Kitchen Garden Workshop: Gardening with Wildlife – Some for the Birds, Some for the Bugs and Some for Us

Join us for a workshop on the benefits of gardening with wildlife here at Asthall Manor Kitchen Garden (opposite Asthall Manor).

Complete beginners through to keen amateurs all welcome.

A thriving and diverse population of insects and animals, big and small is key to the growing of healthy and nutritious (aka tasty) food. Healthy wildlife means healthy plants means healthy people.

In this all-day workshop you will learn the fundamental benefits of gardening with wildlife while growing food for people. You’ll develop an understanding of why our wild bird, animal and insect friends are not just either pests or a nice aside to have in the garden but are in fact all critical, hard-working colleagues who play a vital role in the guarding and growing of nutritious food or are simply a key link in a beneficial creature’s food chain. You’ll learn the different roles that many creatures play and what they need in turn, to keep them happy. The day will entail a healthy mix of theory, games and investigations. You will also carry out some fun, practical work to apply your learning and to help increase the diversity and vitality of our wild friends, right here in the kitchen garden.

Places are limited to 10 people in order to maintain a quality experience for those attending the workshop.

Tea, coffee, snacks and a hearty lunch of soup, bread and kitchen garden salad will be provided.

Please dress appropriately for the weather on the day with sturdy shoes or boots that don’t mind getting muddy and be prepared to get your hands dirty.

Please do consider using public transport or bicycle to get here and if you’re coming by car, please park in the tree-lined avenue nearby. More travel information click here.

Asthall Manor Kitchen Garden is currently in the early stages of becoming a social enterprise with the aim of helping to create a healthier, happier food system for all. We grow wildlife-friendly and people-friendly food using Organic methods and Permaculture principles. We grow for a small, local box scheme, for the Potting Shed Café, for chefs and for the Manor
kitchen. We do this while providing a mixture of wild habitats such as ponds, log piles, flowering weeds, seed heads and uncut margins for beneficial creatures to feed, hunt, sleep, bask, breed and hibernate in.

The funds raised from this workshop will go towards delivering the aims of Asthall Wild CIC. For more information, click here.

The course will be delivered by Tim Mitchell, a qualified Level 2 Organic food growing tutor with 8 years of teaching experience. He has worked in community food growing and commercial Organic food production for the last 9 years.

Tickets

 

Photo: © Tim Mitchell