Low Carbon Ledbury event at Ledbury Community Fair.

This weekend Ledbury celebrates The Coronation by recreating the Ox Roast which was held here, in 1953.

The Ox Roast event is happening tomorrow, but today was a town wide celebration of all the good things which happen in our little market town -  the Ledbury Community Day.


I was upstairs in the beautiful medieval Market House doing a h Energy/ Master Gardener stall, fellow Master Composters also had a stall there, as did many other local "green" groups. Lots of other community groups showcased their activities all over Ledbury.

 Nigel Hand from the reptile group was there, with wonderful slow worms, newts and grass snakes.

The Worcester Scrapstore had a stand and did some wonderful activities throughout the event - Compostgirl made an insect out of a plastic bottle top :-)

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Master Composters stand with seed planting activities, composting advice and Love Food Hate Waste information.

Compostgirl went off to do Guides activities in The Walled Garden with Ledbury Guides - very proud to be dressed in her uniform and necker and to be part of the day's events, which were happening all over Ledbury town. (link to map)  :-)

It was great fun; Speaking purely from my own experience -  I spoke to over 40 people on my stall alone; five households signed up to take part in h.Energy Savers and two households signed up to have me mentor them for a year with advice on getting started in vegetable growing - so all in all a very successful event :-)

Judging by the crowds of people and the conversations I had with visitors, the other stalls were equally successful and the whole event went very well.

We finished at 2 pm and packed up; being upstairs in the Market House created some "challenges" getting boxes and display boards up and down the stairs but finally everything was loaded into the car and Compostman drove me home.

And I am now officially exhausted. Compostgirl has gone off for a sleepover with a friend, so I think a sit down and a cup of tea is in order, before I start on the planting and watering routine in the garden.:-)

Blossomtime - Master Composter stall as part of Compost Awareness Week

On Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday I spent a considerable amount of time basking in the sunshine, in order to offer composting and gardening advice and seed planting at the Blossomtime event in my area:-)

 Both the days were both very hot and sunny and I got sunburn! 

I had a prime pitch for my composting stall,  at the front of the Hall by the entrance,

on Sunday next to a lovely lady called Gilly, from the ONE network of Cider and Perry growers.

and on Monday next to a lovely lady called  Sophie, (this is her, above)  from Pixley Berries who grow huge quantities of Blackcurrants near us, and make delicious cordials from them.

I talked to lots of people about composting and gardening, sold lots of my plants , to raise funds for Garden Organic, did some seed planting with children and had a generally wonderful time at this local celebration of cider and perry making. Compostgirl was there with me on both days and she had a lovely time as well - mainly going around the event with a friend or tending to the animals Paul Hand had brought along :-)

We both enjoyed watching the Leominster Morris Men dance to greet the May

 Some photos, in case the video doesn't work ;-)

I was too hot to join in, though !

 Was a very tiring, but oh so worthwhile, two days of volunteering :-) Especially as I was part of the Compost Awareness Week activities across the UK and World.

Exotic seeds and a Homegrown Revolution

I have been sorting my seeds, thinking about seeds and pondering what else I want to grow in this new gardening year. With our changing climate one thing I am interested in growing more of, are "unusual" and "exotic" vegetable crops (although, after last year's wet weather maybe I should think about just growing rice?)

At the end of January I was supposed to be volunteering at Garden Organic’s 20th National Potato Day  I was very excited because Garden Organic Ambassador and Ethnobotanist James Wong was due to give a talk about the many exotic edible tubers that can be grown in British gardens.  You may remember he presented a very interesting BBC TV series " Grow your own Drugs" plus  he appears on BBC 1 "Countryfile".

Sadly, because of the snow on the roads around us  I could not get to Ryton for this event, but I wondered if James was going to be speaking anywhere else about growing more "exotic" seeds in the UK. So I was delighted to discover, after an wander around the Internet yesterday afternoon (Google is a wonderful invention)  that  James Wong is doing a tour of the UK speaking at various events. The next event is 16th Feb, in Bristol  followed by an event at Kew Gardens on 26th Feb. Further events are listed during the next few months.

I also discovered that Sutton Seeds   produce  James'  "Homegrown Revolution" seed range. I did not know there was a "tie- in" seed range, and was interested to see the seeds on offer. I already grow, or have grown in the past, some of them (Purslane, Borage, Asparagus pea, Chinese Chives, Quinoa, Mooli) but there are many other interesting seeds which I quite fancy trying to grow this year.

There is a special offer on the Suttons website on  his book and a selection of  6 seed packets for free, for a very good price. Yes, you could get the book and seeds from various different suppliers but it IS convenient to find them all in one place, ready to order.

Having followed the link to the Suttons Seeds website, I had a look around and was pleased to see an ever more extensive selection of organic vegetable seeds -  as you know I try to use only organically certified seeds, growing media etc here at Compost Mansions!  I buy a lot of my seeds from The Organic Gardening Catalogue but  I do buy seeds from other places including the Real Seed Co, Suttons, Franchii, Victoriana Nurseries and MoreVeg.

The website is very well laid out as well, far too tempting for a seed -a-holic like me! As well as seeds there are lot of useful pages on what to be doing at different times of year and how to grow various plants.

I have a future post in mind about my seed order and plans  for 2013 and it looks like I might be adding still yet more seeds  to my list. And maybe a hint to Compostman about an early birthday present :-)

Anyone growing any "exotic" seeds? Or going to see/have seen James Wong speak?





Disclosure  - I was paid to link to Suttons Seeds  - but as always on The Compost Bin all the words and views are entirely my own :-) 

"Meet the Masters" event at Garden Organic, Ryton

I spent today at Ryton, the HQ and showcase gardens for Garden Organic

Throughout the spring and summer Garden Organic have been running a series of events called "Meet the Masters" where Master Composters and Gardeners are present at Ryton on a Saturday or Sunday, to answer queries and talk about composting and gardening to the public.

I had offered my services this weekend and, as Compostman and Dear Daughter have never been to Ryton, we all went, along with a friend of El's.

The journey across was a bit long as there was some terrible traffic through Worcester, but we arrived in glorious sunshine ( which lasted all day!)

My fellow Master Composter and Master Gardener had already set up our stall, in the new Home Composting area and I was very pleased to see this had a nice shelter for us to stand under - most of the summer we have been hiding from the rain but today we were sheltering from the hot sun.

The rest of the family went off to join in a garden tour with one of the volunteer guides while I got on with answering questions - lots and lots of questions - from the public!

There was an Exotic Food Fair happening as well, so we had a lot of visitors who had not been to Ryton before, and were not Garden Organic members, coming in to see what was happening. We had some really good conversations and I think we helped a lot of people with their queries about gardening.

There were all sorts of attractions going on, Alpacas being the most popular outside I think! (They were very lovely)

An Indian cookery demonstration, a talk on seed saving, demonstrations of various exotic foods which can actually be grown in the UK ( although you might not have thought so!) and tours of the new Exotic Garden at Ryton.

We had lunch in the excellent cafe and later, some very welcome tea (and scones for the two children)

I think it is a mark of what a terrific place Ryton is, that two 11 year olds were occupied and had fun for 5 hours there. They really enjoyed wandering around looking at the gardens, they LOVED The Vegetable Kingdom  and stroking the Alpacas, they thought the food was really good and the whole place was excellent. They did have electronic games with them which they played with towards the end of the afternoon for a little bit, while sitting under some trees waiting for me to tidy the stall away.)



Compostman also saw some of the things I have been talking about incorporating into our gardens here at Compost Mansion and, while he thinks most of it would cost too much/be too much work etc  - he CAN see the merit in some of what I have been saying so that is good ;-)

I had a chance to look around, with my family, during my breaks - and stroke an Alpaca :-)

Home for tea time having spoken to 45 people on the stall and handed out a lot of leaflets with advice and ideas.

A good day out - so please go, if you are in the neighbourhood - Ryton Gardens is open every day except Christmas Day, and admission is free if you are a Garden Organic member.

Next event is Apple Day on Oct 13th.

Welcome

As I am appearing in the local media this week for winning the Innovation Award at the Garden Organic Masters Conference - here is the link to my write up of the day

http://www.the-compostbin.com/2012/07/master-composter-and-master-gardener.html

I am SO pleased and proud to have won this award - and if you are visiting me for the first time as a result of reading about it in the local press - a HUGE welcome from me! I hope you enjoy reading what I have written about, here in The Compost Bin, and that you follow my blog and become a regular reader. :-)

If you have any questions about composting or gardening, please comment on these pages

or contact me compostwoman@the-compostbin.com

and I will do my best to help.

