Communication, organic gardening and more photographs from the Woodbrooke Kitchen Garden

I've still got some important photographs to share from the Woodbrooke Kitchen Garden. Gardeners (and bloggers) need patience and learning. For those readers who have just started gardening - please know - I haven't been doing this all my life. I only started seriously four years ago when my daughter was born. Since then I've been on a very fast learning curve in all sorts of ways. A very practical learning curve too - very much food-related.

When I started blogging - (fourteen months ago) I admit - I didn't have definite goals in mind. But I did want to communicate - and do something useful. Organic gardeners I had talked to said that there is a skills gap in Britain today as far as fruit and vegetable growing was concerned. I hoped that by learning more about blogging as a medium I could do several things: consolidate my own knowledge about organic gardening, and communicate something of what I was learning to others.


Blogging is quite a fast medium. Blog posts can be slotted in at any time of day. With the increasing risks associated with Climate Change and Peak Oil I felt I needed to act fast.

I wanted to focus on time-saving techniques. How often have I heard people say that they don't have the time to grow their own. Well, as a busy mum - I often feel I don't have the time for ANYTHING - lots of us are familiar with that feeling of needing to find time from somewhere. I definitely don't have the time (energy or inclination) to dig over our allotment-plot-and-a-half each autumn.

But then it is through writing this blog that I've learned more about no-dig techniques and hopefully been able to pass on some of them. There's a lot to be said for television. But too many gardening programmes seem to give the impression that you can do an instant makeover in your backyard which lasts a weekend and you'll be set up with fruit and veg for the rest of your life. Of course life (and gardening) is not like that.


Along with the plants on our allotment plot - the communication element has grown too. I started out a year ago with this one blog Questioner's Garden Time (which is still my favourite blog). Blog number two appeared a little later (that's the one called: Profit from Your Blog). In April 2009 my news blog 'Behind the Lines' fruited as blog number three. And finally blog number four "A Parent's Guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage" popped up. This last blog has been the focus of much attention recently. In the interests of joined up thinking - if you have, know or are concerned about the future of children under five, please visit this weighty site and consider signing the parliamentary petition I have launched.

Tending four blogs is a lot like gardening. It has been hard work at times. Little and often is the way to go. Whilst the subjects these blogs are concerned with may seem unrelated, to me they are all parts of a whole. Climate Change is linked to education - which is linked to war and peace - which is linked to communication - which is linked to how we use new media - and so on...

At times the work seems endless. And it is. You do the work and don't always see the results, but then one day you turn around and see how much the soil has improved. In year four our allotment soil is gaining that crumbly texture that is so different from the heavy clay we started out with. As far as communication is concerned - since April - reader traffic on all of my four blogs combined has increased EIGHT HUNDRED PER CENT. So it seems I'm a little closer to those communication goals that I've been striving towards.



Back to the main focus of this blog. Edible, do-able organic food. The last few photographs from the Woodbrooke Kitchen Garden are functional. First up: red cabbage. I remember eating this inthe Woodbrooke servery. It tasted wonderful and I'm determined not to miss the window to plant some of this on our allotment next year. Next in line chard.

You may think these particular specimens look a little tatty but they're perfect examples of the cut-and-come-again technique which helps us save time and energy. These little stumps should grow again in the spring. The gardener therefore avoids the work of re-sowing and they should be off to an early start too.

And finally, leeks. This is an interesting photo for me as they're covered in horticultural fleece. I was quite surprised about this as I don't bother with it myself. I would have thought because the Kitchen Garden has a wall around it, it wouldn't have been needed as it is a sheltered spot. But perhaps this particular variety is a little more fragile than the very hardy varieties I choose for our own plot. Must remember to ask the Woodbrooke gardener what the reason is for the fleece. Is it for frost protection? Any ideas anyone?

Being a Quaker Parent

Just returned from a weekend away at Woodbrooke Quaker college outside Birmingham, England. I'd registered for the weekend course entitled "Being a Quaker Parent" led by Craig Barnett and Helen Chambers. It was only half way through the weekend that I realised Craig Barnett of Sheffield has been following this blog for quite some time already, so it was great to meet him in person at last.

Craig is currently coordinating the City of Sanctuary movement in Britain. City of Sanctuary is a 'movement to build a culture of hospitality for people seeking sanctuary in the UK' and creates a network of towns and cities throughout the country which are proud to be places of safety, and which include people seeking sanctuary fully in the life of their communities. Many people are now familiar with the idea of a ‘Fairtrade City’, in which a wide range of community groups and organisations make a commitment to using and selling fairtrade goods. In a similar way a ‘City of Sanctuary’ is a place where a broad range of local organisations, community groups and faith communities, as well as local government, are publicly committed to welcoming and including people seeking sanctuary.

The Woodbrooke weekend was glorious in more ways than one so thank you to those who led the course, took the time to attend and worked so hard. We really appreciated talking to fellow parents. I took a series of photographs on the Sunday morning after breakfast. (I was dying to get out with my still-newish Nikon D3000 and see what was growing in the Woodbrooke kitchen garden at this time of year) - I find you learn so much looking at the garden that someone else has created - so I'm planning to share a series of twenty or so photographs here, over the course of the next few weeks.

Intellectually speaking, there was much food for thought too. Many parents came with their children and carers. Some atheist, some agnostic. I'd heard it was the first time Woodbrooke had run the course, and we all hoped they will do this again - it certainly meant a lot to us.

In the day-to-day bustle of parenting tasks I'd been feeling as if I seldom got a chance to reflect on what I was actually doing. (That sounds completely wrong, but those of us caught up with the school-run and getting-tea-on-the-table will perhaps have some inkling of what I am trying to say...). Food was an important part of the weekend - the excellent facilities at Woodbrooke meant that no-one had to cook and since all the parents said 'relaxation' was an important element about being on the course we enjoyed being looked after very much. This garden fork-to-table business is all very well, but it gets to be hard work sometimes and it is great to have a weekend off.

It was the first time too I'd had a chance to talk about some of the special challenges and joys of being a family (and parenting with) a disability. All these things are all relevant to this blog - access to gardening and access to sustainable food production needs to mean access for all.

The children seemed to eat well - our daughter was so excited about being at Woodbrooke she didn't want to go to bed in case she missed anything, bless her.

So, on to the kitchen garden. It's a walled garden and this is the view from outside. I'm going to walk you round and look at interesting and useful plants in the pictures and blog posts that follow. (Much of what is grown in the garden finds it's way into the Woodbrooke restaurant kitchen).

Before we go into the garden proper I'm squeezing in another link which I hope will be of interest here. It's the Good Lives Project.

It came about because in addition to the historically important testimonies of peace, justice, equality and truth-seeking, Quakers have now adopted a corporate testimony of 'sustainability' which amongst other things means that many Friends are very busy right now on an international level - lobbying at the Copenhagen Climate Change negotiations. Now that there is little prospect of a legally binding agreement, people of all faiths (and none) are needing to seek other ways of disseminating, upholding and supporting the message of 'true sustainability'.