Our thanks to Good Food East Sussex month for supporting Gardening In Action's Tool Sharpening Workshop in October! As well as learning how to look after our tools, workshop attendees enjoyed some delicious autumn soup and scones from the wonderful Havens Community Cafe!

The workshop is part of the Growing Community Toolkit. We'll be adapting the content to create online guidance for community groups on choosing and looking after tools and this will be published on the Toolkit website soon.

It's been busy as usual over the last month and a half (so much so we didn't get time to do an August update!).  Our big news is that The Growing Community Toolkit website is now live! Recovery Partners, a mental health charity, is partnering with us to deliver a series of workshops all around mental health and volunteering. Please visit the website, take a look around and share with friends. Booking is now live for the workshops. 

Please visit: https://growingtoolkit.org/

At The Peverells, we've brought in most of our harvest, and had some good crops despite a bit of tomato blight! Together with Roots Rising CIC we celebrated with our harvest festival last Saturday.

We're looking forward to getting to grips with the planters at Seaford Station, now that all the permissions have been granted by the Railway Authorities. We were delighted to receive a donation of paint from the wonderful Brewers of Seaford.

With summer in full bloom, it’s been a busy month for Gardening In Action! At the Peverells, we’ve been harvesting all sorts of berries and currants, as well as our tomatoes. Our new brassica cage is the envy of all who see it (we love butterflies, and do our best to encourage them in the garden, but we want to keep the Cabbage Whites away!)

In other good news, some of our Cultivate team have moved onto to paid employment. This is what one graduate told us: ‘Dan and his team were very welcoming and created a friendly, supportive environment. I learned a lot about planting techniques and horticulture from Dan. The hands-on experience and working in the garden helped boost my confidence after being out of work for a while.’

Our thanks to everyone who came along to our June workshops on watering! Dan talked through the watering needs of different types of plants, and gave some insider tips from the horticultural industry. We also looked water collection and storage, and some of the issues to be aware of. 

If you missed the workshops don't worry! All of the information from the workshops will be coming soon via the Growing Communities Toolkit - an online resource for community groups and individuals. 

Our thanks to the Sussex Community Development Association, Co-op Community Fund and Ouse Valley Climate Action Fund for their support.

GIA was delighted to host a lively and informative workshop last month in partnership with 3VA, Greenhavens Network and Havens Community Hub. The workshop introduced the different legal structures available to community groups, and explained where people can go for more help and advice. You can watch a recording of the workshop here. 

We were pleased to receive this testimonial: “I recently attended a Gardening in Action webinar which, in short space of time, completely demystified the tricky subject of governance for community groups.  It was so helpful to be taken step by step through the pros and cons of different structures and models and then at the end to have a chance to pick the brains of the expert panel. I also very much appreciated the opportunity to send in follow queries – as its often after the event when you think of the key question!”

The workshop is part of our new 'Growing Communities Toolkit', supported by Making It Happen. More information and resources coming soon!

Dan Ori, GIA Director, spent a busy weekend - all about fruit! On Saturday, Dan was with the Friends of Bishopstone Station, to give a talk about soft fruit. Comments included: 'a fabulous, informative talk'.

Sunday saw GIA teaming up with Trees for Seaford, Peacehaven Community Orchard and Ouse Valley Climate Action Fund to deliver a full day's workshop on winter fruit tree pruning. Members from a range of community groups were there, from Seaford, Newhaven, Peacehaven and Ferring, with refreshments generously provided by the Co-op.

We were even blessed with the weather, with rain and fog during the morning indoor session giving way to spring sunshine in the afternoon.

A full list of Dan's talks and workshops can be found here. 

Find out more about the Lewes District Food Partnership

GIA' fame has spread as far as Scotland! Read about what makes community gardening such a great idea!

If you missed Dan on Seahaven FM's Community People with Len Fisher, you can listen on demand.

Dan talks about growing plants and community, along with highlighting his new Cultivate Programme for Job Seekers.

https://player.autopod.xyz/426616

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