Idea #1 – urban farming

February 15, 2010, 22:16

One idea and a thought before I go to bed: “Paris, just one century ago, grew more than 100,000 tons of crops; it ended up with so much that the surplus was shipped to London”.

Sunflowers

February 15, 2010, 17:12

Last year I grew two sunflowers. One was a yellow and red paquito, and the other was an irish eyes. There was another sunflower I had, as well, that was in a packet of flower seeds to attract birds. It was a yellow single stem dwarf sunflower, perhaps a sunspot. I liked that one the most, although it didn’t last very long.

Watching the sunflowers grow, and watching the heads open up, I found exciting, and it was always a pleasure to look out of the window and see them all there.

Everybody should feel the same excitement, so I plan to grow around 30 sunspot sunflowers in coir pots and give them away (hopefully I will get hold of some buckets to give for potting on). I hope to put up some leaflets about this.

If you would like a sunflower, do contact me at jasmine at ideasandinformation dot org dot uk, and I will let you know when the seedlings are ready. I can’t remember when they are supposed to be sown, but all will become clearer when I get the seeds…

Pig Business

February 12, 2010, 22:07

There is, hopefully, going to be a screening of the film Pig Business, with speakers, a discussion, and a roasting pig.

The film is about factory farming and the impacts it has. This is to be the first Ideas & Information event, chosen to be the first because I thought it would be reasonably simple to organise a film screening. I thought that if there was food it would encourage people to come along, and if there were notable speakers and a discussion it would be more of an event rather than simply a film screening.