All welcome at Windmill Hill City Farm, next Sunday the 11th May to raise funds for the
gardens.
A couple of stalls and free kids activities during the afternoon then
ticket holders only from 4 onwards.
Tickets are £5. There are two live bands, food (incl. in price of ticket)
by Café Miatreya, and a bar.
Please join us in celebrating growing food!
Tickets can be bought in advance or on the day
Becky Thoburn
Windmill Hill City Farm Gardener
As I hope you all realise its Eastside Roots first Spring Fayre - this Saturday from 11am (Grand opening featuring Easton Community Choir - come early so as not to miss a great acapella sing song!) to 6pm up at Stapelton Road Train Station site. Below is a list of activities for adults and children alike so please check out so you dont miss anything.
Main Tent: (more…)
There was a great article in yesterday’s Independent Extra section called The Front Garden Farmers and yes, GROFUN got another few column inches! and also please check out this empowering story about a village in Hampshire called Martin who are collectively growing and rearing as much of their food as possible and making a profit, operating as a cooperative. The idea is to wean people off the supermarket and we at GROFUN salute them!
People often say that they have no time to grow vegetables and the nature of many people’s lives in so transient that they dont know if they’ll even be in the same house at harvest time.
Truth is that when faced with an uncertain future you dont have to let your garden turn to a wasteland or a jungle. Today a load of sinks, toilets and bidets were being scrapped from a big house in St Pauls, so my friend and I took then round to some ‘Grofunnies’ who have recently heard that their rented flat has gone on the market. (more…)
A talk by Megan Quinn - film maker of Power of Community - How Cuba survived
Peak Oil.
Tuesday 7.30 pm on Monday 1st April
At Easton Community Centre, Kilburn St, Easton, BS5 9AW.
Megan will cover the basics of peak oil and climate change, but focus on the
potential solutions including curtailment strategies for housing,
transportation and food, and the importance of local community living and
community values in addressing the challenges at hand.
Followed by an open space session.
£3 donation on the door
For those who cant make that date Transition Bristol are screening film The Power of
Community also
At 7pm on Monday 31st March
At The Pickle Factory, All Hallows Rd, Easton
Following Transition Easton’s very postive launch event in February,
we will be holding monthly network meetings on the fourth Tuesday of
each month. Coming up we have:
Tuesday 25th March we have a gardening theme with talks by people
involved in local community gardening projects.
Tuesday 22nd April we will have a food theme featuring guest speaker
Paul Mobbs, author of ‘Energy Beyond Oil’ and former director of
Friends of the Earth.
Also, here are details of the March/April Transition Easton film
season. Films will be followed by a discussion.
Monday 31st March ‘The Power of Community’ Cuba’s inspiring response
to their taste of the effects of ‘peak oil’.
Monday 7th April ‘A Crude Awakening’ New award winning documentary on
Peak Oil often mentioned in the national media.
Monday 14th April ‘Crude Impact’ Exploration of Peak Oil and the
devastating impacts of the oil industry around the world.
Monday 21st April ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ Al Gores award winning film
on the science and effects of climate change. Plus guest speaker Paul
Mobbs, author of ‘Energy Beyond Oil’ and former director of Friends of
the Earth.
Monday 28th April.
Short films ‘Carbon Weevils’ and ‘The Story of Stuff’ followed by
Rob Newman’s ‘History of Oil’ cabaret style exploration of the
inextricable link between oil and every aspect of our lives and politics.
All events will be held 7pm at Baggator Youth Centre, The Pickle
Factory, All Hallows Road, Easton, BS5 0HH.
