The Centre for Educators' Association in Pécs, Hungary is involved in many exciting international projects, such as the Tale project, supported by the Erasmus Plus program. Partners from six countries collaborate to promote green transition through transformative learning. They cooperate with social movements or green activists in their local areas, running experimental activities. The goal is to examine how we can learn from each other to further the green transition.

Our local partner in the Tale project is the Gardener’s Club at the Pécsbánya Community Centre. The members of the club visit gardens in the summer, collect useful ideas, listen to each other's experiences, and then try to "transplant" them into their own gardens.

Spring arrived early in Hungary this year, sparking excitement among people keen to get outdoors and start gardening. Despite the ground still being cold and the likelihood of frosty nights, it's time to start planning for the season ahead.

Art therapy unlocks new ideas

Against this backdrop, members of the Educators' Association paid a visit to the Gardener’s Club on February 19, 2024, to host a workshop that ingeniously blended art therapy with garden planning. It was an enriching evening filled with inspiration and transferring knowledge. The common idea was to create and draw an annual planting plan that new gardeners could help implement. Both experienced and novice gardeners participated in the club. 

First, everyone briefly introduced themselves and told how they are connected to gardening. After that, the planning started with the construction of the raised bed and the herb spiral. Some good idea was given by Andrea Gönczi, owner of Stackyard Arboretum in Pécs, which won 2nd prize in the 2023 Sustainable Gardens Competition in Hungary. This was followed by a creative session where the participants designed and visualized their imaginary planting plans using the methods and tools of art therapy. It was a special and memorable moment when the adults and elderly people were immersed in painting and drawing, selecting colorful paints with childlike concentration, and drawing vegetables with precision. It was clear that this was an activity that had not been done for a very long time.

During the creative process, there was a possibility to listen to each other's opinions and experiences. It is much more convincing to hear from club members how richly the raised bed grows than to read about it in an article. Novice gardeners got to know about the benefits of home gardening and the advantages of chemical-free gardening. The garden plans were also supported by the sowing calendars and “good neighbor - wrong neighbor” (plant pairings) charts that were handed out.

Good experiences shape attitudes most effectively

Humanity must acknowledge the finite nature of Earth's resources and recognize that endless development is not sustainable. Everyone needs to consider scaling back their consumption and exploring methods like growing their own food. Gardening enthusiasts grasp the value of cultivating vegetables even in limited spaces, as it offers a substantial yield of high-quality produce with minimal energy expenditure.

The participants of the workshop have inspired each other and will start this year's gardening season with more enthusiasm and new ideas, and their plans will be supported by their beautifully designed artwork. The workshop considered adult learners' individual needs and facilitated conscious self-reflection. Everyone planned a bed according to their goals and possibilities and realized the benefits of drawing and visualizing their plans. 

As demonstrated in the Tale project, peer learning and dialogue are essential for a transformative learning process. When one experienced gardener told how much more produce he had harvested from the raised bed compared to what he had grown on the ground, he convinced the others to try this method. The group also engaged in active dialogue, taking into consideration each other's experiences.

A project worth keeping up

The artistic creation has added an unusual new element to the gardeners. The designed, drawn bedding will help with planting, and the benefits are clear; participants will certainly use it when preparing for gardening. The use of art tools opened the gates of communication and made the planning of a garden and the schedule of planting more conceivable. 

We will definitely continue to work with this group as we want to see what they come up with. The program occurred on the outskirts of Pécs, where many elderly and disadvantaged people live. We initiated a conversation about conscious garden planning, and we learned a lot from them about the plants of the nearby forest, the edible plants, and the hidden treasures of the forest. Building on the success of the workshop, we will probably also address a wider audience in the city of Pécs with this program. We aim to make this inspirational approach a model to create useful knowledge exchanges between people living in the city center and the outer parts of the city.

Tale project

The Tale Erasmus+ project is a collaborative effort bringing together adult education organizations, learners, communities, social movements, and green activists to provide new insights on green transition and transformative learning. The main activity of the project is creating “innovation groups” in six countries: Finland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Greece, and Switzerland. The innovation groups are an open, emergent, and collaborative process involving the aforementioned stakeholders. Each innovation group is free to co-design what they want in line with the project’s goals to engage learners, provide transformative learning experiences, and contribute to sustainability in local communities. The intention is to explore how such collaboration can be mutually beneficial. The project is coordinated by the Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation (Kvs). 

Links:

https://kansanvalistusseura.fi/en/

https://www.facebook.com/ckh.hu

Text: Andrea Gönczi, Photos: Réka Szalóki, Andrea Gönczi