currently under renovation!

located in the middle of the garden, the honbeybees are primarily henri's responsibility with minor maintenance by leon and jonas sommer. there are currently seven hives on the apfelbienen grounds!

the hives themselves are surrounded by utilitarian flowers like butterfly bushes, crocuses and lavender for the queens, foxglove and snapdragons for the workers, and cirsium rivulare for the drones.

under construction: sparse with room to grow! a pergola, vertical bed and trellises are waiting patiently to be installed. the perimeter is made up of pastel tones and is primarily made up of four different types of bee balm, supplemented by tall flowers such as irises, blue camassia and lupin. watch out for those seasonal allergies!

in spring the cornflower, borages and phlox bloom in chaotic abundance, so much so that the propety is sprinkled with seemingly random patches of flora. the summer perennials are the most vivid of the blooms.

currently: we're descending from the dead heat of summer and heading into early fall which means everything is in full bloom! purple coneflowers, bearded irises, peonies, black-eyed susans, fields of wild red poppies, and last but certainly not least, a small crop of sunflowers near the a-frame.
in an attempt to kickstart cross-pollination with the apiary, there's a plot drawn out with rows of rosemary, seeded globe artichokes, chive flowers, and nasturtium. another section that's closest to the a-frame is the herb garden, set up with raised planters overflowing with basil, thyme, and mint!

when apfel was adopted he had very nasty feet. his feet are currently in tip top condition which means he's a riding horse! apfel is 10 years old, very gentle, and goes at a very slow pace- this isn't because he's incapable of going faster, he just has a very leisurely personality. he stands 6' from hoof to shoulder.

where apfel is leisurely, bienen is very proactive and ambitious! she goes out of her way to jump over obstacles, her thundering hooves can be heard from a great distance, and it's thought that she flips her hair just because it's fun. much like apfel, bienen is a very tall belgian draft, standing at 6'2" from hoof to shoulder.

meet geppetto and pinocchio- two handsome poitou donkeys, "the children of world class champions". these two joys were a gift from nazanin esfahani and ilias lambrou, and have been lighting up the apfelbienen property with their presence every since their arrival!
(not pictured) horse is an arabian stallion gifted to henri by blu church!

the pig pen is 8'x16'. it's essentially a fence and a small covered area ("the pig house") that can comfortably contain four pigs.

there is currently one pig on the farm, beethoven, an adopted mangalica pig (read as: fuzzy pig) who's owned by naz and step-daughter to ilias, but she lives at apfelbienen because, like, it's nice to run around a farm when you're a pig. frequently seen trotting around the farmhouse with a bowtie on!

the chicken coop is yet another collaborative effort by apfelbienen residents and its guests. the chickens are grass fed and free range - this means there are frequent egg hunts around the farm, so mind where you step! the roost is ruled by two roosters, strawberry and shortcake, and also houses 11 unnamed hens.

along the same lines, quail nests and coops have been placed around the farm for a flock in the near future! this is partially because apfelbienen residents love quail, but more importantly: they're wild for eggs!

there is but one goat that currently inhabits this goat cathedral: a grumpy old fellow, one that roy remembers not so fondly...

built by flora and bastian sommer, the rabbit hutch currently houses six rabbits that are, as one can imagine, very fun to cuddle.

hinterlands → henry and lina's farm and the sommer siblings ancestral home!

orchard house → formerly opa and oma's farmhouse, has since been turned into a nonprofit that provides housing and job training for immigrant & refugee families. there are gsl & esl classes, as well as music classes. when it comes to farm work, an offer of helping hands is never refused!

navid amini credits of salman khoshroo 34, one of the older students, navid's family immigrated to germany from iran when he was eighteen. in commonality with roy, navid has a large family (four sisters - he's smack dab in the middle!). similar to his credits, he started work in digital art but moved on to natural fibers after his family found a new home in berlin. he and roy attended the same university - university of cologne! he's very driven but very chill, and prefers to go with the flow. this means he's worked with a lot of mediums but remains on theme despite a constant flux of materials.

goals: focusing on fiber art but without sacrificing his joie de vivre for multiple mediums!

leyle petina credits of polina osipova 24, leyle also comes from a large family that immigrated to germany when she was 10 years old (a decision she did NOT appreciate and still resents). fluent in multiple languages (chuvash, russian, german, and english), she's the oldest of her siblings and has developed robust leadership skills. she's headstrong, has a very "it works or it doesn't" attitude, and will leave a project behind without any regrets, only to pick it up and finish it a few years later. she takes frequent trips back to russia to visit her grandmother, the budget for which is fully funded by sales on instagram.

goals: to interact with other artists and appreciate a change of scenery - leyle is used to living in the city, she's curious to see how her body reacts to something more rural!

tabor schaeffer credits of moreno schweikle 28, the son of furniture makers, tabor's post-primary education lies mainly with internships. he attended design school in berlin where he was viewed as particularly promising by his instructors, if not exteremely prolific. though tabor displays a great amount of patience with his work, his organizationn is represetative of his general mood: a total mess. he's the only child of two very young parents and is accustom to a baseline amount of attention that determines his validation. it's something to work on...

goals: to explore the materials of the natural world. he's also very excited about all these supposed guest lecturers...

saulé azovskiy credits of katie stout 24, 'naive pop', a little weird, a little socially awkward, talks about everything except herself (which made conducting an entrance interview a little tricky). born in germany to parents who immigrated from kazakhstan (note: she has one younger sister), punched and kicked her way through primary schooling into secondary where she attended gymnasium (just like roy! wow) and feverishly sought out an education in the arts. she graduated, but went on to "do her own thing", living with and apprenticing with different artists in cologne and berlin, steadily developing her own style. now she makes really tall gross lamps!

goals: hone in on her love for the grotesque, mainly she lacks focus and decisiveness and needs the push to make confident decisions- or at least decisions she's proud of.

zóphía vogt credits of ýrúrarí 28, works with recycled textiles, gets along well with roy in the quest for sustainability in art. very knowledgeable and sure of herself in her aesthetic and works, great at networking, very calm which is disparate to her loud work. born in iceland, her mother died when she was very young. zóphía was sent to live in germany with her (paternal) grandparents after her father passed a few years later. she currently moves back and forth between germany (cologne) and iceland.

goals: networking... growth... joy!

cormac o'brien credits of brendan o'shaughnessy 21, a child of the forest, cormac never left the borders of dublin until he was 18 years old. he spent his time playing in streets and alleyways all within the same two blocks. raised by his mother (along with three half siblings), cormac was first introduced to nature when he accompanied his at-the-time boyfriend on a trip to newcastle. his world was immediately changed, and since then cormac has been obsessed with nature, the outdoors, and sustainability, seeing forests and landscapes through the lens of a child raised by the city. cormac's father is german, they are estranged, though cormac's mother has been secretive with the details as to why. more to come on this...

goals: he wants to make a sculpture AS TALL AS A TREE!