News for South London Permaculture
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Locally sourced apple, plum and FUF's vegetable competition (right) Cookers & Eaters compliments of TTB (left)
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Close up of the tyre wall to be planted up (right) The end section of a tyre wall that SLP were consulted to name and supply in order to create a bio-friendly diverse habitat (left)
It has been another eventful year with a flurry of activity during the Autumn period. The highs were no doubt the apple days at various community projects, and this must include the orchard planting at the Sceoux Estate in Camberwell to commemorate the 6 who died in a recent fire there. I looked at the site recently in the glow of streetlamps very early in the morning. Someone has ensured all the signs are neat and upright. Click here for a full report or alternatively look under Events & Reports for all events. Members will receive a printed version in the newsletter written by my colleague. A video production has been made and can be viewed here, a collaborative project of FuseArts with South London Gallery and Sceaux Gardens Tenants and Residents Association.
Have a peek at our lovely photos, taken at the Urban Green Fair on Sunday 20th September, of the wild herb forage and jam-making workshop. Transition Town Brixton Food Group (Lovely photos courtesy of Clara Vuletich ) and Ceri Buck's Invisible Food blog. The organisers of the UGF have also commisioned a video production too and photos can be obtained from the following links. UGF photos on flickrHere's the link for the video Leap Anywhere made at the Urban Green Fair.Leap Anywhere video. And just for the record even the gods were looking down at us.The previous commentary on the UGF is accessbile under SLP News and highlights the need for more green spaces. I also refer you to the UGF website for fuller details of the whole event.
Last, but not least, see this link for some wonderful close-ups of my hands in action taken by the fabulous Claire White at Evelyn Community Gardens apple day. Despite being rained off just a bit we all got stuck in and I later did some grafting onto wild blackthorn. The results of this will eventually go under a revamped gardening page.
The results of the court action with One Tree Hill went against us. This has resulted in the loss of our allotment community project and thus one of my essential teaching aids. A full report can be obtained here and I include the Notice I issued under my rights of common Law which was subsequently ignored. Part 2 will follow in the near future.
The pictures below show my continuing work with schools in one capacity or another. The scene is a mini-woodland next to a railway line. The school building has yet to be constructed. In view of it children are meant to engage with nature, so the design here is to show that nature protects children. Using recycled tyres stacked in earthship fashion they are pummelled hard. This obviously creates a very difficult growing medium, in fact the tyres heat up in spring and summer, and due to the high clay content, bake hard. So plants have to be carefully selected for. See the list for the various categories that plants full under. The information contained therein is rather subjective; the rating system has been evaluated from my own personal experience and understanding of the plants in question. The first column indicates their aesthetical value, the second their overall practical value. That this latter is developed around my understanding of permaculture means one is talking about its usefulness. I do not profess to know everything useful of a plant, and there may be plants here that have greater differing values. Alas, this is only a guide. Their totals are given in a third column. Selecting from a number of different categories is essential during the planting. The chickenwire on the outside will contain soil before it is rendered up. These thin pockets of soil will require plants that will root deeper into the tyre. Choosing meadow plants is self-explicatory. In time self-seeding and natural competition will produce a profusion of growth - its harmony and beauty should unfold.
South London Permaculture would like to thank the following organisations for their continuing support towards us during the course of the year:
Okay, if one looks at the Market Place you'll find an opportunity to advertise your wares. I have one sole motive here, to get more people reading this site. I have a few things to offer and in the future we hope to participate in the creation of a food cooperative that delivers to remote places. In the meantime I need to get the network more active, so here is the opportunity to advertise at the small cost of a second-class stamp. Give it a go!
Spike Community
Evelyn Community Gardens
Urban Green Fair Community Interest Company
Food Up Front
Purple Broccoli Theatre Company
Pure London Honey
Transition Town Brixton
Roots and Shoots
Urban Orchards (website to follow)
SLP's exciting new project facilitation. The idea was born from the work done at the Sceaux Garden Estate where the fire that caused the death of 6 innocent victims gave rise to a community voice. In particular this voice was about how to breathe life back into a community, especially since neighbours were still living within the vicinity of the buildings or even in the buildings themselves. The horror of those moments are preferred to be forgotten, but the reliving of fond memories is something a commemoration can achieve. A commemoration need not be about death though. One may like to commeorate the life achievements of a friend, even an ancestor. It could be a national event like a British victory in sport. Or maybe a political one in which, for instance, one gains assylum. Due to the sensitivity of our funding bid we must apply as individuals. That is not to say that SLP volunteers cannot contribute to its on-going work. As an individual we have applied for funding for 3 pilot projects. One of these areas will be the Oasis project, already a well developed project. Volunteers who would like to commence with some of the essential groundwork from July onwards should post their interest on the link. We would welcome other potential sites and request that you contact us sooner rather than later at South London Permaculture. Lastly, we had a garden party not long ago. More of a kids party I quickly set up the opportunity to paint a mural in my bedroom before I decorated it. Half way through the day I was arrested for the project on the railway line at the back of my garden. The whole project, running for at least 8 years, requires to be fully documented to do it justice. But in that period I have had bees out there and many students who engaged with some raw guerilla tactics. That this has been beneficial to the wider community, one hopes that the children understood this. For I returned from the police station to their cheering calls. In that time the mural had developed. A picture will ensue very soon, as soon as I can borrow a camera. More details can be found of this event under the editor's page.The opportunity to make a legal issue over this was present, but I felt that my studies must take precedence. In fact, the occassion provides material for my dissertation as a case study. For me the calling of nature and subsequent barring from it as a consequence of bureacratic power mongering is the environment that gave birth to guerilla gardening and the need to look after our neglected spaces. The area is beginning to overgrow now, but the future may well provide ample opportunity to reopen the case.
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