HALESWORTH: Forest Garden Talk

Our HinT meeting at Halesworth Library last Thursday evening (8th September) was so well attended that we had to scout around the library to find more chairs. Marion Gaze who works at Wakelyns' Farm in nearby Fressingfield presented an entertaining and lively talk about how she ended up working on this experimental agroforestry farm. She went on to tell us more about the research they carry out at the farm where they are currently working with mixing different varieties of the same crops together and growing crops between lanes of trees.

Marion then introduced us to the concept of forest gardens, and the course with Martin Crawford that she recently attended. Although we have already run a HinT tour of the farm, we can see that another one could be interesting for newer HinT supporters. Trish Dent

HinT website: http://hint.onesuffolk.net

BUNGAY; Give and Take Day - 24 September

Give and Take is Back! Saturday 24th September 10am-1pm at the Chaucer Club, Popson Street, Bungay. Bring along unwanted, non-electrical items on the day and take something home all for free! The perfect time to clear out the cupboards and let the moth balls fly before the cold kicks in! SB can collect any large or bulky items on or before Friday 23rd September by prior arrangement.

For more information or to arrange collections, contact Eloise Wilkinson (01986 788785) 
eloise.wilkinson@gmail.com Eloise Wilkinson

Transition Tea Tent @ The Waveney Greenpeace Fair - Sunday 4 September

The Waveney Greenpeace Fair is on! It will be taking place in its new location alongside the lime trees at Henham Park, Suffolk on Sunday 4th September from 11am to 11pm (find us on map here).

The Fair features three music stages: the big top with a range of amplified music, the acoustic stage, and a lively human dynamo stage where the sound system is powered by members of the audience riding an exercise bike! The music encompasses jazz, folk, blues, reggae, samba and much, much more.

Stalls are back, plus great kids’ activities and entertainment including the Woodcraft Folk and the Foolhardy Folk.

Some new things include Swingboats, ‘History of the Albion Fairs’ tent, a healing area, more campaign stalls and of course The Transition Tea Tent, organised by Sustainable Bungay and featuring sustainable bicycle-powered smoothies by Transition Norwich's Jo Balfe. There will also be a Transition East stall inside for all initiatives in the Eastern region to contribute posters and info, so do come along! It's a great place to meet up.

Admission is £10 per adult, £8 concessions, £5 children under 12, under 5s free. Please car share or come by bike, there's no extra charge for parking this year.

For further details including about volunteering contact Eloise Wilkinson eloise.wilkinson@gmail.com. For full line up www.waveneygreenpeace.org.uk

Transition Tea Tent and Stall from Greenpeace Fair 2010 by Mark Watson; Jo and bicycle-powered smoothies at the Harlequin Fayre.

NORWICH: Introducing Kitchen Conversations - Low Carbon Cookbook - 24 August

Last month the Low Carbon Cookbook project met, as usual, for delicious supper of shared dishes (from rainbow summer slaws to foraged cherry plum pie) and afterwards discussed the Burning Issues embedded in the present industrialised food system. We looked at the scarcity of water, the destructiveness of supermarkets, peak phosphates, and how we can change the menu, both practically and philosophically, in our daily lives and neighbourhoods.

We also decided to open out these monthly discussions and invite everyone to take part in a conversation over supper on all aspects of food and carbon reduction.

Our first Kitchen Conversation will be on Eating Local for Real on Wednesday 24 August at 6.30pm at Jo Balfe's new cafe The Nectar at 16 Onley Street, just off the Unthank Road. Jo is a member of the TN Permaculture group and gives regular workshops on cooking and eating local and raw food. We'll bring our own local low carbon dishes to share and Jo will be offering drinks and pedal-powered desserts.

We'll be holding our second Low Carbon Kitchen Conversation at Norwich FoodCycle Cafe in September. These free community meals are cooked up each week at the Friends Meeting House kitchens from food that would otherwise be thrown away, donated by local shops, restaurants and market stalls (including surplus veg from Norwich FarmShare).

Everyone is welcome at both events. Details and times will be added soon to the calendar. Watch this space! Charlotte Du Cann

Bicycle blender outside The Nectar; Low Carbon Cookbook Crew; blight-free organic potatoes at The Spuds Don't Work anti-GM rally outside the Forum

Kitchen Conversation 1: Eating Local for Real at The Nectar Cafe, 16 Onley Street. KC 2: Food and Waste will be at FoodCycle, Friends Meeting House, Upper Goat Lane in September. For more details contact Charlotte Du Cann rootshootsandseeds@hotmail.co.uk

NORWICH: Grapes Hill Community Garden - Grand Opening - 7 August

Since the Grapes Hill Community Garden opened its gates to the public on 2nd July it has proved a hit with people and wildlife alike.

We had a great evening in the garden on Sunday 10th July, after St. Benedict's Street Fair. On other days people come in to enjoy the garden's peace and tranquility. People appreciate the garden's wealth of vegetables, herbs and ornamentals, with the wildflower meadow being a particular favourite.

The garden is attracting birds and insects too. A pair of blackbirds nested in a courtyard backing onto our garden and the parents foraged for food here. Bumblebees, butterflies, moths, ladybirds and hoverflies are moving into the garden and we're keeping a note of what we see.

