A note from the TTL team on their AGM next week...

Celebrating and Stepping Forward

Transition Town Leamington's First AGM

8th October, 7pm - 10pm
Oddfellows Hall, 6 Clarence Terrace, Warwick Street, Leamington Spa

*Nominations for Secretary and Treasurer requested in advance by email

Please join us to celebrate how far we have come with Transition Town Leamington and to find out more about how you can get involved. This will not be a boring AGM but a fun and interactive evening of sharing, dreaming and socialising!

*We are strongly encouraging nominations for Secretary and Treasurer to be on the Steering Group in advance of the meeting. Please volunteer yourself or nominate someone else by emailing Kath by the 8th October at kath@pasteur.net (let the person know you are nominating them and copy them in please).

These are the only two elected positions. Other members of the Steering Group are representatives of the TTL Working groups (transport, communications, energy etc).

• the Treasurer's role is to manage accounts and keep receipts, and will be one of the three signatories on cheques. We don't have much money so this shouldn't be hard!
• the Secretary's role is to ensure that regular meetings are called, minuted and the minutes shared on the website. They do not have to do these activities, just ensure they are done! They will be the second signatory on cheques.

Neither are arduous tasks, but it would be great to have a Treasurer with accounting experience.

Look forward to meeting/seeing you next Thursday!

Work party needed for Action21 project!

The Dobson Lane Allotments

Ground Clearance Work Party

Friday 25th September, 9,30am - 4.30pm

Work is finally starting to happen on the Allotments at Dobson Lane! Action21 needs your help, in clearing the brambles and debris on site - this is in preparation for getting the land ploughed and then plotted into allotments.

Please come along to asssist staff, directors and other volunteers, and you can also register your interest in an allotment on the day. It should be a fun day and a good chance to find out about the vision for the allotment development.

Hot drinks will be available throughout the day and a lunch for those who volunteer for the whole day. Please wear old work clothes with long sleeves, long trousers and sturdy footwear. If you have tools such as loppers, rakes and gloves then please bring these along too.

Please note that the allotment site is right at the end of Dobson Lane, adjacent to the cemetery. If you have any questions about the day, please contact Louise Male, the project manager for the allotment restoration (and Canalside member!), on 01926 456076 or louise@action21.co.uk

FREE HARMONY - a'cappella group CD launch

Free Harmony would like to invite you to the launch of their debut cd

'off the beaten track'

on Sunday August 23rd at Taylor John's House, The Canal Basin, Coventry

from 7.30pm where they will be performing songs from the cd.

Tickets will be £5 on the door and limited signed copies of our cd will be on sale.

Hope to see you there

Love from Free Harmony www.chrishoskins.co.uk/freeharmony.html

The Dervaeses of Pasadena - the story of an inspirational family

Many of you will know Ali, one of our longest standing workshare volunteers, who has recently taken 6 months out to travel round the world visiting different friends and family. Her first stopover was the States and a couple of weeks ago she sent me the following link to an article about the Dervaeses, a family living in downtown Pasadena doing inspirational things from their very own backyard. Here's a snippet from the article to whet your appetite:

"For the past eight years, the Dervaeses have worked every inch of their 4,356 sq ft garden (including the front drive, which is covered in buckets of strawberries) and have produced more than 6,000lb of fruit and vegetables a year. From this modest tenth of an acre, which wraps around the front and back garden, situated 150 yards away from an 11-lane motorway, the family produce enough food to meet 80 per cent of their dietary needs in summer and 50 per cent in winter (the remainder is anything they can’t grow, such as oil, flour, rice, butter and cheese). They even have enough left over to sell to local restaurants."

Want to read more...? Then click on The Dervaeses for the whole thing. There is also a link in the article to the Dervaeses' own website (pathtofreedom.com) which really does make for amazing reading.

ORGANIC FOOD FESTIVAL 2009!
September 12th & 13th
at the Bristol Harbourside

"The Organic Food Festival is Europe’s largest showcase of all things organic. Now in its ninth successful year, the Festival demonstrates the growth of the organic movement and the increased recognition of the role organic production can play in creating a sustainable future.

Whether you are in search of delicious organic food and drink, gorgeous skin care, fabulous fashion, organic textiles, home design, tips on organic gardening or you are looking for an entertaining family-friendly outing, this much loved festival is just what you are looking for.

The Organic Food Festival provides the chance to meet producers face to face, watch recession-busting cooking demonstrations, sample street food from Bristol’s top chefs and introduce your kids to special taste workshops designed just for them."

Click here for more information!

THE GREEN BALL!

Saturday 4th July 2009 at 7.30pm

• Gathering at:

27 Milverton Crescent West
Leamington Spa

• Carriages at Midnight
  

• Formal or Creative Attire
  

• Glass of Bubbly and Buffet Provided

Please bring a bottle for further enjoyment...


This is a GREEN PARTY fundraiser
Suggested donations:
Generous Benefactor £12
Skint but Supportive £6

For further information, please telephone:
01926 422624
01926 332965

Tom's News from the Field

May 2009

Since last writing, we’ve come through the Winter and are enjoying a truly splendid Spring. It’s been fairly dry but peppered with rain that has kept the ground workable. Right through March and early April the share was simply bulging at the seams with everything out in the fields desperately needing picking before it went to seed. There’s no holding back at this time of year, it’s a real Spring bounty with last years plants lapping up the warm weather and putting on rapid growth. We therefore saw both varieties of Kale in the share regularly during this time accompanied by some impressive shares of Purple Sprouting Broccoli that we were particularly pleased with.

It’s a nervous time for us growers as we try to juggle the harvesting so as to keep a steady flow of veg in the yurt each week. With crops running out one after another we start to keep a keen eye on all those early crops that we’ve mollycoddled in the polytunnels and outside under the fleece. As well as all this, we had the extra task of fencing our third field from the rabbits before being able to plant out the first Spring Cabbages. But we’ve been able to focus our time much more on the job of growing vegetables this Spring compared to last year when we were erecting the last two polytunnels.

With the Hungry Gap upon us, it’s time to look forward to the crops that are coming on; both the Onions and the Potatoes are progressing very well now with the first early spuds just starting to poke their leaves out of the ridges. The Onions were planted on the Spring Equinox by a large group of volunteers before the Mabon social.

Inside the polytunnels it’s all turning around too; the salads and greens are coming out and the summer crops of Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers and Aubergines are rapidly being planted. In between these crops and in every spare space we’re squeezing in quick successions of radish and oriental leaves to keep us going. Excitingly, the new polytunnels erected last Spring have allowed us space to grow some early Mange Tout Peas that are almost ready to start harvesting and some extra early baby bunched Beetroots too. These are the sort of crops that will hopefully see us through the leaner weeks before June leads us towards the real bounty of Summer!