Merry Christmas from the Community Garden!
We have been having a busy time at the community garden this festive season. The community groups and our Family Eco Gardening Club enjoyed some jolly activities such as wreath making and creating natural Christmas decorations.
This year we had a pot grown Nordmann fir tree donated by a member of the public, and we planted it in the community garden for everyone to enjoy. It is taking place in the central area, alongside with our winter planter. The cyclamens, violas and evergreens create a welcoming festive atmosphere. The spring bulbs are very quick to spring into bloom due to the mild weather, so the children are very excited to spot some of the bulbs they planted earlier this autumn.
It is lovely to be able to have our first Community Christmas Tree, and everyone was excited to take part in decorating it.
At the family gardening club, we had a wreath making session last Saturday, the families enjoyed creating their own designs whilst eating mince pies and Twiglets at the visitor centre. We also decorated some natural items like pinecones and festive wooden shapes. At the end of the session, we all went down to the garden and put the decorations on the tree. We hadn`t forgotten about the birds either, so the children were busy filling up some walnut shells with suet and seeds. These were hung on the trees in the orchard area, as a treat for the birds at Christmas. One of the regular families donated their Christmas wreath to the garden, so it is displayed on the door of the garden shed. I already talked to some visitors who admired it and wanted to know more about our activities.
This week Cando Cooperative care had a wreath making session, the clients enjoyed it so much they even sang some Christmas carols whilst having a slice of Christmas cake each. It was a very nice afternoon to mark the last visit of the year. Christmas cards were exchanged, and a nice wooden decoration was created with Cando Care written on it. It is now on our wildlife Christmas tree in the garden.
Today it was Growild Outreach group`s turn to be festive. They had a nice and relaxing time during their wreath making session. With the help of Megan, they learnt how to weave the base for the wreath, which was very exciting. They added some beautiful handmade natural decorations to the community Xmas tree too. We decorated tree cookies and made dried fruit garlands. Some wildlife themed walnut shell decorations were lovingly made, featuring ladybirds and bees. They also created some lovely fox decorations out of dried orange slices.
To finish the year with a very positive note, we also had a lovely interpretation board installed in the garden area, displaying the artwork of the 1st Higham Beavers. The artwork `s theme is `What I love most in nature`. The families are very proud and excited to see the children`s drawings in our community area. The board has been installed on the fence panel behind our new bench, donated by the Swivel Club. Both the bench and the sign was installed by our volunteer, Kyle.
We are all looking forward to many more adventures together in the new year, there are many plans from cooking sessions to habitat box making, growing our own vegetables again and attracting wildlife into the garden area. By doing all this, the community spirit and being in nature and helping wildlife shall continue having a positive effect on wellbeing.
On behalf of everyone involved in the community garden project, we would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
