Setting up the Community Rise Up fundraiser

great fun setting up and bringing the different moving parts together for the whole event, its shaping to be a great night so make sure you pop down and support us.

Mc Jez, Mongrel Djs and Mis Fifi on the 1's and 2's

Delicious Indian feast ready to tantalize your taste buds.

CRU community decor

Mikey busy as ever, putting his back in to it, and heart and soul too.

The Swish is swooshing into action.

Premier Decor crew Bryn and Logan showing how its done.

Thumbs up from Jez, says its all gonna be ok.

So lets see you there having a snack and swish , get yourself some seed and have a boogie.

Bunting Production Team - Proper Job

Amazing work today by the sew and sews.

Much bunting mileage achieved.

Community Rise Up FUNdraiser SWISH!

We’ve only just started collecting, 

and we already have some fabulous outfits for the CRU Swish.

here’s a small taster...

 a ‘vintage’ XR jacket (as worn by the pink TtT boat!) .. 

ready REBELLED finery (to be teamed up with turquoise Crocs wellies?!)

 or perhaps bold Boden colours.

 a 1970s top, or a bit of Benetton or North Face to keep you warm? 

More arriving every day - we can’t wait for Saturday!

Heritage Seed Library and Thomas Etty esq are Supporting our Seed Swap

The Heritage Seed Library came up trumps for our seed-swap today by sending us a decent package with a variety of heritage seeds from their collection. A selection of heritage peas,dwarf french beans, climbing french beans,radish, leek and tomatoes, You could even try your hand at growing your own Calaloo. All these and more besides will be available for you to put your green fingers to the test, come and join in the seed swap at the Community Rise Up fundraiser event.

Garden Organic heritage seed library support our seed swap as we share the same ethos.

I for one fully support and endorse their work in this feild.

'Since 1958, Garden Organic has worked to protect the rich, interdependent, diverse life that makes up our gardens and growing spaces. We set up practical projects that make a difference, we educate and inspire growers, we conserve endangered varieties and we lobby for change. And we will continue to do so - as the voice of those who care about organic principles.'

We also received a generous donation of seeds from Thomas Etty Esq , we are very much appreciative of the support of this independant heritage seedsman , it means a lot to us that they recognise we are on the same page and have the same ideals around safegaurding our seeds for the future.

you can find out more about these legends of seed saving at

http://www.thomasetty.co.uk/

St Agnes seed swap at the MMI last week

 Deep in discussion about all things plant, veg, flower, root and tree. A small but essential and thoroughly informative afternoon at the MMI arranged by the St Agnes transition group. A great selection of books to read on all things from Permaculture, Forest Gardening, through to  plants, trees, herbs, vegetables alternative energy and eco building.

Garden Organic Heritage Seed Library

Very happy to announce today received a letter of support for our seed-swap, from Garden Organic Heritage Seed Library.

 The good folk at HSL have worked tirelessly for years to conserve the UK's vegetable heritage, protecting our rich organic diversity for future generations.

As a consequence Heritage Seed Library seeds will be available for participants.

https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/hsl

CRU decor session

Making some bunting today for the event.

Other Stalls at the fundraiser include

The dukes of Lizard stall,,
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/DukesOfLizard

iWoodStands creates beautiful, Unique hard wood tablet stands made specifically for each iPad model. Each made with love, in Cornwall, using the finest selection of hardwoods such as solid Oak, Utile, Sapelle, Beech and Iroko. The stands offer 2 angles for users. 66° degrees for viewing purposes, and 24°for a more practical typing angle. Made using naturally biodegradable materials, the innovation reduces plastics associated with the awesome  21st century invention that is the iPad. All at a more affordable price than higher end, plastic blow-out mass produced cases. Make a stand, iWood.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/DukesOfLizard

Seed Saving and Seed Swapping

Everyone has their favoured seed varieties and crops they enjoy growing, Being drawn to heritage and unusual varieties, with traits that are favourable. This is a selection of seed I have saved and built up amounts of over the course of a few years. This top left pea has a purple speckle to the pea and I first got this from a friend of mine that had allotments in Sussex, They had got it from HDRA and it came with a story that it had been found in an old mans tin in his shed years after he had passed away. Somehow It germinated and grows to form a huge sugar snap that is far superior to any you might buy ready made. The original names for this variety are lost for now but I call it the Big D Pea as that is who I got it from and continue to grow year after, only struggle is trying to remember to save some because they are sweet and crunchy, certainly preferable to the small thin ones flown in from Peru or elsewhere. One of the main boons to growing your own is cutting down on the mileage, some veg has traveled thousands of miles from origin , more than likely using fossil fuels, in a way negating the benefit of any organic labeling that it may have. The Purple Broad bean top right is Grano Violetta a winter hardy and early cropping broad bean that goes purple if you leave it growing long enough, also turns from green to purple on cooking, though I generaly eat mine raw before leaving the field, I have grown these a couple of years as I like their hardiness and taste, and the colour is nice and unusual in a broad bean. The other broad bean shown here is an unusual yellow broadbean known as Ianto's fava, I had heard of this one years ago and it took me several years to track down, it's origin is in Honduras and it is very vigorous and hardy, producing lots of pods of 2 or three yellow glowing beans. totally delicious when young and raw and they store incredibly well. What is unusual about the broadbean is that nutritionally they have l-dopa in them, which turns to dopamine in your brain improving nerve response and coordination and give a sense of reward, this variety has three time the usually amount found in broad beans and is likely why I get such a sense of reward from growing them. I will put some of these into the seed swap so you might get lucky too.

Local, ethical, environmental, natural, innovative STALLS.

The stalls are selected to represent local, ethical, re/up-cycling, innovative ventures,  using natural and re-usable materials. To showcase local  progressive craft and to give a platform where these works can be introduced to the community in a positive setting. These pictures are some of the items that will be found on our stalls.

There are limited stalls and some space is still available for those interested, please express interest in the comments section below.

why a seed swap ?

The reason we have a seed swap at our event is...

-to promote the conservation of biodiversity;

increasing it in the garden and on into the local food chain.

-Saving our  heritage crops from extinction

-increasing local food security by involving more people in growing their own food

-connecting up with the local community food projects and allotments.

Like seeds, this seed swap will start small, it will repeat throughout the year and on successive years, the more people know it will be happening the more it will grow. Everyone is encouraged to share some of the seeds that they themselves have collected from crops that they like to grow .

The seed swap not only encourages the spread of diverse and useful plants but inspires discussion about them, it is a way of bringing small holders, gardeners, seed savers, allotment holders, farmers, horticulturalists, permaculturists and those wanting to learn more together, it leads to greater food diversity and security in the local area.

Please get involved.