Querwaldein e.V. – Protecting Orchard Meadows and Biodiversity with CARLA

The story

Jakob and Wilm are members of Querwaldein e.V., an organization dedicated to nature and wilderness education. Through their project, “Streuobstwächter*innen,” they inspire children, teens, and adults to protect and care for orchard meadows.

This is because orchard meadows are among the most valuable habitats for biodiversity and play an important role in climate protection. To ensure these special places are preserved, we need people who will care for, use, and further develop them.

This is exactly where Querwaldein steps in: through educational programs, joint maintenance efforts, and hands-on nature conservation projects. From pruning fruit trees to planting new ones and harvesting apples, a community is formed that actively works to promote greater biodiversity—and produces some particularly delicious produce in the process.

And because sustainable nature conservation also requires sustainable mobility, the CARLA is now an integral part of many of these efforts.

The challenge

Working in orchard meadows involves much more than just picking apples.
Planting trees requires shovels, tools, and young trees. Special nesting boxes are being built for the hoopoe, a very special inhabitant of orchard meadows. Tree trunks are transported to create nesting aids for wild bees, stones are moved to build dry stone walls, and ladders are brought along for pruning fruit trees.

In addition, there are events with school classes, educational programs, and joint maintenance efforts in the orchards. And that requires a lot of materials!

In the previous project, cars were often needed for this. But that’s exactly what Jakob and Wilm wanted to change. When you’re working to promote biodiversity and a sustainable future, transportation should also be as resource-efficient as possible.

So they were looking for a cargo trailer that was big enough for their ideas—and sturdy enough for use on uneven orchard meadows.

The solution

Their first encounter with CARLA was many years ago. In 2013, Jakob and Wilm came across a CARLA trailer for the first time at a climate camp in the Rhineland. Their enthusiasm has endured.

Today, they use an eCARLA with a High transport box to carry materials, tools, and harvested crops directly by bike.

In doing so, the CARLA demonstrates its versatility every day:

• Apples harvested with a school class are transported from the orchard to the school, where they’re turned into juice by the mobile cider press “Most und Trester.”

• Wood for birdhouses and tree trunks for wild bee nesting aids find their way to the meadow, just like spades for tree planting.

• The transport box even has room for ladders used for pruning fruit trees.

• Thanks to the weather-protected transport box, materials can be stored directly in the orchard meadow.

• And sometimes the CARLA transports not only tools and apples, but also children with tired feet after a long day of projects.

What’s particularly handy is that the CARLA can be easily maneuvered as a handcart even on uneven terrain. This way, the materials get exactly where they’re needed.

For Querwaldein, the CARLA is far more than just a means of transportation. It helps combine nature conservation, environmental education, and sustainable mobility—and, along the way, provides countless hands-on nature experiences.