#vilnius #urban #farm

Hi I'm good.. in vilnius.. remarkable city.. so beautiful nature.. cold in winter. Many empty houses, boarded up or just empty. Most amazing river tributary meanders through east side of town, bordered by forest and meadows. Wild strawberries, portabellos, lindens, maples, birch, beech and especially plane trees.. many herbs, clover, dandelions, many nettles.. long strands of green weed in the river shallows. Cleans it I'm sure.. water is very drinkable, saw man in army camo wading, bathing and refreshing just 10 minutes from town center. bus from Poland was traumatic and not recommended. Warsaw rather sad.. I hope it gets better for them. Here in vilnius its more cheerful but Young people mostly drinking, smoking and listening electronic music in their spare time. Working similar industries and study programs as us from my conversations so far. little Eco presence in city.. seems to be wondering about tourism and urban development still.. big issue about coldness and adequate firewood. -30 must be quite something. some big construction sites and new apartment buildings outside of centre. No high rise. Oldsters speak no English. Free WiFi everywhere.. hot choc 1 euro, cappuccino 2 euros.
Visited vilnius city farm.. very lively feeling, carefully tended and lovingly organised.. main beds in a huge 40 m greenhouse set into ground, loosely covered in glass panels removable by hand.. very moist and warm inside, watered wilting lettuces but tomatoes herbs kale pumpkins strawberies looking tip top. Ate most delicious sweetest variety of lettuce I ever tasted as well as largest wild strawberries I ever seen. Huge pumpkin crop will last them til next year especially with natural outside refrigerator! Really felt the effect of vegetables grown with love and not for sale today.. for joy rather than fear of debt etc. Never felt satiated by a handful of lettuce leaves before!
My conversation with them on facebook ...
Kemble Dawson Walker hey guys, I am coming from Australia to grow permanent global networks of making our earth more perfect! I work in permaculture and will be visiting the european rainbow gathering (facebook.com/balticrainbow2015), art and craft festival in Krasnodar russia (artandcraftfestival.com) and ringing cedars readers' conference in talinn (vmegre.com/en/news/24333).
will there be an opportunity to see and help out at your urban farm in Vilnius? I will be in the city in the next few weeks.
peace!
Vilnius Urban Farm: Hi Kemble, Sure! You're most welcome to Vilnius and our urban garden. Just drop us a line when u are in town and we'll show u around. Let me know if u need some.help See u soon Mindaugas Danys
Kem: thanks, will be in touch
Kem: Hi, I'm in vilnius today, will there be a chance to see the garden? I'm also wondering, do you have any vegetable, herb or berry seeds?
Vilnius Urban Farm: hi, I am leaving vilnius now myself, the garden is open, we only have factory seeds left available, I'll email your FB profile to my co-gardeners, maybe, some of them are around and can come down to the garden. the key from the greenhouse with all the salads that you can pick is [then they told me where the key is]. please, locate the garden on the google maps.
Kem: Great, enjoy your self! ....
It seems I am early for setup at rainbow environmentalist conference... Have a few offers of farms to.visit and going for easiest one without a hurry. Waiting to confirm now. The organisers are heading to camp site  on Friday.. pine woods and meadows with little yellow flowers.. my total dream.. for now, relax and lots of thinking.. language barrier no problem. still eating bread I baked in Sydney.. sourdough lightly cooked doesn't go dry, it seems... Learnt a lithuanian folk song and a French one.. ran up mountain and getting new strength.. still trying to comprehend what is happening in Russia.. hope more people will look at ringing cedars series to help me make sense of it.. doing my best to stay with prevailing global movements.. and so eagerly looking forward to getting planting and set up on my own spot as soon and easily as posible.. very impatient and keep wanting to jump back on plane and get going in northern rivers. I relax a few more days and see what's up. meeting  with some new friends tonight or tomorrow to help them prepare for 6 weeks of camping in woods with 500 people to discuss future of region and earth planet. Maybe more interesting then.