This Saturday saw Birmingham Friends of the Earth host their first ever Harvest Festival to celebrate nature and all the autumn season has to offer before winter sets in. The halloween theme added a fun, vibrant aspect to the event. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon with a great turn out of people attending throughout. Digbeth Community Garden was turned into a spooky haven with pumpkins, bats, balloons and the odd spooky costume popping up.
There were plenty of activities on offer with pumpkin carving being one of the favourites. There were also mushroom logs, seed bombs and garden tours to keep people busy. The general public got to see and hear a little of the history of the community garden, find out about Birmingham’s bat colonies and get some gardening tips too. For the younger ones, there was some spooky face painting and a fun nature trail around the garden.
To keep the chill off, a delicious three bean and tomato stew was on offer, provided by the award winning Warehouse Cafe and a refreshing mint tea, brewed with a variety of different kinds of fresh mint from the garden.
Birmingham Organic Gardeners provided a wonderful stall, with some of their beautiful plants on offer and the Birmingham Real Junk Food Project were also along, providing some delicious hot vegetarian chilli and curry throughout the afternoon.
Everyone was in good spirits, and it was great to see a good turnout of people, with over 80 people coming along, many of whom weren’t aware that Digbeth Community Garden existed. It was a chance to learn about the history of the community garden and appreciate the charming green space as a fully functioning garden hidden amongst its urban surroundings.
The event also gave chance to learn more of BFOE’s current Go Local campaign and be a part of spreading the message that ‘Nature is for everyone, everywhere’ with some great food, company and fun activities.
Don’t despair if you missed this one, as BFOE are sure to be launching more fun nature events in the new year!
