News

It was a busy end of year as staff and volunteers attendedvarious award ceremonies. We were nominated for best Green Project in the Argus Achievement Awards, Small Group – Big Achiever in the Voluntary Sector Star Awards received a commendation from City in Bloom and we won a BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey Community Heroes Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Education.’   Now the garden is twentyit’s funny to think back to a few mates working on a half derelict… Read More »LOOKING BACK 2014

On a beautiful autumn day we celebrated our 20th birthday party. 300 people came along to see our new eco-building, have a nose at our vegetables, make a hat, see the bees, eat some cake, drink a smoothie, even use the compost loo and enjoy the last of the sunshine. Loading up the smoothie bike Compost John deep in compost thought Teresa making sure we’ve been looking after her flower garden Party hat time! Father John of Moulsecoomb comes to… Read More »WE ARE 20!

Well, can you believe it. We are 20 years old and will be celebrating with a party and the grand opening of our ‘shed’ on Sunday 5th October 12 noon till 5pm. There will be tours of the garden and a chance to chat to the people who have built one of Brighton’s greenest ever buildings. You will also be able to find out about bushcraft, bees, make party hats and go on a treasure hunt (the last two are… Read More »CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF THE FOREST GARDEN

Schools will tell you that there is a lot more to their work than league tables and brief visit from OFSTED. Education isn’t a football match and there are loads of hidden extras than can’t be measured. The way the forest garden works is also hard to measure. Yes 4 pupils who struggle academically are the latest to receive accreditation from us in the form of OCN level one in woodland skills. One of these pupils spent a lot of… Read More »UNMEASURABLE

Thanks to everyone who supported our Buzzbank crowdfunding campaign and came to the amazing secret Garden House, gave us cash donations, got messy during our team-building and volunteer days or donated materials We are very close to being able to complete our outdoor classroom.We still need a few thousand to finish and you can help us by donating in a number of ways. Our young apprentice Russell is now a qualified carpenter and will be leaving us soon.So one last… Read More »NEAR THE FINISHING LINE

The welcoming committee Despite the rain, we had another great open day. A chance for pupils we work with to show off their skills and other schools to visit to see what we do. For our volunteers friends and families to see their work; a chance for people to find out about our outdoor classroom, woodland skills, composting, bee-keeping and of course a chance to make and stuff your face with pizzas and wash it down with a smoothie!  Moulsecoomb… Read More »RAINY OPEN DAY

Our timber-framed ‘shed’ is really starting to take shape after a busy few weeks of team-building with groups from Southern Water, Santander, The Carers Centre and our regular volunteers. Part of the team-building challenge was making cob which involves people removing shoes and socks to mix sand, clay and water with bare feet before adding in fine straw to hold the mix together. People also made and sharpened hazel stakes and used them to pin the bales together by banging… Read More »MUCKING IN

No two days at the forest garden are ever the same. Of course there will always be weeding and cleaning out the compost loo, but you never know who to expect,and with the changing seasonsthere’s always something different to do. On Friday, one of our special needs lads helpfully used all the carrot and radish seeds up to make tea! Others were being a bit more productive helping move strawbales up to the outdoor classroom – although some were disappointed… Read More »CARROT SEED TEA, CATCHBOX FISH AND CHAINSAWING STRAWBALES

We are looking for energetic teams to spend a constructive day using traditional skills to build the walls of our timber-framed shed. The work will involve: Building straw bale walls, fixing in place and fitting a wooden framework Mixing cob (a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, straw and earth) – this is the messy part! Rendering walls and applying lime wash We need groups of 10-12 people to help with this, all work will be supervised and… Read More »FANCY A TEAM CHALLENGE?

As part of Student Volunteer Week, a dozen students supported by Brighton University and Santander staff  turned a chalk wasteland into a fruit growing area on a beautiful spring day. First they had to finish pickaxing out the chalk and subsoil.Then they went behind the compost loo to collect the bags of humanure that have been composting away. They added it to the hole and shoveled some of the topsoil back in, then pushed up wheelbarrows of compost up our… Read More »STUDENTS, STEWS, COMPOST LOOS AND BOYSONBERRIES