Green Fingers in the Community

I had one of those wonderful days last Saturday, where you find yourself saying, ‘I’m lucky to be doing this and call it work’. As community outreach officer, I spent Saturday afternoon with our community engagement intern, Jasmin, at a community garden in Walsall. Caldmore community garden is a wonderful little spot in the heart of the community, it is a mosaic of open grass, traditional perennial borders, orchards, vegetable beds and (my favourite, obviously) a wildlife area. The community meet weekly to tend to the garden, and anyone can volunteer, it is a great initiative.

Anna Rogozinska, event organiser at the garden, asked if we would come along to one of their community days to run some activities and we jumped at the chance. Despite the weather a fair few local families turned out to eat some locally grown food and to join us in a minibeast hunting session in the wildlife area. In the breaks between the (torrential) showers we dived head first into log piles and the long grass to see what we could find. Minibeasts spotted on the day included bumble bees, frog hoppers and some nicely striped weevils. It always amuses me how kids claim to be scared/not interested in insects at first, and then within minutes of holding a sweep net, they have forgotten about their squeamishness and are prodding slugs and snails.

It is important for us here at Sandwell Valley to do outreach visits like this; it’s our way of reminding people that nature is amazing and to encourage local families to get out and closer to it. Nature finds its home even in ‘urban’ areas, we just have to get out and look for it. Remember the footpaths through the nature reserve are always open, come along for a peaceful walk and see what wildlife you can find.

If you would like to know more about getting involved with Caldmore community garden, get in touch with Anna Rogozinska by emailing anna.rogozinska@organisers.org.uk, alternatively turn up on a Thursday from 10am.

Nadia