20112011

Welcome to Northfield Ecocentre’s October newsletter. Hereyou’ll find course dates for your diary, and a round up of ourcurrent news. There is lots you can get involved in, fromgardening to sewing, even leading a course or attending one tolearn a new skill and meet like minded people.

Drop in and visit us; we provide an advice service so you canspeak to us to find out ways to reduce your heating bills, collectrainwater and lots more ways to save money and reduce yourimpact on the environment.

Tweet us at @northfieldeco !

Diary Dates :Date Time Event Description

Sat 1 Oct 11am -3pm

TheChallenge

Join for a fun packed day ofactivities in Victoria Common. Seepage 3 for details. Meet in thepark.

Sat 8 Oct 10am -1pm

SWAP IT! AndEnergy SurgeryadviceFree

Swap your good quality unwantedclothes for something else forFREE! Receive advice on how tokeep your home warm and savemoney

Sat 22 Oct 10am -1pm

Crochet forBeginners£20

Learn how to crochet then upcyclestrips of your unwanted clothingand turn them into a crochet bag.A School of Green Living course*.

Sat 29 Oct 10am -4.30pm

Willow BasketMaking£40

Intro to willow basket making andsimple basket construction.A School of Green Living course*.

Wed 12 Oct 7pm -8.30pm

Friends ofVictoriaCommon

All welcome. We're going to beplanning a new orchard for thepark. Meet at the ecocentre.

Sat 26 Nov 10am -4.30pm

Mosaics forBeginners£45

Learn to mosaic using secondhand and recycled materials. ASchool of Green Living course*.

Sun 11 Dec 10am -4.30pm

Patchwork &Quilting£40

Designed for beginners. Relaxingday of sewing and quilting usingblock construction.A School of Green Living course*.

For more information or to book a courseCall 0121 448 0119 or Visit: www.northfieldecocentre.org/courses

October Family Hour: every Thursday 4 - 5pmRecycled craft activities and eco-story time for children

6 Oct – Musical Instruments 27 Oct - Harvest Masks (3-5pm during13 Oct – Aboriginal Art half term. Booking required.20 Oct - Sock Puppets Call 0121 448 0119)

Weekly groups

Family Hour:Thurs 4 - 5pm

Gardening:Thurs 10 - 12 noon

Sewing & Crafts:Fri 10 - 12 noon

Regular events:SWAP IT!

2nd Sat of the month10am-1pm

Public OpeningTimes

Thursday 10am-5pmFriday 10am-5pm

EcocentreServices

· Loans Library· Fact sheets· Home energy audits· Free advice service· Tours of the

building· Free items· Seed swap· Internet access· Interactive displays

This Month…-Ecocentre: what we do-Autumn Foraging review-Exciting new wall mural-Tips for outdoors and in

October Newsletter

LOCAL

NEWS

For more local news read our blog: www.northfieldecocentre.org

Groups: Northfield Ecocentre holdsregular activities such as our FREE weeklyFamily Hour (Thursday), Sewing Group(Friday) and Gardening group (Thursday).Advice: We provide advice and factsheetson how to live more sustainably. Visit theEcocentre on our public opening daysevery Thursday and Friday to ask us aboutreducing energy bills or making your homemore eco-friendly.Courses: We offer reasonably priced daycourses as part of School of Green Living.Forthcoming courses include crochet,mosaic making and willow basket weaving.Hire the Room: You can hire the venue foryour meeting. Call for more info and fees.Consultancy: Staff carry out consultancyand building energy audits for Birminghambased organisations.There are always exciting and innovativeprojects on the go. Contact us if you wouldlike to get involved or share an idea.

Ecocentre gets a New Mural!

If you walk past the back of our build-ing you can now just about see thetop of our exciting new mural. Agroup of teenagers from the volun-teering scheme ‘The Challenge’ cameand helped us design and paint themural and local artist Dan Lickiss pro-vided more than a guiding hand andtouch of class to bring the wholeproject together.

The mural provides an exciting newbackdrop to our kitchen garden andshows an ‘eco’ scene, with a bike,wind turbines, a recycling bin, a col-ourful tree and a cheeky squirrel. Allideas provided by the group of teen-agers and very well executed. So a bigthank you to them all for their hardwork and brilliant creativity!

Spotlight on Northfield Ecocentre

Mural

Finished wall (above);work in progress (below)

Sewing (above) and Gar-dening : take home pro-duce that you help grow.

The Ecocentre has regular volunteeringand internship opportunities:

Katrina Blair (below) has just completed a 10week internshipmonitoring non-re-cycled waste andthe carbon footprintof staff, volunteersand course attend-ees. Discoveringpolythene was themain waste material here, Katrina created arecycling point for it. Northfield Ecocentre isaiming to achieve zero waste.

For children’s activities visit : www.northfieldecocentre.org/activities Call 0121 448 0119

Projects to get involved in

FEATURES

Things you could doDig out the last of the growing weeds beforeleaving the beds over winter. But rememberto leave some weeds for the wildlife in yourgarden. Birds love to peck at thistles and seedheads. Once the weeds are dried out, birdswill select what they need to build their nests.

