In 1976, local people came together to save a derelict piece of land in Bedminster, south Bristol, from developers. Windmill Hill City Farm (WHCF) is now the oldest city farm outside London.

The Farm Christmas Fair on Saturday 12 December, 11am-4pm,admission only £1, marks the start of a year of celebrations. It will be a fun-filled day with tons of attractions for kids, adults and families, including:

• The launch of the WHCF Anniversary Calendar – featuring photographs taken and voted on by visitors and farm staff
• Not one, but two grottos! Grab a gift in the traditional Santa’s Grotto or mine for gems in the Crystal Caves (children loved this so much last year we’ve brought it back! You literally go into a dark cave and bash away until you unearth a beautiful crystal to take home!)
• Mulled wine (made to a secret farm recipe!), mince pies & roast chestnuts
• Christmas trees for sale • Christmas market with locally made gifts
• Children’s Christmas crafts • Tombola
• Live music: local musicians play alternative versions of your favourite carols!
• Barbecue selling farm-reared rose veal • Camp fire

Continue reading →

When: 1st December at 1:30

Where: OpenSpace Bristol, 1 Saint George’s Road Bristol BS1 5BE GB –View Map

A Preview of the ‘Better Bristol’ Campaign…..

• Coaching & workshops to help you crowdfund your project or idea
• Opportunities to find out how you and your organisation can support this new campaign

Bristol Green Capital Partnership have partnered with Crowdfunder UK to launch ‘Better Bristol’, a new citywide rewards-based crowdfundingcampaign, which has been set up to raise more than £1M+ for projects and businesses with social and environmental impact.

– If you have a project or idea that you would like to crowdfund through Better Bristol, book a place for this workshop on Tuesday 1st December 2015. We’ll be running these on a monthly basis.

– If you can’t attend but have an existing project or idea you’d like to be included in the campaign, contact Kath Cockshaw, Campaign Manager –kath@crowdfunder.co.uk

More information at:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sign-up-to-our-free-bristol-crowdfunding-workshop-tickets-19407464248

Continue reading →

Link up with a growing community of people and projects intent on supporting Bristol become a sustainable food city. The event hosts a range of key speakers covering three themes. The object of the day is to demonstrate how protecting community food growing land can make a significant contribution towards city wide resilience through: nature and well-being, social enterprise and empowering resilience. 10 – 5. First talk at 11. Full line up with times to follow.

The idea of the day is to allow people and projects to network and get involved with active discussions. These will be facilitated and taken from the day to feed into several strategic actions through the Evolving Ideas Emporium by looking at local solutions, contributing into Bristol wide Continue reading →

When: Saturday 5th September, 12 to 6

Where: Feed Bristol, 181 Frenchay Park Road, BS16 1HB

Come and celebrate all the glories of summer with us and check out all the progress we have made on site. Grand opening of the “Ark” Greenhouse and the straw bale packing shed.

Highlights:

Bands throughout the day

Workshops on how to grow with nature and green woodworking

Cafe and sensational seasonal feast

Kid’s activities

You can download the poster here.

Reclaim the Fields UK (RTF) was born in 2011, as a star in a wider constellation of food and land struggles that reaches around the globe. Every two years there is also an international camp, where people from around Europe and beyond meet together to support a local struggle.

This year, an international gathering will be held in the UK, in Dudleston, Shropshire, on the Welsh/English border from Friday 6pm 28th August  – Wednesday 2nd September 2015 at Dudleston Community Protection Camp, Shropshire on the Wales/England Border. This is a DIY camp and everyone is needed to get stuck in to make it happen. People are needed to:
•    Support with publicity before the event – sharing the gathering online, putting posters up, encouraging your local group to get involved. People are also needed to help design the programme, respond to emails & plan facilitation.
•    Helping with site set up & building infrastructure (planning this in advance & being on site a few days before the gathering)
•    Signing up to a shift over the weekend to help with cooking, site set up & safety, being on the welcome tent & so forth
•    Supporting local groups to organise actions

Find out more about the event here – and if you can help with any of these tasks please email info@reclaimthefields.noflag.org.uk

Please could you help Buglife. Buglife have the chance of securing funding of £1M to bring brilliant Buzzing Hot Spots full of flowers, bees and pollinators to Bristol and a number of other towns. At the moment we don’t have any responses from the Bristol area.

