Project: 
a community garden

COMMUNITY PERMACULTURE GARDEN

The Garden Established ... news from this year!

Hello my name is Andrew Sanders and I have been employed to oversee the volunteering opportunities, initially in the garden, but hopefully zoning out throughout the farm in time to come. This is a really exciting time for me and I will endeavour to keep you updated.
We have had a good start and we're already harvesting produce for lunches. There are many areas that we have identified as wildlife hotspots and will hopefully monitor and cultivate these for maximum biodiversity. A pond is high on our agenda and the first pilot pits are to be dug soon. We will also be starting work on a fruit cage in the near future and I will hopefully be writing about summer puddings this time next year. I am also about to start the volunteers on their NOCN training project entitled Personal Development Through Gardening. It will give them the chance to gain a certificate and reintroduce themselves to adult education.
On a more personal note, some people may have seen me precariously perched on a ladder in Amber’s garden trying to extract as warm of bees from her flat roof. Any ideas would be greatly received and again, we will keep you posted.
We have been granted some funding from the European Social Fund to provide opportunities for people who are unemployed, or employed for less than 16 hours a week which will help them on the road to employment. If you are in this position and would like to join our wonderful group of volunteers and possibly sign up for the training or you know someone in this position please do get in touch.  

The Garden begun .... news from last year!

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.

Contact info@organicarts.org.uk if you would like to join the project

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