We are officially in full swing! We've had a great start to "Afternoons on the Acre". Coral made a return to the acre with her culinary skills. The Men in Sheds created some beautiful vegetable trugs as well as enjoying a BBQ afternoon to celebrate their efforts. We also hosted one of our beautiful moth release mornings this week.
Afternoons on the acre - Book your afternoon! - The acre has been looking stunning all summer and the Trustees have been working hard to get us up to Covid 19 secure status so that people can enjoy the gardens safely. We came up with "Afternoons on the Acre" and our first booking was with Beverley who came along on Friday with her tribe. We can honestly say that this is what has been missing this year - the sounds associated with people having fun, enjoying themselves and relaxing in beautiful surroundings. We thoroughly enjoyed having the privilege of hosting the children as we harvested vegetables, went on a butterfly hunt and generally pottered about. It was a hoot! Men in Sheds also booked out the garden, after all the hard work they've been putting in they they had worked up quite an appetite! Now it's your turn to book... These afternoons are for everyone receiving this newsletter so please do take up the opportunity to have the acre exclusively for your own use. A picnic? A BBQ? You choose! Email info@space2grow.space for more information and to book your afternoon. Best of all they're FREE!
Making a welcome return to the acre was Coral who has been running our school cookery classes over the last year. As with many other businesses, operating during the pandemic has been a challenge but with imagination and tenacity Coral has come up with a number of great ideas. One of these is to film her lessons and post them online and this week she trialled an 'episode' by cooking an apple crumble al fresco on the acre using space2grow fruit! A visit to her website - (coralscookeryschool.co.uk/latest-news) - will give you a flavour of things to come with more al fresco acre demonstrations to follow.
Another inspiring activity was the capture, identification and release of our moth population under the guidance of Alan - although you'll need to be an 'early bird' to be involved! So at 7.45 in the morning I found myself with Libby and Alan as our catch was released and I was able to take some photos, although most fluttered away and were camera shy. I had no idea of the range and scope of these nocturnal friends and thought of them as dull and a little uninteresting compared to the brightly costumed butterflies that flit about during the day. How wrong I was as the photos go to show! If you would like to be involved in the next release then drop us a line at info@space2grow.space.
The pond project has come to a temporary halt as we await the decking which has been slightly delayed. Men in Sheds took the disappointment in their stride and were soon making garden trugs for the acre. The result was so impressive that one of our volunteers had one made up there and then!
Lastly, our fantastic yoga classes have been up and running for the last few weekends and the group are improving so well under Jo's expert guidance. It is definitely a highlight of our week and we are hoping to keep the outdoor sessions going for as long as possible.
We will continue to work hard to introduce as many Covid 19 safe activities as possible so if you have an idea of your own please contact us at info@space2grow.space. Our sister organisation, the Bishop's Meadow Trust, have seen a successful haycut carried out and photos can be seen on their website and soon we hope to be posting some volunteer opportunities too.
Keep your home projects coming in, we love this picture of Kelley's new addition to her garden, she wrote; 'I'm particularly pleased with the veg patch which I would never have even considered before coming to the acre and the influences of some of the volunteers'.
