Make a Planter with Ernie + Tune into Nature with Tom

Join us at 5pm for food and refreshments

This week two hosts will be offering classes that explore 'kinship with nature' in different ways - take your pick when you register:

Make a Planter with Ernie

Planters are a great way to grow our own fruit and veg and support biodiversity in our neighbourhoods, using the space that we have. In this practical workshop, Ernie of Warm Earth will share tips on how to design planters suited to our needs, as well as ideas on where to find wood that might otherwise by thrown away. We will then try out some of the practical skills involved by making a planter together. This class involves measuring, supervised sawing, joining and lining the planter, and is suitable for older children supported by their guardian.

Tune into Nature with Tom

Join Tom to learn some basic techniques for becoming more attuned to yourself and your inner world, and how this connects to your environment and the natural world around you. Through some basic seated and kneeling yoga exercises, breathing exercises and centring practices suitable for a range of abilities, Tom will facilitate some time for us to check in with ourselves, our inner worlds and reflect on how we can (re)connect with the natural world. This session will be followed by a discussion connected to Ernie’s planter making class, sharing techniques and tactics for growing food at home in increasingly unpredictable climate conditions. Suitable for children who can hold their attention for at least 20 minutes.

Younger ones

Fun and creative activities will be on offer for younger children and anyone else who would like to join.

Neighbourhood Trade School is based on the principle that everyone has something to share and everyone has something to learn. We invite each class host to choose items that they would find useful and delightful to receive in return for their time and experience in sharing a skill, so we invite you to explore which of our host's barter items you would like to bring along with you, if you are able to do so.

Ernie's Barter List:

• Visit Warm Earth to help with planting or make bug house kits - you can speak to Ernie about this on the day

Tom's Barter List:

• Favourite fruit, dried figs or dates
• Invitations to other learning experiences/trade school classes
• Chats with anybody who knows anything about birdsong

Sharing Table

Responding to the energy for barter and exchange we’ve felt so far this season, we’re trying out having a sharing table for this class. Feel free to bring:

• Items that you no longer need but others could find useful
• Skills or knowledge that you would like to share

Please note we have no storage available, so if your item is not taken this time you will need take it back home with you.

Ernie is a retired neighbour who is passionate about supporting others to grow their own fruit and veg. For over six years, Ernie has been running the Warm Earth gardening project, which is now located at Foundry Field on James Turner Street in Winson Green. The project enables neighbours and local schoolchildren to make compost, create beautiful hanging baskets with flowers they have grown and to grow their own food.

Ernie and his team have worked closely with Steamhouse and BCU to design and create equipment to keep the earth warm and lengthen the growing season.

Tom joined us from Cotteridge at our Neighbourhood Supper Club in February, curious about Doughnut Economics and the ways we have been exploring this together in Ladywood. He is a frequent visitor to the Edgbaston Reservoir and has had a love for the outdoors and being in nature since childhood. A natural wanderer, he has always been attentive to the effect we as humans have on the world around us.

Tom also has a skills in gardening and a passion for widening access to organic foods. For many years he ran a company called Vegtropolis which sourced and delivered organic fruits and vegetables to people in inner city communities. In the 1990s he also became interested in Tai Chi, and has been developing a practice of Yoga over the past four years. Tom is interested in learning about leverage points in systems thinking and changing people’s ideas around what they are capable of doing in the world.

Neighbourhood Trade School is based on the principle that everyone has something to share and everyone has something to learn.

What if we could activate the potential in our homes, streets, libraries, playgrounds, schools and more as places to exchange learning together in a kind, joyful, noble and intergenerational way that is available to all of us?

We invite you to explore how exchanging skills and knowledge of many forms can make our neighbourhoods resilient to the challenges and opportunities we will face together, now and in the future. Discover what you’d love to share or learn more about, as we shape Neighbourhood Trade School together.

The Midland Sailing Club site is accessible from the footpath around Edgbaston Reservoir. You can walk or ride your bike, or reach the site via bus route 80, which stops on Icknield Port Road or 82, 87, 89, 11 which stop a short walk away on Dudley Road. We encourage arriving by foot or public transport where possible. If arriving by car, you can park inside the gates at the Icknield Port Road entrance.

Our Monthly Supper Club takes place in the main room upstairs. There is a lift up to the Midland Sailing Club, and please let us know if you have any accessibility requirements so we can assist you.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Midland Sailing Club, Icknield Port Road, Birmingham, United Kingdom