Tues July 8th - What an amazing time! Picture 10 or so of us sat on the ridge of a house roof (no rain!) with the most incredible views all round Bristol whilst looking at Eric’s solar pv and solar thermal panels, getting a thorough grounding in the technology and practical use of them. Eric and Julia have had these systems fitted for 2 years now.

Best ‘workshop’ I’ve been to in absolutely ages - Eric just gave us the info, good and bad, completely objectively and got a fantastically interesting discussion going for over 2 hours, interspersed with tea, biccies and a visit to the cellar to check out the water tanks! Felt like the best thing we’ve done so far – learning together with no fan fare required!

Last Sunday, following the Big Bike Ride, we met at the St Paul’s Road Community Garden to help them get some of the bigger jobs done. There were several members of the community garden there to let us know what needed doing, and a good turn out of BS3 crew came and got stuck in.

We made a huge raised bed and planted it up with various things, but I can only remember carrots and marigolds! Some more tires got planted up and most obviously of all, the shed got assembled. Tom stated categorically that he didn’t believe in using instructions, so there was no tedious organising delay to the project - the floor battens were screwed in place and then the panels, and in no time at all (with only one dismantling to stop the window being in the side up against the wall!) it was finished and moved into place.

Rachael and Tom had organised a BBQ, which not only provided some much-needed food but also ensured we all went home smelling of bonfire to prove we’d had a good old ‘outdoors’ day!

The St Paul’s Road Community Garden has just received confirmation of a £750 grant from the Quartet Foundation thanks to Rachael and Tom’s hard work.  The grant will be used to buy water butts, compost bins, a shed, fencing, plants and seeds.

Watering in the first salads & seedlings

For Rachael and her husband Tom one of the most important issues to tackle the ‘peak oil’ issue is local food- “we live opposite a huge Asda- but are committed to shopping local! So we avoid Asda and buy from our local shops- the fruit and veg shop, the health food shop for things such as milk, veggie sausages, loo roll etc and the local bakery for bread and such, we also have an organic box delivery. People always ask if its more expensive and to be honest I’ve found I spend less (I’ve been ‘non-supermarket shopping’ for 5 years now) as I don’t buy ‘special offer’ extras and I’m not tempted by rows and rows of stuff that I don’t need!”

Rachael and Tom are now taking their commitment to local food up a level, by starting a community food garden. They approached the council about a piece of ‘wasteland’ next door to their home, which was being used as a dumping ground for old mattresses, bike bits, bags of rubbish etc. They found out the land was owned by The Guinness Trust Housing Association, and after putting forward a proposal and design, they have granted permission to the residents to use the land for a community garden.

“Its better than an allotment, as its near by, there are no waiting lists and we are all (neighbours and Transition group friends) working together, so lessening the work load” Rachael told us.

With no funding, Rachel and Tom set to work with some funding requests, and were awarded a start-up grant of £250 from The Guinness Trust Housing Association which was used to clear the site, buy tools and a new gate. They have also received £50 from the Action Earth Fund which paid for some yummy food for the BBQ at the recent garden ‘action day’ (where volunteers cleared up the site and began planting).

Rachael building the new gate

The group have already planted in fruit trees and bushes, potatoes, onions and have lots of salad stuff waiting to be planed in to the raised beds which are next on the ‘to do’ list.

Tom plants the first apple tree

“The focus is very much about community building and growing food- we see this as the most important response to peak oil and global warming- we need to start sharing resources and helping one another!”

The land before the community garden