Out of Munich: Organic Dorfen

The epicentre of co-operative organic agriculture in Bavaria is surely the small town of Dorfen in the municipality of Erding, within half an hour easily reachable by local train from Munich. Departing from Ostbahnhof train station you can take your bike with you once per hour to reach a small Bavarian town that has been the home of the organic Tagwerk co-operative of local organic farmers since 1984 and prides itself to be a bee-friendly municipality. Though finally in vain a significant part of the population had been standing united against the environmentally harmful federal state infrastructure project of the A94 Isentalautobahn for about 40 years and is currently opposing the plans for the new B15 highway of the Bavarian state government.

The train station in Dorfen is the starting point of the Veldenbahn bicycle route (as part of the Vilstal bicycle route) on the rail trail of the historic line linking Dorfen with Velden (Vils).

To get from the train station into the beautiful town you have to surpass the hell of highly frequented Jahnstraße, and right before the nice and pedestrian-friendly bicycle route starts you may stop by the Tagwerk-Laden supermarket which demonstrates how a faceless interchangeable supermarket building in a car-centric environment may be turned into a human-friendly place. Usually this spacious organic supermarket with friendly employees and a relaxed atmosphere not only offers a lot of organic products from the region but also coffee drinks, snacks and cakes in its self-service cafe area, but unfortunately not during covid-19 restrictions. From mid of September 2020 they plan to offer lunch again each Thursday from 12 pm.

From here follow by all means the bicycle route through the beautiful alley of Bahnweg where you'll come by an art&crafts shops offering all kind of things made from the exceptionally aromatic wood of the Swiss pine ("Zirbe"): Das Aromaholz Zirbe keeps open on Thursdays, Fridays and the first Saturday of each month.

When you arrive in town on one of these weekdays pay a visit to Power Plant Ape for music, skateboards, and fair and organic fashion. The shop also used to stock the emission-free organic chocolate delivered by the Schokofahrt cyclists.

The shop is located in baker's lane, and there is in fact an organically certified artisanal baker just around the corner: The flour used by Martins Backstube is daily ground from the corn of Tagwerk farmers. As for most modern bakeries there's a day cafe where you can have a coffee, cake or snack, and if you cannot make it here do not dispair: As many other Tagwerk products you can buy their bread from all Vollcorner supermarkets.

For fairly traded food, sweets and drinks, natural body care as well as colourful fashion accessoiries, gifts and household items pay a visit to the Fair-Weltladen in the very town centre. As most of its kind it's run by local volonteers which makes it the perfect place for a chat with locals.

Bypassing the very town centre for a bicyle tour on the Skulptour II bicycle route which links seven wood sculptures commissioned by local artists in 2015, you'll reach Biogärtnerei an der Isen, a beautiful organic market garden. The place doesn't have a farm shop but in June and early July you can come here to harvest yummy organic strawberries from their strawberry field (the official 2021 season unfortunately is over, but if you have time to harvest some late berries, ring in advance). To buy their produce step by the Bauernmarkt farmers' market which is being held every Friday in Dorfen town - or find their market booth in Munich, at Mariahilfplatz on Saturdays and at Rotkreuzplatz on Thursdays.

• Tagwerk-Laden, Rosenstr. 1, Mon–Thu(Fri) 8–19(16)
• Biogärtnerei an der Isen, Watzling 21, Mon–Sat in June 10–16
• Bauernmarkt, Forsterstadl, Flutkanal, Fri 11:30–16
• Power Plant Ape, Bäckergasse 1, Thu(Fri–Sat) 15(10)–18
• Das Aromaholz Zirbe, Bahnweg 4, Thu(Fri + 1st Sat of month) 15(9)–18(12)
• Martins Backstube, Haager Str. 2, Mon–Fri(Sat) 6–18(13), cafe closes at 3 pm during covid-19 restrictions
• Fair-Weltladen Duka, Rathausplatz 7, Mon–Fri(Sat) 9–18(12:30)

Closed

The Tagwerk co-operative run a low-budget family and bicycle friendly hotel just a few steps from the train station but since they re-organized and moved the Tagwerk wholesale activities to a bigger location in Garching it does no longer exist although you still find the place mentioned on the web.

