Review and Planning 2016

An active and vocal group of us met this month to think about how the year went, and what we plan to do in the future. Thanks to Pat from Elmwood Welcome Project for some lovely photos.

Feedback when we first started the garden could be agonizingly positive, people didn’t want to speak out with constructive criticism. We have made real progress, there were many ideas for improvement and individuals took ownership of plans as the meeting progressed.

Positive comments:

• Harvest tasty and nice to have,
• Good experiences had by many in the garden,
• Members relished socialising and being near others,
• Some enjoyed digging,
• Skills and learning about gardening were warmly remembered,
• It was reviewed as out best year, where we developed well.

Things to work on:

• Having a shelter – people were cold at times,
• How to encourage newcomers to find us without a guide from the garden,
• Improving the coordination of weekly activities,
• Unequal work load taken on by different members felt to create tensions,
• Food at workdays wanted to fill the stomachs of hungry people,
• Need for us to treat each other with respect, and as equals, understanding each others points of view, different cultural values,
• When working with each other, where people face difficult situations, patience and listening skills are important,
• We need to grow more and harvest more!
• Make a range of activities for different needs – some heavy work, some light.

We broke into workshops to discuss three main themes:

Food growing and workshops, thought about spring, April seed sowing, winter: garlic, chives and radish growing, Thinking about  cooking and a feasible budget,  We want to invite Anton from Ryton organic for another garden trip for knowledge. As well as build a seed bank, do cross pollination and get insects growing in poly tunnel.

Networking  and making connections. Who considered visits to other projects: flower gardening, Bournville, Priory road, Martineau Gardens, the Botanic Gardens, Plus events for next year: an open day, with photos and food,  a food exhibition- showcasing different recipes, selling a book of recipies, season event, planting event and spring workshops, BBQ summer event to socialise and a Christmas party. Publicity would be done to others for gardening via leaflets, photos, Facebook.  We need an awareness of budget and a team in charge. 

Empowerment ideas flowed with a blog and publicity,  using what’s app, instagram, Facebook, twitter. The group thought about workshops, promotion, (demotion!!), inviting people, ie David Attenborough, Jamie Oliver, write a formal letter invite. Events needed food, presentation and preparation. Workdays needed planning and carrying out teams of threes, allocating names of people on checklist, demonstrations of skills at the days.

Feedback session to each other and job volunteers got involved with:

Workday: check list, demonstrations,  planning with small team,  garden organic to show us how to grow, cooking at garden, manures, cross pollination seeds in only tunnel

Workshops: wine making, apple cider vinegar, cooking recipes, tree growing, grafting, food hygiene cert, Jamie / Attenborough.

Networking: Stirchly baths,  permaculture magazine, local community sponsors of city gardens,, visits as project group,

Events: visit to Ryton Organic, Xmas,pumpkin party. BBQ, food exhibition