Almost the end of another year but lots for you to do to get away from it all during this hectic time at Eastside Roots, volunteering days at station (Tuesdays, Fridays & Saturdays) finish after 22nd December & restart 5th January 2010 (apart from 29th December vol day which will go ahead from 10.30 to 4 as usual): burn off the Christmas pud. Trinity last Thursday is 17th Dec, back on 7th January 2010.

Fruit Tree Offer

Wouldnt it be great to have your very own fruit tree in your garden or on your allotment or even in a tub in your front yard? Fruit trees give you delightful blossom for Spring, home grown organic fruit in the summer and a winter wind break, get a variety with your neighbours and after a few years share the abundant harvest. Eastside Roots are offering you a variety of fruit trees on different root stock (which affects its final size) at an incredible £15 each. We are buying in bulk so we can pass a saving on to you. They make a really positive present and ordering couldn’t be easier. We have set up a safe Paypal account which you can access on our website www.eastsideroots.org.uk. Or visit us at the station and pay by cash or cheque, a receipt will be given. You can pay online now or pay at the station from 12th December, last date for orders 18th January 2010. The trees will be ready for collection by late January. Choose from an apple, a pear, a cherry or plum – all varieties have been selected for low maintenance and are suitable for growing in small urban spaces.

Eastside Roots Mid-Winter Warmer – Saturday 19th December 2-7pm, Stapleton Road Train Station

We cordially invite you all to our end of year festive gathering up at the station, they’ll be wreath making workshop & gardener’s question time in the afternoon, followed by Jacknory Jethro with winter tales around the blazing fire, seasonal games and live acoustic music in the special Eastside Roots fashion. Warm yourself with hot mulled cider (made in Easton) or wine, eat our own grown pumpkin soup, enjoy pizzas & jacket spuds from the ‘Fat Controller’ Clay Oven or just stick to a good old cup of tea. All welcome, bring your kids, finish with songs around the piano.

If you fancy taking part or helping on the day please get in touch via email or on 07810 806 354.

Eastside Roots New Year’s Eve Party – Thursday 31st December, The Plough

Ending the year with a real bang Eastside Roots ‘Dance for the Plants’ team are taking over the Plough for one big party featuring live band, live pa, 2 guest DJs, some very big tunes and a few surprises – you are guaranteed to start 2010 with a smile on your face. Full details soon, look out for the posters and flyers. Tickets are £4 in advance or £6 on the door – all proceeds to Eastside Roots Community Gardening Hub. Tickets can be purchased from The Plough or from Eastside Roots.

Learning Opportunities for 2010

What better way to start the new year than to sign up for a new course, Eastside Roots have a series of courses & workshops coming up from February 2010 from drop in workshops at the station to full 8 week gardening courses. Details will be sent out in January and updated on website but meanwhile we are already taking bookings for our very popular Organic Horticulture course at Trinity Centre in Old Market from 4th February to 8th April, this course will be an engaging mix of practical and indoor group work, and has been getting incredible feedback from the start…… partly as it’s so cheap: £80 waged or £40 unwaged for 20 hours teaching time! Call Tom on 07988460373, reply to this email or email t_daly@hotmail.com.

Other News: Easton Energy Group are at Easton Community Centre tonight from 7 to 9pm with free advice on Energy saving & a chance to become an energy warden for your street. Save money & reduce your carbon footprint.

Lastly I would like to thank all the Eastside Roots directors and members (all of whom are volunteers) who put in an incredible amount of work & energy this year to bring you an exciting mix of events, talks, workshops, training, volunteering and more. If you like what we are doing please get involved, it wouldn’t be the same without you (If you don’t like what we are doing let us know why & how you would want to use the Community Gardening Hub or Trinity Garden). Best wishes for the end of the year and I hope 2010 sees an across the board greening of fingers.
Thanks for reading.
Nick Ward
Project Co-ordinator
Eastside Roots
07810 806 354

Who? The ‘Aspire to Grow’ project is a partnership between GROW@CPP Ltd, and Age Concern Somerset and is funded by the Learning Revolution Transformation Fund. It is aimed at the over 50s, although we may consider people below 50 if there is places available.

