As of 2025, Pedestrian Space and Szezon Kert have partnered as Garden Canvas Collaborative in mutual interest to shape a transdisciplinary approach to gardening and urban agriculture.

Szezon Kert is a small- scale organic farming initiative based in Hungary. Pedestrian Space an initiative dedicated to issues of community and urban resilience based in Poland.

Katalin Réthy (Szezon Kert) and Annika Lundkvist (Pedestrian Space) originally met in 2024, both as ‘Ambassadors’ of the EU-funded Horizon Project PLUS Change which aims to create strategies and decision-making processes for land use, addressing issues related to climate change, biodiversity, and human well-being.

As part of her Ambassador role to create media on fellow Ambassadors’ work, particularly as relates to urban mobility as well as issues of food systems, Annika interviewed Katalin, which you can watch here.

Above: PLUS Change Ambassador Annika Lundkvist interviews fellow PLUS Change Ambassador Katalin Réthy. Katalin is an Agroecology professional, small-scale farmer, President of Magház Association, the Community Network for the Diversity of Agriculture, and one of the founders of the Hungarian Agroecology Network Association. For the PLUS Change project, she is representing small-scale farmers, seed savers, and agroecology activists/researchers.

Vision

Recognizing a similar and shared worldview on how everything is interconnected, Katalin and Annika were inspired to set off on a collaborative path, laying the foundation here at Garden Canvas Collaborative to prioritize an open and experimental space for ideation and dialogue on themes of gardening, community agriculture, and resilience.

Fundamental in our approach is the understanding that you cannot just take one dimension of knowledge as universal truth. If you view garden space via this lense of understanding, there are so many abundant, rich truths connecting to science, art, psychology, community, ecology, sovereignty, and more. The garden is such a prime example of interconnectedness when we respect the ecosystem of birds, insects, plants, soil, weather, climate, and also humans, in the system.

Mission

Many projects, initatives, organizations and businesses begin with a thought and a dialogue. During our first dialogues, we quickly recognized that synergy in local and worldview concerning the potentials of mainstreaming urban and peri-urban gardening and small scale farming. We also recognized many overlaps of interest in a transdisciplinary approach to food, with interests in regional and traditional ingredients as reflected in local gastronomic heritage, food and gardening traditions as reflected and manifest in art, prioritizing practitoner-based knowledge and positionality in research and more.

We seek to use our own collective and diverse skillset and approach to formulate projects that help shape awareness on community gardening and small scale farming with a focus on adapting to conditions of climate change, education to help mainstream gardening and small scale farming initiatives, and shaping awareness on the benefits of a transdisciplinary approach to urban agriculture to further benefit communities.

Read further for some background bio on each of us.

-Annika and Katalin

About Katalin

Photo: Katalin Réthy

I am Katalin Réthy, an agroecology specialist and farmer. I run my small farm under the name Szezon Kert in Páty, Hungary where, along with a young female team, I grow vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers for restaurants and local markets.

Katalin Réthy

We actively participate in supporting agricultural diversity by working with a wide variety of plants, including local and international landraces and modern organic varieties, as well as engaging in seed preservation.

Photo: Katalin Réthy

Besides using smoke as an ingredient, I have been focusing on fermentation as a preservation method for abundant produce.

Photo: Katalin Réthy

As the president of the Magház Community Network for the Diversity of Agriculture, I also work at the national level to promote the preservation of agricultural diversity.

Photo: Katalin Réthy

Which plant you would be and why?

I would love to be a walnut tree and live for a long time, looking over a garden through generations of gardeners. 

Photo: Katalin Réthy

Favorite veggie / fruit to grow?

My favorite veggie this year were Lagenaria gourds for being very drought-resistant and producing abundantly. There was the Cucuzza,  just trellising on a fence, giving us 15-20 pieces of funny-looking snake gourds without any irrigation. In the field we also produced some bottle gourds, which can be used as raw material for a number of crafts.

Photo: Katalin Réthy

Favorite ecological fun fact:

I love the fact that ants farm aphids, feeding them and taking care of them in exchange for their sugary poop. Even though they are doing this on my spinach. 

Photo: Katalin Réthy

Favorite insect to observe:

Wasp spiders are huge and beautiful creatures living in my greenhouse. Besides being pretty, they also feed on stinkbugs, which is a great help! 

Photo: Katalin Réthy

What is a favorite meal you have had lately?

As I am the new owner of a wood- burning stove, my favorite meals lately have been ones that are started off in the ash or the oven. Baked, smokey, caramelised pears with oatmeal and baked pumpkin made into soup or cookies come to mind.

Photo: Katalin Réthy

My favorite veggie this year were Lagenaria gourds for being very drought resistant and producing abundantly.

Photo: Katalin Réthy
A paper led by Katalin Réthy
Photo: Katalin Réthy

What is something you like to experiment with in the kitchen?

Besides using smoke as an ingredient, I have been focusing on fermentation as a preservation method for abundant produce. Kimchi, sauerkraut, all kinds of combinations, and vinegars are on the roster. I also started to combine fermentation with baking stuff in the oven, thats how I discovered smoked pear vinegar!

