Read all about it in the news and reports below from our Transition Norwich news bloggers. Events, Circles, growing and food projects, Stoneleigh's talk in Norwich, spring scheming, carbon conversations, heart and soul meetings, the latest on the blog and more . . . .
Norwich Community Agriculture has a new name: from now on we're going to be Norwich FarmShare. We changed the name because several people thought the old one was a bit of a mouthful. We hope you like the new name and feel that it sums up what we're about.
Saturday 5 March Workday at Brenna’s Kirkstead
Our new format of two meetings a month seems to be working well. We had a lovely meeting of textiles work, getting on with projects we had and sharing tips and ideas. Our second meeting was a lively discussion of low carbon holidays, and what a long list of ideas we came up with! From Couch surfing to retreats, Cycle touring to RSPB residential volunteering there is a massive array of possible low carbon holidays in the UK. All of our ideas will be put into the resources section of the Transition Norwich website for others to peruse. We also discussed the ethics of international travel - flying, freight ships, voluntourism and slow travel - its a complicated moral maze, but low carbon options often end up being more memorable in the end. 
This inspiring, practical 6-session course on low-carbon living will be facilitated by Christine Way and Anne Dismorr. The course engages people both emotionally and practically, helping them overcome the barriers often associated with making large carbon reductions. Members explore the basic climate change problem, their responses to it, their ideas for a low-carbon future and the four key areas of the footprint – home energy, travel, food and other consumption. Most members make reductions of 1 tonne CO2 during the course and develop plans to halve their footprints over a longer period. Cost £20.Time: 10.30 - 12.30 Venue: Either City Centre or Mill Hill area.Time: 10.30 - 12.30
Come and join us at Grapes Hill Community Garden, as we prepare the garden for opening to the public on Saturday 2nd July 2011. 
Once the garden is fully open everyone will be welcome to come in and enjoy the space, every day during daylight hours. (It will be locked at night.)
Garden Work Days will be held on Sundays 13 and 27 March, 3 April. Meet at the garden, 11am. All welcome; tools will be provided. We will also hold a Public Meeting on Monday 14 March at The Belvedere Centre, Belvoir Street, Norwich, NR2 3AZ, 7.30 - 8.30pm. All welcome.
We have had a very exciting three years of community-led events and projects, many of them still flourishing. So in the evening of Sunday 20 March we will be celebrating all our successes so far and then looking to the future to see what dreams and schemes we could work towards next. 
These are dried field beans grown by William Hudson, Norwich FarmShare’s key advisor. They’re part of the Food & Farming group’s Beans, Oats and Flour project that’s looking at crops that can be grown in the UK as the constrictions of climate change and peak oil hit our fossil-fuelled food system. They’re also called cattle or tick beans and are a popular staple in Egpyt. Right now in fact when we’re not feeding them to cows we’re exporting them to Egypt where they are known rather more appetisingly as ful medames. In the next Low Carbon Cookup, we’re going to be exploring the future with this down-to-earth relative of the broad bean, as we get on down to the business of writing a Transition cookbook. We’ll also be looking at the production of oils – reporting back on the olive, sesame, rapeseed, hemp and other essentials of our low carbon store cupboard. This week on the blog in our LCC Transition Themes slot we have invited Joanne Brannan to write about a foraging for wild leaves at her innovative low carbon farm in Suffolk. Joanne runs a CSA (with Transition Ipswich) and is a Guardian gardening blogger, so keep an eye out for her post on Friday. Last month those peppery, bitter and sour green leaves were definitely entering our month-by-month vegetable calendar and springing up amongst the root veg in our shared feast – sorrel, lovage, rocket, chickweed, nettle, endives, radicchio, fennel, lamb’s lettuce, bittercress. MMMMmmm. Can’t you just taste that Spring! Have a good one! Charlotte Du Cann Worth a Handful of Beans by Mark Watson
Nicole Foss gave a gripping presentation to the Transition Network Conference last year and we are excited that she has agreed to come to Norwich to help us understand the challenges of climate change, economic recession, rising fuel and house prices.
Re-cycling has made it to Norwich! With a stash of secondhand bike parts, knowledgeable volunteers and lots of bike tools, I have been waiting for something like Not About The Bike to start in Norwich for a while. Every Wednesday from 10-3 they will help you to mend your bike for the cost of any new parts. So you learn to fix your bike yourself rather than paying a bike shop lots of money to do it. It also means we don't have to buy all of the different tools ourselves - so definitely good on the resources front. 
Norfolk is one of five areas in Britain taking part in Garden Organic’s Master Gardeners scheme (the other areas are Warwickshire, Islington, South London and Lincolnshire). 
We have negotiated a brief monthly article in Triangle in order to raise awareness among the wider community about the issues which have lead to the development of the Transition movement. These are primarily climate change, peak oil and economic recession.
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