• Tagwerk-Öko-Hotel, Siemensstr. 2

Munich: Organic Living Rooms

In theory we all love them: The small owner-driven shops that surprise us with their unusual selection or combination of goods and food made with love and care, vibrant places with a special and welcoming atmosphere or homely places of peace where we can sit and wonder and get inspired. Shops who's owners create a place from their ideas of a human world, who are ready for a chat if desired but not pushy in their sales attitude. Places that are somehow home away from home, places for a rest or for inspiration. Places where we hopefully buy stuff since we're not forcibly persuaded by aggressive marketing.

And yes. There are these places, and it doesn't come as a surprise that many of these shops offer organic items.

Books and more

Imagine the dry fruit and sweets display of an oriental bazaar stall, and put it in the middle of a crammed book shop filled with mediavistic, orientalistic and cooking literature. When it's possible again sit down in front of the shop or at the single bar table inside and order oriental-style coffee, tea, and mezze. Have a chat with the owner and scroll the book shelves while you wait -- you will find interesting media on medieval arts and crafts, food, biographies of historic persons, films, facts and fiction in German, English, and even French. Your meal -- the falafel, perhaps a soup -- will be fully organic as are the drinks and the home-made dried fruit.

Before covid-19 Saladins Souk in Haidhausen was also a reliable source of sweets imported from Damaskus, and along-side earthen oil lamps and artisanally produced soaps from both, the Provence as well as the now sadly destroyed soap shops in Aleppo, you will find (usually conventional) delicatessen from French supermarkets. The shop (also dubbed Haidhauser Oase as the blackboards in front of it have it) can be found in the beautiful and relaxed part of Haidhausen a few minutes North-West from Ostbahnhof station. Be prepared to find an always changing display of (not always organic) delicatessen often brought by the owner from his travels or made by his friends. The deep-fried lunch items are prepared healthily in a low-fat fryer, and birch sugar is used as sweetener throughout the menu. You can also order lunch delivery as long as you phone in between 10 and 12 am. During the corona year of 2020 the shop had been closed a lot, but the shop-owner confirmed the shop was to open again January 4th, 2021.

Love to sit down with a good book and a glass of good wine? No question, the two are a perfect match, and even if you're more into an organic softdrink (Bionade), the Buchhandlung Lentner bookstore near Rosenheimer Platz with its cosy cafe is a place where you can stay for hours sitting, watching, chatting with the staff and reading. If you're not able to read German shop of their carefully selected wines, some of them organic. They will also order English books for you (send e-mail, phone in or use their webshop in advance), but this may sometimes take longer than the usual overnight order service for German books. Unfortunately, neither the coffee nor the milk are organic, but if you ask they'll perhaps offer it next time.

• Saladins Souk/Haidhauser Oase, Breisacher Str. 7, Mon-Thu(Fri) 12-19(20), Sat 10-16, order phone: +49 89 62 28 64 62
• Buch&Cafe Lentner, Balanstr. 14, Mon-Fri(Sat) 10-19(15)

Closed

• Phasenreich, Reichenbachstr. 23 (fashion and design)

Germany: Munich

The Bavarian capital can easily be reached by train, with direct connections both from Italy, Austria, the Hungarian capital of Budapest, Croatia and Slovenia with the Austrian railway service ÖBB, German cities with Deutsche Bahn and the TGV from Paris. All these (and non-direct) connections can be booked with Deutsche Bahn, both on-line as well as anonymously at railway stations. ÖBB runs direct night trains to and from Munich, every night, the Nightjet to and from Amsterdam being the only direct train connection between these two cities. There's also a weekly night train from the island of Sylt, via Hamburg.

Eating out

• Cafes, coffee and tea houses
• Ice-cream parlours
• Self-service eateries and streetfood
• Burgers
• Pizza
• Restaurants

Shopping

• Responsible shopping chains
• Convenience stores with lunch or snack options, delis and speciality shops
• Artisanal bakeries and butchers'
• Books, wine, coffee, fashion and delicatessen
• Open on Sun- and holidays
• Supermarkets
• Zero waste

A day out in the countryside

• Dorfen
• Glonn and around
• Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn