but a dynamic, and collective decision which included experimenting with forms of cooperation and mobility.

cultivation as farming is understood as the only expression of social order that maintains food sovereignty – whilst it’s open to transform and should be grounded in ecological reciprocity. our work is rooted in in shifting dynamics of food production and aims to rewild farming practices.

present.

you are invited to come experience our space with a visit during the day or by joining one of our gatherings (see ddw programme).
as a growing group, we are actively restoring our relationship with food production and ecosystem management. while seeding and harvesting, our work focuses on the theme of “regeneration”. the ways in which we access food, energy and care are increasingly mediated by untransparent systems that limit our capacity to choose how we live. subsistence has become a single arrangement, whereby food is produced industrially on mega farms. this system is failing not only to provide food sovereignty, but also to maintain the balance of our global ecosystem.

at spoorzone fuutlaan, we come together for gardening, discussing, cooking and relaxing. we are establishing a dynamic space for re-connection and re-creation of (eco)systems. now, we hope to facilitate the process of turning this area into the planned neighbourhood park (2030). come see, feel, smell, taste what it means to eat off our soil for yourself.

possible.

placing the starter kit in spoorzone fuutlaan is an attempt to revolutionize the way eindhoven is developing its urban environment. we complement theoretical participation with hands-on engagement, thereby allowing inhabitants to co-create actively. only a bottom-up approach will enable durable decision-making, integrate rather than segregate and create social cohesion for neighbourhoods.

we offer a blueprint of engagement that creates spaces for community, how they can come together around our starter kit and use it to co-design their environment with each other and the (eco)system.

we plan for future projects, each activating a different context with a different approach to food systems, urban development, and collective action. we will build a network; with multiple starter kits that create access and knowledge transfer.

to rewild means to resist dependency and reimagine freedom not as escape from the world but as deeper reciprocity within it. whether focussing on agroecology, cooperative economies, or community-based care, our work remains attentive and deliberately unfinished.

heads-up, we are looking for partners.