Frome Valley Growing Project

WE are delighted to announce that we have been awarded funding from the National Lottery and from Wesport (the West of England Sport Trust) to extend the work we do in our community.

Over the spring we will be offering weekly sessions for a small group of students from Winterbourne Academy and throughout this year, we will have lots more opportunities to come and volunteer with us and learn more about growing food using permaculture methods.

We will also have the opportunity to make improvements to facilities on site.

This year we hope to continue planting in our Food Forest, which is a section of our site designed to mimic a natural diverse growing system like a woodland, whilst providing perennial food throughout the year.

We are looking for donations of cuttings and seeds for this area, of plants such as lavender and more unusual herbs, such as valerian and liquorice.

We particularly love native and/ or low-maintenance plants!

We have been working closely with Feeding Fromeside and One Planet Matters to provide fresh locally-grown food to people who

n FRAMPTON NATURE

need it.

We hope for that work to continue next year.

We are also hoping to get some advice on how to drain our site more efficiently in the winter, from engineering students at UWE Bristol.

Their support will be so gratefully received, as the ground is especially wet this year and parts of our field have flooded. In other water-related news, our composting toilet plans are well underway and we are looking forward to our 'loo with a view!'

Once again, the seed frenzy is upon us and we are frantically collecting, labelling, swapping and selling our seeds in preparation for the long-awaited seed planting season.

If you are interested in buying any of our seeds, they are available at the Nook and Cranny in Frampton Cotterell, who have kindly agreed to stock them in their shop.

We love to keep it local by collaborating with local businesses, so if you would like to get involved with what we do, then please do come and visit and find out more.

Check out our Facebook page to find out more about what we do and how you can get involved. Volunteers of all ages and walks of life are welcome: we thrive on diversity and friendship.

You can also reach us by email at thegrowingproject123@gmail. com.

Kate Macdonald