UPDATE | July


Local residents and university students working together to keep the plants thriving in the summer heat! With help from Woodlands Community Garden Willowbank is now flourishing! 
 Many native wild flowers have been planted, as well as veggies and herbs.
And we've been having some tasty feasts too! Come say hello or enjoy the space when you can :)
We have all been working on the garden in our own time, as we are all busy bees. We hope to have many open days later in August and definitely in September. Watch this space! 
by at

UPDATE | June

Phew it's been raining! The plants will be happy!
Busy workers in the garden have set up an old bicycle with cornflowers, morning glory and sage. The wildflower meadow is beginning to flourish and we have had some kind donations from fellow gardeners of mint, strawberries, maple tree and comprey. Many new planters are being set up, king carrots and nasturtiums in one. Oh and the compost is being well used!

 Sunday the 30th June there will be an elderflower pancake feast in the garden as well as a spot of work. Come along and meet the gardeners and share your ideas for the space! All afternoon from 1pm! We have no marquee at the moment, so wrap up warm incase the elements are against us.

 We are exploring learning to grow our own organic food and teach each other about permaculture and the properties of many plants in the garden. If you have a trick or two you would like to share with us or you are interested in growing in the garden, come along and get involved. We aim to share the produce equally amongst us all. This year our harvest may be small, but as we learn and nurture the land and our skills, who knows what we will have in years to come. Plans are forming for a sensory area in the garden, a native herb raised bed, sculpture and paintings as well as raised beds with all our vital greens!

 If you can't make one of our work sessions  the garden is a lovely quiet spot for a picnic - feel free to stop by and enjoy, but please respect the area and pick up your litter.

 All the best,
From the Willowbankers
by at

EVENT | Once Upon Today


This weekend at the Woodlands Community Garden, close by to Willowbank...
As part of The Glasgow Science Festival and West –end Festival, this free family event will share the story of the garden, some green-fingered crafting tricks and ideas for living more sustainably.

 The nature walks will be led by eco-storyteller, Allison Galbraith - 

 The morning walk leaving from the rear entrance to Kelvingrove museum at 11am along the path by the Kelvin and up West Princes street up to Woodlands Community Garden.

Please book by emailing – onceupontoday@live.com
The afternoon walk will be a dropin, leaving from the garden at 3pm back to the museum where there are plenty of other Science Festival activities!

In the garden there will be different tricks throughout the day:

* A visit from Forest Nymph Ariel Killick sharing Nature and Gaelic Tales*

* Performance Poetry from the Woodlands Poetry Class *

* Planting herb seeds – a little nature medicine for you to take home in the garden. Have a wee flick through Louise Bustard's Book - Chickweed, Willow and Other Wild Glasgwegians...
also available online - http://www.accessglasgow.org/NR/rdonlyres/FA6DD876-EDAA-4B8F-9602-E3B8D83BA484/0/WildPlantsofGlasgow.pdf *

* Upcycling crafts with Carol in the Woodlands Gap Site - tetrapack wallets, coasters and ring pull jewellery to name a few! *

* Recycled sculpturing installation, origami crafting and treasure hunting with Katie in the Woodlands Gap Site*

And information stalls from local environmental organisations and campaigns such as

Friends of the River Kelvin
Froglife
Kinnaird Village Community - Frack off
Glasgow University Environmental Sustainability Team 
and
Willowbank Community Garden

Oh and tea, coffee and home baking too!

AND we would like to invite you to share your story for the Once Upon Today Zine - what's growing in your garden, recipes, riddles, memories from a bygone era - catastrophe and beauty, we are our own heros and villans...

There will also be the Woodlands Big Lunch over at Millenuim Park with Flourish House, pop along and share a dish and stories! Allison will be joining the feast for storytelling 1 til 2pm.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Check out www.onceupontodaydotcom.wordpress.com
to explore the roots of the event...

by at

WISH LIST | Summer 2013

  • A hose (a friendly neighbour is giving access to a tap, currently plastic bottles are being lobbed out the first floor window but we could do with a quicker tactic) 
  • Some passers by to water the plants when they can
  • Lolly pop sticks for labelling the plants 
  • Some string and canes for tying up the pea and bean plants

 If you can help out with any of these things or help with the garden at all, please get in touch or leave them in the garden. We are also keeping an eye out for containers we can plant up - if you see anything please let us now. We do abstract - just not toilets! :) 

 With Growing Greetings, 
The Willowbankers
by at

REVIEW | Biodiversity Day

Hello!

Big thank you to all who came along for the Willowbankers day of biodiversity!
We did some planting of beetroot, brocoli, dill and marjoram. Chalk drawings - which the kids took charge of - as well as some raised bed construction and mulling about drinking tea and soaking up the sunshine!
It was great to meet many local residents and find out how we can help each other. Alistair and Zofia led a biodiversity education workshop sharing tales of local and global issues and the importance of water conservation in order to maintain the diversity of nature.

