News Blog ...
Why is Brighton Permaculture Trust so into apples and orchards?
25 SEPTEMBER 2016. by -:- Bryn Thomas You may have noticed that we are very focused on apples and orchards here at Brighton Permaculture Trust. But why this pomological obsession? Is it an obscure fruity fetish? Or is there a good reason? The simple truth is that growing fruit trees, especially in a traditional way,…
More information ...The Fruit Forecast for Apple Day 2016
17 AUGUST 2016. by -:- Bryn Thomas As the summer progresses, we at Brighton Permaculture Trust always watch anxiously to see how the fruit crop is developing. Will there be plenty of fruit for Apple Day Brighton? Will there be enough for -:- our scrumping project to make juice, cider and preserves? I am constantly struck by how…
More information ...Celebrating 35 Earthship courses
05 AUGUST 2016. Wow, what an achievement! In partnership with Low Carbon Trust, we have delivered a whopping 35 -:- Earthship building coursessince we began running them back in June 2009. Earthship courses always have a great buzz about them. They’re held at -:- Earthship Brighton in Stanmer Park, and they attract a variety of people from all…
More information ...How to heat your home with wood fuel
05 AUGUST 2016. At last the weather has warmed up! But autumn isn’t far around the corner, and we’ve begun to think about how best to stay warm and cosy this winter. Don’t dread the shorter days and longer nights. Think sustainability and the comforting glow of fire light. If you want to improve the way…
More information ...What does permaculture mean to you?
05 AUGUST 2016. Permaculture tutor -:- Chloe Anthony writes: At the start of our -:- Introduction to Permaculture and -:- Permaculture Design Course, we ask what permaculture means to you. We love to hear how you have come across permaculture as well as your personal hopes and dreams. Often, the decision to do a permaculture course comes at a…
More information ...How does a forest garden work?
29 JUNE 2016. Instructor on our Forest gardening course, Bryn Thomas, talks about the idea behind a forest garden: Co-originator of Permaculture, Bill Mollison, was once asked if permaculture [growing] really worked, to which he replied, “Do plants grow?” Of course, this answer was meant to be slightly facetious, because we all know that plants…
More information ...Why aren’t fruit trees planted from seed?
29 JUNE 2016. Fruit trees cannot be grown as the same variety from seed, so they are propagated by grafting the fruit variety onto a young tree called a rootstock. Chip-budding is a commonly used technique which fits a section of young wood containing a bud onto a rootstock. While the chip bud grows to form the…
More information ...Hot new course
25 MAY 2016. We are pleased to be offering a brand new one-day course on -:- how to heat with wood fuel on Sunday 18th September 2016 in Stanmer Park, Brighton. It will be a great intro to anyone interested in wood fuel, whether for the purpose of heating your home or as a hot water…
More information ...Stanmer Scrumpy hits Brighton
25 MAY 2016. Exciting news – we’ve brewed some cider and will be selling it at Stanmer this weekend! We’ll be in Stanmer Village from 11am to 5pm on Saturday 28th, Sunday 29th, and Bank Holiday Monday 30th May 2016. When we started the -:- scrumping project, we wanted to use fruit that would normally…
More information ...Earthship pizza oven on the way
10 MAY 2016. Our partners at Low Carbon Trust have been busy this month at -:- Earthship Brighton. Power has been restored with new batteries and solar panel. All very exciting! Even more exciting for foodies, perhaps, is that participants on our -:- Building with cob course will be building an outdoor pizza oven on the site. During…
More information ...Blossom tour this Sunday
10 MAY 2016. At last, a date for our annual blossom tour! It’s this coming Sunday, 15th May 2016, at 2pm. Home Farm Orchard is a beautiful place any time of year, even in winter, but to see it in bloom is a real treat. The apple blossom is a little late this year due…
More information ...Stanmer Organics Open Day
10 MAY 2016. Stanmer Organics Open Day is Saturday 21st May 2016 from 11am to 6pm. Join us and other projects from the Stanmer Organics Co-op for Spring Open Day. -:- Stephan and some of our team will be at our -:- plot for the event giving tours and organising games for kids. There will be food and drink available…
More information ...An audience at Buggingham Palace
10 MAY 2016. We’ve been working with HKD Transition Town group over the past 3 years designing and planting an orchard in Ditchling. -:- Stephan Gehrels did a return visit to the orchard recently to help build a bug hotel… Only this was more than your average bug hotel! It was nicknamed Buggingham Palace due to its sheer size…
More information ...Free permaculture info evening
10 MAY 2016. We’re holding a free permaculture info evening on Thursday 26th May 2016 from 7 to 9pm. Permaculture design is at the heart of all we do, and we love teaching people all about it. We run five to six -:- Introduction to permaculture courses every year, as well as one or two -:-…
More information ...Volunteers help with Hertford Junior School forest garden
31 MARCH 2016. Eight years ago, -:- Stephen Gehrels led on designing and implementing a school grounds permaculture design at Hertford Junior School in Hollingdean, Brighton. The design included a forest garden, shelter belts, edible plantings, a wildlife pond and outdoor learning areas. This fantastic example of permaculture design in action has been used as venue…
More information ...Orchard City? Orchard County? We keep planting!
