Press Release

Nottingham Communities Bring the Harvest Back Home

Local groups join together to bring the harvest festival into the 21st Century.

Groups from around the city are coming together at Green’s Mill on the 5th October to celebrate the harvest. Transition Nottingham’s Urban Harvest Festival is the first of its kind, and is being organized to promote positive solutions to the ecological and economic crises we are all facing.

Celebrating the harvest is a centuries old tradition. But in recent years, celebration of the abundance of local food has been reduced to taking a tin of beans to church. It is time to revitalise the Harvest Festival for the 21st century and reconnect its meaning for the people of Nottingham. At a time of rising energy, fuel and food costs it’s time to get together and see what we have in the communal larder… What can Nottingham produce for itself? Do we know how to feed ourselves? As food prices rise even further where will we get our food? Will there have to be guards on allotment gates? What positive solutions are there to the problems we all face?

Clare Davies, inspiration behind the Festival says “With veg seeds outselling flower seeds for the first time since WW2, it’s time to recognize and celebrate all our delicious back garden produce and see how it can become the heart of Nottingham’s food security”

On the day there will be an information area where festival goers can learn about climate change and peak oil, and watch a film about how Cuba survived running out of cheap oil by encouraging urban organic food production. There will also be practical examples of what local groups are doing in Nottingham. Workshops will include foraging, bread making preserving your produce, and home brewing (otherwise known as ‘Wild Drinking’ which, unsurprisingly, has generated a lot of interest!). Kids will enjoy lots of activities especially for them, including the marvelous and magical science area at the Mill. In the Market area there will be local producers demonstrating their wares, and a barter space where you can swap your potatoes for jam. Entertainment will be provided by local musicians, and there will be an array of speakers.

The Festival includes something for everyone who needs food to live …and it’s all free!

Contact: clare.davies@urbancottage.co.uk
(Mobile: 07914 183457). The email is written like this so it does not get spammed.

Green’s Windmill is located 2 km east of Nottingham City Centre. It is a 15 minute walk from the city centre, or bus numbers 23 and 24 (Lilac Line) from King Street.

Green’s Windmill,
Windmill Lane,
Sneinton,
Nottingham NG2 4QB.

Parking is available, but please think of the environment first.

Notes for Editors:

1. Transition Nottingham was established in the summer of 2007 to provide a grassroots response to the problems of peak oil and climate change. We are working to turn Nottingham into a city which is less reliant on fossil fuel energy and a better place for us all to live.
2. We are one of 90 initiatives in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Chile.
www.transitionnottingham.org.uk