Please can you help Get Britain Buzzing by answering 8 short questions at:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HCRRY2L

Continue reading →

Montpelier-based artisan microbakery Firebelly Bakery is now offering bread making classes. Learn to make awesome sourdough bread, beautifully holey focaccia, crunchy airy ciabatta, apple chelsea buns, and giant chocolate/cinnamon doughnuts, all on this one day workshop. Courses are held at Coexist Community Kitchen and cost £75. For more information visit www.firebellybakery.co.uk

Gift vouchers are available.
Upcoming dates are:
– Sat 28 Feb – please email to see if places are still available
– more dates coming soon – sign up to our mailing list to be the first to know!
email info@firebellybakery.co.uk for more information or to book a place.

LEARN TO SPIN Sat 31st Jan and Sat 14th Feb 2015 10.30am –
12.30pm

Spinning for beginners – learn the basics of turning raw wool
into yarn using a drop spindle. We have hand shorn fleeces from our
Jacobs sheep. Bags of wool will be available to buy at a very
reasonable cost so that you can carry on spinning at home. With Juley,
our Community Farmer £5
WHEEL SPINNINGS at 28th Feb 2015 2pm – 4pm

Learn to spin on a spinning
wheel. Participants should either bring their own spinning wheel or
else let us know and we will lend one for the day. This will be a
chance to spin in a group, look at any problems and issues with
spinning, techniques, etc and to use different types of wool and
fibres. £5

.
SPOON MAKING Sat 21st March 2015 10.30am – 4.30pm

Learn how to make a
spoon with James. Starting with a log you will use traditional tools
to; split, axe, shave, carve and whittle. The day is held outside in
our Water Vole Woodland with a camp fire to sit around. £40
INTRODUCTION TO KEEPING SHEEP

Sat 28th March 2015 10am – 3pmThis
workshop is suitable for people thinking about keeping sheep and those
new to sheep keeping who want to be self sufficient in caring for
their animals. It will cover the shepherd’ s calendar, sheep care and
basic sheep maintenance including foot care, and welfare checks. Bring
your own lunch. £35/ £10 concessions
CHICKEN KEEPING DAY

Sat 11th April 2015 10am – 3pmAre you thinking of
keeping chickens? This day will give you all you need to know to get
started including; chicken history and different breeds, chicken
anatomy & behaviour, day to day care, suitable housing and
environment, diet, natural behavioural needs, how to do a health check
on a chicken. With Juley, our Community Farmer £35 (£10 concessions)

2015PLEASE GO TO WWW.LWFARM.ORG. UK/LEARNING FOR BOOKING FORM

01179 381128  www.lwfarm.org. uk

twitter.com/ lwcommunityfarm

facebook.com/ lwcommunityfarm

Orchard Nutrition are offering a new run of their popular 4-week nutrition
course. Now with a change of venue and updated content, we’ll be looking at

the links between food, health and well-being, demystifying nutritional
concepts, and emphasising a sustainable, holistic and pleasurable approach
to feeding ourselves.

The course is taught by Isy, a qualified nutritionist with a catering and
community food organising background and author of the cookbook ‘Another
Dinner is Possible’. Her interests lie with sustainable food production,
grassroots organising, inventive plant-based cookery, and improving our
current food system.

Learn about healthy fats, vitamins, blood sugar and carbohydrates,
intuitive eating, and discuss problems with the food system. Classes will
consist of a mixture of presentations, activities, groupwork, and
discussion with homework given including completing a personal food diary.
Tasty nibbles will be provided too!

Tuesdays, 6.30-8.30pm, 3rd March – 24th March 2015

Roll for the Soul, Bristol’s community bike cafe, upstairs, Unit 2, St
Lawrence House, Quay St, BS1 2JL Bristol

Cost: £45 (£38 concessions)

http://rhizomeclinic.org.uk/food-and-wellbeing-nutrition-course/

Continue reading →