16 MARCH 2016. As a team, we sometimes joke that if we keep up our efforts Brighton will become an orchard city! This year we have planted 152 trees in 11 locations across Brighton & Hove as well as East and West Sussex. Our -:- Sussex apple National Collection has also grown. Yet we have only scratched the surface…
More information ...Lodsworth Larder
14 MARCH 2016. Lodsworth Larder: Winner of 9 architectural and social enterprise awards An extract from Woodsman: Living in a wood in the 21st century by -:- Ben Law This shop is constructed from materials sourced primarily from a derelict coppice in the parish, which enabled an ancient woodland to be restored, such that in the…
More information ...A fruity boost from Infinity Foods
11 MARCH 2016. This time last year, our crowdfunding campaign to raise money to build the -:- Fruit Factory had been launched. We were on tenterhooks every day to see if we would be able to raise the money to finish the building. The campaign was successful! The build continued last summer. By the time Apple…
More information ...Big bad wolf legend quashed
11 MARCH 2016. For several years now we have enjoyed the company of local straw bale builder -:- Ian Brown. He is the tutor on our -:- Building with straw bales course, and without him our -:- straw bale Fruit Factory would not be the building of beauty that we see today at Stanmer Park! Ian is…
More information ...The Woodland House
09 MARCH 2016. How Ben Law’s home became a vocation and new architectural vernacular An extract from The Woodland House by -:- Ben Law I live in the middle of a woodland. The woodland is predominantly sweet chestnut coppice. Sweet chestnut is a very durable, fast growing hardwood. I built a small cruck frame boathouse with…
More information ...One of our guest tutors gets mushy
18 FEBRUARY 2016. Once a year, we have the pleasure of a visit from -:- Bill Knight from Keverall Farm in Cornwall who is the main teacher on our -:- Mushroom cultivation course. A great tutor and all round fun guy, he speaks about his love of mushrooms and the course: “Did you know that hidden under your…
More information ...Polytunnel appeal update from our plot team
18 FEBRUARY 2016. In our last newsletter, we thanked everyone for their help in raising money to pay for a new polytunnel cover at out plot – our last one was -:- ripped off in the January storms. The team were just wishing for a sunny winter day with no wind to be able to fit…
More information ...Great video on Feeding the 5K event last October
18 FEBRUARY 2016. This interesting video on food waste shows the 300 strong army of volunteers preparing and feeding a hot meal to five thousand people in the centre of Brighton last October. The event was organised by Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, using food that would otherwise have gone to waste. The programme (Food Rebels) meets Adam…
More information ...The Roundwood Frame
An extract from Roundwood Timber Framing by -:- Ben Law My interest in building the roundwood frame came from the availability of timber trees growing within my woods. Being a predominantly coppiced woodland, there were not the volume of straight trees to construct a log building and neither was there an abundance of oak to produce…
More information ...Changes in our Courses & Events team
05 FEBRUARY 2016. After more years than he cares to remember, -:- Bryn Thomas is handing on the management of the Course and Event to focus on other areas of work including in his roles as Acting CEO and Fruit Projects Manager. We are pleased to welcome -:- Stella Peyerl to our team as our new Course…
More information ...Celebratory planting at Racehill
05 FEBRUARY 2016. Saturday 23rd January was a cold damp and misty day, so we were delighted to have so many people turn up to help plant the last three trees at -:- Racehill Orchard. By midday, around thirty people were gathered on top of a mist enshrouded Whitehawk Hill. We started with a tour of…
More information ...Help! Our cover has been blown
16 JANUARY 2016. During the recent stormy and windy weather, our plot team were sad to find that the polytunnel cover at our plot had been blown apart and away. -:- Our plot is run by volunteers. Every Thursday they meet on site at Stanmer Park and work on continuing maintenance and development of the space. See…
More information ...Discover pattern language at Green architecture day
06 JANUARY 2016. Christopher Alexander’s book, A Pattern Language, has been one of the most influential books in architecture, as well as inspiration for permaculture designers thinking about patterns in nature and people. At Green Architecture Day this year, coming up in March, you can learn about Alexander’s work from Michael Mehaffy, his student and colleague.…
More information ...New community orchard at Big Park, Peacehaven
06 JANUARY 2016. We will be starting work planting a 100-apple tree community orchard at Peacehaven later this month. Last winter, we planted a shelter belt containing over 2000 trees and shrubs of 33 species. These included fast-growing species such as Italian alder and Monterey pine; native trees like oak and beech; nut-bearing species such…
More information ...Racehill community orchard planting complete
06 JANUARY 2016 What an extraordinary past four years! We are proud to announce that after four years of hard work with volunteers and Brighton and Hove Food Partnership, the planting of the 210-tree community orchard at Racehill in Whitehawk is complete. Apart from the last three trees, that is, which we are holding back…
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