We are going to try and keep the sunday work sessions going throughout out the summer so please come join us in the garden on sundays, whither to enjoy the space and chat away or to lend a hand.
Stay tuned for information on an open day in June.
Post arrived today! Poppy, sunflower and nastrium seeds! Lot's of planting tricks in the next few weeks!

Birds eye view of willowbank!
Willowbank Jungle Banter
The kids showing Katie and Bernard how to plant the raised bed - peas and flowers in their now!
Zofia sharing some biology thoughts

by at

EVENT | International Day for Biological Diversity

Come down to Willowbank, 2pm,  22nd of May for a Wednesday of Wild Activity in the Garden!

Time to start the sunflower races, see what sculptures we can create and learn a few facts from the Glasgow University Environmental Sustainability Team Biodiversity Officer.

Tea and cake!

See you there - facebook event page (please share!)
by at

SUMMER ACTION | Work day 15-05-13

Many volunteers came down to the garden on Wednesday the 15th May to help kick off the growing season, now that the exams are all over! Local residents, staff and students working together to learn to grow our own grub!


The Willowbankers constructing one of the raised beds from Galgael!


Radical Pansy Planting and Kirsten painting the car - ooo forest green!

by at

GO GREEN WEEK | Open Day in Pictures

We had a very successful open day on Thursday of last week! Several students came to find out more about the garden and the neighborhood kiddos joined in on the fun after they got out of school. Carol brought along a big ole bag full of recyclables for upcycling and we had delicious cakes and tea. A good time overall!!

Roisin enthusiastically telling students about our wonderful space and community.

Chattin' and craftin'

Anna with our craft supplies. Some say rubbish, we say craft time!

Bike love on Valentines Day.
Katie brought a love heart cake in honor of V-Day :)

Tea time

Carol teaching us how to make candle-holders out of fizzy drink cans.


Katie helping the wee one make a tiny wallet out of a juice carton.

With his finished wallet! What a cutie.
Sammi & a couple of the neighborhood boys with their finished candle holders.

The day ended with a fantastic game of tag!

Looking forward to spring!
by at

GO GREEN WEEK | Open Day


by at

HAPPY NEW YEAR | First Work Session

Hello Willowbankers and friends,

This driech sunday some of the keen gardeners (Alistair, Sammy, Anna and Roisin) met to give the land a wee tidy up and plan out for the growing season ahead. We found the garden to be surprisingly tidy, just the odd bit of rubbish! Sadly we must announce that our rhubarb plant is no longer with us, it has eloped....

Anyhoo - 

We took some measurements in preparation for our Galgael planning session which will be happening at 3pm on Thursday 17th Jan. We will be heading down to the woodcraft workshop here in order to learn to and build a large storage unit to keep in the garden, a few raised beds and a sign. These sessions will be running throughout February and March on  Thursdays. Please get in contact if you can join us! For those who don't know the way, we will be meeting at 2:30pm at Kelvinbridge subway but there will also be folk cycling, so either way, give us a shout if you like! 

When over in Cafe Phoenix we met with local councillor Martha Wardrop and art enthusiast Hannah and started to plan the next work sessions, ordered seeds (radish, beans, peas and wild flowers!) and spoke about organising an open day as part of Go Green Week at Glasgow University. This week of events will be running from the 11th til the 17th February. Watch this space for the confirmed programme! 


Next Work Session - 20th January - Meet 1pm at Willowbank for planting of Nasturtium and Rocket seeds which will then be kept inside until ready to be transplanted after the last of the frost. Please bring cardboard toilet rolls/plastic bottles which we can use to plant up! If it's dry we hope to paint a sign for the Bug Hotel informing the community of the hedgehog heaven! And GUEST Biodiversity officer Alistair will be bringing along seed mix to fill up our bird feeders. Also on Sunday, our neighbouring Woodlands garden is hosting a clear up session Leave the rubbish times behind you which we hope to pop round and help out at, as they have supported us throughout our first year. 

Stay tuned for Gnome creations, willow weaving, wind chime workshops and 
hard core gardening coming soon!

 Missing Karina's lovely photography skills, 
so will add a little inspiration from River Cottage instead - 

Red Cabbage, Orange, Parsnip and Date Salad: 

Ingredients
  • 1 medium parsnip, cut into slender batons
  • ¼ red cabbage, finely shredded
  • 1 large orange, peeled with a knife and segmented, avoiding the membrane and reserving the juice
  • 3 medjool dates, stoned and cut into 3-4 pieces across ways
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Spread the red cabbage evenly over a plate, top with a scattering of parsnip and arrange slices of orange and the dates.
  2. Pour over some of the orange juice, drizzle over the olive oil and sprinkle over the thyme, finish with salt and pepper.


by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)