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.

 

 

We started with cleaning the creek bed which was full of construction and household waste; we continued cutting bushes and tracing out paths leading to forest corners which will be recreational spots in the future.

Further, down the street, another group of volunteers began to clean up concrete platforms, which were cluttered with soil. This platforms were originally made for the communal garbage bins. After the soil around the platforms had been well fixed with stones, the community bins were again put back in their place and the area around them looked clean and neat -we hope it stays that way…

The youngest ones also enjoyed the day playing or…giving a lending hand;- Hmm… The gloves are too big, but maybe I can use this thing …

 Nearby, volunteers started cleaning the place designated for the compost site.

Along the street, branches and green forest "waste" formed a solid living "wall", which later is going to be shreddered and prepared to enter the newly installed composters.

We all were very happy with this successful start. Young as well as old were helping; for everyone there was a task fitting their abilities. The older ones were enthusiastically moving branches and verdure, as much as they were capable to carry. Others helped by distributing tea and food for everyone. Our improvised "catering" consisted mostly of pastries prepared and delivered by the participants. The children enjoyed the sun,played in the already delivered pile of sand and like this got a pretaste of the future sand pool that will be built for them.

We are all looking forward to the next joint activity.

After a hard day’s work also the gloves need to take some rest.

Don´t miss the continuation in our next blog post!