Leave a log pile for insects.

Sow broad beans, winter lettuces and peas.

There is still just time to rake over, aerate andput new seeds on the lawn if you have barepatches to tackle.

Gardening is as good for the mind as it is greatfor the body. If you would like advice on gar-dening and to pick up some tips, come to ourfree weekly Thursday morning GardeningGroup, or check out our many fact sheets ongardening related subjects available on ourweb site.

Things you could do

www.northfieldecocentre.org/advice/fact-sheets

What’s Coming UpThe Challenge takes place on1 October. We will be bird and batbox making, apple juicing, plantingbulbs, and shrubs and litter pickingin Victoria Common. Join us in thepark from 11am to 3pm or find outhow it went in the November news-letter.

Northfield’s Orchards. We are work-ing in partnership with The Big TreePlant to plant 1400 trees withinNorthfield in the next two years,aiming to create over 30 communityorchards. You can get involved by:sponsoring a tree, providing land forthe scheme or volunteering to helpplant the trees. To sponsor, it is £45for a Half Standard Fruit tree and£10 for a Broad Leaf tree. Sponsor-ship includes planting, staking andplastic tree protection.

Family Hour: Join Us!Northfield Ecocentre runs a free weeklychildrens after school activity club. Join usto spend a fun and creative hour doingrecycled crafts and games and learningabout wildlife (Every Thursday, 4 - 5pm).

There is an outdoor area, and children ages2 - 8 mix happily. The group is a great wayto get ideas for creative play at home suchas finger painting, bug hunting, leaf print-ing.

Dates for forthcoming sessions are on pageone.

Call tobook aplace orjust turnup on theday!Call 0121448 0119

Seasonal Gardening Tips

School of Green Living

Crochet Sat 22 October 10am-2pm. £20 Willow Baskets Sat 29 Oct 10am- 4.30pm. £40

Mosaics Sat 26 Nov 10am -4.30pm. £45 Patchwork & Quilting 11 Dec 10am - 4.30pm. £40

www.northfieldecocentre.org/courses

Things we like…We would love to hear about your com-munity events and local eco initiatives.We might even feature them here!

Email your ideas tojane@northfieldecocentre.orgOr call 0121 48 0119

In yourHouse:

Download our cyclingfact sheet at:www.northfieldecocentre.org/advice/fact-sheets

Get into cycling andenjoy the last of theautumn sunshine.Second hand bikes canbe brought atBirmingham BikeFoundry, PershoreRoad. Stirchley. Cyclingis great exercise, thereare local cycle lanes,canal paths to use.

Support ourwork: Become aFriend of NorthfieldEcocentre. Go towww.northfieldecocentre.org/join-us/support-us

Address: 53 Church Road, Northfield, Birmingham, B31 2LB (behind Oulsnams) Phone: 0121448 0119 Email: enquiries@northfieldecocentre.org

Website: www.northfieldecocentre.org Twitter: @northfieldeco

As the colder months approach and with fuel bills everrising, there are many options available tohouseholders to help them save energy. NorthfieldEcocentre has been working with the residents ofOptima Community Housing to give them proactiveand individual advice to help them save money. Theservice has been a great success and could lead topossible savings of over £600 for the residents. Thishelps make the fuel bills more affordable but also cutscarbon emissions.

The Energy Advice Service that Northfield Ecocentre provides is free to householders.Anyone is welcome to book an appointment or just drop in on Thursdays and Fridays.There are a range of ways Northfield Ecocentre can help householders, from simpleenergy saving techniques to advice on the benefits and installation of solar panels. It’sfriendly service that takes information that individuals provide to build personal advicesuited to each household.

On Tuesday 20th September Northfield Ecocentre held School of Green Living courseAutumn Foraging. I spoke to Eileen Oakes to find out what she thought of the course:

“The course was very enjoyable. Tom Baker (of Loaf Cookery School) the course tutor wasvery knowledgeable,” Oakes said. “The presentation was excellent. Tom told you whatnot to do, what parts of the plant you could use - often only the root. Tom was careful toexplain why you couldn’t use certain plants”. Eileen said shewould definitely attend another course on foraging.

From the course, Eileen discovered a new area of land near-by that she didn’t know existed. After the outdoor forage,the group sampled some home made bread and a mixedfruit jam that professional baker Tom had brought along andthey enjoyed an hot infusion made from foraged ingredi-ents, all of which Eileen said were “delicious”. Course at-tendees included people from Northfield, Wolverhamptonand Bridgnorth. www.northfieldecocentre.org/courses

Energy Advice

Autumn Foraging - reviewed!

For event information visit: www.northfieldecocentre.org/activities/events

Avoid plasticbags by making your owneco one instead. Use apillow cut openlengthways then sew onfabric handles. Or cutmaterial to fit snuglyaround a small cardboardbox, sew materialtogether, place aroundthe box and you have asturdy bag to protect softfruit, eggs etc. For thisdesign and more seehttp://tipnut.com/35-reusable-grocery-bags-totes-free-patterns/ andget creative!

Outdoors:

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