Master Composter and Master Gardener Conference, Garden Organic, Ryton

One of the highlights of my year is always a trip to Ryton to the wonderful Garden Organic HQ. Around 200 of we volunteer Master Composters and Master Gardeners, Seed Guardians, Compost Ambassadors etc etc  gathered on Saturday at Ryton to meet up, network, be thanked for our efforts, be inspired and learn something new.

I got up bright and early to catch my lift with a fellow Master Composter, it took us quite a long time to get to Ryton, but we arrived and registered, got coffee and collected our name badges, lanyards and conference pack. Inside the sturdy (compostable strong paper!) bag were samples of Clipper tea, a small but perfectly formed Green and Black chocolate bar ( well, it was until I ate it, that is!), some organic seeds, a delightful notepad and pencil and some useful catalogues. Much more use to we gardeners, and better environmentally, than a plastic wallet with a plastic pen!

Most importantly there was ( as always) a really excellent programme telling us all the good things which were going to happen during the day.

The event was held in a huge marquee, in the wonderful gardens.I met up with other Master Composters from Herefordshire and Worcestershire - 11 of us went altogether from our scheme.

Pretty impressive walk to get from registration into the marquee!

We were welcomed by Myles Bremner, the Chief Executive of Garden Organic,  who thanked us for "doing what we do"  - it is always nice to be told  your efforts are appreciated, even though we know Garden Organic do appreciate us and look after us very well.

Linking all the speakers for the day, as well as speaking herself, was Dr Margi Lennartsson, Head of Programmes at Garden Organic. She had a key role in developing the Master Composter and Master Gardener programmes and is always worth listening to! She kept everyone "on time" as well - which was impressive.

We then had a fascinating presentation based on research, done by Coventry University, on the impact of the Master Gardener scheme over the first 2 years. This looked at responses from both the volunteer Master Gardeners and the households involved. The research work really showed up just what a huge positive benefit it is to people when they start to garden/grow their own food. The research showed huge (measurable against "official" standards) increases in self esteem, and  increased general "feel good" factor - not surprising, maybe,  but I really hope we see this research given a very high profile in the media, in due course.

Then it was time for coffee and our choice of morning workshop - there were 9 choices and I went to "Waste Not Want Not" which was given by  Rosy Grant. Rosy was involved in setting up the "Food for Life Partnership - a network of schools and communities commited to transforming school food culture. The workshop was very informative and good fun - on how to waste less food, store it wisely and get more value from what we buy to eat . It linked in very well with the "Love Food, Hate Waste" training I did a couple of years ago.

Lunch was delicious vegetarian food, wonderfully presented, the food is always wonderful at Ryton. This year it was provided by ChangeKitchen, which is a social enterprise, registered as a community interest company. It was set up by a well-established Birmingham charity, which works alongside those who are socially excluded or disadvantaged, empowering and supporting people to meet their short and long term goals.




I chatted to a few friends I don't see very often and then, as the weather stayed good over lunch, I had a wander around the grounds.

I love love LOVE this flower meadow  - every time I  go it is wonderful. Want one like it!

Huge plant pot, always makes me smile.

Bulk Composting area and yes I did go in and have a good look around. There is also a new display Garden Composting area with lots of different bins and techniquest on display

This Bee Garden was absolutely "buzzing" with activity and the scent was wonderful.

So colourful!

The allotment garden, I really like the tilt top cold frame.

Such beauty. It was all so interesting - ways to prevent slug damage, how to protect the structure of the soil, companion planting - everything one could possibly want to see, demonstrated in a manner which is doable by "ordinary" gardeners at home.

And not a chemical in sight!

I also went to a lunchtime talk on "Comunity Composting for local food" given by Cath Kibbler of The Community Composting Network (CCN) - this is a two and a half year project funded by the Big Lottery Local Food Programme. CCN are setting up a training and support network with 12-15 training hubs across England with associated trainers who will be delivering a doubly accredited training course to local food growing groups so they too can start community composting.