What? It is a 10-week course run by experienced instructors that provide a tailored programme of fun and inspirational Bushcraft, Survival & Habitat activities … think of Ray Mears and that should give you some idea of the activities included.

How much? All sessions are free following a nominal charge of £10 at enrolment.

Why? The aim of the project is to increase access to outdoor spaces, raise awareness of unique learning opportunities, and promote health and well-being.

Where? The course takes place in a beautiful outdoor setting near the village of Winford in North Somerset. As well as some stunning views the site also has its own stone circle dating back about 3000 years. It is a mixture of heathland and woodland, which is ideal for bushcraft activities. Free Transport is available to our rural site with a number of pick up points.

When? The course runs on either a Wednesday or a Saturday starting Saturday 9th January or Wednesday 13th January 2010.

To apply, contact:

Mark Howells on 01934 835249 or 07878771428

or email: mark.howells@growcpp.co.uk

Visit our website at: http://growinthewild.webs.com/

Registered charity: 1015900

Freeskilling is back after a couple of weeks off for Christmas, and we’ve got a fantastic line-up for January and February!

Here is the line-up for the next eight weeks, beginning next Tues 12th Jan @ 7pm. It’s FREE for everyone as always!

Nappy Free Babies!
Tues 12th Jan, The Better Food Company, Sevier St @ 7pm
Also known as ‘Elimination Communication’, join Ted for a demonstration and talk on how to bring up your child without nappies of any description. Fascinating!

Living without Money
Tues 19th Jan, The Better Food Company, Sevier St @ 7pm
Mark Boyle will give a talk about the reasons behind it, the practicalities of it and why he has decided to keep going!

Pilates
Tues 26th Jan, The Better Food Company, Sevier St @ 7pm
Pilates is an abs and back workout focussing on strengthening the pelvic floor, abdominal and lower back muscles. It helps to reduce lower back pain, slim waistline, improve posture and many other benefits. If possible people should bring a towel to lie on.

How to make a Willow Basket
Tues 2nd Feb, The Better Food Company, Sevier St @ 7pm
James Watts will teach you how you can make a beautiful basket from willow.

Low Impact Buildings
Tues 9th Feb, The Better Food Company, Sevier St @ 7pm
Join Lammas’ Xavier de la Huerga for a presentation about the different approaches to LIB, favoured techniques, materials, planning issues and some practical advice on how to get started. Pics and video footage to go with the talk.

Basic Clothes Making
Tues 16th Feb, The Better Food Company, Sevier St @ 7pm
Learn how to follow a simple pattern to make your own skirt from scratch. The workshop will cover basic techniques such as picking fabrics, using linings, and fastenings. With Sarah Inman.

Homeschooling
Tues 23rd Feb, The Better Food Company, Sevier St @ 7pm
Join Karleen for a talk on everything you need to know about Homeschooling your child.

Italian – for Beginners
Tues 2nd Mar, The Better Food Company, Sevier St @ 7pm
Join Alessandra Chessa for an evening of learning basic Italian – and the possibility of a regular group being set up!

We hope you had a great Christmas and are looking forward to another year of learning neand teaching

The Upper Horfield Garden Club is screening the ‘The Power of Community’, a film that shows how communities in Cuba got together to grow food for their country after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

There are many lessons for British communities working together to turn green space into a place to grow food. Come and be inspired to dig, sow, and grow food and find out more about the new community garden at Eden Grove.

Cost: free to Garden Club members or 2 pounds per person to cover room hire and refreshments.

Venue: UHCT Community Centre, Eden Grove Methodist Church, Eden Grove, Horfield, BS7 0PQ.

A Bristol based man, will be giving a talk in Bristol on the 19th January about his experience of ‘Living without Money’, a social experiment he originally undertook for one year. The talk takes place in The Better Food Co. Cafe, Sevier St, St. Werburghs, Bristol at 7pm.

