The Guerrilla Garden at the East London Uprising

The Garden of Earthly Delights on Graham Road opens its doors as part of the East London Uprising, a weekend of play, protest and education on July 12th – 14th that will feature arts, music, talks, workshops, guerrilla gardening, performances and marches, solutions area and non-violent direct action across East London.
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Across the weekend there will be workshops and talks on sustainable living and growing.

SATURDAY
12:00pm – 12:45pm Introduction to Permaculture with Rakesh
Permaculture is an innovative framework for creating sustainable ways of living. It is a practical method of developing ecologically harmonious, efficient and productive systems that can be used by anyone, anywhere. In this session come along to learn the basic principles of permaculture!

1:00pm – 1:45pm Energy from compost with Katja Benkel
Through the process of composting heat is produced, which can be harnessed for hot water needs or heating rooms. When producing biogas which can be used for cooking, fertilizer is produced. Both these activities can easily and simply be set up at local level – using waste bio material and helping to create new soil and supply our energy needs for food and shelter, whilst having a positive impact on our environment. This session will cover how both systems work and can be set up simply at low cost by people themselves.

2:00pm – 2:45pm
Squatting forum with Sam Burgum and Myk
Squatting, trespass, and occupation continue to be empowering and crucial tactics for meeting housing needs, taking direct action, and making space, both in the UK but also around the world where 1billion people live ‘informally’ on land they ‘shouldn’t be on’. This talk will reflect on the different types, motivations, and ends to which squatting is put, taking a look back into a rich UK history of activism, which asserts that the ownership of property is secondary to the fact that it is empty.

3:00pm – 3:45pm Forest gardening, the ultimate low maintenance eco friendly food growing system with Rakesh
According to the post carbon institute, most food growing systems require 10 times as much energy to produce than we get in terms of food, even organic food is 8 times more energy, whereas a forest garden gives us 10 times more energy than we put into its creation. Rakesh specialises in designing low maintenance forest gardens. See how to utilise your back garden or make a community garden a high yielding low maintenance food growing system that enriches nature and will be the farms of the future.

4:00pm – 4:45pm Mobile seed bank with Helene Schulze
“When you control food you control society. When you control seeds you control life on earth.” Vandana Shiva

The global companies which produce the pesticides pillaging our soils are often the same ones dominating the global seed trade: before their merger with Bayer, Monsanto alone owned a quarter of all seeds traded. This industrial agricultural system has already led to the loss about 95% of our vegetable varieties! This totally threatens global food security in light of climate breakdown.

Community seed banks are one response to this. Helene will introduce the concepts of seed sovereignty and the work of the London Freedom Seed Bank, a network of food growers and gardeners, dedicated to saving, storing and distributing free, open-pollinated seed in London.

SUNDAY
12:00pm – 12:45pm Sacred Earth and Cultural Transformation with Preetam Singh
Preetam Singh is a sustainability consultant, chartered manager and life coach. He has worked closely with indigenous groups worldwide and promotes self-sufficiency.

Individuals and communities want a greener, healthier and fairer planet and are organising around technical and social solutions. However, to go from green activism to a new sustainable civilisation, there needs to be a transformation in how we perceive the natural world and interact with it. In the modern, western worldview, nature is a resource. Indigenous people in contrast have a sacred relationship with the Air, Water and Earth.

Why is our modern lifestyle so disconnected from the natural world? How we can restore a holistic balance with the earth? What is culture and how can it be developed? Preetam will touch upon indigenous paradigms such as medicine wheels, four directions, natural cycles, matriarchy and the Guru. He will also explore the value of art, story, song and meditation in fostering cultural change.

Come along to learn how to feel the energy of the earth and look at your life in a different way.

1:00pm – 1:45pm Herbs in Urban Spaces with Nat Mady from Hackney Herbal
Learn about the properties and uses of a range of culinary, medicinal and wild herbs. Get some top tips for growing your own herbs in Urban Spaces

2:00pm – 2:45pm Ethical Beekeeping with Zhivko Todorov

Ethical beekeepers work in symbiosis with bees and nature. In contrast, modern commercial practices are becoming increasingly distant from the natural world. With genetic selection at the forefront of apiculture, generations of native bees are now being pushed to extinction. Zhivko Todorov introduces the subject of ethical beekeeping, and describes some of the processes involved in maintaining healthy, thriving populations.

3:00pm – 3:45pm Urban Food Growing and Permaculture with Emma
Emma from Roots in the Wild will introduce the application of permaculture principles within an urban garden context, sharing tips and solutions for food growing, as well as inspiring others to action.

4:00pm – 4:45pm Gardens Manifesto – Campaign for a Stronger Hackney Garden Community with Kate Poland
Kate Poland of Cordwainers Grow is an award-winning community gardener. She was chosen to be the UK’s first ever postcode gardener in E5 as part of Friends of the Earth’s 10xGreener project.

Community gardens provide much needed shared spaces with invaluable benefits for the individual, the community and the environment. However, facing a rapidly growing population and a consequential growing need of housing, the existence of green spaces is increasingly threatened.

A year ago, Cordwainers Grow, the Dalston Curve Garden and Daubeney Community Gardens have jointly launched the Gardens Manifesto to connect and protect Hackney’s community gardens and green spaces.

Come along and hear all about the manifesto and share your ideas to safeguard our valuable green spaces whilst making your own string out of Kate’s home-grown flax.

See and share the Facebook event

https://www.facebook.com/events/929930300680547/