Isabella Mossbrugger:

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Advent wreath-making takes skill, and Isabella Moosbrugger knows the technique inside out.(Bild: Mathis Fotografie)

In his new series "The Land of Volunteering", author Robert Schneider brings people in front of the curtain who are committed to helping others. This time he met Isabella Moosbrugger, who has dedicated herself to gardening and conserving resources.

The Bezau fire station is a hive of activity. A handful of women from "Gartenfreunde Reuthe-Bezau" have gathered in a large room in the prestigious modern building, whose exposed concrete walls do not exactly radiate comfort, to make Advent wreaths for the Christmas market. One little girl is still there. She concentrates on weaving twigs into the tiny wreath. It is her very first Advent wreath that she is making herself. She is very serious about her work. When I praise her work, she feels rather disturbed by me. There are piles of different fir branches in the high and wide room, and when the women pull out a branch, they look at it twice and turn it over to see if it is pretty enough. "Toß" is the word for brushwood branch, Isabella Moosbrugger, who I meet here for an interview, tells me. "Here in the Rhine Valley, we say Kreas," I reply. The small, older lady looks at me briefly with her alert and quick-as-an-arrow eyes. "Mir vu duß are abr oh Lüt," I add jokingly. That seems to break the ice. The women have to laugh heartily and we're all on first-name terms straight away.