The state of some affairs

This is where we find ourselves, 8 years after our initial timid interventions in the comunal stoned courtyard with some trees - by the small studio we moved into, as we were kicked out from our lovely two-bedroom-with-a-facing-south-balcony-apartment by the canal in Neukölln, amidst the sudden rents increase in Berlin. This is 4 years after our fallen trees and the fire in the neighbouring courtyard that prompted us to intensive permaculture and community practices. It's been a long time coming. Looking back, everything has moved so slowly. But here we are thriving luxuriantly.

We have taken over the soil under the pavement and developed a whole ecosystem over the years. Literally. And then we brought in more soil, seeds and thoughts. We invited neighbours and partners to collaborate. We continued to water and to build shelters. On an ongoing basis. Now people want to grow vegetables there and to invest more in human pleasures together. We keep talking about it. I have new ideas for creative public actions among the ones that are still lingering around this summer. My partner, the gardener, keeps expanding possibilities to leave behind.

Someone asked me the other day if it will be the coolest garden in Berlin. Certainly not, there are much larger and more autonomous communities’ projects that occupy real public space with lasting ecological effects around the neigborhoods. What we are immensely rich in being able to be feeding on is our own daily life learning and enjoying as we produce a real future for different species. It is right now an island for bees, birds and insects and a refreshment for cats and humans, without being much of a platform for the exact planning of our farther path. It is an investment in a clear direction though, the time and commitment we choose to put here every day, along with all the others that take time and find themselves there. More than a sign of mere prosperity on several levels in the throes of rugged individualism, it’s what takes the practice of prospering from the concrete that ensures that our other plans continue to move elsewhere. Because there’s this lust to keep going elsewhere. But I’m still here.

Transplanted tree and beans by the jasmine

in new raised bed

Bee Pasture Maintenance

Tomatoes growing on soil between lavender, 

shives, sage, basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary 

and loads of mint

Permanent Rucola, Erica Sativa,

 self replanting in oldest raised bed

Grapes growing exponentially 

after 3 years on soil

Zucchini blooming in newest raised bed

Cactus, bamboos and neighbors’ habaneros 

back in the newest raised bed

Thinking communities onwards

at Reichenhof, Berlin Kreuzberg