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Links

Some selected links to other web-sites that may be of interest

Local sites

  Scotswood Natural Community Garden is a Permaculture garden of approximately 2 acres in the grounds of the John Marley Centre, a satellite of Newcastle College, run by a management committee of local people.

  Nature's World at Acklam near Middlesbrough, which describes itself as "the uk's pioneering eco-experience", demonstrates a variety of sustainable technologies and includes a range of family oriented trails including Discover Wild Flowers and Organic and Wildlife Gardening.

  The Weardale Community Supported Agriculture project is a group of people living in middle / lower Weardale who aspire to grow local fruit and veg. They have leases on a field near Frosterley next to Harehope Quarry and use of the Rectory gardens in Stanhope for growing. We are looking for likeminded people from Weardale to join us and help to produce local food.

  ASK Organic - Composting advice, workshops and the ASK Organic Garden at Woodside Walled Garden, by Jedburgh, Scotland's leading organic demonstration garden.

  Durham Local Food Network is a Google Group that distributes news about local food in the Durham (UK) area. Its aims are described as 'Encouraging local food enthusiasts, growers, producers, farmers and consumers to share news of events and ideas to increase local food production in the Durham area.'.

  Durham Fruit Group is a project of Transistion Durham which aims to increase local fruit consumption and decrease fruit importation. The big vision is a fruit tree for every resident of Durham.

  Transistion Durham seeks to promote local resilience through community-led responses to the three linked challenges of climate change, peak oil, and economic insecurity.

  Durham Botanic Garden a 10 hectare university botanic garden set amongst beautiful mature woodlands on the southern outskirts of Durham City.

Tools

  Jardin de France are suppliers of the ratchet loppers that Brian Gable demonstrated during the fruit pruning workshop in November 2010.

Seeds and seed saving

  Dyfi Valley Seed Savers has information about seed saving and also about vegetable and fruit growing, particularly in west Wales but which might be useful in other parts of the country. Events include an annual seed swap ("Seedy Sunday") and plant swap (Seedling Saturday), as well as workshops throughout the year.

  The Seed Site is about seeds - collecting seeds, storing seeds, sowing seeds, germinating seeds and exchanging seeds, with pictures of seeds, seedpods and seedlings.

  Seed Saving Resources

  Two pages on the Primal Seeds website: Why save seeds? and Seed saving

  Easy seeds to save for beginners

  Seedy Sunday is the web-site of a community-based seed swap in Brighton. This has been an annual event since 2002 and in 2007 included some 26 stalls and a programme of talks and demonstrations. The site includes listings of other uk-based seed swap events and some ideas about organising your own event.

  The Real Seed Catalogue is a not-for-profit company which sells a collection of rare, heirloom, and unusual vegetables selected particularly for the home grower. All their varieties are open pollinated, meaning that seeds can be saved and they provide comprehensive instructions on how to do this for a wide range of crops.

  Brown Envelope Seeds grow their own organic, open-pollinated seeds on their farm in West Cork, Ireland. Their seed saving page has information on how to save seeds of a number of common vegetables. If you want to order seeds from them, note that the seeds are priced in Euros, but you can pay on-line using a credit card and they are happy to ship to the UK.

  Association Kokopelli is a non-profit making organisation in France and offers over 1000 unusual and heritage vegetable varieties from its on-line catalogue. Members can choose from some 2500 varieties.

UK National sites

  Garden Organic (also known as HDRA) is Europe's largest organic membership organisation. It is dedicated to researching and promoting organic gardening, farming and food.

  The Soil Association is a membership charity campaigning for planet-friendly food and farming. The Soil Association organic symbol is the UK's main certification mark, appearing on approximately 80% of organic food produced in the UK.

  The Vegan Organic Network is an international network to research and promote stock-free vegan-organic methods of agriculture and horticulture.

  Foodshare encourages growers to donate fresh produce to local charities who feed people, for example hospices, care homes and homeless shelters.

  The UK permaculture network & the Permaculture Association (Britain). The Permaculture Association is an educational charity run by its members and helps people use permaculture in their everyday lives to improve their quality of life and the environment around them.

  The Heritage Seed Library is run by Garden Organic and aims to conserve and make available vegetable varieties that are not widely available. Many of these are old varieties which are no longer available though seed catalogues, others are landraces and a large number of family heirloom varieties that have never been in a catalogue. Members receive their choice of up to six varieties from a catalogue of about 200 varieties and there is also an informal Seed Swap section run between members themselves.

  WWOOF UK - WWOOF is a world wide exchange network where bed, board and practical experience are given in return for work. Stays of varied length are possible. WWOOF provides excellent opportunities for organic training, changing to a rural life, cultural exchange and being part of the organic movement.

  The Home Composting page on the WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) site encourages householders to recycle kitchen and garden waste through composting. It provides information about home composting, access to dedicated advisers and, in partnership with many local authorities, subsidised composting bins.