2024 Upcoming Courses
All courses are delivered by experienced educators who practice what they teach. Informal education is inclusive being learner-centred and experiential.
If you have any questions about how the course is delivered, please don’t hesitate to ask in advance.
We price on a sliding scale, meaning you can pick a price that feels right for you. If cost is a barrier to your participating, please get in touch to ask for a bursary place.
Soil Health Club – How to Bokashi Green Waste
£25*
*Bursary places available please email
Bokashi Demo: Using effective microbes to ferment food and garden surplus. No need to turn your garden pile. A pest-proof way of dealing with food waste. Location Belper TBC.
Saturday May 18th
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Discover Perennial Edibles – What is available in summer?
Belper Lane End DE56 2DL
£15 – space for just 3 more people
What perennial plants are available to harvest in summer? Learn about some new plants to diversify your garden and diet.
Saturday June 1st
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Introduction to Permaculture – 2 morning sessions
Belper Lane End DE56 2DL
£52-£77
Across 2 morning sessions in our garden. Get stuck into the ethics and principles of permaculture and learn about some practical applications, in a small group.
Wednesdays July 10th & 17th
09:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Introduction to Permaculture
Belper Lane End DE56 2DL
Full day course. Get stuck into the ethics and principles of permaculture and learn about some practical applications, in a small group.
Saturday September 14th
09:30 AM – 16:30 PM
Plants to dye for
Belper Lane End DE56 2DL
£52-£77
Workshop: All about how to grow, harvest and use dye plants for natural craft and making
Saturday September 28th
10:00 AM – 16:30PM
Soil Health Club
Belper Lane End DE56 2DL
£25
Details To Be Confirmed to meet need.
Date TBA October
Please email us if you need a bursary place or if you have an idea for a course that we aren’t currently offering.
Upcoming Events
Gardeners Fair Loughborough
Loughborough town centre
We will be at this bustling new monthly market
Sun June 2nd
Belper Goes Green
Belper Meadows Cricket Club
Three days packed with community spirit, live music, insightful talks, delicious food, and eco-conscious activities. We will have a stall
7th-9th June
Hellens Garden Festival
Much Marcle, Herefordshire
We will have a stall & Ryan is giving a talk on the main stage
Sat & Sun June 8-9th
Timber Festival
Fearnedock, The National Forest, Leicestershire
Ryan is running a workshop & giving a talk!
Friday – Sun July 5th – 7th
Midlands Permaculture Festival
Belper, Derbyshire
Celebrating permaculture projects in the Midlands with talks and practical workshops. And of course good food!
Saturday September 21st 2024
Services
Garden consultation
We are a team of experienced gardeners, growers and permaculture designers. One of us will visit your space and give you pointers to help advance towards a more thriving garden, following ecological principles.
We will suggest ways to take on the design yourself and talk through which edible and useful plants might fit in your space.
From £100 for 1.5 hours. Contact us to discuss possibilities and availability.
Gift voucher for garden consultation
Would you like to give a gift of an ecological garden consultation? We now have a e-gift voucher you can buy in our online shop. Valid on consultations until 31st December 2024.
Talks
Ryan Sandford-Blackburn gives talks to garden clubs and community groups. Perennial edible plants, introducing permaculture, and composting 101 are popular choices. We like to bring plants and seeds along for you to discover.
In 2024, we will be with:
- U3A Natural History group, Belper
- Dethick, Lea and Holloway Horticultural Society
- Parwich and District Horticultural Society
- Holbrook Garden Group
- Orston Garden Club
- Belper and Duffield Rotary Club
As well as at talking at festivals and events.
Contact us to discuss talk options for your group or event.
Bespoke sessions
If you, your family or your group would like to learn from us, please get in touch to see what we can offer.
Testimonials
“Have really enjoyed the sessions, and have learnt a lot about the various ways of making compost, sowing seeds in different mediums and plant feeds, enabling me to choose which methods I can implement at home using available materials in my garden or locally.
Ryan, Carol and Cristina are also great ambassadors for the natural environment and their small but productive allotment plot is very inspiring and shows what can be achieved from a gentle approach to growing using natural techniques . They are clearly very knowledgeable on all the scientific aspects but also experienced gardeners and growers.
I would recommend this course to both young and old as I believe the Earthed Up! project is innovative and also challenges long held conventions that compost comes from the supermarket and our food waste goes to landfill.”
— Jane Walker, about the Soil Health Club
“Quite simply our flowers, vegetables and plants would not survive without the role of worms and their successful breakdown of vegetation in our soil. On the compost workshop Ryan explained how you too can create a healthy composting system and all about the worms cycle in that process. What a fascinating day! Great to get your hands dirty and learn such valuable information, which I will incorporate into my own garden. Who needs fertilisers and harmful chemicals when we have our own heroes – worms!” Julie Marshall, Holbrook Green Team.