Dr. Beate Formowitz

Fortunately, I took the first - then still unconscious - step in this direction when I began studying organic farming in Witzenhausen in the winter semester of 1999/2000. There is so much to tell about the following years as a student and doctoral student that I don't even know where to begin and end. I could tell you about my wonderful time in the Hanseaten-WG, the highs and lows of studying and partying together, the legendary parties in the club, the encounters with so many incredibly great, committed and caring people at home and abroad, or the specialist areas of plant cultivation in the tropics and subtropics and soil biology.

My internships in Portugal on an ostrich farm in the Alentejo and my later stay in Costa Rica are unforgettable. After arriving in Portugal with the offer that we could also sleep in a tent, we were delighted that our Dutch neighbor fulfilled the cliché of owning a caravan, which we were allowed to borrow and use as accommodation. It was a great time and we learned a lot about artificial breeding, ostrich rearing and real teamwork. The latter included not being "kicked to death" when taking away the eggs. Quite unexpectedly, several small puppies were "placed in our laps" on the farm, which we raised with the bottle and never gave up. Little Beleza became my faithful companion for 11 years until I had to let her cross the Rainbow Bridge and I still miss her today.

Somewhat naively and without any knowledge of Spanish, I plunged into the adventure of Costa Rica. The journey by container ship across the Atlantic alone, thanks to the great support of Dole Europe, was an amazing experience, which I more than enjoyed after the first three days of seasickness below deck. All the impressions such as flying fish, whales and the incredible sea of stars in the night sky made up for everything. In addition to experimenting with Effective Microorganisms and Bokashi, I spent the following seven months exploring this wonderfully diverse country and getting to know and love the joie de vivre of the Latin Americans and the Spanish language.

In 2008, I was once again looking for a new challenge and so I came to the Technology and Support Center in Straubing in beautiful Lower Bavaria. And "do, do wor i dahoam", from day one everything was just right, the people, the region, the tasks, the coziness... "oanfach ois". In addition to projects on energy crop cultivation, I was very lucky to be able to work on a project with philosophers on the social debate surrounding bioenergy. It was exciting to see how the initially very different working methods of us natural scientists and humanities scholars converged more and more over the course of the project, of course not without endless discussions about report structures, formulations and their meanings.

I've been back in Hesse since mid-2014, albeit in a completely different field of activity. Leaving research behind me, the focus is now on supporting advisors in rural areas and employees in agricultural administration through our technical and methodological training courses at the LLH educational seminar in Rauischholzhausen. New tasks require new methodological and personal skills and so I attended the Master's in Mediation as well as various training courses on communication, relationship management, leadership and the like. I truly consider it a privilege to be able to work in a beautiful castle and in this professional field and to constantly learn and develop with every seminar and in exchange with the participants, clients and my team.

As a person with a strong sense of closeness, in line with Riemann-Thomann, connecting with the people around me is one of the most important things in my life. Over the years, wonderful friendships have developed that have not been interrupted by relocations and long distances. Some of them have their origins in Witzenhausen and I hope they will last for a very long time.

Inka Sachse: Thank you so much for this wonderful, lively and organic report! I look forward to hopefully seeing you again soon.