Exciting Events Coming Up This Autumn….
The days are growing shorter, and we’re approaching the end of the harvest season and the early days of Winter. While the season on the land is coming to an end, as we’re watching the plant material die back, the leaves fall and start to decay and spreading compost over beds before shutting them down for winter, we’re not done yet! We’ve put together an exciting programme of events, workshops and trainings this Autumn! Our ‘Growing Roots’ workshop series has come to an end, and it’ll soon be getting too cold to be meeting outside - but we want to continue to offer warm spaces to gather, to learn, feast and celebrate! We hope you’ll join us for some or all of what’s coming up over the next 6 weeks!
CALAN GAEAF COMMUNITY OPEN DAY
WINTER WORKSHOPS @ Y SIED HQ
Cooking the Veg Box Way Sunday 13th November, 9.30am-4pm
Cooking seasonally, or with a weekly veg box, can be challenging. It can be overwhelming to adjust your cooking to whatever is available and in-season and to make best use of what's coming out of the land without wasting anything. This workshop is a great opportunity to develop the basic skills you need and a more creative, intuitive approach to cooking with fresh ingredients
Join veg grower, cooking wizard and co-director of Glasbren, Steffan Lemke-Elms-Elms, to discover simple, innovative and creative ways to work with the harvest, to unlock the flavours and freshness of what we have growing in our gardens and wild edges here in Wales and to align your diet with the changing nature of the Welsh seasons. He'll cover the simple ways that he works with fresh produce, as well as techniques for storing, fermenting and preserving your harvest.
Lunch & Refreshments Provided
Growing with Nature - An Introduction to Permaculture Gardening Sunday 20th November, 9.30am-4pm
Would you like to learn to grow your own food working with nature, not against it? Well, permaculture offers you a roadmap to doing just that!
Join Abel Pearson, founder of Glasbren, for an exciting and inspiring introduction into the principles of permaculture gardening. We'll explore how we can mimic natural ecosystems in the way we design and create our gardens, while building healthy, lively soil, creating habitats for wildlife and storing carbon. From designing and planning your growing space, to composting, companion planting and seed saving, we'll dive into some core principles, techniques and suggestions to help you to garden in relationship with the place your are growing and make a positive impact on the environment around you.... whilst enjoying a bountiful harvest of healthy produce!
Lunch & Refreshments Provided
‘THE FUTURE OF FOOD’ FILM NIGHTS @ The Nurture Centre, Carmarthen
Friday 4th November ‘SEED: AN UNTOLD STORY’. 6.30pm
Few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds. Worshipped and treasured since the dawn of humankind. In the last century, 94% of our seed varieties have disappeared. SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed keepers protecting our 12,000 year-old food legacy. As biotech chemical companies control the majority of our seeds, farmers, scientists, lawyers, and indigenous seed keepers fight a David and Goliath battle to defend the future of our food. In a harrowing and heartening story, these heroes rekindle a lost connection to our most treasured resource and revive a culture connected to seeds. SEED features Vandana Shiva, Dr. Jane Goodall, Andrew Kimbrell, Winona Laduke and Raj Patel.
“Seed is not just the source of life. It is the very foundation of our being.”
– Vandana Shiva
Friday 18th November ‘IN OUR HANDS’. 6.30pm
‘In Our Hands’ explores a quiet revolution that is transforming the way our food is produced and distributed. Our current industrial food system is a vast and wheezing giant that is only upheld by a stilted subsidy regime that pays out to landowners and leaves many farmers by the wayside.
But from the hedge-rows and by-roads, the fields and furrows can now be heard the stirring of change!
Stories from the global South have inspired farmers and food workers in our snug little island, with the idea of food sovereignty and a global movement to take back control of the food system.
From the grazier reviving the art of pasture, to the grower erecting a poly-tunnel in the heart of East London or the farmer saving a handful of ancient grain, a new agricultural landscape is emerging. Here rural traditions meet modern innovations in a new food system that will bring back life to the soil, a fair wage to the farmer and a flavour to the tomato!
Throughout the tumultuous summer of the Brexit referendum the Landworkers’ Alliance joined forces with two film-makers, to unearth the farms and faces that are making this change happen.
Phew! Well, there’s a lot going on and loads of opportunities to get involved with Glasbren over the next few weeks. We want to get together as much as possible before the Christmas period and before we disappear into our winter hibernation! Winter is our time to fade into the background a little, to take some time off and work on projects to make sure we emerge into the Spring full of energy and with some very exciting new projects to share with you all! We really hope to see you at one or more of these events. We look forward to catching up!
The blessings of Calan Gaeaf to you!