For further info email transitioneaston@yahoo.co.uk
Local Food, a new and exciting grants programme funded by the Big Lottery Fund, will be open for applications from 17 March 2008.The £50 million programme aimed at making locally grown food accessible and affordable to local communities has been developed by a consortium of organisations, and is managed on their behalf by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT). Local Food is the first Award Partner scheme funded by the Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces programme to open its doors for applications, and will look to distribute grants to a variety of food-related community projects across England. Mark Wheddon, Local Food Programme Manager said:
“The Local Food programme provides a fantastic opportunity for a broad section of the public to gain access to local food and is perfectly timed to capitalise on the public’s enthusiasm for locally produced food and the environmental benefits which that brings.
“With such a broad and varied funding programme we would encourage people who are thinking of applying to be as creative as possible. From school farms and community box schemes, to local food education centres and community composting, the list is endless.”
Grants from £2,000 up to £500,000 will be awarded to not-for-profit groups and organisations in England delivering such projects as growing, processing, marketing and distributing local food; composting and raising awareness of the benefits of such activities.
Peter Wanless, Big Lottery Fund Chief Executive, said:
“The Big Lottery Fund is proud to support this scheme, which will help improve access to locally grown food for communities right across England. With such public interest in healthy eating and protecting our environment, there has never been a better time for people to come forward and apply for money to help put their local food projects into action.”
To find out more please call the Changing Spaces Advice Line on 0845 3 671 671 or visit www.localfoodgrants.org.
Have you ever dreamed of growing your own food and rearing your own animals but never thought you had the skills or space to get started?
Are you fed up with relying on shops and supermarkets for your every need?”
Then….why not join in with the GROFUN scheme OR contact KEO Films-the makers of River Cottage.
They want families with no experience of this sort of thing who are ready to commit to an experiment in self-sufficiency.
To find out more about this life-changing challenge please e mail rivercottage@keofilms.com or call 0845 8672694 and leave a message or phone 07811 443961 and ask to speak to Vanessa or Charlotte.
(I’m thinking of proposing that they come make a programme about GROFUN instead-it would be much better, tension, sweat, tears, compost, drama, slugs and laughter!!!!)
In other news-I have been interviewed by, not one, but two major broadsheets in as many days!!!! Yep, The Independent and The Telegraph have both been sniffing about the GROFUN headquarters (my bedroom) !!!
Look out for something in The Independent a week today or the following Thurs!
How exciting this all is………but its nothing without you-so join up to the scheme if youre at all interested and book in your Action Days asap and lets get things rolling!
Anyone interested in GROFUN is invited along to another informal meeting at The Albany, Shaftesbury Avenue, Montpelier, Wed the 19th, 6.30 for 7 where I’ll also be screening the film. There’s no obligation to sign-up its just a chance to find out more…….
Gro-well.
Dear BBB Readers,
I am proud to report that the short film we made which chronicles the first year of the GROFUN Project is now on the web!
With the help of Kyra, a local film maker/editor and Naomi it is great that I can now point those interested to an engaging and informative film to further promote the benefits of this growing, grass-roots project. My friend Steve produced the music especially for this film.
You can watch the film here and comment or go to and watch and comment there. In terms of promotion of the scheme YouTube probably has bit more clout!
Please feel free to leave constructive comments, but go easy, much of the footage was unuseable due to poor sound or light quality and the final cut is the best it could have been with the raw material we had available. It’s not exactly Palme d’Or stuff, but it’s sort of innocent in tone dont you think?
GROFUN (Growing Real Organic Food in Urban Neighbourhoods) is a grass-roots, community lead inititative where teams of neighbours help one another set up back garden veggie patches and then reap the rewards of a mixed and locally grown ‘veg box’!
It teaches practical skills, address’s the problem of air miles and pollution and builds communites that are closer and more resilient to ever increasing energy shocks and food insecurity! Think about it, there’s only 3 days worth of food stocked in the supermarkets-what do we eat then???
For 2008 we need new recruits with gardens, preferably in the St Pauls, Montpelier and St Werbs area (to keep it local and ’sustainable’) and anyone interested in being involved, any which way, is invited to come along to the Grand Premiere of the GROFUN Movie to be aired at a get-together in the Albany Hall on Shaftesbury Avenue at 6.30pm on March 4th.
