FebFest 2022: Allotments – our stories about our world

Programme of events: Thu 17th – Tue 22nd February (via Zoom)

Thank you to everyone who came along this year and made FebFest a huge success!

Each evening involved either a presentation from a guest speaker or a group discussion, focusing on an aspect of growing, using our crops, and what we do when we’re out on the soil.

We’ll post the recordings shortly, and you can also look back here on last year’s too.


17th
Thursday
Peat Free Growing
Dr Anton Rosenfeld has been with Garden Organic for 15 years.

His work has ranged from projects with commercial field-scale growers to small-scale community gardens and allotments. He has worked as a grower, runs many training courses and regularly writes for Grow Your Own and Kitchen Garden magazine. He has a passion for soils, composting and growing veg from a wide range of cultures and horizons.

He will cover:

•  The impact of peat extraction on the environment
•  The results of our recent research into people’s use of peat and alternatives
•  How peat free composts are made
•  How to get the most out of peat free composts
• How to make your own peat free potting mixes
7pm – 8:30pm
18th
Friday

Lost and Found: vegetable journeys and seed diversity
Take a journey through the past and present trajectories of Scottish heritage vegetables.

Rowan Lear will introduce Glasgow Seed Library and chair a panel of local speakers, each with a perspective on plant biodiversity and traditional varieties, why we want to grow them and how best to do this.

Trained as a plant breeder of vegetable crops, Toby Hodgkin worked on conservation of
traditional crop varieties throughout the world for over 20 years and is now based in Leith,
spending time at Earth in Common – a Leith-based Community Croft. 

Richie Walsh is the Scotland Coordinator for The Gaia Foundation’s Seed Sovereignty
Programme. He has a background in amenity horticulture, horticultural therapy and organic crop protection. He has a specific interest in heritage Scottish vegetable varieties. 

Désirée Coral is an Ecuadorian-born artist, and is currently a PhD student at DJCAD. A
component of her research investigates the botanical trajectories of dyes. She explores and
examines early global exchanges of plants and seeds, from the Americas to the rest of the world and vice versa. Rowan Lear is an artist, researcher, and a caretaker of Glasgow Seed Library since 2019.

7pm – 8:30pm
19th
Saturday
Allotment Forest Gardening
Watch the recording



A different type of cultivation based mostly on perennial leaf, shoot, fruit and nut crops.

Alan Carter, author of ‘A Food Forest – plant it, grow it, cook it’, will talk about his experiences over twenty years on his allotment and answer questions on:

– Designing a forest garden
– Implementing a forest garden
– Maintaining a forest garden
– Cooking and eating from forest gardens
7pm – 8pm
20th
Sunday
Discussion: Plants and recipes from different countries

Many new plot-holders cultivate plants from their old countries.

Come and share your favourite recipes from the plants and fruit on your plot.
7pm – 8pm
21st
Monday
Allotment craftsPlants for dyeing beautiful textiles described by India from Wild Hues and weaving fences and artefacts from Christine and Patsy at Springburn.
7pm – 8pm
22nd
Tuesday
POSTPONED – Discussion: Welcoming New ScotsWe’ll hopefully be able to reschedule this discussion as part of our usual annual programme of talks and events.

Keep an eye out at https://glasgowallotments.org/events/, where we’ll publish this year’s series shortly, and you’ll be able to sign up for all of the Zooms!



Come and share the way your site welcomes new people and helps them settle into Glasgow.

Missed out last year?

FebFest 2021 was our first ever, featuring a rich programme with a huge diversity of events.

Don’t worry if you didn’t catch the talks – we saved them all for you!