meetings in the morning with Kispest mayor & in the afternoon with the Wekerle Garden Circle

…to plant a visible kitchen garden in Wekerletelep (or Wekerle Estate, the early 20th century planned utopian Garden City inspired Budapest community actually engineered for residents to grow their own food and where tomorrow we will start planting Edible Estate #12 – which has just received a significant grant from the Graham Foundation and is being produced by the local Blood Mountain Foundation), and even though we knew it had recently become technically illegal because of the neighborhood’s new designation as a national heritage site (meaning that residents are restricted from significantly changing the appearance of their property) we understood the visible edibles ban to be a strange oversight that would soon be repealed – instead, after submitting a formal request to the mayor’s office weeks ago, our homeowner Krista just received word last night that it is indeed illegal, with possibilities of fines and forced removal of the garden – so we have arranged a hasty meeting with the mayor of Kispest this morning (because even though I have written about my desire to plant an Edible Estate garden in a place where it is illegal, I realized that I wouldn’t be the one facing the stress and fines and threats of garden removal) to describe our ambitious plans, point out the lunacy of the situation, request his official permission, and if all else fails inform him that we will plant it anyway, and to get ready for some international press inquiries…and to understand the craziness of our conundrum at Wekerle, read this excerpt from the Wikipedia entry:

Four fruit trees were planted for each apartment (altogether 16.000), and thanks to the favorable sandy soil and to the care of the new dwellers, various kinds of drupes bloomed. It was noted that in 1917 redcurrant harvest was so rich that renters could earn almost four times the yearly rent just by selling their fruits.

(continued later that night) We went in prepared for a dramatic showdown (armed with a slide presentation, videos, sketches, and failing all else, the threat of an immediate international garden scandal initiated by our tough AP Hungarian American journalist friend & Blood Mountain Foundation trustee and translator, who also happened to be making an Edible Estates documentary, with her camera ready to draw from her bag if things got messy), but the Mayor of Kispest, Peter Gajda, ended up being a cool socialist, excited about the project, willing to show up for the planting with his kids, and even offered some council support for the project – and when the homeowner Krista inquired about the ban and possible fine for the garden he said he would “go over there and knock the head of anyone who tried to give them a fine” – so she was relieved and later that day the Wekerle Garden Circle descended on the house to hear about the project bearing plant gifts – they’ll be the community group that the family can depend upon for advice and expertise as the embark on full frontal gardening – starting tomorrow morning as we get shovels into dirt at 8am.