The talk was thought provoking and interesting and I hope to do a more in depth post about it at a later date - I am a CCN member so went and had a good chat to Cath on the CCN stand later on.


After the lunch break we were treated to a performance of "Compost - the mini musical"  from Anneliese Emmans Dean and York Rotters  - which was absolutely BRILLIANT. So funny and creative! If you can go and see it I recomend doing so. It is also available to purchase as a teaching tool .

When we had all calmed down a bit from the excitement of "Compost - the mini musical" we had an excellent talk from Chris Collins , the "Blue Peter" gardener - only as his talk demonstated he is SO much more than just that one title! He was excellent - amusing and informative with an infectious passion for what he does.

We then had the Awards and Graduation ceremonies. I was lucky enough to be nominated for the Innovation and Social Media Award in the Master Composter catagory and as you already know - I won. Wiggly Wigglers provided my prize - gift vouchers - which I will enjoy spending . I was, and still am, SO pleased about this award - I have been a finalist in all the catagories in past years but never won, before. It was a good day for the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Master Composters in general as another of our group, Jeremy Thomas, won the Master Composter Achievement award.

I also "graduated" as a Master Gardener - which means I met the requirements to talk to lots of people about my passion for growing veg, mentor a certain number of households in their veg growing  and log a threshold number of hours doing so. Not difficult to do and great fun doing it!

After yet more refreshments ( Clipper teas and coffees, very nice!) it was time for the afternoon workshops, again a choice of 10 different workshops were available.

My choice of workshop was held in The Vegetable Kingdom building  and was about "Storing and Preserving your Harvest" . Even though I do a fair bit of preserving it was still really interesting and informative and I learnt some new ideas.  Andrea Jones, who gave the presentation, is a moderator on the Grow Your Own forum and really knew her stuff. We got "hands on" making some pickled courgette which we got to take home - yum!

We went back to the main Marquee for a wash up session ( literally as it was raining, again!) , the raffle (I didn't win) a final look around the various demonstrations stands and farewells. I had an interesting chat to Johannes Paul from Omlet - he was there with their new wormery the Hungry Bin . which looked really interesting. I was also very impressed by The HotBin composting system - it looked like a good product which could deal with all kitchen waste - including cooked food scraps.




So, that was my day at Ryton. I got back home at 7.30 pm, tired and hot but SO inspired by the day.

We didn't get to make "thank you" speeches at the awards -  ( thank goodness ) but I would like to say a few now. Thank you to all the staff at Garden Organic for making it such a wonderful day out and also thank you to all my fellow Master Composters/Gardeners  for being such a terrific group of people to work with!

I also want to thank the individual members of the Garden Organic team who are involved with me on a day to day basis -  and special thanks must go to my Council Waste Management team for all their support -  they manage us on a day to day basis and are wonderful.- thank you all.

And a big thank you to YOU, my readers - it wouldn't be half as interesting on here without you...!

Awarded!

Guess where *I* have been, today?

At Garden Organic HQ,

wonderful, wonderful Ryton.

I WILL provide a full write up, with pictures, tomorrow. I promise! But for now, after a long day away from home I am going to content myself with a short post.

This year’s Volunteer Masters Conference at Garden Organic, Ryton will host the Volunteer Masters Awards Ceremony. There are three categories within each of the Master Composter & Master Gardener schemes, which will recognise those volunteers who have gone beyond the call of duty and made outstanding contributions to the campaigns to promote composting or gardening in the UK. There will also be an individual award, which could encompass both composting and gardening.

 (Garden Organic website)

 I was shortlisted for The Innovation and Social Media Award, for my blog,  Fb  and   Twitter feeds (see links, above and to the right)

This award will recognise innovation and use of social media by either an individual or a group within the Master Composter or Master Gardener schemes. Innovative ideas come in many forms, but the judges will look particularly favourably upon those ideas that have the potential to be replicated across other schemes.

  (Garden Organic website)


And guess who won...

ME!

Thank you all SO much, my lovely followers on the Compostbin blog, Fb, Twitter etc for all your comments and questions. Without your input this blog would all be a lot less interesting I think :-)And so I probably would not have won...

Off to celebrate with the Compostbin family, now :-)