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.
- We will write a monthly blog in which we use permaculture design methods and tools to help us write up our experiences.
Implementation plan
We have established certain goals for our implementation plan to have achieved by the end of March:
- Re-fashion two new beds, potting up existing plants to give away or re plant.
- Mulch the new beds.
- Start the blog
- Put up our polytunnel
- Create our watering system.
- Make and create the Zone 1 nursery bed.
What we’ve done so far
- Potted up the plants and cut the top growth down ready for mulching.
- Taken 73 black, white and redcurrants and gooseberry cuttings from the prunings at Rosie’s gardening jobs.
What is next
On February 9th we will go and put up the polytunnel, volunteers welcome. Contact Rosie 07979757843 or Charlie07790352489