The Green Gathering

By Phil Moore of Permaculture People

A festival is a funny thing. A celebration, an escape, an alternative, a way of life. Many things rolled up into a musically charged programme of fun, frolics and serious chats. Often in a field. 

What struck me about the Green Gathering was its commitment. Appropriately billed as a 'gathering', and free from the dictates of advertising, the Green Gathering felt like a genuine attempt at saying, "Oi! Another world is possible and look-y right here!". A world where we think about where our shit goes (check their Indiegogo compost loo crowdfunder), where we can say no to things as well create spaces where differences in opinion can be heard respectfully; where consumerism isn't the barometer of modern living, and where the exchange of ideas, foods, crafts and skills are celebrated and shared.

Windmills and blue skies

Occupying a temporary space next to Chepstow raceourse with the shell of the 18th century Piercefield House lurching from one side and views toward Severn Bridge and into the folds of the green Wye Valley at the other, the Green Gathering is set at a striking location. 

Composed of different 'Zones' we were crewing at the Permaculture Zone which was to be our home for the next five days. We managed the info stall tent letting people know what was going on. The vivacious Mike Feingold held introductions to Permaculture, author and permaculture teacher Caroline Aitken shared her knowledge & passion for food preservation; Biochar Ed spoke of the wonders of pyrolysis, beekeeping introduction, chickens, composting, a solar power workshop and so much more took place. It was also a great chance to meet many faces - new and old.

A mini-festival within a festival the energy and diversity of the workshops was testament to the giddying array of what the Green Gathering had to offer.

Seed bomb making workshop

Recycling solar power windmill

Mike Feingold and paint

Caroline Aitken workshops

In the wider reaches of the fields music bounced and echoed around the hillside depressions that formed natural amphitheatres. The greats Seize the Day and Martha Tilston played alongside newcomers and regulars.

Walking from the Tipi Circle to the Healing Field through to the Faerie Glade and on to the campaign area, the ease with which different ideas sat side by side made for a refreshingly relaxed yet stimulating festival that was also child friendly.

All the energy and drama poured into a specific place for a set amount of time resulted in a beautiful world of music, muck & magic, politics, fancy dress and blowing bubbles where all hues of humans and tastes gathered and jiggled their wants and wares. 

Powered by the Sun yet motivated by people the Green Gathering isn't just an event. It's an idea. A long standing festival in the peculiarly British tradition of celebrating stuff in a field, the Green Gathering has a rich, and tumultuous, history. Such gatherings are fantastic opportunities to delve deeper in the ideas and practical workings of how to lead a low-impact lifestyle with having fun at the same time. I would heartily recommend it as a place to feed your soul and colour your imagination.

For more about the Green Gathering: http://www.greengathering.org.uk

Permaculture Day 2015: In Support of Soil Report - call for more contributions!

By Nicola Bell, Membership Coordinator

A huge thank you to those of you who helped more people to hear about the benefits of permaculture on International Permaculture Day! 

You were part of 200 events and actions in 43 countries - thank you for making them happen!

Please help the International Permaculture Day 2015 team to compile photos, videos and stories for the International Permaculture Day 2015: In Soil Supporters Report - click here to contribute.

Some Permaculture Association members have already shared their successes with the network:

 
Abundant Earth, Co Durham:

It may have been freezing cold but around 70 of you came to the Abundant Earth open day today....Thanks for your effort and your company! 

The day coincided with International Permaculture Day. This year the focus was on soil and Wilf gave tours and talks throughout the day relating to this topic. 

Children ate fairy cakes and bounced on the trampoline, some of them bottle fed the lambs and planted flowers. 

Mark and Vicky brought their biochar demonstration which was incredibly informative and lots of people now have a biochar sample. 

Matt giving a wood turning demo at Abundant Earth

Matt made a beautiful bowl on his pole lathe for all see. Beth tried to weave on the peg loom but it was a bit chilly! 
Lashings of hot tea was freely available and tasty cakes were for sale; a percentage of which we will send to the Kathmandu Earthquake fund.

Mike and Vicky demonstrating bio char at Abundant Earth

We also sold our eggs, salad and some of west ridings organic compost.

There were a great deal of leaflets and books to browse and there was a dvd playing about permaculture and soil.
Our next open day is on Sunday September 6th! Save the date!!!

Pennerley Permaculture Project, Shropshire:

We had 14 people come for a two hour tour of the plots and forest garden followed by tea, cake and discussion. A good time was had by all. One person e-mailed after to say, "We just wanted to drop you a brief note to say a real big thanks for your time and insights on Sunday – packed full of gems and golden nuggets and very much appreciated."

Glengall Wharf Garden & Burgess Park Food Project, Peckham:

Worries about the weather disappeared almost as soon as we came on site – the afternoon was fresh and glorious. A great turn out of people, lured by the promise of learning more about soil and how to manage it meant we got lots done and ate well. Read more on the blog...

Searching for frogs at Glengall Wharf, Peckham

The Grange, Norfolk

Over three days we stock fenced over 200 metres of meadow, built a new plinth base for the yurt, potted on at least 100 courgette and squash plants, built a rocket stove, weeded the herb garden and cut and split over a tonne of wood. But it wasn’t all work…on Sunday night we fired up the cob oven and cooked some delicious pizzas before watching a film on the projector and each day was punctuated by wonderful food and conversations.

After three tiring but exhilarating days our project here seems possible again, at least for a little while. But it won’t be long before another blitz is needed – and we will put out the call for help once more!