On Sunday 7th August we have our Grand Opening Day. This starts at 11am when Will Giles from Norwich's Exotic Garden officially opens the garden. There will be food, drink, music, ice cream, face painting, competitions, plant sales and information about the garden, until 3pm.

There will also be a one-off chance at this event to join the Grapes Hill Community Garden Group for half price until the end of 2012 for £5 (waged) or £1.50 (unwaged).

Admission to the garden is free - please come along and see Norwich's newest green space. Jeremy Bartlett.

Above: Drinks and food in the garden - 10th July 2011. Photo copyright Grapes Hill Community Garden Group. Visit our website or our Facebook page for more information.

Bungay Beehive Day - Sunday 24th July, 10.30am - 4pm on Castle Meadow

Bungay Beehive Day is a celebration of the honeybee and other pollinating insects along with the plants they love. It’s a first-of-its-kind event organised by Bungay Community Bees (BCB) as part of the Bungay Festival and aims to promote awareness and enjoyment of the key relationship between people, plants and bees.

Although we’ll be celebrating “all things bee” our theme will centre on the importance of insect pollination and how everyone can grow and protect flowers to support bees and other insects in our local environment. Come and find out what our group is doing and what each of us can do in response to the worldwide honeybee crisis and to help restore balance in our overstretched environment.

Central to the day and the marquee will be an observation hive provided by Waveney Beekeepers, so everyone can see how honey bees work within a hive. There wil also be a display of our recent venture into top bar hives. A wide diversity of stalls will be busy giving both information all about bees and bee-friendly plants and everything you need to know about becoming a beekeeper and also selling plants and seeds, bee-related crafts and of course honey! There will be an activities area for children from making a bee swarm to to a flower mural and on the stage there will be a lively series of workshops and talks running through the day.

So if you want to know how to make a bee hotel and beeswax candle, find out about natural beekeeping, bumblebees or how to plant a 'patch in a pot' of bees' favourite wildflowers, this is where you need to be!

We’ll have guest speakers from both the innovative River of Flowers project talking about creating urban meadows in green corridors, pollination and bio-diversity, and the Natural Beekeeping Trust on beekeeping on an earth-friendly scale. On the Bee and Flower walk we’ll visit a variety of ‘green spaces’ in Bungay (including the burgeoning Library Courtyard Community Garden), on the lookout for the wild (and not so wild) flowers that the bees are visiting. There will also be a talk on the healing power of honey. And throughout the day you’ll be able to talk to Bungay Community Beekeepers about all our activities and even join the group if you haven’t yet subscribed.

Oh, and calling all bakers. If you bake and bring along a honey cake and enter it into the competition, you could win a £15 gift voucher from BCB organiser and master cake maker from Three Willows Café, Gemma Parker.

Talks 11am Bee Guardians: Natural Beekeeping Trust 12 noon Bee and Flower Walk 1pm Bee corridors and biodiversity: River of Flowers 2pm Healing Power of Honey 3pm Bumblebees.

Workshops 11-12.30 Wildflowers for gardens and making bee Hotels. 2.30-4 Wildflowers for allotments and vegetable gardens and making bug hotels. Ongoing making beeswax candles and beeframes; children's activities: making puppets, mobiles, masks and bee and flower mural.

Honey cake competition: Bake and bring along a honey cake with the most delicious winning a £15 gift voucher. 3pm Judging

Everyone is welcome. Refreshments are available.

If you would like to help out on the day please let us know.

Contact Gemma: enquiries@humblecake.co.uk or Mark: markintransition@hotmail.co.uk or Tel. 01502 722419

Bungay: Midsummer Celebration at the Library Community Garden - 24 June

Bungay’s library courtyard is positively blooming this summer as its beautiful, new wildlife garden comes into its own with a great burst of activity.

Colourful chamomile, cornflowers, poppies and foxgloves catch the eye, not only of library visitors but bumble bees and many other insects. And there are plenty of feathered visitors too, including a pair of blue tits who have successfully reared a family of youngsters in one of the new bird-boxes.

To celebrate the success of this flourishing community project and to boost the ongoing Save Bungay Library campaign, a Midsummer Evening is being staged at the library courtyard on Friday, 24 June, from 7-10pm.

All library supporters and well-wishers are invited to come along. Drinks and nibbles are provided and local musicians will add to the atmosphere, playing acoustic instruments.



Over the past year, this underused courtyard space has been transformed into a hive of activity. This spring pupils from Bungay Primary School saw the bulbs they had planted last Autumn emerge from the earth and burst into bloom. On May Day Sustainable Bungay held a second Give and Grow Day, exchanging seedlings, seeds, flowers and veg (and growing tips!) and establishing a permanent plant and produce corner.

During the drought, the library staff and volunteers have been kept busy watering the assorted herbs, wildflowers and young fruit trees, relying on tap water when the rainwater butts ran dry. The busy staff are seeking someone who is willing to spend a few minutes each week, sweeping the courtyard to keep it looking spick and span. Dustpan and broom will be provided! A shed with tools and compost for garden maintenance is now in situ.

Sara Johnson, who redesigned the courtyard garden with the project’s working party, is really pleased with its progress. “I’m delighted - after the freezing conditions of the winter and now a prolonged drought – that it’s established and positively thriving.”

For more details about the midsummer evening, or if you would like to contribute any refreshments, please contact the library staff or email: info@sustainablebungay.com.