Blog

Thanks to everyone who supported our Buzzbank crowdfunding campaign and came to the amazing secret Garden House, gave us cash donations, got messy during our team-building and volunteer days or donated materials We are very close to being able to complete our outdoor classroom.We still need a few thousand to finish and you can help us by donating in a number of ways. Our young apprentice Russell is now a qualified carpenter and will be leaving us soon.So one last… Read More »NEAR THE FINISHING LINE

The welcoming committee Despite the rain, we had another great open day. A chance for pupils we work with to show off their skills and other schools to visit to see what we do. For our volunteers friends and families to see their work; a chance for people to find out about our outdoor classroom, woodland skills, composting, bee-keeping and of course a chance to make and stuff your face with pizzas and wash it down with a smoothie!  Moulsecoomb… Read More »RAINY OPEN DAY

Our timber-framed ‘shed’ is really starting to take shape after a busy few weeks of team-building with groups from Southern Water, Santander, The Carers Centre and our regular volunteers. Part of the team-building challenge was making cob which involves people removing shoes and socks to mix sand, clay and water with bare feet before adding in fine straw to hold the mix together. People also made and sharpened hazel stakes and used them to pin the bales together by banging… Read More »MUCKING IN

No two days at the forest garden are ever the same. Of course there will always be weeding and cleaning out the compost loo, but you never know who to expect,and with the changing seasonsthere’s always something different to do. On Friday, one of our special needs lads helpfully used all the carrot and radish seeds up to make tea! Others were being a bit more productive helping move strawbales up to the outdoor classroom – although some were disappointed… Read More »CARROT SEED TEA, CATCHBOX FISH AND CHAINSAWING STRAWBALES

We are looking for energetic teams to spend a constructive day using traditional skills to build the walls of our timber-framed shed. The work will involve: Building straw bale walls, fixing in place and fitting a wooden framework Mixing cob (a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, straw and earth) – this is the messy part! Rendering walls and applying lime wash We need groups of 10-12 people to help with this, all work will be supervised and… Read More »FANCY A TEAM CHALLENGE?

As part of Student Volunteer Week, a dozen students supported by Brighton University and Santander staff  turned a chalk wasteland into a fruit growing area on a beautiful spring day. First they had to finish pickaxing out the chalk and subsoil.Then they went behind the compost loo to collect the bags of humanure that have been composting away. They added it to the hole and shoveled some of the topsoil back in, then pushed up wheelbarrows of compost up our… Read More »STUDENTS, STEWS, COMPOST LOOS AND BOYSONBERRIES

Participants were today given their level 2 certificates for food safety after a successful 10 week vegetarian cooking course. The course run by youth group Trailer Trashed taught a range of vegetarian cooking recipes and techniques. The 11 participants were supported by youth volunteers from Trailer Trashed, volunteer nutritionist Louise Comerford, volunteer cook Jo Pearson and founder Carly North. Each week young people split into smaller groups facilitated by a youth member of Trailer Trashed to prepare and cook a… Read More »TRAILER TRASHED COOKING COURSE

Since January 2012 we have been working on a new timber framed building using locally coppiced wood. It is now ready to receive its recycled plastic tile roof thanks to funding from Santander Foundation and the Sussex Police Community Cashback Fund.The cord wood wall made up of coppiced wood and the odd recycled bottle stuck together with straw, sand, clay and welly boot power is also nearly finished. This will be used for storage. But we need another £25,000 to finish… Read More »TIMBER FRAMED BUILDING AWAITS ITS RECYCLED ROOF

Writing grant applications is the most soul destroying and pointless waste of resources a charity can do. The problem is, how can youfunction without them? Of course if you hit the jack-pot it’s worth all the effort, but with odds getting longer and longerand Trusts being swamped by applications, it seems it would be better to spend all your reserves on buying lottery tickets! If you multiply all the small charities across the country chasing the same small pots of… Read More »MY NEW YEARS WISH TO CHARITABLE TRUSTS

Every year we say thank you to all volunteers with a Christmas Party. Digging up the spuds ready for roasting Firing up the oven 8.30am ready to roast the veg Carly puts in the organic meat in the portable oven over the fire-pit Phil cutting the meat while Adam looks hungrily on Teresa ready to tuck in Mark looking pleased with himself Luc having an after dinner drink or two Its late, its pitch black… Time to turn off the… Read More »CHRISTMAS PARTY