Grow Where You're Planted: A Community Festival

Grow Where You’re Planted: A Community Festival brings together growers from all over London to celebrate cultural diversity through shared gardening practices and traditions from different communities, while also amplifying voices from historically marginalized communities by spotlighting their contributions to urban gardening, food sovereignty, and community-building. Join us for a day of talks, workshops, activities, food and more. This is a family friendly event but the garden will stay open late with a cash bar and music.

SCHEDULE

ALL DAY

• Plant Sale - purchase plants or handmade crafts and goods grown and made in our gardens. There will be a mix of perennials, flowers, herbs, and edibles for you to choose from!

• Outdoor Arts & Craft Station - drop-in and get crafty with our colouring station and natural crafting materials. Perfect for artists of all ages.

• Stalls from various local and gardening organisations including Camden Food Mission, Energy Garden and Think & Do Camden! 

TIMED ACTIVITIES

MORNING

• 11:00 FAMILY ACTIVITY: A crafty activity for young people of all ages and their parents
  Activities include: Clay Pot making & take away gardening – ‘Journey & planting of a seed’
• 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. LIVE INTERVIEW: Kinship with Nature. Artist Joseph Walsh will be interviewing Shama Khanna about their practice and PhD research into liberatory gardening (queer, anti-colonial, slow…), and they will be sharing stories of their journeys into growing.

Speakers:
Shama Khanna is an independent curator, educator and gardener from London. They are the founder of Flatness (http://flatness.eu), a long-running online platform encouraging engagement in network cultures of the screen and the land, through a queer anti-colonial curatorial lens.
Joseph Walsh is an Artist based in London. His work is about plants and actualising the statement “we co-habit with nature”. This has involved doing herb meditation workshops, observational drawing and painting in nature, and learning through his upkeep of a plot of land in a wildlife community garden.

• 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. TALK: Growing as resistance
  We share how growing, gardening and plant work is political and how it can be used to build a different world system and resist the current one we live in.
  
  

Speakers:
Randa Toko is a land worker, seed keeper, researcher and artist. Her practice is situated at the confluence of ecology, agriculture, food, and community. They have worked across a few community and commercial gardens in London. In her work, she seeks to weave the connection between ecological practices and a sense of belonging and reciprocity with the land, especially for global majority communities. By engaging in alternative pedagogies they create moments for renewed connection, enchantment to local landscapes, while drawing from the land, human and more-than-human kin as companions for learning.

Nat Mady is a Hackney-based permaculturist with a passion for connecting people with nature in the city. In 2015, she founded Hackney Herbal, a social enterprise promoting wellbeing using herbs as a way to share knowledge about plants and their many creative uses. She is the author of ‘Enjoying Wild Herbs’ from a series of pamphlets created by Rough Trade Books in partnership with Garden Museum.

Jemma is head of Fundraising & Programmes at Global Generation, she spent over a decade living in South America and the Caribbean where she worked on youth and education programmes, indigenous participation, fundraising and started a PhD. Most of my experience is in youth education and social justice and navigates the intersection of philanthropy and youth and community development, fostering equitable partnerships and resource allocation.

LUNCH

1:00 p.m. Community Kitchen: Vegetarian food, served until we run out so arrive early to grab your plate!

AFTERNOON

• 1:30 p.m. FAMILY ACTIVITY: A crafty activity for young people of all ages and their parents. Activities include: Clay Pot making & take away gardening – ‘Journey & planting of a seed’

• 2:00 p.m.- 3:30 p.m. Workshop: Weeds, Decolonialism and Ancestral Memory 

  • This workshop will explore our relationship to nature, structures of power, and ancestral ways of remembering. Through embodiment, working with the plants directly and creative practice, we will be exploring:
    - What has shaped our perception around certain plants and the land?
    - What knowledge has been forgotten and erased, and why?
    - How can we reclaim a personal and intimate connection with the earth?
    This workshop will encourage us to question our belief systems and own thinking, decolonising our minds and perception. We will be considering how to come back into contact and communication with the earth itself, as a way towards personal and collective healing and wholeness.
    
    Saara is a facilitator, practitioner, artist and organiser with 10+ years experience working at the intersection of healing and community work. Saara is also student of the plants and herbalism. She has studied at the School of Intuitive Herbalism.

• 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. EVENING ENTERTAINMENT Cash bar opens and live music & performances begin. Raw Bones will do a live set including spoken word performances by Story Garden Fellow, Samika.

About the Space and Accessibility

The Story Garden is a working community garden so there are uneven paths in places and slippery surfaces throughout, but there is an accessible pathway that goes through the whole garden site. The Classroom and Roundhouse both have ramp access and there is an accessible toilet on site. Please speak to the team if you have specific accessibility questions.

FAQ

• Can I bring children? Yes, this is a family friendly festival! However, due to a limit on the number of people permitted on site, we do need all attendees to register. Please book the right number of tickets for you and your child. Under 18s must arrive with an adult (18+). Under 16s should be accompanied by an adult (18+) at all times.  Please do note that alcohol will be served on site for the later portion of the event from 4 p.m. and any adults who procure alcohol on behalf of a minor will be removed from the venue.
• Will there be alcohol on site? The Story Garden will be temporarily serving alcohol during this event from 4 p.m. but the site will remain alcohol free before then. All adults should bring valid ID which will be checked on arrival to get a wristband allowing you to purchase alcoholic beverages. Non-alcoholic beverages will be available and all water on site is potable. We encourage all attendees to bring their own reusable water bottle to use on site.
• Do I need to arrive right at 11 a.m.? No, but some sessions have specific timings so please come on time for those! You are welcome to arrive throughout the day, however the food is first come first serve - so it pays to come early!
• What about First Aid & participant welfare? There will be trained first aiders at the venue who will be available to support as well as a designated quiet zone where attendees can head if they need a moment to reset. Speak to any member of staff or our volunteer team if you have any questions or need support.
• How much do the activities cost? All activities and workshops on site are offered free of charge, donations are welcome when you book your space or at our donation boxes or payment points.

About Global Generation:

Global Generation is an environmental education charity with garden sites located throughout London. We offer activities such as urban food growing, supporting bees, carpentry, cooking, storytelling, creative writing, performance and more. We aim to create the conditions for people to come together, connect with themselves, others and their local area and to practically and creatively contribute to ecological and social change. Tickets are priced on a sliding scale, and we encourage those who can, to pay it forward. We have a separate donation option where you can put money towards supporting the work we do including offering free spaces for community members. Follow our instagram for regular updates on our activity.

If you have any questions regarding accessibility, please get in touch at jillian@globalgeneration.org.uk

Safer Spaces Policy

Global Generation will not tolerate abusive, disrespectful or discriminatory behaviour or language from attendees/patrons. Such behaviour and language is grounds for removal from the event, and may result in a permanent ban from our gardens. By purchasing a ticket you agree abide by our code of conduct.

If you witness abusive or discriminatory behaviour, please speak with a staff member or volunteer, or e-mail us at generate@globalgeneration.org.uk.

Our staff have the authority to remove offenders from the garden without any refund or other form of compensation. The safety of our participants is always our primary consideration, and any decision to remove or permanently ban an offender will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Photo credit Global Generation