What a fantastic summer we have had. For those growing fruit and vegetables, as long as you have kept up with the watering, I hope that you are enjoying a good harvest.
The warm, dry weather has presented challenges with harvests from our farmland being a little low, but I am pleased to say that wildlife has flourished. We have seen some beautiful floral diversity in our green spaces, including along field margins and the Greenway. With this floral diversity comes a food source for invertebrates, including the pollinators that our food system relies upon, and, while I have not seen any, I am sure the lizards and slow worms that live on local sites have been basking in the sun.
The importance of nature was brought home to us in July when a group of staff and trustees visited the regenerative agriculture festival, Groundswell. This annual festival is luckily on our doorstep at Weston. It was an excellent opportunity to learn from people so passionate about developing sustainable, resilient farming systems which rely on abundant nature in soil, field margins, hedgerows, woodlands and the skies to replace chemical inputs. This is not necessarily a journey of discovery. While we have access to new learning, technology, equipment and other resources, regenerative agriculture is about rediscovering the way we farmed when the Garden City was first established.
The passion of the Groundswell Community was infectious, with talks and discussions also spanning health and diet, wellbeing, youth engagement and community development. I was particularly inspired by a book launch: How to Fall in Love with the Future, by Rob Hopkins. Using 2030 as an example, Rob spoke of helping people time-travel to a positive future, really visualising what it would be like. This, he explained, developed the motivation and longing to make it a reality. Our local David’s Bookshop had a large stall full of tempting titles, so I popped in for some inspiration to take home.
One dream I had for this summer was to contribute to our programme of free summer activities for families by offering an engaging outdoor nature-based experience. This was achieved this week (27th and 28th August) when we transformed a small grassy area on Spring Road into a mini-festival site. We set up shelters covered in bunting, which was kindly donated, and spread out colourful rugs. Bales of straw were used for seating and playing, and portable toilets brought some essential comforts. With the help of volunteers, we decorated signs to help people feel welcome and navigate the site, and we were ready! At this point, we handed over to Living Theatre Whitwell to run theatre games, a set building workshop and a production of Wind in the Willows. All the activities were closely linked to nature, with puppets being made from sticks, long grass and other treasures found at the site. It was great fun for all who attended. I am not sure who had the most fun during the games, children or adults. They all did a very convincing show of creeping around a lion! Enormous thanks are owed to all staff and volunteers who helped make this a success. Please keep a look out for other similar events on DiscoverLetchworth.co.uk.
