News
October 2009
Peterborough Conker ChampionshipThe Green Backyard will be hosting our first Peterborough Conker Championship on Saturday October 3rd. Places are limited so if you want to be in with a chance of winning an amazing prize, not to mention copious amounts of glory then register your place by e-mailing thegreenbackyard@hotmail.co.uk . We will be encouraging all participants to make a voluntary £1 donation to the Green Backyard to help cover the cost of the event, and bystanders and friendly gamers are all welcome for free.
If there are any spare places and you would like to try and register for the competition on the day then you MUST be there by 11.00am ready for the games to begin at 12.00. All competitors will be issued with a match conker so that we can be sure of fairness, however you are welcome and positively encouraged to bring your own conkers for friendly games!
We will be cooking up some of our lovely harvest for the day, but if you would like to bring a dish to swap and share then PLEASE DO!
September 2009:
First post goes up on the Eco House
On September 4th the first of the old telegraph poles that will make up
part of the structure of our eco house was sunk. The house will be built
out of reclaimed materials and is intended to showcase sustainable building
techniques and renewable power sources. We will be building the house
on our volunteer days over the next few months, so if you’re interested
then please get yourself down and volunteer
August 2009:
Wild Food Workshops
The first of our wild food workshops didn’t go exactly to plan, as this news story explains, however the following workshops were a great success and we’re looking forward to running many more.
TRASH! The Recycled Art Show
In August the Green Backyard sent out a challenge to local Peterborough
artists to create pieces of work using only waste materials, and the these
works of art were exhibited in an exhibition held over the August Bank
Holiday. Working in partnership with Eastex and the Muddy Arts Collective,
the exhibition aimed to raise awareness of both the importance of recycling
and reuse, and the Peterborough art scene. The artwork submitted ranged
from recycled fabric dresses and paintings on old vinyl records to a life
size ‘rat tank’ made out of old computers and scrap metal complete with
rat operators and speakers in its wheels. Beat
This were also down at the yard running music workshops using sounds
sampled live from the GBY. Click
here for the Evening Telegraph news story.
July 2009:
Yeah I Know Renny
Where ever I am in this fine old city of ours.
Striking up green infused talks then a name comes up and it’s yours.
Dinner parties, team meetings and out in the fens.
Chatter about bog oak sculpture, willow weaves and bends.
Then we are left trying to remember the name of the one.
Who smiled throughout his teaching like an Italian jolly sun.
We memorise his enthusiasm and how he made us feel like one of his stars.
Experiencing the calm, the joy of the Green Backyard,
Makes me proud that he with family did not give up at the start.
I know all the hands that have worked this land, dug from the bottom of their hearts.
Then it’s always the same as we both realise his name from many,
Oh yeah, of course, no silly… Yeah I know Renny
May 2009:
The Evening Telegraph ran a feature celebrating young women in Peterborough who are changing the city for good. Sophie Antonelli from the Green Backyard is one of them. Read the story here.
May 2009:
On May 23rd we will be planting our very own orchard and would LOVE it if everyone could come along and show their support for our wonderful urban green space. All of the trees are being adopted but we're definitely going to need some help getting all 30 of them in the ground! The planting day coincides with the launch of Peterborough's very own Green Festival and we will be holding other activities, including willow weaving, clay modelling and outdoor cooking throughout the day so come along!
January 2009:
The Green Backyard was featured in 2 articles in the Evening Telegraph this month:
‘A Green Space to Learn about Growing Food’
‘Renny Antonelli: Peterborough’s Original Eco Warrior’
December 2008:
The Green Backyard received coverage of the Bettaland compost donation in the Evening Telegraph:
‘Boost for Green Project of the Future’
November 2008:
Dick Strawbridge, star of It’s Not Easy Being Green and formerly of Scrapheap Challenge, came to Peterborough to help launch the cities bid to become the UK’s official Environment Capital and called in to the Green Backyard. He was really enthusiastic about our vision for the site and in his evening speech encouraged everyone in Peterborough to support the project.