Please please tell your friends with gardens, a desire to grow veg and an interest in ‘relocalization’ and community etc to come along.
Furthermore, the current group has a Yahoo group where we stay in touch. It would be a great idea to join this…
We need many hands to make light work of this rewarding and fun project.
Vegetables need people like people need vegetables.
“Calling all urban greenspace champions!:
Help us plant the seeds of truly sustainable communities in the South West
Are you someone who recognises the growing importance of greenspace networks in our towns and cities – for health, biodiversity, local food production, low carbon access, recreation and play, sense of place, quality of life…and all round sustainability? Do you have a vision for the ‘garden’ towns and cities of the future? Would you like a stronger voice in debates about the development of the region? Growth plans are set to create lots of new neighbourhoods in urban areas of the South West alongside plans to regenerate many of our existing communities. (more…)
A tree is for life, not just for Christmas!!
Transition Bristol is trying to persuade the good people of Bristol to buy
fruit trees and plant them in their gardens as part of the biggest Fruit
Tree Offer ever! Following on from the project that has run in Easton and
Barton Hill for years we’re hoping to extend the project city wide and get
hundreds of trees planted.
We’re buying in bulk and passing the saving on to you….trees from £7 to
£8.50 The perfect sustainable Christmas present.
Lower food miles, increase biodiversity, and improve the environment all in
one go. Start building food security and local resilience into the city
landscape. And apart from all that… you’ll have fresh, tasty, organic
fruit on your doorstep.
Trees are available to buy online and will be delivered to one of 10
collection points around the city on February 16th. When you pick up your
tree Transition Village groups will show you how to plant and care for it.
All the trees have been selected to be easy to grow, the right size for
small gardens, self fertile and tasty.
Due to the scale of the project we are not able to specify varieties.
However we are sourcing them from a local, decent supplier.
http://www.transitionbristol.org/ Please order early to avoid
disappointment. Last orders at end of January.
For details or enquiries please contact Matt and Rob on
trees@transitionbristol.org
Exciting new course starting in the new year! Can Highly recommend
the all knowledgable and down to earth course tutor, Tim Foster!
Perfect for anyone wanting to get to grips with the world of fruit
and veg growing!…20 week course on the growing of organic fruit and vegetables.
Starts 9th January ends 18th June.
Every Wednesday eve 6.30-8.30pm (theory) and most Saturday mornings
9-11am (practical).
City of Bristol College Ashley Down Centre and Ashley Vale
allotments.
Tutor: Tim Foster
Cost £267
12 places available.
Syllabus: Organic techniques including bed systems, no-dig,
composting, companion planting, rotations, etc.
Fruit growing including pruning, planting, grafting, propagation,
choice of species and cultivars, etc.
Vegetable growing: cultivation of the main groups of annual
vegetables, fertility, harvesting, storage, etc.
Apply at the college for the ‘Organic Gardening course’ or contact
Tim Foster for more details (9241282).
Post Peak Agriculture/ From the USA without FlyingTransition Bristol Talk with Patrick Holden, Director of the Soil Association and Josh Hart of the Chooseday movement.
The talk is on Post-Peak Food & Farming and the subject is ‘Fossil Fuel Depletion: Agriculture and the Soil Association’. Josh famously came to the UK to study without using an airplane. Here his story.
Wednesday 14th November at Redland Friends Meeting House 126 Hampton Road at 7pm
On today’s Times Online site appears a nice little piece on a project very, very similar to ours in S. London called Food Up Front. This scheme has 34 gardens participating which I suppose is why it has generated this many ‘column inches’!
GROFUN gets mentioned though and this Yahoo site linked up to-near the bottom of the article and on my browser the word GROFUN appears red! Yours too?
Check it out! It’s a really motivating read. We need to get more people relocalizing and sharing. The time is ripe!
