new harvest festival poster

we'll be distributing these around the brownfield estate over the next few days - watch your letterbox!

give and take tombola at the harvest festival

raffle tickets by howardlake, on flickr

as part of the harvest festivities next saturday 3rd september, we'll be running a give and take tombola. just bring something home-made or home-grown - a jar of jam, a bowl of tomatoes, some chutney, a loaf of bread, maybe even a cake from the cake club - and then we'll have a super-randomised-prizes-for-all-tombola!

• bring your item, take someone else's.
• like a secret santa, but harvest themed.
• like a raffle, but everyone who gives something gets a prize.

the lovely kath will be running the stall on the day, so hand in your homemade goodies when you get there. the tombola will be called later in the day. we'd wish you luck, but you won't need it, because everyone's a winner!

Harvest Festival 2011

Saturday 3rd September 2011 will see Greening Brownfield hosting a fabulous harvest hoedown. The garden will be open from 1-3pm and we'll have a BBQ serving organic meats plus veggie and vegan options. Bring a dish to share plus whatever you'd like to drink. Hope to see you there!

home-grown new potatoes

...small is beautiful.

the sunflowers are out

the tomatoes are starting to ripen...

and they're delicious!

the good gym, part 2

so on monday the good gym's team of healthy, hard-working runners arrived to help kick our little garden into shape. our trusty maintenance man clive was there to direct the proceedings, and the results are a testament to the power of teamwork.

photo: the good gym

within forty minutes the place was totally transformed: the greenhouse was moved to the back of the garden, our nascent rockery shipped to its future home behind the shed, planters were painted, and litter and weeds cleared away.

photo: the good gym

 as a result the entrance to the garden is far more welcoming and spacious (pics to follow), while the garden layout as a whole is more logical and uncluttered.

photo:the good gym

 we'd like to say thanks once again to all at the good gym for their hard work: it's a wonderful, inspiring organisation. if you're a runner based in tower hamlets with a desire to do some good, get in touch!

cake club is back!

The next meeting of the Greening Brownfield Cake Club will be on Saturday September 3rd 2011 as part of Capital Growth's Edible Open Gardens Day. We'll be having a Harvest Festival with a barbeque, a seed and produce swap shop, guided garden tours, a lemonade stand and, of course, a table displaying all your beautiful cakes. The theme is "Harvest". Dust off those rolling pins, aprons at the ready - let's get baking!

the good gym

we first heard about the good gym on twitter. a tower hamlets-based organisation, they give people a reason to exercise that goes beyond the physical. drop them a line and they'll put you in touch with a less mobile person in your local area. you then jog to that person's house and drop off a newspaper / some milk / a piece of fruit etc, have a little chat, then continue your run. it's simple and fun, and a great way to enhance your post-exercise endorphin buzz!

they also operate a scheme called 'fixup' in which teams of runners help out local organisations in a short burst of focused activity. setting off from york hall in bethnal green, a team of 10-20 people will run to a venue, volunteer for half an hour (preferably at tasks that involve a bit of muscle power rather than, um, filing), then run back.

and tomorrow it's our turn! on monday 15th august 2011 the good gym team will be running to the greening brownfield garden, where among other things, they'll help us tidy up the soil mountain and move the greenhouse from one end of the garden to the other.

we're very grateful to ivo and the team for all the help, and can't wait to meet everybody. stay tuned for before and after pictures, and check twitter for livetweeting updates. here's hoping it doesn't rain!