As gardeners know, one of the challenges in cultivating an abundant harvest is our changeable climate. Earlier this year, we fell behind on our planting schedule because of the exceptionally low temperatures, yet, over the summer our main concern was making sure that plants (and people!) were all well hydrated. Despite the slow start to the year, we are pleased to report that our open day in May was the most successful ever! The next Open Day is on Saturday 28th September (it’s a match day so Watford Grammar School for Boys have kindly offered us the use of some of their car parking). Come along from 10am-3pm to celebrate Harvest time at the Community Market Garden. Featuring light refreshments, children’s activities, storytelling in the yurt and of course our wonderful garden produce including winter pansies, primroses and Christmas flowering bulbs. If you would like to receive this newsletter regularly, please email rpalmer@wnht.org or phone 01923 210 680.
CREATIVE CORNER Thanks to the generosity of Watford Girls Grammar School, we now have the beginnings of a sculpture trail in the wooded area. The school has provided us with funding for artistic projects for a number of years enabling service users to learn new skills and to express themselves in different ways. Ideas were put forward by service users and then Joanna, the artist funded by the school, came up with some designs. Over a three day period, a team of service users – with support from Joanna and Kathryn – created our first two sculptures.
The first, created out of plants and garden materials, depicts someone in a sleeping bag. For many of our service users, sleeping rough has been part of their story and so it’s a poignant portrayal of the reality of homelessness. The second is of a face split in half; one half expressing joy and the other sorrow. A ladder rises up out of the eyes for plants to grow up. This sculpture expresses the need for us with to deal with both positive and negative emotions in order to be able to move on in our lives.