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.

Blue Finger Alliance video

If you are interested in why our land had such a productive year, have a look at the short film made by the Blue Finger Alliance. This is a group set up to promote the value of a fantastic natural asset that Bristol has. The Blue Finger is a strip of land running along the M32 corridor, of high grade agricultural soil which Feed Bristol sits on. It is also a strategic green corridor for wildlife and nature.

Link to film which features Feed Bristol:

http://www.bluefingeralliance.org.uk/

Wassail (Photos)

Well I think we definitely managed to warm up the summer spirits and get them to think about coming back for another year of growing at Feed Bristol. They certainly blessed us with some sunshine for the the day.

Many thanks to Poko Drum for entertaining the kids, the Pigsty Morris for showing us all how to have a jolly good knees up, the absolutely fabulous newly formed Feed Bristol Mummers and of course Mr Medlers Micro Ceilidh for keeping the blood flowing to round us off at the end.  And to the many other people who helped the event along feeding us cake, hot stew, stoking the fires and sprinkling magic on the day. Thank you.

A few photos of our play, Robin of the Apple Hood.
Performed to resurrect our crops where they once stood.
Enjoyed by many and all,
Amongst the trees of Feed Bristol.

Wassail Wassail all over the town

We are celebrating with a traditional Wassail on Saturday 26th January to kick of the new growing season.
The home made cider is ready, we have written a Mummers play and hopefully we will be having a right old knees up with a Mr Medlers Ceilidh.

All for a good cause to scare of the old winter spirits and welcome in the fresh new summer spirits to ensure another great harvest.  Although we try our best with organic practise and encourage all the wildlife to work for us, sometimes a little sprinkle of magic can help the growing along.

Feed Bristol Film

During the fantastic year we had last year we decided to make a short film to review some of the work we had been doing. Follow the link below to check out the project. Thanks to everyone that took part. This just shows a snippet of what we have been doing with a few of the folk we work with. Amongst all the food growing we also explore the local nature and help develop ways to encourage wildlife.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQK8GBYCsis