In the 8th district of Budapest, on the corner of Auróra street and Bérkocsis street passers by will find a wooded lot instead of the old tenement buildings typical of the area. This is Aurora Climate Garden. The volunteers of the garden, led by an American, Mark Richards, are working to create a self-sustaining forest ecosystem. They use household compost to enrich the soil of the 240 square meter lot.
The once barren location is now covered by trees, bushes and a variety of undergrowth. The multi-layered, forest-like flora and the high quality, living soil can store more water, provide shade and cool the garden and its surrondings as well. The garden is also home to community events and workshops. The Climate Garden serves as direct climate action, natural environment and community space all at once.
Aurora Climate Garden among the typical tenement buildings of Bérkocsis street.Mark Richards is the founder and "compost master" of the garden. Arriving in Budapest in the 90s he immediately fell in love with the city and feels he needs to do something to make it more liveable.A volunteer targets specific trees with watering, focusing on ones that need the most help to thrive in the heating weather. This way the balance between the survival of the plants and minimizing water use.Bees and other pollinators are crucial to the healthy ecosystem of the garden. The insect hotel provides a place for wild bees to lay eggs and thus spend more time in the garden.The garden also plays host to community events organized by the Aurora Community Hub next door. It's an especially favored location in the summer months, when the cooling effects of the trees is most needed.People from the neighborhood as well as visitors to the garden and Aurora Hub regularly bring their household green waste to the garden. The compost created from this waste serves to further enrich the soil of the garden with more and more nutrients.The garden is open twice a week until sunset to visitors bringing materials to compost. On the shorter days of the fall and winter opening hours stretch even further, into nightfall.A volunteer cutting up a branch recently cut. With the coming of the cooler weather of fall the trees start losing their leaves. This is the ideal time for pruning to control growth for the spring.The bare trees and snow covered ground in the winter makes it hard to imagine the thick vegetation from a few months earlier in the summer.The garden's volunteers hold a small year-end celebration in Aurora Hub.
