Between 19 and 20 September, the Harvest Festival 2020 took place in the Professor Kozo-Polyansky Botanical Garden. The guests of the event could take part in master classes by agronomists, florists, cactus growers, and artists. They could visit a garden of useful plants, the main tropical greenhouse, an old underground greenhouse, a green laboratory, the Voronezh insectarium, the wildlife conservation centre, and photo zones. They could also taste honey, seaberries, sweet potatoes, nuts, and magnolia-vine.
“We had about 200 visitors. Tasting areas, “harvest” photo zones, and excursions were the most popular. Our guests took part in ArtBotSad murals master classes, learnt to layer cacti, to cook tasty dishes with a harmful weed, Green Purslane, and felted the symbol of the botanical garden, the oak leaf. This year, the Harvest Festival differed from previous festivals: it was scaled-down. People still thank us for holding such an educative event,” said Lilia Lepeshkina, researcher at the VSU botanical garden.
“Our guests contributed to the decoration of the façade of the main greenhouse. Volunteers have always been very enthusiastic about painting the murals on walls of the botanical garden and we wanted to let them have the fun. In the intervals, I had a chance to take part in a planting master class, tasted the delicacies made from purslane, and learned about an organisation that saves wildlife. I love events at the botanical garden: our visitors are environmentally aware people who care about ecology and botanics,” said Albina Makarova, the host of the murals master class.
Uliana Shilova, an employee of the Ulei art studio, told us about her impressions of the event:
“The atmosphere of the Harvest Festival was very intimate. The audience was really engaged and friendly. Our art studio taught carving techniques to children. They had real fun making gift cards with the help of potatoes. Our little guests just couldn’t miss our master-classes! They felt very much at home: during the breaks they could drink tea from a samovar and taste delicious dishes made of purslane and other gifts of the botanical garden, and could have colourful photo sessions in the autumn photo zones.”
