Fryslân Bloeit

what if your village makes the difference?

What if your village makes the difference? That question is at the heart of Fryslân Bloeit, an initiative by Freonen fan Fossylfrij Fryslân, Stichting Duurzame Gemeenschappen and Arcadia. In 2025, thirty Frisian villages and neighbourhoods organised Bloeiweken (bloom weeks), and more keep joining. The villagers themselves decide what such a week looks like. But mienskip (community), health, nature and climate are always at the centre. For one week, the villages take centre stage in positive change. Every Bloeiweek invites you to join in, think along and work together towards a more sustainable and closer-knit Fryslân.

Through workshops, markets, walks, sustainable dinners and joint initiatives, villages show how they’re making their surroundings greener, healthier and more social. The themes are broad, but they touch everyone:

• Nature & biodiversity – from dew-walking to food forests
• Mienskip & health – from a pop-up choir and swimming together to shared vegetable gardens
• Sustainability & energy – from fossil-free commuting to fix teams
• Food & water – from local harvest festivals and cooking healthy together to saving drinking water

a growing movement

Fryslân Bloeit is an initiative by Freonen fan Fossylfrij Fryslân, Stichting Duurzame Gemeenschappen and Arcadia. Every village or neighbourhood joins in for its own reason: to boost biodiversity, strengthen the mienskip, or create a greener living environment. Together, we’re taking steps towards a province that takes no more from the earth than it can give back.

The Bloeiweken aren’t a goal in themselves, but a starting point for real improvements in villages. By taking action together, initiatives emerge that reach further than a single week and make a lasting impact on the community. With inspiring events, villages show that a liveable, future-proof environment isn’t just necessary, but also connecting and inspiring. In Ferwert an open-air ice rink was built to get the mienskip moving, literally. In Akkrum-Nes loose paving tiles made way for plants, turning grey streets into a blooming spot. In Wergea residents opened their doors for a living-room festival, where villagers shared their creativity with each other. Kollumersweach and Feankleaster organised a varied programme, including litter picks, open choir rehearsals, story-reading afternoons, music quizzes and poetry contests. Small actions with a big effect, carried by the community.

“You see all kinds of ideas coming to the table in villages, ideas that have been around for years but never quite had their moment,” says Anne Merkus, project officer at Fryslân Bloeit. More important than the activities themselves is the fact that people from the village come together, rolling up their sleeves for positive action. It is mei sizzen net te dwaan. “Wy haw it net oer iensumens, wy haw it net oer earmoede – wy haw gewoan wat nijs makke en ferbinings lein,” (words can’t really do it justice: it’s not about loneliness, it’s not about poverty – we simply made something new and forged connections) says Rinie Boermans, initiator of Wergea Bloeit. And the bloom is spreading like wildfire: industrial estates and city neighbourhoods are now joining in too.

join in & make your village bloom

Perhaps Fryslân is just the start of a bloom wave spreading out across the rest of the Netherlands and Europe. But whatever happens: we’ll keep blooming, together, on our own ground. Fryslân Bloeit is an invitation to help build a future-proof province. Want to make something bloom in your own neighbourhood or village? You can. Fryslân Bloeit simply carries on. Check the website, sign up your own village, neighbourhood or industrial estate, and organise your own Bloeiweek.

The movement starts here. Join in!

Positive energy

“What a positive energy a week like that brings! There was plenty of sport at the gyms, an evening about collaboration on energy exchange, and lots of people cycled in for fossielfrije fieda (fossil-free Friday). And of course, there was the himmelmoarn (clean-up morning). The conclusion: everything is clean again, we know each other and each other’s businesses a little better, we’re a step closer to an energy partnership at De Hemmen, we got some good exercise, and we’re full of inspiration to keep our businesses blooming!”
– Christien Lycklama à Nijeholt, De Hemmen industrial estate in Sneek

Fryslân Bloeit is an initiative by Freonen fan Fossylfrij Fryslân, Stichting Duurzame Gemeenschappen and Arcadia.