February is a key month for gardening.. preparing the soil, sharpening tools, getting ready for the coming growing season. We have been propagating our perennial plants, grafting fruit trees, making paths, training our crew, planning courses and events and meeting with partners and funders. A hugely busy and exciting time of year.. here are a few pictures giving insight into some of what has been going on at the project.
View of the Get-Growing organic garden Feb 2012
Permaculture is the fastest growing grass roots movement in the world, its simple philosophy of working with nature challenges the very foundations of current behaviour. Many of our ideas are informed by Permaculture design.
Globalised production systems means there is no longer any accountability or traceability in the most important and fundamental of things.. food
Two of our project team, here on work experience and apprenticeship and learning how to grow
Work on the main path to the community micro allotment area
Project member Richard tends the fire at the centre of the garden
Fruit tree grafting workshop.. it is actually possible to graft the wood from several different trees onto a rootstock
As part of our grafting workshop, one of our regular Get-Growing courses we practised with cutting of dogwood to learn the various techniques required
Fruit trees are made by grafting Scion wood onto a chosen root.. you can see the scar and healed up area where the new wood has established and grown
I am fascinated by mycelium, that part of the fungus organism we don’t see… it creates a massive amount of surface area by branching and it exudes enzymes to digest its food
Another view of mycelium.. in the tree of life, our closest relative is fungus.. like us it breathes in oxygen and out CO2 and was possibly the first organism to live on land
This pic is for Matti, I am hugely pleased and proud to be see our Newtown made raised beds at the community growing project in Liverpool, made by our apprentices they are helping people grow in other locations
First draft of an advert for our raised beds, being made by the project apprentices as part of our community entrerprise project
Climate change is here, it is a real and present danger and we need to learn how to rapidly respond to this challenge
Permaculture founder Bill Mollison has an uncanny knack of putting his finger right on the pulse… the solutions to our problems are simple. we just have to do it!
Permaculture is the study of natural systems and the application of that insight as a design system