through planting trees and flowers, organizing community festivals on the site, and camping in tents, wagons and temporary play structures. I rode into Pankow to the Pinke-Panke Children’s Farm, one of the happier spots along the border. I had been to Pinke-Panke before, on an icy, smoggy Sunday afternoon in January. A colorful gate welcomed me as I went inside to look around. I found probably 20 children, chickens clucking, a pig snorting and cats nosing about. The gardens were frozen over and covered with hay. The main trailer, an old construction wagon, has a lively porch with rabbits and chickens underneath. I was invited in and offered tea and cookies. This central wagon serves as a kitchen, meeting room and storeroom. Two of the main organizers of the farm, Anett Rose Sorge, “Rosie”, and Christene told me about the history of the community, while children, visitors and animals wandered in and out. Besides the work she does with the farm, Rosie is also a council representative for the Bundis 90, an alternative, eastern German political party. During the 80’s, using their own resources, Rosie and others organized the “Playwagon Culture”, playwagons on wheels, providing alternative play events and clay festivals for various housing projects. At that time they tried to organize a children’s farm, but had no success until the wall came Opposite, “Project Wall Park, the green strip through Berlin", a project supported by the city's green league. Above, below: Pinke-panke, on the former border, is one of five innovative children-run farms in Berlin. RAIN Spring 1993 Volume XIV, Number 3 Page 33
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