Falling into the soup - Low Carbon Cookbook - 28 February

“Wasn’t this meeting supposed to be the one where we got down to the business of actually writing the book?” said Erik. We’d been talking casually over potato curries and salads and Erik’s very tasty winter vegetable soup with pumpkin and lovage. We’d spoken about how meeting up monthly for the unwritten Low Carbon Cookbook had increased our awareness of food systems and radically changed our approach to food and our shopping habits. But it was coming up to 9 o’ clock and no one so far had mentioned the W word. To be honest we’d got a bit cosy.

So the three of us got up from Bee’s kitchen table and in the next hour came to an agreement to write something by the next meeting which we would then bring to show each other. Bee will write on the hungry gap and the carbon footprint of cooking, Erik on a calendar for home food growing and I’ll write about freegan and foraged food. All the low carbon cooks from past and present meetings are free to contribute - Erik will contact you about that.

Now, what to say about that freegan tofu… Mark Watson.

For further info contact Charlotte Du Cann on theseakaleproject@hotmail.co.uk

Welcome to our February News 2012!

Read all about what's happening in the city as the light increases from our Transition Norwich news crew: spring arriving and fruit tree mapping at Norwich FarmShare, new Transition film launching the Energy Look Outs! expanding, the Low Carbon Cookbook beginning (really), plus all the latest from Transition Circles, Occupy Norwich, Grapes Hill community gardens and some great events elsewhere in East Anglia.

Poster for Robert Newman's History of Oil; winter sun and honesty seeds (MW); Tierney in article on TN in Norwich Magazine; A Pattern Language and streets of Norwich by Simeon Jackson

Spring is coming at Norwich FarmShare

...and it can't come quickly enough for me! I enjoyed the spring and summer on the farm so much, getting involved with growing for the first time in my life. Tierney was able to spend part of a day hoeing recently- she told me how good it felt to be doing 'farm work' again. I listen to the birds song in the morning and I can already hear them preparing for spring. The sparky territorial songs are beginning- the great tit has the most distinctive spring song, listen to it here and then you'll hear it everywhere.

Tierney has spent the winter planning and plotting (and planning our plots) to get the best out of our land this year. She's created amazing spreadsheets showing what needs to be done and when: when we anticipate needing to irrigate, when we expect to be sowing and planting.... even when we might be able to hold open days, when we can invite the press to see exciting things happening on the farm, when would be good to hold wildlife walks.

It's easy to feel like the 'real' work is that done on the land with hands and tools, but it can only happen alongside the indoors planning work- so we're grateful for our members and supporters putting time in to plan our distribution and logisitics, our work to benefit the biodiversity of the site and yesterday planned how we can develop our marketing to reach more people around Norwich.

Find out more at www.norwichfarmshare.co.uk

Elena. Pics: last year's first onions poking though, Elena.

Energy Look Outs is expanding

The Energy Look Outs initiative is working on collaborating with other similar groups concerned about public resource use.

We are getting reports through from open doors to overheated public spaces, which no doubt reflect many more numbers of people who notice this kind of waste but do not report it. We want to use these reports to truly engage with businesses and public bodies to enable them to develop true sustainability policies, or where they already exist, to fully implement them at the front line.

Because members of the public who report such issues often do not get a positive response to their concerns, Energy Look Out is helping with the process of engagement.

Over the next 2 months we will be making clearer links with other local organisations to share resources and make reportage generally easier and more productive for everyone. Chris Hull

Photo from An Open and Shut Case on This Low Carbon Life, Transition Themes Week #11.

For further info contact chrishull@phonecoop.coop

Transition Circle West - 21 February

The next Transition Circle West meeting will be held at 7pm and Anne's house on Tuesday February 21st. Following on from the focus of January's meeting on skills-sharing, where we all brought various examples of our handy work along to discuss, the meeting will cover resource-sharing. After sharing our usual vegetarian meal together we will be reviewing the circle's resource-sharing library and deciding rules of usage, the best form for it, and its possible benefits for us and for transition.

