Part 4 - „Living together“ in „Knyazhevska Forest” Park

It is already clear – this is one of the sunniest projects. Why? Because each one of the four main days when we have gathered the weather was sunny, sweet and warm. Normally, in this season one should also expect other states of the nature. We are thankful for this natural support!

We start at the usual time – 10.00 o’clock in the morning. We got all the necessary tools for the day. We divided us in the three different areas where we would work today,  – the compost zone, the children’s corner and the repose area.   

The outlines of the sand pool in the children’s corner are getting filled up. Bucket after bucket and wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow the sand is getting there.  

We knuckle down to work and started sewing a cover for the pool – to protect and keep the it clean when the children don’t play there.

Just next to the sand pool, small wooden poles are placed next to each other for the children to play on.   

The liveliest area is the repose area. Here the volunteers start shaping  the future “River of flowers”. First they set the outlines of the pathway that leads from two directions to the place where the bench will be installed. It is strategically located at the “spring” of the “flowers’ river”.

From there one will be able to see the blooming beauty of 400 tulips, 200 daffodils, twisted circles of daisies, aconite, flowering shrubs…a beautiful site. It is still not visible, because now the flowers are just bulbs and the shrubs are still small and have not burst into blossom. Nevertheless, even now the place looks as if caring hands touched it. Look at what it was before the start in the previous posts. 

 

While we are working a car stops and a man from the neighborhood tells us: “You need to appoint non-stop security guards here, to protect what you have done. People are vandals.” 

We strongly hope that he will not be right and we count on the humaneness in people, which alike the small flowers that will bloom, and start giving care and attention toward the already achieved development.    

Today is a special day for us. We have an inner reason to be joyful. We are in the end of the beginning, we have finalized the beginning of the new area. The base and structure for the repose area is finalized, in the Children´s Kingdom the sand pool is at place together with the first toy and the compost zone is ready to be used.

  
And the end of the beginning is good enough occasion to eat a piece of cake – all of us together!    

Read more about our development of the area in the next blog post!

Part 3 - „Living together“ in „Knyazhevska Forest” Park

It is Sunday again. The sun is shining again, giving us all its support to continue. It is the third day of our „Living together“. This week we started already on Saturday when one volunteer came for several hours and worked on cleaning the wild bushes of the forest pathways and made it ready for the next day activities.

On Sunday morning after all had gathered we continue to take away the wild bushes in the forest that before made it impassable and unapproachable. The branches and bushes, cut on the previous day, are piling up as a “green mountain” at the place specially chosen for this purpose.  

Part 2 - „Living together“ in „Kniajevska Forest” Park

Here we are again. A week after the beginning we're together back in Kniajevska forest, at the site, the place where we want to put in our good attitude towards the surrounding urban environment. To give heart and physical effort for the benefit of the local community.

We live in a world where nothing stands still, the movement and the changes are permanent. This impression was waiting for us at the future compost site, which is located near the forest, just behind the municipal bins.

Our first project

The "Living together" project kicks off on Sunday 6 October 2013 in the amazing Knyazhevska forest on the outskirts of the Vitosha mountain in Sofia.

The “our neighborhood” association, has chosen this day to start cleaning up and beautifying a part of this wonderful park.  We are creating a "River of Flowers” - 400 tulips, 200 daffodils accompanied by flowering and evergreen shrubs.  We will be building a children’s play corner installing new benches and a selection of composters.  And next spring when the flowers bloom, we’ll be ready to "feed" the soil with the organic fertilizer (manure) produced in the composters.
The first of preparation will take two weeks.  This will include tidying the area, preparing the soil, pruning bushes, and cultivating the terrain.
We hope that once the project is finished it will inspire visitors and leave an impression of what can be done when we all work together.  What if we can inspire more fantastic initiatives across the city and even through many other cities in Bulgaria, by truly "Living together"?  Helping hands, inspired ideas, project proposals, we welcome them all.  Get in touch with us if you want to be part of our amazing initiative! 

Project „Living together“in Knyzhevska Gora Park

The beginning has already become reality. On the sunny Sunday morning of October 6, 2013, we started our work under the project name “Living together”.  As if it had been influenced by the enthusiasm of the volunteers, the weather had suddenly changed from the dazing, cold and cloudiness of the previous days, into a warm and sunny autumn day.  

At the announced time - 10:00 am, most of the volunteers for the day were already on the site. Everybody took a pair of gloves, grabbed some pruning shears or the more experienced ones went for the chainsaws.

 

We started with cutting a dried out tree whose stump was formed into a "throne" for the "Children kingdom" in the Forest play corner.  The trunk of the tree was cut into smaller parts which were used to build a natural fence. This fence defines the future repose area for the people in the neighborhood, which will be equipped with benches and flower islands.