Stadsboerderij Osdorp: Community centre in Amsterdam

★★★★★ 4.2

Stadsboerderij Osdorp is a city farm and neighbourhood meeting place on the Botteskerksingel in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, built around growing and cooking food. You come here to work in the vegetable garden, eat at the weekly neighbourhood table, or simply walk in through the gate and look around. The farm calls itself a green experiment in the middle of Osdorp, and its three stated values are care for the earth, care for people and fair sharing. Volunteers tend the kitchen garden, schools come for food education programmes, and day activities run twice a week. Every Wednesday the Buurtkeuken Osdorp serves a meal with a different cook from the area, made with produce from the farm's own garden. Local cooks also run lunches, dinners and cooking workshops, inspired by the garden and the clay oven. It is also a base for wider work on greening the district. As a Groenpunt it supports local green initiatives, and it is behind projects such as Wildeman Groen and, with partners, the Groen Coöperatie Nieuw-West, which designs and maintains green space. The main building and a classroom can be hired for workshops, meetings and company events, though not for private parties. The contact on site is city farmer Martin ten Brinke.