The Garden Festival, Hellens Manor

@Garden_Festival @GardenOrganicUK #mastercomposters

I have spent the last two full days being Compostwoman on the Master Composter stall at The Garden Festival at Hellens  We had a really good weekend despite very heavy rain on Friday and Saturday, which made it very muddy underfoot. 

Luckily for me I had lots of fellow Master Composter volunteers with me on our stall over the weekend. On Saturday I had the company of Christine J (plus lovely dog) all day and Christine E and her friend in the afternoon. It was lovely to see them all, as it is some time since we last met up and in the lulls I was able to catch up with all their news :-)

Our main stall table has lots of leaflets on how to make compost; the discount compost bins and wormery available; information about Garden Organic; samples of coir based growing medium (peat free alternative); free seeds and pencils to hand out; and examples of what can be composted.


The Festival had wonderful stalls and entertainment and surroundings, there was loads of mud underfoot but great fun was had by all.
  

Towards the end the sun came out and I went to check out the new Stables building where I would be giving my talk on Sunday. It is a lovely restoration and is next to some beautiful gardens. I watched a drystone walling demonstration and sat in the sunshine to drink some tea while looking out over this bit of the gardens.

At the end of the day lots of people had to be towed out of the muddy car park but I made it out ok and got home at 7 pm very hot, tired and muddy but a shower and some dinner and a sit in the garden with my cats and hens soon perked me up again. I sorted out new leaflet supplies and my laptop and projector and put them in the car, ready for another early start on Sunday.

Sunday was a better day weather wise, intermittent rain but not so heavy and in between the sun shone.  I was up and out of the house early and got to Hellens for 9 am ready for a 10 am start. I was helped on Sunday by fellow Master Composters Paul, Christine J again, Janice and Nina which meant there were enough of us so we all got to leave the stall and have a look around the Festival. 

I bought some lovely organically grown plants from The Cottage Herbery. They are based locally and grow their plants in Fertile Fibre coir based compost, indeed they originally founded Fertile Fibre before handing it on to Matthew at Withington Court. I always enjoy talking to them about plants and they are very knowledgeable :-)

Sunshine!

We had a number of children who were very interested in looking for creatures in the compost samples I had brought along ( dug out at 7 am that morning!)

Then after lunch (pork roll from The Squeaky Pig Company  and Noggin Farm  - yum) it was time to get ready for my talk. I got everything set up in the cool and dark of The Stables which was a lovely contrast after the now scorching heat outside.

My talk on "Gardening with wildlife in mind"  eventually went well, once the audience found the building where I was and I got the AV equipment to do my bidding. My talk is illustrated with lots of photos from my garden and wood - you would probably recognise many of them from this blog and the audience seemed to enjoy what I had to say, which is always a relief! 

I had a 1 hour slot to complete my talk and answer questions, but then at the end I found 10 people waiting outside, who had mis-read the programme and thought I was giving another talk at 3.30. I wasn't, but I took them into the gardens next to the Stables and talked for 10 mins about the wildlife friendly nature of the planting and landscaping. They seemed happy with this :)

I also met up with Karin from Celestine and the Hare who had brought along Emily the bear. Lovely bear and lovely lady, we went and had tea and cake :)

Emily trying to hide in my box

Emily with my family, who came mid afternoon for a look around and to meet me for tea.

After tea, cake and Emily cuddling, it was time to say goodbye to my family and friends and get back to the stall, and then after the Festival had closed it was time to pack up the stall and somehow fit it all back into my car (which I still have not yet unloaded!) Unfortunately the heavens opened again and I got very wet while packing up the car.

In total over the weekend we spoke to around 120 people (maybe more, I wasn't there all the time).  Fewer than last year but the weather was really bad so I am not surprised. Lots of people who were all wanting to know more about composting - how to get started, how to do it better, what to do with the compost they make. Hopefully they feel more informed, now.

The organisation at this event was very good, despite some very trying circumstances. I have been going to this festival now for 8 years and it is always really good.

I have had an excellent weekend of volunteering, with a group of friends, at a fabulous venue with excellent organisation, to promote a subject we are all passionate about.  I also got to talk to lots of friends, old and new, and eat a lot of cake :)

Can't really get much better than that, I think :-)