Harskut Center for Renewable Energy

Another early morning. Another group of students with bright and shiny faces. With one of our group members under the weather, the group took off with an additional guest, Mr. Joel Cowan. As you may know he has done everything that anyone could possibly do including the founding of a city (Peachtree City to be exact). The group was off for a 2 hour bus ride to Harskut, Hungary and a day of unexpected and intense learning and fun...

After 2 hours of sleeping, conversation, and stories from Mr. Cowan himself, the group arrived at Harskut to meet our host Mr. Willy Benko. As the co-founder of the Center for Renewable Energy, Mr. Benko, who speaks both English and Hungarian absolutely flawlessly, graciously took us on a tour of his property in Harskut and showed the group all the interesting and sophisticated steps his organization is taking to further the sustainably of our natural resources through solar and wind power. Through his farm, Mr. Benko is striving to provide a working model that other individuals can visit, see, and hopefully copy as a feasible and environmentally sustainable way of living. After seeing multiple high tech devices contrasted by traditional Hungarian fire places, it was time to explore the rest of the extensive and gorgeous property.

After loading the entire group into a single truck (with 6 of us sitting in the back), we journeyed deep into the property to learn about the horses, the sheep, and the overall day to day life of how things were done. And yes, the animals were all just as cute as you would expect.




After a short period of petting adorable horses and sheep, and after an exciting time of off roading all over a farm which some of us found quite enjoyable and others found terrifying (Dori), we arrived at a grove of cherries. The cherry trees surrounded the remains of a building which had unfortunately been ravaged by fire not too long before. Regardless of this tragedy, the cherries were delicious as well as some other unusual berries which grew on some bushes not too far from the grove (they weren't poisonous don't worry). However, it was now time to depart and make our way back to the main building. After another adventurous journey off roading in the truck and a quick stop at a wood chipper (the wood chips are used as a sustainable fuel source), we headed into town for a very delicious lunch.

Sadly, with this lunch came the departure of our host, Willy Benko, and our special guest, Mr. Joel Cowan. However, the day was far from over. After a visit to the Herend Porcelain Factory as mentioned earlier, we went on a very quick and rainy excursion to Lake Balaton. While we only had a short while to this lake which is in fact he largest in Eastern Europe, we still had plenty of time for smiles, laughter and wet shoes. As you can see, some of us (the extraordinarily brave and handsome ones as featured in the corresponding picture) were able to test the waters personally. Speaking first hand, they were quite pleasant and most certainly worth a return trip (with sunshine of course).


After a long day of learning, off roading, and valiantly exploring the deep and warm waters of Lake Balaton, the group was headed back to Budapest. A 2 hour return trip filled with sleeping and more sleeping, the group had yet another great day exploring all that Hungary and the field of social entrepreneurship has to offer.