Watch an interview with Dick at the Green Backyard.
October 2008:
Thanks to Bettaland Ltd we are now the proud owners of piles of compost which will give a real boost to our newly laid out vegetable beds. Bettaland are responsible for receiving and composting all of the garden waste that is gathered by the municipal brown bin collections around the city. Overall they compost 45,000 tons of waste, received not just from Peterborough but also from South Holland District Council and Boston Borough Council. They produce over 23,000 tons of lovely recycled, peat-free compost every year and have kindly donated about 50 tons to the Green Backyard. See www.bettaland.co.uk for more information about Bettaland and their products.
On the grapevine:
Peterborough Conker Championship at the Green Backyard!
Saturday October 3rd,
Click here for more information
Help us grow, join us on:
What People Think:
"I want to learn how to grow my own food and live more sustainably and that's why I come to the Green Backyard" - Jane Fletcher
"The Green Backyard gives me the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors and fresh air, as well as meeting lots of new people" - Nigel Burrows
"I like the Green Backyard because it gives me something fun to do and it's better than staying inside" - James Humphries, age 11
"For me the Green Backyard is a really satisfying and therapeutic family environment" - Jo Schofield
"There's loads of good people here and I really enjoy being outdoors" - Molly Chambers, age 15
"It's good to get outside at the Green Backyard and there's always a really nice atmosphere" - Hannah Dines, age 15
Did you know?
The UK imports about 350,000 tonnes of potatoes a year, including during the English season. Many of these imported varieties may have been in storage for up to six months!
Half the vegetables and 95 per cent of the fruit eaten in the UK comes from overseas
Farming & Food production together make up about 1/5th of UK & World Greenhouse Gases
In the UK the total food chain, from farm to fork, emits 22% of greenhouse gases - similar to the total for road traffic.
Of all fruit and veg grown globally approx 25% is wasted, with most of this going into domestic waste bins
Kenyan green beans are 20-26 times more Green House Gas intensive than seasonal UK beans
Apples can and are kept for up to 10 months in cold storage before being sold as ‘fresh’
40% of conventionally grown fruit and vegetables contain residual agrichemicals
Seventy-six per cent of apples consumed in the UK come from overseas
The UK imports about 350,000 tonnes of potatoes a year, including during the English season. Many of these imported varieties may have been in storage for up to six months
Two thirds of the tomatoes eaten in the UK are imported, with a typical Saudi Arabian variety travelling an average of 3,100 miles
In the UK, we get most of our carrots from South Africa (approximately 6,000 food miles), despite the fact that the Western carrot emerged in Europe in the 15th or 16th century.
Agriculture and food account for nearly 30 per cent of goods trucked around Britain's roads and, according to a Government report in 2005, the resulting road congestion, accidents and pollution cost the country £9bn a year.
Each year an estimated 6.3 million tonnes of packaging comes into British homes, at a cost of £450 to the average family
Since 1978, the annual amount of food moved by HGVs in the UK has increased by 23 percent with the average distance for each trip also up by 50 percent
In 2008 the global cost of bread, butter, eggs and potatoes increased by as much as 60 per cent in 12 months.
A standard allotment can yield around a ton of vegetables. If you bought the same amount of organic potatoes, onions, carrots and parsnips in a year, it would cost you around £1,700 from Sainsbury's or a minimum of £1,227 from Asda – even more if you have spent £30 a week on organic vegetables delivered in an attractive crate.
All local authorities in England and Wales are legally obliged to provide any group of adults (aged 18 and over) with allotments of 250sq m. Get yours!
Every £10 spent at a local food business is worth £25 for the local area’s economy, compared with just £14 when the same amount is spent in a supermarket
A Californian grown lettuce that is consumed in London has an energy consumption – calorie ratio of 127:1
Today, some 817 million tons of food are shipped around the planet each year, up fourfold from 200 million tons in 1961.
