Day 15, Tuesday May 24, 2016

Trevor De Vries

Overview

• Marty visit
• Amsterdam discussion
• Tulip Farm

This morning, an agricultural advisor, Maarten VanWoerden, came to wrap up our thatching project. Maarten is an entrepreneur who advises farmers in four main areas: technical, economical, social organization, and market/cliental. Maarten wanted to learn what we, as American college students, have learned throughout our trip about thatching, since the students have a fresh perspective without any prior knowledge of the industry.  We were asked to think about new innovations and ideas for sustainability. The ideas given will go to local businesses in the thatching industry. Maarten gave us the equation E=C*A^2 meaning that entrepreneurship= curiosity x action, as well as this quote “You’ll forget what someone has told and showed you, but you will never forget how they made you feel.” After meeting with Maarten and having this discussion, we reflected back on the trip and determined where they would be placed on a sustainable/unsustainable graph.  The y-axis of the graph compared whether or not the goals of the company were more capital oriented or long term/sustainable, and x-axis compared whether or not they were using their resources sustainably.

We then traveled Bloems Tulip Farm where we discussed the process of planting, harvesting, and selling of flowers. The only thing the Bloems sells is the tulip and Lillie bulbs for future planting and growing. They export their bulbs all around the world to places such as Mexico, China, Paraguay and many more. The tulips are planted in autumn and are harvested after the winter during early spring. There are two ways to harvest it: Purring netting below the planted bulbs and pulling the net out which brings the bulbs with it or using machines that dig many centimeters below the surface, dragging soil and bulbs upward to the harvesters.

After the time at Bloems, we left to go to a small fishing town, called Urk, on the North Sea. Many students ventured on foot with Hans to visit a local memorial for fishermen who had lost their lives while fishing. While exploring the city, students were able to see hundreds of windmills along the coast on the seashore.  The windmills seemed to go as far as the eye could see.

Key Takeaways

One of the biggest take away from the day was the reflection. Students looked back on their trip and noticed that they are learned far more than they realized. Many had never heard of thatching roof styles but by the end of the trip, they have become near experts learning every aspect of the industry. Students, although eager to come home to families, had a sense of bewilderment that this trip is coming to close end.