Project: 
a community garden

COMMUNITY PERMACULTURE GARDEN

Who could believe that the garden that was opened up during Devon Artworks and was head high in nettles, docks etc. is the same garden as now. Thanks to a steady bank of volunteers the garden is cleared of nettles (though starting to re-emerge now); has a vegetable patch (thanks to the pigs for digging this for us!) which is in the process of being fenced against the rabbits; has had some pernicious shrubs cut back, the ivy removed from the wall; a large tree house is being constructed in the willow tree; has a temporary shelter, fire pit & seating area and as I write this the first daffodil is in flower!

We had wanted to develop the use of the garden from the day we started organicARTS, inspired largely by Jackie Chadwick who lived in the farmhouse and is a permaculture practitioner. We had a couple of Permaculture courses at the farm but no-one emerged with the energy to lead the project. This recent spring into action was prompted by the interest of the ‘Helping Hands’ group at Exeter CVS and the offer by Dea Annison to run another Introduction to Permaculture course for us (thanks to her & Alastair for this). We still have no-one to lead this project but an open gardening group who meet once a month to take any big decisions.
We had a small Winter Solstice celebration for the gardening group with some excellent & unexpected food & drink and we collected, decorated, wished on and burned a yule log, some of which is left to start next years celebration.
Work continues and we’d love you to come and visit, join in the fun and become part of the group if you wish. if you have anything to contribute in the way of tools, plants (at the appropriate time) or seeds etc. we’d be very grateful.

We are most fortunate to have relatively easily accessible and useable clay in the ground so we have identified an area for a pottery on the farm and Lucy Rockliffe (who is a potter) is taking a lead on this project. All we need now is some funding and we can get it up and running. If you know of any pottery equipment that is spare (including a small kiln and a wheel) or if you’re able to help with a bit of renovation on the building, please let us know. We’ve also identified a part of the garden to be a creative area & at some time in the future will have a clay oven there.

Contact info@organicarts.org.uk if you would like to join the project and here to talk about the permaculture garden http://organicartspermaculture.blogspot.com

Find out loads more about permaculture at www.permaculture.org.uk