A few days after the official opening of Herbula Wild Garden, the Local Coalition of the Milan T-factor Pilot organised the event “Urban Biodiversity Lab” as part of MIND Innovation Week.
As well as being a promotion event for Herbula Wild Garden, Urban Biodiversity Lab was intended to give closure to two main activities that preceded its official opening and involved local schools, namely BiodiverCity@MIND for Schools and the Herbula Lab experimental activities carried out with the Istituto Pareto.
To convey these experiences and entertain participants in the afternoon, guided tours with natural science experts from Progetto Natura Onlus, as well as live showcase of processing techniques applied to Herbula’s plants and herbs were organized during the ‘Urban Biodiversity Lab’ event. These techniques included distillation, fermentation and dehydration to obtain essential oils, herbal teas or ingredients for cooking (e.g. pesto). This gave also an opportunity to present the prototypes developed by Politecnico di Milano design students as part of the Distributed Design, which consists of open-source solutions for food fermentation and distillation. This activity was supported by an expert from the Wood*ing Wild Food Lab.
We would like to thank all the people who attended the event, and with whom we were able to discuss the message behind the Herbula Wild Garden: the value of urban biodiversity and its importance in education and environmental protection.