Tom and Ben putting the finishing touches to some stock fencing at The Grange

www.soilandsoul.org.uk

Ian making pizza for dinner at The Grange

Tomas Remiarz, Wales

I did a workshop on Edible Landscapes at the local "Spring Greens" Festival, with about 20 people. The festival's theme was "the land" and it  also had presentations by Chris and Looby on their new Applewood project, by Simon Fairlie on land rights, a permaculture stall by Roz Brown as well as many other stalls and events. 700 people attended - great success!

The Beautiful Spring Greens Fair 2015

 

Mike Pope, Lancashire

The course went really well, lots of positive feed-back, (thank you for the material you sent). Two of the participants came as a result of seeing it on the Permaculture Association website. 

We covered the meaning and ethics of Permaculture in the morning, ending with a presentation of an eco-renovation of a terraced house from our friend Andy Hunt.

The afternoon was a discussion and videos of the principle of forest gardening, followed by a trip to our forest garden (hopefully soon to be a Land Centre). On the Sunday we had a volunteer session at the garden which was well attended. We hope to run another similar event in the autumn. 

Offshoots Permaculture Project, Lancashire

Victoria Woods and Phill Dewhurst spoke at the Alternatiba event in Todmorden on Sunday 3rd May.

The talk was well attended with over 40 people and standing room only at the venue, Todmorden Town Hall

The presentation was an introduction to Permaculture with a focus on soils and positive solutions and Offshoots Permaculture Project

For about 45 minutes we gave out information and answered questions, showed a short 6 minute film of Offshoots as well as publicised the next local Permaculture Design course starting Saturday 6th June 2015

If you'd like to learn more about permaculture demonstration sites like these, or to find one near you, check out the LAND network.

Please help the International Permaculture Day organisers by sharing your stories and photos, so that we can celebrate everyone's involvement! 

We also have also set up a Flickr album to share activities that happened across the network, so feel free to send more to us at the Permaculture Association.

If you would like to host a talk, course, festival, tea party, seed swap or anything else for International Permaculture Day 2016, please let us know!

 

Networking at The Green Gathering 2015

The original off grid festival to host IPCUK Permaculture Ambassadors, Beatfreeks, Reclaim The Power and Patrick Whitefield memorial.

More than three decades after the first Green Gathering was held on Glastonbury's Worthy Farm, this solar and wind powered festival has forged alliances with a range of social enterprises, campaign groups and art collectives to create a sustainable event based around social justice and environmental issues – while retaining the intimate music stages, traditional crafts and community vibe of festivals past. 

 

In recent years The Green Gathering has hosted the Off Grid College, a Radical Routes Co-operators' Camp, Transition Towns, and an Occupy camp. 

In 2015 festival organisers are working with the Permaculture Association to raise awareness about the International Permaculture Convergence to be held in the UK this September. Permaculture Ambassadors will be at The Green Gathering to share their knowledge of ecological design systems from around the world – and to dispel the myth that permaculture is only about gardening.

Pioneering permaculture author Patrick Whitefield was instrumental in organising early incarnations of The Green Gathering. Patrick died recently at his home in Glastonbury and in recognition of his inspiration, a memorial for Patrick will be incorporated into this year's festival.

One of the UK's top events for families, The Green Gathering won a Festival Kidz Gold Award in 2014 and The Spark Family Award in 2013. With a view to expanding activities for teens, Green Gathering organisers have recently confirmed a new collaboration with Beatfreeks, an award-winning social enterprise set up to provide platforms for growth and expression to young people while addressing social issues and bringing benefit to broader communities. At GG 2015 the Beatfreeks collective will provide a series of youth-oriented workshops in poetry, music, dance, enterprise, leadership and media, culminating in a poetry slam and performance jam on the solar powered Floating Lotus Stage. 

 

Those attending the Gathering will also have the chance to network with No Dash for Gas and Reclaim The Power activists who've been responsible for raising awareness of climate change and fuel poverty, occupying power stations and organising action camps on the anti-fracking frontlines of Balcombe and Blackpool.

Green Gathering director Em Weirdigan says:

“It's amazing how many people say 'The Green Gathering changed my life'. It really is a festival beyond hedonism, where you can party then wake up and hatch plans for a better future with your mates from the night before. It's a place outside the mainstream where your eyes will be opened to fairer and more fun ways of living and working, and where you can learn practical skills to transform your world”.

Line Up 

The line-up includes live music from Martha Tilston, The Undercover Hippy, Seize The Day, Roving Crows, RDF, Dapper Cadavers, The Don Bradmans, Krankschaft, Tallulah Rendall, Formidable Vegetable Sound System, Will Tun and the Wasters, Suzy Condrad, Smiley and the Underclass, and Tori Reed. 

 

Spoken word and open mic venues will see poet and author Salena Godden, the legendary Artist Taxi Driver, Jazz Gnome Assassins and many more appearing over the four days of the festival. Bristol's Libby Lawes/HippyPunk will curate a late night dance venue.

The Green Gathering will be held 13-16 August 2015, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the Welsh borders just 18 miles from Bristol. 

 

Advance Winter Tickets £85, Spring Tickets (from April 1st) £95. Youth Tickets £54 (11-15 years). Children under 11 go free. Tickets from Bristol Ticket Shop. 

Permaculture Association members get a discount to this year's Green Gathering! Please e-mail membership[at]permaculture.org.uk to gain your discount code. Not a member yet? Join today.

 

A Green Gathering Charity was established in 2013, with a remit to promote education for sustainability. 

 

More information about The Green Gathering: www.greengathering.org.uk