Photo: Katalin Réthy

Garden context

My garden is around 2000 m2, a traditional narrow and long plot in the old main street of the village. I am lucky, since my garden is surrounded by the cemetery and similar narrow gardens, which hopefully means this little bubble can stay wild in a fastly developing suburbia. Old walnut and fruit trees, native shrubs, a little acacia forest and a rather large grassland provide habitat for all kinds of creatures. 

Photo: Katalin Réthy

We are farming around 60, 10 meter plots, an 80 m2 greenhouse with drip irrigation and some newly rented neighbouring field where we are experimenting with extensive, dry farming methods. Each season my garden is the field for experimentation, we grow at least 100 species, and between 200 and 300 different varieties each year. This large scale of diversity leads to a beautiful, abundant, and chaotic look. 

Photo: Katalin Réthy

In recent years, Szezon Kert has become the venue for interesting experiments and collaborations in the fields of botany, gastronomy and the arts, as well as a community space for friends and professional collaborations as well.  

Contact Szezon Kert here


We actively participate in supporting agricultural diversity by working with a wide variety of plants, including local and international landraces and modern organic varieties, as well as engaging in seed preservation.

Photo: Katalin Réthy

About Annika

Annika with a photo of her first homegrown corn

I’m Annika and currently a PhD student based in Warsaw, focused on research on urban resilience with a focus on walkability. At Pedestrian Space, I also have begun to focus on community and urban agriculture as an often overlooked dimension of sustainable cities, and with an interest in the benefits and challenges of supporting these activities to help shape food literacy, strengthen local food access and food security, cultivate food sovereignty, and contribute to community resilience.

Which plant you would be and why?

It would be quite extraordinary to be a Sequoia tree, such as the Sequoia sempervirens, also known as California redwood and coastal redwood, living for hundreds and hundreds of years in mountainous areas overlooking the Pacific ocean. What a life!

Photo: Annika Lundkvist

Favorite veggie / fruit to grow?

I am going to name one fruit and one vegetable! 

There’s something special for me about growing Capsicum annum as we love spicy food in our home, so to be able to go into the garden and pluck a few homegrown chili peppers is really practical and great. But what is also special is that it is, of all the plants I have grown, one that I get so excited about sharing as well.  I really delight in being able to give people a little bag of our homegrown chili peppers. Also, it wasn’t until later in life that I learned that chili peppers are fruits!

Photo: Annika Lundkvist

In 2024 I grew corn for the first time in my life and honestly, there was something practically spiritual about the experience.  It was a really interesting experience to learn about corn physiology and pollination through this experience, but I also became intensely interested in corn’s symbolism and role in different mythologies and cultures, something I look forward to continuing to learn more about.

Photo: Annika Lundkvist

Favorite ecological fun fact

We don’t need animal manure to grow and in fact, as  Dr. agr. Johannes Eisenbach of Panhellenic Biocyclic Vegan Network  states in an interview I did with him-“… it is not only possible to grow without animal inputs, it’s even better” 

The interview serves as a good primer to the benefits of humus soil and veganic agriculture: https://pacificrootsmagazine.com/podcast-episode-v-dr-agr-johannes-eisenbach-panhellenic-biocyclic-vegan-network/

Photo: Annika Lundkvist

Favorite insect to observe

I absolutely love watching bees at work.  If I have my phone or camera I will pause for the creative challenge of photographing them at work. 

Photo: Annika Lundkvist

What is a favorite meal you have had lately?

I love treating myself every now and then to a meal at one of my favorite restaurants in the city where I currently live (Warsaw).  The favorite meal memory here was on the occasion of the 1st of November, All Saints Day here in Poland. I love experiencing the tradition of this day which for many people includes cemetery visits to passed on loved ones as well as dining out in the city with family and friends.  There is a soft social buzz all through the city that day that I love. 

Photo: Annika Lundkvist

This past All Saints Day I went to Peaches Gastrogirls, which is on the Right Bank of the City.  I had the Jerusalem artichoke in tempura with grilled shiitake mushrooms, broccolini, Bagna càuda sauce, chives, mayonnaise and herbs.  The flavors and mix of textures were….oh, I am really craving it now just thinking about it!  I enjoyed it with a really lovely and interesting Polish natural orange wine.

Homemade chimichurri with carrot tops from the garden, Photo: Annika Lundkvist

What is something you like to experiment with in the kitchen?

Vegetables, in general. Give me a basket of fresh, seasonal and organic vegetables to prepare an interesting, flavorful meal and I am really in earthly heaven.

Garden context:

We have two approximately 15 square meter balconies where I began growing veggies and fruits for the first time in 2024.  I call them my ‘experimental kitchen gardens’ as the main purpose is really having the space to just learn about growing different edible plants for the first time. I think the experience also shows the potential of balcony gardens, though after my first time experience of growing corn I am looking forward to more space (on ground level) for gardening.


We seek to use our own collective and diverse skillset and approach to formulate projects that help shape awareness on community gardening and small scale farming with a focus on adapting to conditions of climate change, education to help mainstream gardening and small scale farming initiatives, and shaping awareness on the benefits of a transdisciplinary approach to urban agriculture to further benefit communities.

Thank you for reading, please feel free to get in touch at info@pedestrianspace.org if you have an idea and are interested in collaboration.

-Annika and Katalin