Bountiful Bristol Bulletin

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.

Thankyou Steve

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.

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).

Passionate about connecting people with sustainable, healthy food? Want to get involved in a grassroots project in the heart of St. Paul’s multicultural community? If so get in touch to find out more about the community café and social enterprise.

The Vision-Bristol Food Hub is working to protect the planet and improve people’s health and wellbeing by ensuring everyone is able and motivated to enjoy healthy, sustainable, affordable food. Through our community cafe in St. Pauls - Cafe Midnimo, our food workshops, organic farm visits and work with schools, we are connecting the St. Paul’s community with where our food comes from and how to access and prepare healthy, sustainable food at affordable prices. Following a social enterprise model, Bristol Hotpot our catering business, aims to generate profits to subsidise Café Midnimo, and our other outreach activities.

Get involved!
To make this new and exciting project work, we need to get as many people involved as possible. If you would like to find out more about what we are doing and how you could get involved, please contact

Bristol Food Hub
Transforming Bristol into a hub of sustainable, healthy affordable food.

Claire Milne
Bristol Food Hub; transforming Bristol into a hub of healthy, sustainable, affordable food.
Cafe Midnimo
163 Ashley Road,
Bristol BS6 5NX

milneclaire@ yahoo.co. uk
07824 878904