For more information about this meeting and future meetings please contact Helen Pallett mshelenpallett@gmail.com

Sewing circle from the Social Reporting Project's Skill Share Week.

New Transition film has its London premier this month

"Last month saw the synchronised previewing of the new film ‘In Transition 2.0’ screeings in communities around the world. It was shown in Lewes Town Hall, The Dukes in Lancaster, at the Watershed in Slaithwaite, the town building in Wayland, US, in the office of Project Lyttelton in New Zealand, in the fire station in Moss Side, a front room in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, US, a Hindu temple in Tooting, a school in Finsbury Park, a hall in Tokyo, Japan, in ‘Cinema Paradiso’ in Auroville, India and in a village in Portugal. Only one screening was cancelled, in Monteveglio in Italy, where -15° temperatures and snow storms forced them to postpone," writes Rob Hopkins reporting on Transition Culture from at the Barn Cinema in Dartington, where 200 people were celebrating the birth of the film.

The documentary will have its official premiere on 24 March at The Guardian Open Weekend in London and we're hoping to show this inspiring new telling of the Transition story in Norwich soon. Meanwhile, here is the film's trailer, directed by Caspar Walsh to whet your appetite!

Photo: poster for In Transition 2.0 by Transition Town Lewes

Occupy Norwich: Moving Forward

During the last four months the Occupy movement has raised awareness of global problems and has also found broad agreement across society, both locally and globally, that these urgently need addressing: Inequality, unsustainabilty and dysfunctional democracy.

Those at the Haymarket have had positive and mutually enriching conversations with literally thousands of people during this time. Aside from the Haymarket camp - which now has its own working party - Occupy Norwich is moving on to a new phase of wider community and direct actions, educational projects, and a continued public forum for discussion.

This month we are planning a People's Assembly - basically an alternative form of government, where people from Norwich have the opportunity to discuss their interests, form working groups and basically make their own politics based on the consensus system Occupy Norwich use. Many people do not feel represented by the existing government anymore, including local councils. The idea of a Norwich People’s Assembly is to gain some influence over our own lives, practise real democracy and help the community and ourselves.

Many more activities have been carried out and are planned, like the Occupy Festival last weekend (3-5 February) that took place in venues situated across central Norwich and an on-line survey (for interim results see here).

Please do get in touch with us if you have inspirations, would love to contribute but don’t know how, want to get active or just express your opinions – we are here to listen to the 100%! Vanessa Buth

Further information about Occupy Norwich can be found at their website, on Facebook or Twitter.

Picture of Occupy Norwich assembly from Article on Occupy Movement through Pragmatist Glasses by Olaya

Grapes Hill Community Garden Looking Forward to Spring - 19 February

It is a dull and cold day as I write this update but we've already started the New Year at Grapes Hill Community Garden with our Annual General Meeting (12th January) and an afternoon's Fruit Pruning and Winter Tidy Up (29th January).

We pruned our apple and quince trees and redcurrants, blackcurrant and gooseberry. We removed some unwanted plants (all the Hemlock and surplus Black Horehound) from the meadow and replaced them with Oxeye Daisy seedlings. Over twenty people came along to help, including new visitors to the garden and most of our Raised Bed tenants.

On Sunday 19th February we are holding an event in the garden called Look Forward To Spring. The event runs from 11am to 3pm and admission is free. We will have a seed swap and garden information stalls such as Norfolk Master Gardeners and Master Composters.

The local RSPB Group will hold four nestbox building sessions: 11am, 12 noon, 1pm and 2pm. These are free of charge but places are limited so please book in advance by phone (07729 540 482) or e-mail (contact@grapeshillcommunitygarden.org).

The garden is open to visitors free of charge every day (9am - 4.30pm in winter) and we will be holding more events during the year. See http://www.grapeshillcommunitygarden.org/events.htm for up to date details.

For more information on the garden see our website and Facebook page.

Jeremy Bartlett.
http://www.grapeshillcommunitygarden.org/

Photo by Jeremy Bartlett - Witch Hazel, currently in flower in the garden.