on the menu:

Observer award

ABUNDANCE handbook!

Diary dates

Forest Gardening

Mapping local food

Sheffield Food Network

Transition Sheffield

courses and volunteering

and more....

ABUNDANCE WINS OBSERVER ETHICAL AWARDS IN LONDON

The national Abundance initiative has won a prestigious national award: the Observer Ethical Living Award. Recognising projects and businesses that promote green ideas and ethical living, we were awarded the accolade in the 'Grass Roots Project' category.

The Abundance Handbook is NOW AVAILABLE to download and order (hurray!!) - follow this link for more

Dates for your Diary...

Sat. 17th /Sun. 18th July and Sat. 7th / Sun. 8th August 9.30am–5.30 pm. + Saturday night Socials

Introduction to Permaculture Courses At Hazelhurst CSA

This is a great chance to get involved in the Commnity Supported Agriculture Project at Hazelhurst. The courses will be taught at Hazelhurst CSA and we'll be camping on site. Trainees will learn Permaculture principles and focus on the design of the Community Supported Agriculture land.

Venue: Hazelhurst CSA Coop Ltd
Big Pond Field
Hazelhurst Lane
S8 8BG

Teacher: Joe Atkinson Learning Coordinator of Permaculture Association UK
Cost &Booking: £30 - £120 based on income. £10 deposit to confirm booking. Send cheques (payable to Leeds Permaculture Network) to Suzi High, 15 Heath Grove, Leeds, LS28 8HP.) Tel. 0113 230 7461

For more information contact Ronin Barkshire on 07982899358

Sunday 18th July: GROW SHEFFIELD SUMMER SOCIAL: HOME GROWN CEILIDH

7:30 - 11pm Broomhall Centre, Broomspring Lane, S10 2FB

Come along to eat (bring something to share), drink (BYO), socialise and dance your feet off to the tunes of the well dressed band. Tickets are £5 in advance and £6 on the door.

For more information and to book tickets contact Jerry on 07976313642

Sunday 26th September: ALLOTMENT SOUP!

This year's artistic allotment free-for-all will take place in the beautiful Rivelin Valley. Watch this space for more details.

Contact Kristina on 07517217463 if you are interested in showing your work or helping orgainse the event.

FOREST GARDENING

If you were driving up Abbeydale rd on a clear winter sunday in December you may have noticed something peculiar happening on the scraggy piece of land next to Lowe's Decorating shop. Well, this wasnt just a bunch of kids messing about, it was the development of the Lowes Community Garden, one of a number of Permaculture projects taking off in Sheffield at the moment.

On December 13th over 20 volunteers gathered on the steep bankside to plant a number of trees including an oak, a cherry, a gage, a walnut and a mulberry, which will form the backbone of a forest garden that will hopefully become a local resource in the future. On a slightly bigger scale, work has begun on the Parkwood Springs forest garden in the North East of the city. The plan for the garden has been drawn up by Edible Cities' Niels Corfield, a Permaculture expert and promises to be wonderful and unique. As with Lowes garden, the project is being spearheaded by the council with help from Abundance and other community groups. Watch this space for more details and pictures soon....

Volunteers are always needed for these projects so if you want to get involved or have any questions get in touch at abundance@growsheffield.com

Mapping Local Food Webs, part of the Making Local Food Work programme (www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk), is a new project that Campaign to Protect Rural England is involved in, which aims to give people the materials and support they need to map, research and record - their local food networks or webs across England. The findings should increase understanding of the links between producers and consumers, and the benefits those links bring to people in urban and rural areas. By finding out how local food webs work in individual towns and cities, this project will increase understanding of the benefits and ultimately demand for locally produced food.
 
For more information, please contact Lizzie Fellows, Regional Coordinator for Yorkshire & Humber, at elizabethf@cpre.org.uk

Sheffield Food Network
The Sheffield Food Network will be publicly launched early next year. A group of University of Sheffield Architecture students have helped create a simple, user friendly and future proof online map. The aim is now to iron out any bugs and create a networking facility as the SFN is about networking sustainable food and not just mapping it. What?s needed now is to put together a team that can help administer the Network and get out and about in the region to find people and places that should be on the map and in the Network. This could be simply spending an hour or two a week looking around your neighbourhood. Training and support will be made available. E-mail grow @growsheffield.com if you are interested or would like more info ? 

TRANSITION SHEFFIELD is closely related to Grow Sheffield in vision and approach and we are pleased to be working in close partnership with Transition Sheffield to create a more healthy and sustainable low carbon city.  To find out more about their exciting upcoming Community Supported Agriculture Scheme and other activities See www.transitionsheffield.org.uk

Help wanted: An old gentleman who has specialist knowledge in fruit-tree growing (in particular using espaliers, cordons etc) would like occasional help with vegetable growing/garden maintenance. if you are interested and live in the North of Sheffield (he is situated in Burncross) please contact Daniele on 07507686453.

Friday 10-12 organic vegetable gardens Heeley City Farm. Contact Darrell Maryon on 07768 932613