Mark Boyle, 30, originally from Ireland and founder of the world’s fastest growing alternative economy ‘The Freeconomy Community’, will be talking about both the economic and ecological reasons behind his fascinating social experiment and the actual practical experience of living through four seasons with zero cash. This social experiment has been at the heart of a huge debate on The Guardian online, which led to it being covered by every national newspaper and major radio station.

For the last 12 months Boyle has neither spent or received a penny in an experiment that also didn’t allow any prepayment of bills or stockpiling. He has spent the last year living in a caravan on an organic farm where he volunteers for three days per week. He cooks outside – rain or shine – on a rocket stove made from old catering tins, goes to his compost toilet using newspapers salvaged from his local newsagents, heats his humble abode using wood he has coppiced and scavenged locally, and powers his laptop and mobile using solar. He washes either in a river or by using a solar shower, and cycles the 55km round trip to the city twice a week, using his trailer to transport the things he needs and gives away.

Boyle adds that he eats from the ‘Food for Free table’, of which there are four legs – foraging wild food, growing your own, bartering and using waste food that local businesses would normally throw out.

Boyle undertook this economic and ecological experiment because he believes “it is the disconnection we have with what we consume that is the primary cause of the wasteful and destructive culture we live in today. If we all had to grow your own food again we wouldn’t waste one third of it as we do here in the UK today. If we had to make our own tables and chairs, we wouldn’t throw them out the moment we changed the interior décor. If we had to clean our own drinking water, we sure as hell wouldn’t foul it. We’ve absolutely no respect or real appreciation for the embodied energy, destruction and suffering that goes into the things we consume and buy today, and hence the symptoms of this separation of the consumer from the consumed (sweatshops, environmental destruction, wars over resources, factory farms) relentlessly persists. Money is the tool that has increasingly enabled humanity to exaggerate this disconnection with what they consume and therefore has a huge role to play in climate change and the destruction of our natural environment.”

This experiment is featured in the current editions of Resurgence, Permaculture Magazine, The Source, Ethical Consumer, G2 (the Guardian) and Inspired Times, plus lots of other national and international media. It has also been the subject of the two most read stories across the board on The Guardian online – for more information she link below:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2009/oct/28/live-without-money
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2009/nov/02/cashless-man-responds

Boyle will be making himself available for both live and pre-recorded interviews for radio over the next week, and will be happy to give interviews for members of the press also. Members of the media are also welcome to attend the talk also, and he will be making himself available for interviews beforehand and after it.

Location: Cafe-At-Bristol, Anchor Road, Harbourside, Bristol, BS1 5DB.

Waste not want not!

Still got a mound of plastic packaging and half a turkey to get rid of? Whether it’s reducing, recycling, burning it or pouring it into a hole in the ground, the issue of waste doesn’t decompose by itself.

This event will be a forum for discussion on the topic of waste, with professional representatives from local businesses including energy-from-waste Ethos Energy and Bristol City Coucil to share their experience and viewpoints.

Bring an item of rubbish with you for a warm-up activity to kick off the discussion.

If you have not yet had a chance to see The Age of Stupid – a riveting climate change feature documentary – then there is the opportunity to see it free on 22nd January at Severn Beach Village Hall (details on the attached poster).

After the film, there will be a Q&A session with local councillor Peter Tyzack, Chris Sunderland (of Agora) and South West Regional Energy Agency will be there to offer help and solutions to those who want to take personal action.

Come and learn the traditional art of fruit tree pruning from some of our local experts. It’ll be a real hands-on workshop planting new trees and pruning. Tools provided; bring gloves and warm, waterproof clothes and boots.

Monday 25th January 2010 10.00am -12.30pm
Grimsbury farm, Kingswood
Paul Humphreys from BTCV will be joining us to instruct on pruning a wide range of fruit trees. There may also be an opportunity to have a look at the Tree Life Centre tree nursery on-site and the new memorial woodland site. Meet in the car park. Toilets on site.

Saturday 6th February 10.00am -12.30pm
Cock Road Ridge Nature Reserve, Kingswood
Learn to prune old apple trees and have a go yourself. We’ll also be tidying and clearing undergrowth around the trees. Meet Bob at the allotment entrance Hollyguest Road or Sally outside Longwell Green Leisure Centre.

