May day celebration

Fantastic thanks to everyone involved in helping us celebrate the beginning of summer. We sung and danced with the Rag Morris and around the May pole. Summer has come at last and Feed Bristol is alive once again with the sound of birds chirping and vegetables heaving up out of the soil.

Keep an eye out for our next event - the get growing trail as more celebration to come. Amazingly it was only last year that we opened to the public for the first time!

You are warmly invited to another FREE fun packed day at Feed Bristol Come join us dancing round the May pole with the Morris Dancers! We will be holding the traditional ceremony of crowning the May Queen so we encourage all girls and ladies to dress to in their Spring Best to try and win the crown! There will a talk from Green Peace highlighting the advantages of eating local food PLUS stalls, live music and our fantastic cafe selling a range of teas and delicious cakes. It's a great opportunity to have a look at our beautiful site and we hope to see as many of you there as possible.

This Saturday is set to be yet another fun-filled Feed Bristol Event! 

We'll be hunting out Easter Eggs and making Scarecrows in the beautiful sunshine (fingers crossed!)

We'd love to see you there, whether you're new to Feed Bristol or have been many times before this is a great opportunity to come and find out more about the project whilst having jolly good time.

Bristol Seed Swap SPRINGS into action

Thanks to everyone for a massive effort to make this such a success – especially to Belinda and her team from Bristol Seed Swap (see their Facebook page to get involved with their events). If anyone wants to support Feed Bristol with our future events or use the site to host your own event, contact us on: feedbristol@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk

Around 400 people descended on Feed Bristol to swap seeds and tales of adventure in the garden. There was a big emphases on making a connection with the living landscape around us. The day kick started with a walk and talk up the valley to Simms Hill, where the inspiring Patrick Whitefield explored the heritage and immense potential this unique living landscape we live in offers.

A big thanks to 'The Blue Finger Alliance' who hosted an all day running forum on the importance of protecting the precious high grade soil which runs up the valley that Feed Bristol sits on and linking up key thinking on how Bristol can secure local food production for the future. As part of this campaign we will be bringing this issue to George Ferguson. To find out how to get involved, support the group or send a postcard to George - see our website: www.bluefingeralliance.org.uk

There was a whole host of other successful talks and workshops including Mike Feingold and the Bristol Pound. We had a workshop to raise our new wooden A-frame bodgers shelter which popped up just in time for the rain and the bands to start playing. Thanks to Rypelwood Workers Coop for supplying locally sourced materials and highly skilled green woodworkers (www.rypelwood.co.uk).

Finally, hopefully see you all for our next event on the 6^th April for a festive Easter potato hunt. Find you spud and cook it on our fire. Lots of other healthy fun activities to follow including scarecrow making – see our events calendar on the other tab on this blog.

                                         In the poly tunnel where all good things begin!

                                          Putting the bits together.

 

                                         Thanks to Ushti Baba

 

 

 

 

Bristol Seed Swap and the Big Dig 16th March

On the 16th March (11-4) Feed Bristol is hosting the annual Bristol Seed Swap in conjunction with the Big Dig.

For further information on the Bristol 2013 Seed Swap, contact :

Email: bristolseedswap@gmail.com

See their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/bristol.seedswap

 

For further info on Sustains Big Dig see: www.bigdig.org.uk

The Seed Swap is fun-filled family event and is open to anyone interested in seeds, food growing and organic gardening. A fantastic opportunity to pick up or swap a diverse selection of seeds including unusual and tasty varieties, meet some fellow gardeners and exchange growing tips, experiences and resources. 

At the same time the event offers a chance to participate in building and strengthening local food security, reclaiming seed sovereignty, supporting organic practises, developing local connections and sharing local knowledge and skills. 

If you’re up for learning, discussing and sharing ideas, there will be a range of talks focusing on various earthly and food growing issues. There will also be fun activities for kids, a range of stalls with information about local growing and environmental groups, plants, fruit trees, local produce and local craftwork.

All served with a large helping of deliciously fruity live music, freshly prepared cakes, a hearty soup and your finest teas and healthy juices!

If you have surplus seeds to share / swap; please bring them along in a labelled envelope or other container. A large selection of seeds have also been very kindly donated by Chiltern Seeds, Edwin Tucker and Thompson Morgan. 

The Bristol 2013 Seed Swap Event offers a great opportunity to visit and support these pioneering food growing initiatives located on the infamous and endangered Blue Finger in Stapleton, some of the most fertile land in the country, listed as grade 1 agricultural land. A beautiful green field site, buzzing with wildlife and a hive of community food growing activity.  As part of The Big Dig both Feed Bristol and Simms Hill CSA will also be putting on a range of engaging food growing and land based activities. See their websites for further details. One for the diary! 

The Big Dig is a nationwide campaign to get people out to support their local community projects. We will be running site tours between Feed Bristol and Simms Hill. For more information and other projects taking part check their website: www.bigdig.org.uk

 

 

Many thanks

Belinda Faullkes

Forest School

Some of the first activities on site have been our Forest School group who braved the cold and enjoyed getting thouroughly muddy.

Pruning and Grafting workshop

Thanks to Tim Foster we had a very productive day pruning and restoring our mature apple trees. They have been overgrown with thick ivy for year but they have been reinvigorated. The day was about learning and sharing new skills as well as doing some work on the site.

We are managing the rest of the overgrown trees by leaving them to nature. One large apple tree is wrapped in ivy with lots of dead wood in it. This leaves lots of places for bats to roost. The ivy provides lots of different species of birds, insects and bees a source of food from the flowers.

We had a very healthy lunch of seasonal salads, carrots and radishes. The poly tunnel is still very productive with even the lettuce producing well.

In the afternoon we got to work grafting a range of different varieties of apple scions to root stock. The aim is to build up a nursery  area to bring on fruit trees to support the project and other community groups.