Hertfordshire Constabulary have confirmed to the Watford Observer that, in the words of the Observer, a ‘shadowy summit of world leaders [is] taking place in Watford next month.

It continues: ”The Bilderberg Group of around 140 influential figures including royalty, politicians and business leaders will meet at The Grove from June 6 to June 9… The group’s annual meetings have in the past attracted storms of protests from campaigners who accuse it of hijacking the democratic process.’

So local people are putting on a free framily-friendly fringe festival to Occupy Bilderberg. There’ll be:

• International Speakers
• Comedians
• ‘Hug a Bilderberger’
• Music
• Poetry and spoken word
• Delicious local and ethically sourced food and drink, plus grilled Bilderburgers.

All ages welcome, although it should be pointed out that this is not the same as the toddler-focussed consumer Build-a-Bear festival, which is what I thought when I first heard about it.

Updates and more info are at bilderberg2013.co.uk and bilderbergfringefestival.co.uk.

 

3 Sisters Companion Planting Skill Share Sunday 18th May! 

The Three Sisters – corn, beans and squash – are 3 great plants that grow and thrive together. Corn provides a natural pole for bean vines to climb. The beans take nitrogen to the corns roots, improving the fertility of the plot by providing nitrogen for the following years corn. Bean vines also help stabilize the corn plants against the wind. Shallow-rooted squash vines become a living mulch, shading emerging weeds and preventing soil moisture from evaporating, improving the overall crops chances of survival in dry summers. Spiny squash plants also help discourage predators from approaching the corn and beans.

The large amount of crop residue from this planting combination can be incorporated back into the soil at the end of the season to build up the organic matter and improve its structure.Corn, beans and squash also complement each other nutritionally. Corn provides carbohydrates, the beans are rich in protein and squash yields both vitamins from the fruit and healthful, delicious oil from the seeds.

Last year the 3 sisters shared an vibrant and full bed in the front meadow. This year, to give them more space, we’re going to be venturing to the newly mulched sunny plot in the back.

Next Sunday 19th May every one is welcome to come and join in the preparing of the beds and planting of the vegetables. Growing Sundays will be starting at the usual time of 2pm and ending at dusk, but feel free to drop in whenever you like. I’m not an expert on this, in fact I’ve never done it before, so hopefully every one can share what they know and work on it together and we’ll all come away knowing a little bit more.

If you have any questions please give us a call on 07890751568 or email info@transitionheathrow.com

We were told that we’d hear the verdict from the Court of Appeal by the end of April…

…BUT April has been and gone and we still haven’t heard anything.

We will keep you up to date, but in the meantime feel free to join us in the sunshine – we’re busy sowing seeds and making wood burners and doing yoga on the wind turbine tower!!

Free wild food workshops are thriving every Friday at Grow Heathrow, from 2 to 5pm.

Friday 10th: cow parsley tabouleh

Learn how to safely tell cow parsley (anthriscus sylvestris) apart from its deadly poisonous lookalike hemlock (conium maculatum) and fool’s parsley (aethusa cynapium). Then make the world’s best tabouleh, bursting with vitamin-C-packed cow parsley.

Friday 17th: burdock roots workshop

Learn how to identify burdock roots, which are best harvested in early spring or late autumn, and whip up a delicious and nutritous meal that’s wild and free.

Friday 24th: garlic mustard saerkraut

Sound too good to be true? No – and it’s free. We’ll learn how to ID wild garlic mustard (alliaria petiolata) and then make its leaves into a gourmet wild saerkraut.

Friday 21st June: solstice celebration: elderflower champagne

This one needs no introduction: it’s the one we’ve all been waiting for. The big event of the Grow Heathrow wild food calendar. Elderflower (sambucus nigra) scrumping, here we come.

Free wild food workshops are every Monday at Grow Heathrow. Join us on Monday 29th from 2-4pm to make capers from dandelion buds.

We’ll learn to preserve dandelion buds (taraxacum agg.) in brine, like we did with cow parsley (anthriscus sylvestris) ‘celery sticks’ last week. Dandelions’ deep reaching tap roots bring calcium and potassium up from the sub soil, accumulating health-giving minerals for us to enjoy in this wonderful spring.

So come, visit, and let’s get a-foraging together.

We’ve been told that we’ll hear the verdict from the Court of Appeal by the end of this month. 

Although we don’t know the exact date yet, some of us are planning to make a trip to court, while others will stay on site. In the evening we’ll all come together at Grow Heathrow to have a debrief around a nice meal.

It would be great to see some friendly faces on the day, so stay tuned for more info and the exact date!

Big love from the Grow Heathrow office – sun beds on the wind turbine tower!

The Energy Group at Grow Heathrow is kicking of a series of Sustainable Technology training days with a workshop on how to build your own generator from scratch – Saturday 27th April at 11am – 6pm

The small Wind Turbine that was kindly donated by one of our supporters isn’t quite up to scratch for our battery bank. We need to make some new windings, so what better opportunity to share our knowledge than by inviting people to come and share in the experience.

We’ll be going through winding our own coils with ceramic coated wire, setting the magnets in resin and then configuring the coils to produce energy as the magnets pass.

The workshop will be accompanied by a delicious lunch.  Donations gratefully accepted where possible. Check out our Facebook event or email us at info@transitionheathrow.com for more information.

Come on down to Grow Heathrow to get skilled up for the Self Empowered Energy Revolution!