Growing together
Join us for our first open day of the year, on Sunday 27th April 12 pm – 4 pm, for a celebration of growing and connecting.
We’ll have all you need to give your growing season a head-start – featuring our biggest plant sale of the year, bargain bag-your-own compost, and free plants for pollinators too. Come and get seedlings, plug plants, compost, and join a horticultural workshop to help get your food garden flourishing over the coming months.
As well as our regular open day fare, we are happy to be seeing a continuation of the Connections Space at our Oak Grove that began at our Winter Fayre. We are grateful to Waltham Forest Council for their Fellowship Fund support for this. We will also have delicious seasonal fare on offer, plus a fully stocked farm stall! The timetable and further details for the day are below.
Our open day is our main outlet for selling plants this year as we won’t be selling them online, so this is the place to go if you want to buy plants from us. We will, however, be selling our compost online, so if you can’t make it to our open day and would like to purchase compost from us, you can do so here and collect from our Hawkwood growing site on Fridays.
Timetable for the day
We’ll be inviting visitors to make a suggested donation of a few ££ when they come to help cover the costs of running the open days. Although we can take card payments, we love cash if you can bring it.
Farm stall: Open all day. Stocked with compost, organic seasonal produce (including our signature mixed salad!), OrganicLea merchandise, as well as solidarity goods from further afield.
Plant stall: Open from 12 pm to 3.45 pm. Stocked with salad plugs and seedlings of our regular favourites – tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, kale, peppers, chard… as well as fruit and herbs and plenty of advice too. And all grown in our very own peat-free potting compost mix.
Bargain Bag-Your-Own Compost: To help kickstart your growing season, we will be selling Soil Association-approved Green Waste Compost at a bargain price, provided you fill your own sacks! Help will be on hand for this task. If you can’t bring your own bags we can supply them for 50p each. If you can’t make it to the open day but would still like to purchase compost, you can place an online order here for delivery on Tuesday 20th May, or for collection from our Hawkwood site.
Refreshments: Available all day – hot drinks and delicious vegan cake.
Lunch: Served from 12.30 pm – 2.30 pm. We’ll be in the kitchen cooking up warm meals made with organic and seasonal produce.
Site tour: Running at 1pm and 2pm – book in at the welcome desk. Join us for a walk around Hawkwood to see what we’re growing and learn more about OrganicLea’s work.
Workshops & Activities:
Get Growing Workshop – How to make the best from your Hawkwood plant haul 1pm
Waltham Wild pollinator friendly plant giveaways and hands on, family friendly activity 12-3:45pm
Magical Realm is open for free play 12-3:30pm with Forest Time led activities for young children 1:30-3:30pm both with parent supervision
Community space: in the Oak Grove, in collaboration with Growing in Faith, Community Apothecary and OrganicLea Forest Time along with storyteller Jumana Moon and Ancient Futures with guest teacher of Bwiti traditions Nzambe Divanga, we will enjoy a day of enquiry and discovery while enjoying fresh tea made from the wild plants and flowers of Hawkwood. Everyone is warmly welcomed to attend any or all segments of this day, regardless of faith.
12.15pm Herbal Tea Forage: Join in with an ambling forage of the site with members of the Community Apothecary team.
1pm Quranic Cosmology In Pursuit of Cosmic Symphony: Please gather at the Oak Grove to hear a sharing from community Imam and lecturer, Imam Mohammad.
1.15pm Tea is served: A moment to collectively enjoy the blend gifted to us by the Hawkwood site.
1.20pm Green Silk – Stories of Nature, Spirit and Action in Islamic tradition: Storyteller Jumana Moon will share stories from both sacred text and the rich tradition of folklore & wisdom.
2pm Break: during this time, the Woodland Classroom will provide a dedicated space for those observing afternoon prayers.
2.30pm Way of the Ancestors: An introduction into the rich cultural heritage of Gabon’s Bwiti people and the Mungongo, a sacred musical instrument created by the Pygmy people.
Directions to our Hawkwood site including bus, rail, and river-cycle routes are here.
Please note: this event is always busy so we prefer to keep the site pedestrianised. Please park off site. A few spaces will be reserved for those with access needs and a pick up point for those buying more plants/compost than they can transport in a wheelbarrow. Wheelbarrows are available to use for taking your goods to your car but will need to be brought back to the site.
