Now the weather is warming up, it’s time to hit the road and escape the urban jungle. But instead of taking the bus to beach or driving to the hills for a hike, you might be pleasantly surprised to find a green oasis closer than you think.
Victory Garden in a bomb crater, London
Last week I was lucky enough to stumble upon Bustan Brody, one of sixteen community gardens in Jerusalem, just a few minutes walk from my flat. What was a disused patch of land littered with rubble three years ago has been transformed into a public open space by green-fingered local volunteers (with a little help from the Municipality, the local Community Center and green NGOs the SPNI and Garin Dvash).
“It’s not the community that built the garden, but that the garden itself built the community. By making the garden, suddenly people get to know their neighbors,” explains Danny Brachya, one of the Bustan’s founders.Abba Zadidov, another of the garden’s founders, agrees that its role is as much social as environmental: “We’re trying to reverse for centrifugal force in Israeli society that is pulling people away from the center. It’s creating a center that people will be attracted to and will come together.”
From 9 to 11 this Friday morning, locals will be descending on the Bustan to dispose of their hometz, leavened bread forbidden during the coming week of Pesach.
On other occasions, such as Succot or Tu B’shvat, plants from the Bustan itself become part of the festival. “It’s an opportunity to be hands on. We use what we are growing here to celebrate the festivals,” says Zavidov.
The centre-piece for the Bustan, which translates to ‘orchard’ in both Hebrew and Arabic, are its many fruit trees, which Zavidov says are the ‘backbone’ of the garden’s ecosystem. Priority is given to native species including pomegranate, fig, almond and arava (willow) which, along with the sights and smells of the vegetable patch and herb bushes, owe much of their fertility to the steaming heaps of compost in the far corner, which turn kitchen waste and garden clippings into soil (with the help of bacteria, heat and a few worms).
The garden also reduces waste by using woodchips from the municipality which can be spread on the ground as mulch, a protective layer on top of the soil, or used in compost.
If you live in Jerusalem, or plan to visit, you can find the nearest community garden and other green initiatives at greenmap.org.il Bustan Brody is located at Brody Street, off Rav Haim Berlin Street (near Derech Azza) in Rehavia, contact: [email protected]
More on community gardening:
A Happy, Sustainable Passover to All
Mulch Rot and Reinvigorate: composting (Part 1) and Compost (part 2): A Half Empty Bin and Some Worms.
Greenmap.org.il contains a list of Jerusalem’s community gardens here and composting sites here (in Hebrew).
Photo: Michael Green
Author: Michael Green
Born into a family of auto mechanics and engineers in east London’s urban sprawl, Michael bucked the trend and chose a bicycle instead of a car. A relative newcomer to Jerusalem, he works as a freelance journalist writing for the Jerusalem Post and other publications. Before moving to Israel, he worked for an environmental NGO in England where he developed a healthy obsession with organic vegetables and an aversion to pesticides and GMOs. Michael’s surname is pure coincidence. Michael can be reached at michael (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Such a great place especialy that it’s made by the comunity with help from the authorities. also what they used to make it(doing it cheaper) it’s interesting.wish more people would have more intitiatives like this one.
great post, about a great place. How about (we as a team, not just you!) do a series on green spaces & parks in cities across the Country – introducing small, relatively unknown bits of Jerusalem or Haifa, to visiting residents of Be’ersheva or Bet Shemesh, for instance? This could be our way to commemorate 60 years of Eretz Israel …..
oh, and please put up your great profile of Gil Peled that was in last weeks JPost on Green Prophet …. give it (& him) a wider audience …..