South East Essex Organic Gardeners

Announcing a full Permaculture Design Course to be held in Westcliff on Sea this Spring.

The full 72 hour Permaculture Design Course is a vital stage in the development of understanding of permaculture ethics, principles, design processes and implementation techniques providing essential skills for the post-peak oil world.

Held over 5 weekends at a venue less than an hour from central London, we will be running this course in partnership with Southend in Transition, Milton Community Partnership and Growing Together

Dates: 7 – 8 May
21 – 22 May
4 – 5 June
18 – 19 June
2 – 3 July

Times: 10 am – 6 pm, with optional additional sessions and/or social events on the Saturday evenings

Accomodation: options for attendees from outside of the Southend area are available, more details to follow

Cost: £450 – £300 depending on income, some concessionary places available, please enquire to Milton Community Partnership (see below) £50 secures a place

Led by: Graham Burnett and guest tutors

Full course details here

For enquiries and bookings contact Milton Community Partnership or tel 01702 213264

Please note that booking of places for this course is NOT through Spiralseed, please contact the MCP directly, thanks

Sign up:

www.childrensfoodcampaign.org.uk

The Children’s Food Campaign needs you!

Help them:

·         End junk food marketing to children

·         Improve school food (there’s still a lot more to do)

·         Increase the teaching of cooking and food-growing at school

·         Bring back water fountains to places of play

They believe that these changes can help to tackle childhood obesity. Now more than ever, they need a network of supporters to stand up to the junk food industry to protect children’s health.

As from January 2011, we will be holding all our meetings at Growing Together Gardens, 47 Fairfax Drive, Southend-on-Sea SS0 9AG (corner of Fairfax Drive and Prittlewell Chase).

http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=587281&y=186914&z=0&sv=SS0+9AG&st=2&pc=SS0+9AG&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf

Sat 2 – Sun 3 October 2010; Turning Anger Into Action – An introduction to inner city Permaculture, London E11

Time: 9.30 October 2, 2010 to 5.00 October 3, 2010
Location: Leyton E11 (full venue details given on booking)

This weekend introduction to permaculture will explore alternatives to lifestyles based on the exploitation of the earth’s resources, including sustainable design principles, permaculture ethics, organic gardening, creating community, ‘hands on’ practical experience and more with a particular focus on urban solutions.

More information here

Please forward this to anybody who might be interested, thanks!
–
Graham Burnett
www.spiralseed.co.uk
www.grahamburnett.net

NOTICE: thanks to the generosity of a friend and permaculture supporter who prefers to remain un-named, we are now able to offer 2 FREE OF CHARGE places on this course. This offer is open to anybody who wishes to be a part of this course who is GENUINELY UNABLE to afford a place otherwise. To apply for these ‘bursary’ places, please contact me via the Spiralseed website

On 1st May Milton Community Partnership in conjunction with Spiralseed and Southend in Transition are running a one day introduction to forest gardening workshop with SEEOG members Graham Burnett, Ron Bates and guest tutor Claire White at Ron and Graham’s forest garden plots at Manchester Drive allotments. For more information see http://westclifftransition.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/forest-gardening-one-day-course-manchester-drive-allotments/

Saturday 1 May Hall 3, The Paddocks, Canvey Island, SS8 0JA, 9.30am

Saturday 5 June Crowstone Christian Centre, Westcliff-on-Sea, SS0 8LH, 9.30am

Saturday 3 July Scout Hall, Church Walk, Hall Road, Rochford, SS4 1NN, 9.30am

Saturday 6 November Village Hall, 25 Hullbridge Road, South Woodham Ferrers, CM3 5PL, 9.30am

As explained in January, we are still hoping that a member (or two!) will come forward to offer some

help with these as the Saturday morning dates clash with our market commitments.

Event contact details:

Carole Shorney, 01702 201914, caroleshorney@hotmail.com

Robert Wiseman, 0794 107 8135, robert.wiseman@talk21.com

My name is Gillean Denny, and I am a researcher at the University of Cambridge studying allotments and the environmental impacts of food. For the past two years, I have been working closely with members of the Cambridge Allotment Association to explore how the foods we grow in our own allotments and veg patches can influence what foods we purchase and the greater global impacts of the foods we eat.

We are now in a process of expanding the study to include as many allotment, veg patch, and home-growing households in East Anglia and Greater London as possible. The study will take place over a year with participants opting in or out of answering a 5 minute survey once a month. In appreciation for their time, participants will be entered into a prize drawing for one of several gardening supply prizes. All surveys will be accessed online, no participant information will be shared with any outside party, and all information will remain anonymous.

To offer as many allotment and veg-patch growers the opportunity to participate we would appreciate your assistance in alerting members of your organization or association to the first available survey. You can learn more about the survey and see it for yourself here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/69TPG58

If you believe that this is something your members would be interested in, please reply by email to gd300@cam.ac.uk. We will provide you with a blurb and link that can be posted on your website for a few weeks, and/or provide you with a short email and link that can be emailed through your mailing lists or as part of a regular electronic publication.

We very much hope that you will choose to participate in this survey. During this study, we have been continuously surprised and gratified by allotment tenants’ level of enthusiasm and interest in this research and endeavor to produce a final piece of work that will give back to this welcoming, supportive, and diverse community.

Gillean Denny
PhD researcher
University of Cambridge
gd300@cam.ac.uk

Are you a member of East Anglia or Greater London? Food we grow in our own allotments and veg patches can influence the greater global impacts of the foods we eat. Take less than 10 minutes today to help us understand these effects on our local UK households. You can learn more about the survey and see it for yourself by clicking on this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/69TPG58

Are you a member of East Anglia or Greater London? Food we grow in our own allotments and veg patches can influence the greater global impacts of the foods we eat. Take less than 10 minutes today to help us understand these effects on our local UK households. You can learn more about the survey and see it for yourself by clicking on this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/69TPG58

A historic range of Essex apples are being used in a new drink. Chelmsford Wonder, Maldon Wonder and Braintree Seedling are being used in a new apple juice being produced by the Co-op.
Evening Echo 5/1/10