Hello one and all, welcome to another monthly update about life at the Tree Life Centre! The past month seems to have flown by which must mean we have been extremely busy, lets just hope I can remember it all. Instead of taking my word for it why not come and get the whole TLC experience and have a taster day/half day with us, or even just visit and get a guided tour from one of our lovely volunteers, we love getting new volunteers and visitors so we can share the projects good work. Anyway, back to what’s been going on…The busyness around the place was probably added to by having two bank holidays which meant we have lost some volunteering days, which we had to catch up on the work over the other days, plus the odd day closed due to training on top it sometimes felt we were closed more than open, but sometimes these things have to be done!
We started the month by welcoming our new Project/Training Officer Sheila Thayer. Everyone at TLC welcomed her with open arms and looking forward to helping push the Centre on to many future successes under her leadership. As part of the handover, along with Sheila, four other volunteers had the opportunity to become qualified emergency first aiders at work, so we now have more than enough cover in case of emergencies, although I think all of us would prefer if we didn’t have to use our newly gained skills! Sheila will also be the on site assessor for the diploma courses we run, although we are not quite ready to restart running the courses, if you are interested in taking one of the courses then please do get in touch for more information. You can always come and volunteer first before the course starts to get an idea of how we run and meet the rest of the gang!
The public area taking shape
As part of the continued development of the public area a lot of the month has been filled by the volunteers taking it in turns in groups tidying up, fixing and then re-wood chipping the paths, along with re-organising many of the trees, wildflowers and herbs we have on sale just inside the doorway. For a couple of days one of our sister projects in Bristol, the G. O. L. D. project, came up and helped us out too (find out more about them here). It was great getting them involved in the centre’s activities and we hope we see them, and the other local groups, again soon. Now that this area is coming along nicely our focus is turning to repairing the rest of the paths across the site, and potentially open up a larger area for the public to walk around and get a better idea of what we do.
The herb garden
Alongside these developments, the herb garden, Edible Plants and wildflower projects are ticking along nicely. The Edible Plants guys have started cropping their peas and beans (see previous blog for photos), and the onions are pretty much ready to go! The herb garden is really starting to flourish with the warmer weather, and some new dye plant seeds have recently been sown so hopefully the garden will get even more colourful in the coming months. To help add to the colour we have planted wildflowers at the back to attract more pollinators to the area. Also, a team did the same on the bed outside the farm office to help cheer up a little corner of the farm for the public to enjoy.
A planter made out of wood scraps
Finally, (I told you it was a busy month!) as part of job rotation everyone has also been on a mass tidy up/sort out of the site. With the cabin being changed around to make more space inside for people to sit and the tool shed currently under going a mass clear out, other stores on the site have also been cleared. This has lead to a wave of up-cycling going on, especially from the scraps of wood found. Keep your eyes peeled on our Facebook and Twitter pages for pictures of more creations!
Parish notices:-
As our home, Grimsbury Farm, is taking part in Open Farm Sunday on 8th June we will also be open! Details will follow about what we have planned up until the event so keep checking back on our Facebook/Twitter for updates.
As I’ve mentioned them a fair few times already here is our Facebook and Twitter pages (just click on the blue writing to take you there). Don’t forget to like/follow us too!