I got the idea for a fjord garden when I compared Grønt Forums (green umbrella organization in Vejle) activities with the UN's sustainability goals. Grønt Forum was fine with all relevant areas on land, but at sea, in the blue area, there were no activities. Since at that time I had shared an office with one of the masterminds behind Ebeltoft Fjordhave (probably the first in the country), it was not far from thought to action. I also like sailing and being on the water.
I formed a start-up group with two others, and together we wrote an application to the Velux Foundation, which, to our great delight, granted us most of the money. After some lobbying, Vejle Municipality then granted the remaining amount.
After that it was just a matter of applying to the relevant authorities. That process took about a year.
Vejle Fjordhave was laid out in the spring of 2019, after we had obtained all the necessary permits:
Fjordhaven measures 100x200 square meters and is located on the north side of Vejle Fjord opposite Brejning Marina. The water depth is 8 m. The area is marked with four yellow special marking buoys, which appears on the chart. In the fjord garden, there are two main lines of 170 m each. The mussels and seaweed hang here. At the harbor we have two tool sheds for all our things.
It is the commitment, the wealth of ideas and the power of action of the particularly active people that carry the association. It is very inspiring and uplifting to see how their different backgrounds are combined in such a way that so far we have been able to solve most of the problems ourselves.
Our biggest bright spots are probably our communal meals, where we have typically been approx. 30 people for delicious clam food. There is fun and talking, and the togetherness grows.
The open house events have also been successful when the weather was otherwise good and there was no competing events in Vejle.
It is also fine with the arrangements with upper secondary schools, post-secondary schools and colleges, where the young people get to know something about life in the fjord as well as some practical experience.
Our mussel cleaning machine, “Rumle”, which is a converted potato peeling machine, saves us a lot of time and trouble. With it, cleaning is a breeze. However, it requires both electricity and water, which the port has had difficulty supplying, especially in winter.
It is also a pleasure that we now have boat crews who can sail out on both Tuesdays and Thursdays and handle large and small tasks in the fjord garden. We have had a steep learning curve in practical fjord gardening, but today we are very well equipped. The sailings have resulted in a good and rewarding community. Usually we get a nice nature experience too and see a number of different birds as well as porpoises and seals once in a while. It is the efforts of the boat crews that form the foundation for the entire association.
We have typically been 3 – 6 people in Mytilus. Experience shows that a staff of 4 – 5 people is best. The crew consists of men, but I have to promise that the women came to the field when socks had to be sewn. And also when cooking and cleaning up afterwards.
Windy weather and eiders are probably the two biggest challenges for the operation. We cannot work in the fjord garden if the wind is stronger than approx. 4 m/sec., although slightly dependent on the wind direction; northerly winds are more favourable, as the fjord garden is then sheltered.
For two years, eiders have eaten all the mussels in the fjord garden during approx. 10 days in autumn. We now prevent this by hanging socks on the outside of the stockings and/or by hanging the stockings up inside Brejning Yacht Harbor on bridge G. When our mussels were eaten, we got help from Kerteminde and Aalborg Fjordhaver and from Vejle Municipality with new mussels. It's good to know your friends in times of need.
Ice has also bothered us, partly because we have not been able to sail out of the harbour, partly because it has moved corner buoys and cut both main lines.
Fjordhaven's basic design was not optimal either. The buoys at the anchors of the main lines were too large and gave too much buoyancy. Now we use significantly less buoys. The heavy duty 20mm iron anchor chains with which we anchored corner buoys and mainline anchors were found to have metal fatigue (probably due to previous overloading); they suddenly broke and the buoys floated away and the anchors remained on the bottom of the fjord. Now we use mainline ropes to tie anchors down, and only use the heavy iron chains as sinkers. We also use bucket anchors of 32 kg in the third points of the main lines, two pieces. each place, i.e. four per main line.
During the corona era, many people bought motorboats and set sail on the fjord. Unfortunately, they also sailed into the fjord garden and overran the main lines. Now we have put lanterns on the corner buoys.
Our cutter Mytilus has also caused some problems. It got better when we had the bow tube repaired, changed the engine to a new one and our cutter has got a new deck!. However, it still leaks which is unsatisfactory. We hope to do something about that soon.
Mytiline is our little dinghy, which has now got a brand new outboard motor. All members can borrow it once they have shown that they can sail it.
Over time, we have received financial support from a number of foundations:
The money from foundations and sponsors typically amounts to several times the members' dues payment.
We have the following sponsors and partners
At the time of writing, we have approx. 70 families as members. This is the highest number ever. This is probably due to our offer to become a member with a discount when paying after the summer holidays
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We have both a website (https://vejlefjordhave.dk/) and a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068106815061). In addition, we have various leaflets and posters.
Vejle 7, maj 2024
Thomas Drivsholm.
