Community Wellbeing Garden

“The Community Garden is Nature’s Samaritans!”

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Gardening and particularly gardening in a group can bring many wonderful benefits to all, regardless of health, age or circumstance. We’ve invited Kate Green from Petworth’s Community Wellbeing Garden to explain.

Kate, is the founder of the charity, a wheelchair accessible therapeutic garden which has been running for 21 years. She is a permaculture designer and teacher, and has designed, set up and run various gardens (school, elder care, market) as she finds joy in re-connecting people with nature through community projects. Read more

Sussex Green Living

Weather, food prices and the case for growing your own

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Unpredictable weather is putting pressure on food production, with smaller harvests and higher prices making food security an increasingly important issue for households and communities.

Heavy rainfall followed by heatwaves, with almost three quarters of England & Wales still officially in drought, the weather has severe impact on UK agriculture, leading to smaller produce, stressed livestock and higher prices. Read more

How growing your own food benefits health, wallet and environment

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There is something very satisfying about growing your own food whether it’s from seeds or from seedlings bought from a garden centre. Both rewarding and sustainable, it also connects us with the rhythms of nature and can save money. It can also be a little challenging or frustrating at times, but this makes the reward of harvesting, cooking and eating your home grown produce all the more gratifying and much tastier than supermarket vegetables. 

To start with, you really need the right location. Most vegetables require at least 6 hours of direct sunlight each day to grow properly. Without this, seedlings will become tall and spindly or ‘leggy’ and susceptible to disease. Good drainage is also essential. Over-watering can cause seedlings to rot or ‘damp off.’  Shelter from strong winds is also important, when growing delicate plants outside.  Read more

Try the Kindness Challenge: Why Veganuary is the Perfect New Year’s Resolution

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VEGANUARY is a straightforward concept: challenging non-vegans to eat a vegan diet for the whole month of January. It’s the ideal New Year’s resolution for anyone interested in adopting a kinder and healthier way of living. And best of all, with all the support and resources available today, this is a resolution that’s easy to stick to!

The journey to veganism often begins with an increasing awareness of the ethical issues surrounding factory production and the exploitation of animals for meat, fish, and dairy products. For others, the primary motivation is personal health, as mounting evidence shows that a thoughtfully planned, plant-based diet can unlock significant long-term health benefits.

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Home Grown VegetablesSussex Green Living

How to Store Food to Prevent Waste

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We are all guilty of wasting food but did you know that 25% of food wasted in UK households is due to cooking, preparing or serving too much? This costs us £3.5 billion a year. So being savvy with our food can prevent waste and save us money, not to mention the benefit to the environment. About 6%-8% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if we stop wasting food.

Here are some ideas to get you started…

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Taste or Waste? (first published in West Sussex County Times)

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Food waste

I recently listened to a Sustainable Squad podcast (Listen to this episode now on @spotify and @applepodcasts) with Shane Jordan, who became a chef by chance because of his involvement with Food Cycle, collecting unwanted food from shops by bicycle then taking it to be cooked at a Sussex community centre. In his book, Food Waste Philosophy, he explains that he uses every edible part of plants in his cooking, including banana skins.

I was struck with his passion and ingenuity.  Another inspirational example is Horsham chef Lenny Salsano, who works at Hill Top Primary School in Crawley.  Pre-pandemic, he engaged the pupils in planting, growing and cooking the food used in their lunches.  Lenny is keen for the children to learn how important it is to eat fresh, unprocessed food, and shares his skills with pupils.  This year they have made salads, chopped vegetables and watched him make bread, which they then eat.  Five other schools under the Caterlink umbrella are now using Lenny’s model.

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Seeds and Spring into Spring (first published in West Sussex County Times)

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Did you make it to the Transition Horsham Seed Swap last weekend, at the Kinder Living Home Show? If so, you will know that there was seed available from local allotmenteers, gardeners and Garden Organic … as well as a lot of talk about how things grew last year!

If you missed it – never fear!  Come to the Seed Swap Part 2 at the Spring into Spring event on March 26th at Sussex Green Hub.

Some of the growers are members of the Horsham District Seed Circle, (launched during lockdown 2021.) And Transition Horsham distributed seed from Garden Organic to Seed Circle members and asked them to grow it with as little impact as possible. Each grew different crops, used the produce, then saved some seed to bring back to Seed Swap 2022.

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Spring into Spring at the Sussex Green Hub

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On Saturday 26th March 10 – 4pm our normal activities will be taking place at our once a month Sussex Green Hub in Horsham plus a fun extension to help you Spring into Spring! Sunday 27th March is Mothering Sunday with Easter following along fast on its heals. so we are inviting children and adults […]

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