Monday 15th February 1.30-3.30pm
Pomphrey Hill Open Space, Emersons Green/ Mangotsfield
Learn to prune new fruit trees (apple and pear). We’ll also plant a few replacement trees and have a look at some large pear trees and a mulberry. Meet at entrance off Pomhrey Hill (B4465) opp Johnson Rd, just next to Cleve Rugby Club.

23rd Tues February 1.30pm- 3.30pm
Bristol Bath Cycle Path @ Staple Hill Tunnel
Plant 4 new apple trees and prune/ tidy up one old apple tree. Also tidy around a regionally important geological site (RIGGS). Jo Wright will be teaching us about planting techniques. Meet in the car park Station Road, Staple Hill.

Saturday 27th February 10.00-12.30pm
Cycle Path @ Mangotsfield Station
We’ll be working on some very old trees and planting some new ones. Meet on Rodway Common opposite Mangotsfield Secondary School (unless you’re cycling then see you there)!

Call Sally for directions or info on 01454 863556 sally.pattison@southglos.gov.uk

These are a series of five informal training sessions looking at the planting and aftercare of fruit trees. The half-days will be fun and interesting, learning about different fruit trees and getting some hands on experience. Each session will take place on Council open space as part of the Wildways project. Anyone who attends one or more of the workdays may be eligible for a City & Guilds Horticulture certificate through Filton college accreditation.

Easton Energy Group (EEG) is a new community group which aims to help individuals reduce energy use in the home. They offer free advice on energy saving in the home and help with energy saving grants and funding.

The group was set up to help households save money, reduce carbon emissions and take community action against climate change.

There are several free grants available to all Bristol residents, to install insulation in your home and help keep you warm.

EEG is involving the local community as this initiative needs to be as participative as possible. We are offering the opportunity for people to train as Energy Advisers for their street.

Please come along and talk to us, and find out how you can get involved. The next two meetings are planned for:

Wednesday 27th January @ 7:30pm, Easton community Centre
Thursday 11th March @ 7:30 pm, Easton Community Centre

For further information, or if you would like free advice on improving energy efficiency, applying for grants and reducing your fuel bills, contact:

easton.energy.group@gmail.com

Under Water Colours’ is an exhibition of new work by groundbreaking and internationally renowned artist Jamie Hewlett (Gorillaz; Monkey: Journey to the West). In late 2009, Jamie travelled to Bangladesh with Oxfam to see how climate change is already costing lives. These striking watercolours document his response to the experience. They are also being sold as limited edition prints to raise money for Oxfam’s River Basin Programme at www.oxfam.org.uk/jamiehewlett

On the trip, Jamie met people trying to raise their homes above the higher flood levels, parents who had lost children to the floods and children who swim half a mile to school with their books on their heads, showing a determination that would amaze school children here!

Jamie Hewlett said: “This exhibition shows how climate change is already affecting people around the world but also how we can all do something now to stop this from getting completely out of control.

“Char Atra is such an idyllic place and it’s horrific to think of it being simply washed away, devastating the community. I wanted my paintings to be optimistic as well as realistic and I wanted to show what a beautiful place it is. I hope by concentrating on the people and their every day lives that I have given people here in Britain something they can relate to.”

5th Feb at 7pm: ‘Life on the Edge’: Zunaed Rabbani, an Oxfam volunteer from Bangladesh who studied at Bristol University, will speak at the Arts house about his experience of visiting the Shayamnagar district in the far south-west, where char communities have been left homeless since Cyclone Aila hit last year. Zunaed will show film and stills footage of his trip and give us an insight into the way climate change is threatening the lives of the world’s poorest people – and of their resilience in the face of disaster. Join the Facebook event here: http://tiny.cc/lifeonthedge

The exhibition also marks the grand opening of the Arts house – the latest addition to the vibrant artistic community of Stokes Croft. Find them at www.theartshouse.org

The exhibition runs from 29th January to 11th February at the Arts house, 108a Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3RU.