Hugelkultur 28/5/16

Jun20 by rosie

forest gardening day 7/5/16

May14 by rosie

maintenance at the Missing Sock forest garden 9/4/16

Apr11 by rosie

willow planting at the Sock 12/3/16

Mar19 by rosie

almond blossom

clearing nettles

we made little terraces around the back of the boat, laid compost and wet cardboard down and planted the willow cuttings into it.

then we covered the cardboard with wood chip and watered thoroughly.

drilling holes for mushroom log inoculation.

Minutes for meeting 11th March 2015

Mar23 by rosie

Growing Spaces meeting at Sandra’s house, 11th March 2015

Present – Toni, Sandra, Rosie, Jo, Helen, Li, Jessica, Anna

Intro to GS – Our aims have much in common with Incredible Edible.

For newcomers; do as much or as little as you would like.

GS seeks coordinators, anyone interested?

GS is largely edible landscapes but other things considered.

There are too many apples in town! Lets ask for other fruit trees to be planted.

There are currently 44 people on the mailing list.

We try to allocate people to spaces. Permaculture zoning system could help with this.

Spaces needing allocation; new space in Newnham with watering trough, Aldi space, Bridge Rd, Wycliffe Rd.

Forest gardening was discussed as a useful low maintenance option, although it was agreed that common vegetables should be grown in order that they are recognised and eaten.

The purpose of meetings is to do admin, decide what to plant and to coordinate people and spaces.

Grant money is available for plants.

Helen introduced her place as a potential space to grow vegetables as a nursery space which will then be planted out at the spaces. She and Jo will arrange a work day/meeting.

Anna mentioned students working on spaces as part of their courses.

Other interesting projects; ARU community garden, Murray Edwards community garden, Corinna does school groups, Growing schools network.

Anna interested in education on the spaces.

Transition uses twitter to communicate within the Transition Town network and for publicity to other groups

Discussion on how long someone needs to come to GS meetings before taking initiative and taking action and starting a new project. Sooner is better as you will be fully supported.

Spaces

Sandra to look after Cam Yoga and Daily Bread, which is where her husband works so he can keep an eye. Justine has created a design competition to engage people.
George IVth street space opposite Camyoga, shade suggestions: rainbow chard, solomon seal, wild garlic.

Group looked at pictures of a possible new space in Girton on Jessica’s phone. It seemed to be in an area near to cars which initiated a discussion about pollution.

Margaret Wright community orchard – Li will contact Keith Jordan who is now coordinating.

Ashley court, opposite CB2 – Marie looks after. Seems a bit overgrown, needs thinking about. Suggestions for colour and interesting shapes: beans on wigwam or trellis, articxhoke, nasturtiums, courgette, brussels sprouts.

Action

Rosie T to put up info re Forest Gardening on website

Helen and Jo will arrange a work day at new nursery

Plant rasberries at Cam Yoga on 21st or 23rd.

Marie to set a date for space care at Ashley Court (and seeing if we catch neighbours to hear their opinions).

Moneyless nursery

Jan21 by rosie

Welcome to our blog. We are Rosie and Charlie, gardeners and permaculturists in Cambridge. We identify the need to provide plants for the community spaces and are therefore going to create a plant nursery based on permaculture principles. We aim to reduce our reliance on money and increase our self reliance through practical skills and community support.

In Aranya’s book; Permaculture design, a step by step guide (Permanent publications, 2012), SMART goals are “a way by which you can measure the success of your design over time” (page 80)

SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound)

Our vision of the project is that by creating a community nursery we can produce enough edible and wildlife friendly plants for all Transition Cambridge Growing Spaces projects.

The nursery will be run using Permaculture principles.

We will compatibly support the Growing Spaces aims, which seek to provide local people without land access to grow food. We will support this by offering propagation workshops and workdays to the GS volunteers, and therefore actively broadening their gardening skills.

The nursery will be run along moneyless principles to foster an environment of sharing, cooperation, resourcefulness and equality.

Any visits or collections must be travelable by bike, unless on route, for example Rosie passes by the nursery in her car on the way to work and back.

As individuals we will benefit not through payment but through development of propagation skills, nursery management and by deepening our understanding of permaculture practice.

As well as writing a blog on the GS website, we will continue to attend the GS meetings. This should ensure regular two-way communication between projects.