A community tree nursery for the valley.
Acorns are crunching underfoot, sweet chestnuts have fallen and the winter veg season is well and truly underway. This mast year - a five-yearly season of exceptional growth and abundance - has been so good to us here at 10 Trees in Bamford. From a standing start in June we have been able to send in armfuls of veg to the Open House community kitchen in Hathersage. Across the UK, many harvests are up 30% - we are all benefitting.
An opportunity to reciprocate.
So when the National Trust approached us a few weeks ago to talk about how communities in the High peak and Hope Valley might help grow trees and other plants for wild spaces across the Peak District, we spotted an opportunity to give back to nature. Practising reciprocity is at the heart of 10 Trees. The garden’s very special sense of peace and plenty are there to welcome us in however we are finding life, on any given day. We take what we need, and we give back whatever we can.
Help found a new community tree nursery in the valley.
To celebrate the mast year, we’d like to invite you to help us start a community tree nursery - here in 10 Trees but also spread across the community. We’ll be working with the National Trust and other groups who plants trees in and around the area. Imagine tiny oak trees popping up in pots and planters across the valley, ready to create wooded cloughs or copses wherever they are most needed.
Join us this Sunday at 12 noon.
This Sunday we’d like to invite you to be part of the first founding planting for the tree nursery - and to join us in celebrating autumn too. There will be autumn wreath and crown-making, music and hot soup round the fire, and of course the whole of 10 Trees’ 2.5 acres to explore. You’ll be able to plant acorns with the National Trust, and at 2pm (ish) the music will lead us into an autumnal oak tree wassail to bless the first generation of trees planted.
And at 2pm, help shape the future of tree planting in the area.
At 2pm, people from gardening, growing and conservation groups will be gathering in the garden to learn more about community tree nurseries and other practical ways to grow trees and plants for the Peak District. If you’re in any way intrigued by the idea of growing trees - whether it’s in your garden, with friends or family or in a group, please do join us to imagine what a community tree nursery in and for the whole community could look like.
Both events are free but you do need to book, and spaces are going quickly this week. You can book here for the celebration and here for the community conversation.
Love composting? Or want to learn?
In the meantime, our next Love What You Grow workshop is on Friday 24th October and is all about composting! It’s a subject we get very excited about, because caring really well for the soil is one of the reasons the 10 Trees veg has been so lush this year.
And finally.
We’re taking a break from Saturday 25th October to Monday 3rd November for Derbyshire half term - and we’ll be back again for a quieter winter period with Pickle Club on Tuesdays, Kitchen Gardening on Wednesdays and Community Gardening on Fridays. Do join our WhatsApp group to hear about new dates as they come out.
Thank you to everyone who has leant into the garden and to our growing community so far - we have been blown away by your enthusiasm! It’s very much a space that continues to be created in community, for community - and every offer of time, wisdom, or things (from beeswax to horse manure) means the garden can give more back to all of us.