The Kreenholm community garden was established by artists Sandra Kosorotova and Sille Kima in 2020 next to the Narva Art Residency. This is the first community garden in Narva, where local residents can cultivate and harvest, participate in artist workshops and socialize. The garden’s core principles include sustainable practices, permaculture, recycling organic waste, cooking with local plants, and engaging with local organizations and residents. The garden is also bringing urban gardeners closer in touch with the source of their food, and by breaking down isolation by creating a social community.
Every year during the summer the garden hosts new artists-in-residence, who is engaged in planting, studying the local flora, holding workshops, and developing the garden. The summers have been filled with a program of workshops. All workshops are free of charge and happen in two versions: a closed workshop for the clients of the Narva Social Care Center for neurodiverse folks and an open workshop, which everyone is welcome to join.
Starting from the 2023/24 season, the project is led by Maria Kopytova and has been supported by the British Council’s “People 2 People” programme.
In spring 2024 The House of Estonian Language (Eesti Keele Maja) in Narva started the special project called “Garden Fairies Spring School” in cooperation with Narva Art Residency and Kreenholm Garden. During this cooperation, 40 language learners will create their own dream gardens and contribute to the Kreenholm community garden near NART. The goal of the project is to gather a Russian-speaking minority who will communicate in Estonian through gardening practices. On May 12, the implementation of the landscaping plans of the participants in the Spring School of the Garden Fairies will begin. On August 25, the award ceremony will take place in the Nart.
Residents and events 2020–2023
2020
July
Garden initiation: first raised bed.
August
Local edible weeds tour for the public; building new raised beds with Narva-local youth
organization VitaTiim.
2021
March
The first resident of Kreenholm Plants, Estonian interior architect and designer Kaisa Sööt
created a plan for the garden and designed a garden bed and compost box.
April
II garden resident, Lithuanian textile artist Karolina Janulevičiūtė curated and planted beds
with herbs and flowers, that are both medicinal and can be used to dye textiles.
May
Building the new raised bed with Kaisa Sööt design; sowing seeds in the bed with the clients
of Narva Social Care Center for neurodiverse people.
June
Co-leading with Maria Muuk a food-themed workshop ‘Obshenie’ as part of (Re)configuring
Territories Summer School: the socio-political histories of soviet legacy candy and culinary
delights, local edible weeds tour, cooking with weeds and surplus food, co-organising reading
material.
July
III garden resident, Latvian born and Latvian and UK based designer and permaculture
specialist Vineta Gailite built a geodome shelter in the garden and conducted a series of
geodome building workshops.* A collective dreaming was held about what the garden
would need and could have in the future.
August
Karolina Janulevičiūtė led a series of workshops,* where the participants could practice textile
dyeing with the plants from the garden as well as learn about their medicinal properties.
*
All workshops are free of charge and happen in two versions: a closed workshop for the clients
of the Narva Social Care Center for neurodiverse folks and an open workshop, which everyone
is welcome to join.
2022
May
30.05 Anna Maquet (EE) and Sandra Kosorotova (EE) workshops:* building
new beds based on permaculture principles.
June
18.06 Sean Roy Parker (UK) workshops* I: concocting a healing gardeners
hand balm from local herbs
July
17.07 Sean Roy Parker (UK) workshops* II: lactofermenting
24.07 Michaela Casková (CZ) workshops:* weather-casting: making dyes and
inks from local plants and found materials
August
14.08 Dambi Kim workshop (South Korea): tea ceremony
28.08 Sille Kima workshops:* listening and harvesting field recordings from the
garden and making a collective mixtape. The co-created sound composition will stay as an
installation around Narva Art Residency until spring 2023, reminiscing of the abundance of
autumn harvest until the beginning of the next cycle.
2023
In 2023 the Kreenholm Garden was developing in many ways. It moved locations and it was installed again right next to the Narva Art Residency building. The local community was more involved and the garden had a steady group of volunteers who take care of it. Two artists – Juliana Foronda and Xiyao Chen – were selected through an open call to become the artists-in-residence of the garden in 2023. The cooperation with social institutions developed further and more organizations became involved. In the 2023 season, the garden was supported by the British Council’s People 2 People program.
May
7.05 Beginning of the 4th season event
June
3.06 First meeting with the volunteers. Here you can see the photos from the first meeting.
11.06 Meet the artist Juliana Foronda at Krenych Sunday
18.06 Volunteers’ meeting
25.06 Workshop about urban gardening with Anton Küünal from the NGO Lasnaidee
July
2.07 Juliana Frond’s planting workshop “Look down and be gentle”
9.07 Volunteers’ meeting
16.07 Denis Kudryashov’s workshop on closed ecosystems and glass terrariums
23.07 Volunteers’ meeting
30.07 Koporsky tea workshop with Ekaterina Kuznetsova
August
06.08 Volunteers meeting (planting strawberries and bushes from dachas)
13.08 “swampy ooze” wild herbs garden tea party with Xyiao Chen
20.08 Volunteers meeting and Xiyao Chen’s seed bombs workhsop
27.08 Volunteers meeting
September
03.09 Tea ceremony workshop with Reico Yasutake and Kabo Motohara
09.09 at 16.00-18.00 Community garden party with music and snacks (Station Narva)
10.09 at 11.00-16.00 Community garden get-together with music, a potluck lunch and film screenings etc. At 14.00 – a discussion with Meelis Muhu. (Station Narva)
17.09 Volunteer meeting and cleaning up the garden before the winter
All workshops and meetings take place on Sundays and start at 11.00.
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Kreenholmi aed MTÜ
Ida-Viru maakond, Narva linn, Joala tn 18, 20103
LHV pank,
IBAN:EE107700771006227190