Dear friend,

What a fantastic start to the month celebrating National Volunteers’ Week! Our volunteers have contributed so much to STAA over this past year (and every year)! You can see some of the statistics from their hard work below including over 500kg of produce harvested and distributed to the local community – absolutely incredible!

Alongside our community harvest, practical gardening and conservation, volunteering with STAA also includes leading heritage tours, cooking in our outdoor kitchen for families and young people, and not forgetting our Trustees and steering group members. Volunteering is a huge part of STAA and makes us who we are, we really cannot thank you enough.

We have a busy month ahead as we continue through June, with a launch of new Friday gardening sessions at The Community Orchard, numerous partnership events and visits, a new workshop programme and our next City & Guilds qualification open day.

More information on these events further down this newsletter.

Best wishes,

Kayleigh

Learning Opportunities

City & Guilds – September Enrolment

Our City and Guilds Practical Horticulture qualification is well underway.

We are very proud to be the only site in Nottingham City to be delivering one of the top 5 City & Guilds courses! We will be enrolling more learners in September, so please do get in touch for more information on this course.

A reminder of the two course routes available:
Pro Gardener: which focusses on fundamental practical skills in horticulture such as pruning and plant identification.
Grow Your Own: which will develop your skills in growing and maintaining growing spaces and improving soil fertility.

Our next Open Day to find out more, meet the course leaders and see the site is now available to book on below for our September intake. This is taking place on Saturday 22nd June at 10am. 

If you are unable to make this date, we are hosting an evening open day Thursday 1st August, 4pm. If you register your interest below, we will be in touch as soon as this event is launched.

For more information, please contact kayleigh@staa-allotments.org.uk.

Job Opportunities

Upcoming Workshops

Why not purchase a gift card for our workshops, so you can share our horticultural, floristry and seasonal crafts experiences with friends and family.

Saturday 22nd June

Fermentation: Make your own Sauerkraut & Kimchi – 10.00 – 12.30 – £
An in-depth introduction into everything you need to know about lactic fermentation techniques. Learn how to make sauerkraut, kimchi and other vegetables.4

Saturday 13th July

Weave your own Willow Dragonflies – 10:00 – 12:30 – £35
Join Lucy and weave your own small rustic garden sculptures using the art of willow weaving. We will have all the materials, tools and guidance for you to make your own one-of-a-kind decorations. These structures require a mix of weaving techniques, so we will take on each one as a group, and you will leave with a whole new set of willow skills!

Saturday 13th July

Introduction to Wildlife Garden Design – 13:30 – 16:00 – £35
Andy from Sherwood Garden Consultancy will help you explore areas of garden design that focusses on maximising wildlife and nature rich gardens. We will discuss how to design, renew or redesign your green spaces and gardens.

Saturday 27th July

Planning Your Winter Veg Crop – 10:00 – 12:30 – £30
Join Jen on The Nursery and learn how to spread your harvest across the year with our winter and spring crop workshop. No need for a barren garden come December, join us to discover how to design for winter feasting.

On the Orchard

The Community Orchard runs free events for all ages.

New Shoots, every Tuesday in term time, 09:30-11:00
Community Open Day, Saturday 22nd June, 12:00-15:00. Click here, to book your free ticket!

Youth Sessions, every 2nd and 4th Saturday.
These sessions are for local young people of St Ann’s to spend time on the Orchard, learning and crafting. For more information and to book: contact Sarah at sarah@staa-allotments.org.uk.

Volunteering & Gardening Sessions

A wide selection of volunteer sessions to help maintain our beautiful open spaces all year round!

Tuesdays at the Nursery, 10:00-14:00
Digging, sowing, pruning, clearing, building, watering, harvesting! All things food and flower focused for a productive garden.

Wednesdays at Oliver’s, 10:00-14:00
Help maintain a beautiful display garden for visitors to enjoy, and promote its heritage features.

Every 2nd & 4th Saturday at Urban Nature, 10.00 – 14.00
Expect a mix of woodland, wetland and grassland tasks – everything from pruning, sawing, digging, building, bramble bashing, tree felling, step building, weeding, planting, and building! There are always a mix of tasks to choose from each session.

Our Social Gardening sessions will run alongside our usual volunteer sessions, giving you the perfect opportunity to come and enjoy the the beautiful spaces, see our volunteer projects and have a go if you wish!

Volunteer inductions:
Wednesday 15th May 10.00 – 12.00

This is an introductory session for anyone interested in volunteering at STAA. Receive a tour of our projects to find out what you might be interested in, and an opportunity to meet people and ask questions.

If you have any questions about volunteering or social gardening, please contact Lucy at volunteer@staa-allotments.org.uk or visit our volunteer page.

Volunteer opportunities:

We are also looking for tour volunteers to help us with our guided tours on the last Wednesday of the month.

If you think this might be for you, please do get in touch with me at kayleigh@staa-allotments.org.uk for further information.

* NEW GARDENING SESSION*

Our new monthly Friday gardening session on The Community Orchard is great for those who would like to join us in relaxed setting, meet new people and enjoy the outdoors.

The first session will be Friday 14th June, come and join us anytime between 12-2!