Project Dirt

Making environmental change happen

Bonnie

Bonnie's Blog (15)

Search Blog Posts

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 14: BGEE's Own Banksy?

A slightly bizarre but remarkable phenomenon has started to occur on our estate - this is surreal 3D artworks appearing in one row of new beds in an area a lot of people walk past. it started just after the beds were built by the Blenheim Gardens Edible Estate Project, when some disc… Continue

Added by Bonnie on March 12, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 13: First Press coverage

If you live in Lambeth you may have noticed the big article on the project on page 13 of Lambeth Life - if you aren't lucky enough to live in Lambeth you can see it here (turn to page 13). Having that picture in the paper is a real buzz for the kids. We will also be appearing briefly in the United Residents Housing Newsletter which gets distributed on four estates in Lambeth. if yo… Continue

Added by Bonnie on March 12, 2009 at 10:17am — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 12: O2 Come Through for Blenheim

We have just received a thousand pounds from O2 It's Your Community, who have also made us one of their Top 15 'Champion' projects for this year. They think we are doing great things on the estate and are sending someone to give us a Champions award, along with a photographer... so we… Continue

Added by Bonnie on March 12, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 11: Second Work Day!

Our second workday went brilliantly, with the weather being very kind to us, although the adults felt slightly outnumbered by children most of the time and the turn out of adult residents from the estate was a measley ONE! We have to be careful not be become a Saturday baby-sitting service whilst the parents put thier feet up indoors and leave us to make their estate beautiful :) There is going to be an organic children's garden on the estate though - so the enthusiasm of the young people (from… Continue

Added by Bonnie on March 8, 2009 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 10: Children's Garden and Fruit Garden

About the same time as I started drumming up interest in an Edible Estate, Jean Kerrigan from nearby Renton Close was approaching the Estate Office with the proposal that the second of the three CHildren's Organic Play Gardens she had funding for should be on Blenheim Gardens. This made me very happy because my ideas were primarily geared towards getting adults growing, but it is very important that kids are introduced to the wonders of the soil and the things that grow in it, so the idea of som… Continue

Added by Bonnie on February 28, 2009 at 6:30pm — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 9: First Work Day!

Saturday went swimmingly with 22 people in total being involved: 14 of those lived on the estate and 7 of them were children! We had a lot of fun, one of the neighbours, Ayesha, baked a lovely vegan chocolate cake (what? no eggs?! and I can't believe there's no butter!) and we managed to build 6 new beds too, as well as cutting up all the pallets and wood we need to make the rest (which Chris and Ben and I slapped together the following week) So very successful.... better than I ever imagined or… Continue

Added by Bonnie on February 15, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 8: Finding the Stuff/Funds

I think one of the biggest headaches I've come across is sourcing wood and soil... if you are doing one of these projects too you'll know what I mean...there is plenty of the stuff out there but it costs the bloody earth! So that means money can also be an issue... But it can be done with some luck and patience... and some volunteer labour! Probably it is best to stagger your ambitions - altogether we could use well over 230m of wood to raise all our possible growing areas on the estate by only… Continue

Added by Bonnie on February 1, 2009 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 7: Seeds of Change

i wrote to 8 seed companies over Christmas and FIVE of them got back to me: Chilterns, Seeds Direct, Marshalls, Dt Brown and Thomson and Morgan. They all sent a lot of seeds! Here is roughly what my seed begging letter said... Actually I wrote it out by hand then scanned it in and printed it out (writing in the names of the eight companies i approached), to give it a more personal feel:… Continue

Added by Bonnie on January 10, 2009 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 6: Face to Face is Best

After the info after the AGM had been circulated and few responses had come back and a further Christmas bulletin had gone out with no feedback I decided to knock a few doors to restore my faith in humanity. Christmas newsletter article: Blenheim Gardens Newsletter_Dec08.doc Some people have since said they think I was mad… Continue

Added by Bonnie on December 5, 2008 at 8:00pm — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 5: Credit Crunch Task Force

Lambeth's Sustainability Unit (i.e. Jessica Currie and jon Lissimore) have said they are "happy to support your project where possible" and have also offered help with sustainablity themed stalls at events, lending Environmental Champions for digging days and starting off seedlings on their window sills. I think they got wind of what we were doing through our very proactive Estate Director, Danny, who sent word of our Capital Growth success to the leader of the Council (who also happened to be p… Continue

Added by Bonnie on November 21, 2008 at 8:00pm — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 4: Capital Growth's #1 Project

Thanks to the wonderful Seb Mayfield and Kate Swatridge (FoodUpFront/Sustain) the BG Edible Estate was picked up as a possible project for the new Captial Growth scheme and was promptly promoted to the lead project (completely without justification or merit I might add!) This has had advantages as we can tell people we are the #1 Captial Growth projects and ride to glory on the back of all the publicity!! The Captial Growth is a scheme conceived of by the Mayor's office and backed by Boris' ama… Continue

Added by Bonnie on November 5, 2008 at 8:00pm — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 3: Winning Over the Residents

Just before Vinnie and I made a presentation to the residents and board members at the General meeting I met with John Potter the (repairs and maintenance) Estate Manager and Neville, the Caretaker. Both were very supportive and wanted to see disused, muddy, trodden over borders and beds used for growing food, with the prospect of making new raised beds on the Meadow not meeting with disapproval. With their support all that remained was to get the resident's permission to go ahead. My estate is… Continue

Added by Bonnie on October 22, 2008 at 7:30pm — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 2: Contacting the Estate Office

So I got advice from some useful people who had already been involved in such things, and met met Sarah Cannon (Sustain/ABUNDANCE/TTB) and Vinnie O'Connell who had done a similar thing on the Tabard Gardens Estate in Southwark with Youth offenders, and who runs New Leaf in West Dulwich and was behind plans for Tulse Hill Estate. After this i felt much braver and approached the Estate Office with my ideas. I had already got good vibes from one of the members of the Residents Management board and… Continue

Added by Bonnie on October 14, 2008 at 7:30pm — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: Step 1: Asking for Advice

When I started exploring the idea of a growing project I had no experience at all and had only owned something resembling a garden of my own for a year. I hardly knew my neighbours and had no idea where to start. So i asked some of the people I had met through FoodUpFront and Transition Town Brixton. Below is a copy of the email I sent them: Hello, I apologise in advance for bothering you with this plea, out of the blue as it is; I hope you don't mind me contacting you to ask for some advice.… Continue

Added by Bonnie on October 8, 2008 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Blenheim Gardens (Edible) Estate: The Beginnings of an Idea

A lot of people are interested in getting growing projects started with their neighbours, on… Continue

Added by Bonnie on October 7, 2008 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Latest Blog Posts

Most Popular Blog Posts

Blog Topics by Tags

Monthly Archives

2009

2008

Events

© 2010   Created by Project Dirt

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service