The Worm Carnival

What do you do when 95% of the local community surveyed don't want a green space built on but the council have already decided to put new housing there? You start a campaign. That is just what Douglas Peacock did back in 2008. A massive clean up job was started with around 30 volunteers removing over 60 bags of rubbish, broken glass, needles, old sofas etc. It's hard to imagine all these years later because the Children's Wood and Meadow is one of the most stunning wild places to visit in the city of Glasgow. Along with other community created green spaces such as the Woodlands Community Garden it is a place we regularly visit for fun activities and for my son to play, relax and learn about nature.

We moved back to Glasgow last August and I now get really excited about the West End Festival events that are held here because they are so much fun! Last weekend we cycled to the Worm Carnival. I always make a bee line for the healthy barbecue food, then it's straight to the cake table. I don't eat cakes very often and I don't have time to bake so it's a treat to sample some of the delicious delights created by local children and adults for the baking competition. I've never had rhubarb meringue tart before. It was amazing. James Morton who was the runner up in The Great British Bake Off t.v. show came along to judge the entries: lucky guy!

We watched award winning Eco Drama Company perform "The Worm - An Underground Adventure" which was very funny. There was an up-cycling bird box activity, face painting and a pop up cafe run by Garrioch Roots. My son and I did a nature hunt together. We had a list of items we had to find around the meadow such as 6 different kinds of leaves. In one overgrown area of long grasses there are some barrel raised beds full of summer herbs, veg and a few weeds. It is the sort of area you don't see in parks because it looks 'messy'. But I couldn't see a single pest anywhere, everything was incredibly healthy and strong. This is an example of a balanced eco system where predator and pest are in equal amounts therefore no harmful chemicals need to be sprayed. The bees and butterflies, whose numbers are reducing at a shocking rate, were loving the large patch of clover. We saw lots of red-tailed bumble bees: Bombus lapidarius along with the better know yellow striped bumble bee: Bombus hortorum. We really enjoyed doing the nature hunt and it meant we had a tour around the whole site and were able to see so many amazing things in each of the different areas as well as stopping to chat to people, "isn't it great how you meet so many people when you come here" said a new friend.

It can cost a fortune finding entertainment for children and with the ongoing austerity and economic downturn having an affect on us all, this event and the many others you can attend here for free keep families happy with no cost to the council.  The local schools are now benefitting by having a space to grow vegetables and take part in outdoor learning activities, which the Scottish Government has been promoting for some time. This has been and continues to be an excellently run campaign; thank you to everyone involved. It is the love and commitment of the local community and everyone who visits that makes the Children's Wood and Meadow a unique and special place in the city. That is worth preserving.

Support the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign!
A lovely blog about Urban Pollinators

Mushrooms in the Park.

My son spotted a massive crop of mushrooms growing on a felled tree stump in the park. I'm sure they're oyster mushrooms, though I've only every harvested white ones before. One of my mushroom books says there are varieties that aren't good for eating, mainly because they aren't very tasty. In other places I've read that there are no bad mushrooms that can be confused with the oyster mushroom. So I'm not sure. I hope someone who knows more about mushrooms can tell me. Because there are plenty more to harvest! Isn't the spore print beautiful.

*UPDATE 16th June: I believe they are the bitter oyster mushroom which are inedible but glow in the dark apparently and in traditional Chinese medicine it is used as a styptic to staunch bleeding and is known as a purgative. I have only every eaten foraged mushrooms that I know 100% are edible such as puff balls and ceps and I did harvest and eat oyster mushrooms that were much whiter than this and were delicious. Always worth checking, I'm sure I have thrown out some rare delicacies because I've not been sure but better to be safe. I haven't found any mushroom experts since moving to Glasgow. I always checked my finds in Hastings with a neighbour who is a chef who uses a lot of native foraged wild food in his recipes. I plan to go on a mushroom identification course as there are a few that are run in Glasgow.*

Lots to see on the River Kelvin

I love doing the school run on bicycle along the River Kelvin. My seven year old can cycle the 2 miles there, plays with friends in the park after school, then cycles two miles home. He's a very energetic child and all this exercise is helping him to be calmer and more focused when he's in class. I love seeing how the plants and trees change throughout the season. In the past few weeks I've come home with occasional bunches of wild garlic to make into omelets or to eat with pasta or noodles. The oniony smell of this plant is strong in the air along the Kelvin at this time of year, though the taste is a lot milder and not overpowering at all. The white star shaped flowers of wild garlic look beautiful dotted amongst the bluebells. I love it because it is like spinach when cooked with a flavour similar to leeks and it has many health benefits. It has high levels of folic acid, an essential B vitamin. It also acts as a prebiotic, encouraging the growth of friendly bacteria. This is vital if you suffer from diabetes, have been on a course of antibiotics or have a weakened immune system. Wild garlic also has mild antibacterial properties to ward off spring coughs and colds. I never thought, that when we moved back to Glasgow, I would be coming back from the school run after a pleasant cycle along the river, reaking of garlic with a spider dangling from my nose. 

There is a group called the Friends of the River Kelvin and you can see some of the amazing wildlife photos that are posted on their Facebook page here. We have seen a fox and her rough and tumble cubs playing on the bank, a cormorant with large bat-like wings held out like a vampire's cape, a dipper bobbing in and out of the water then taking off like a jet, flying close to the surface of the Kelvin. We've seen ducks and goosanders with their ducklings and have enjoyed talking to some of the photographers, hearing how one was standing in the Kelvin nearly up to his waist to get the best shot. I've seen the photos of Kingfishers but we've yet to see one; that will be a special day. I'm looking forward to the Friends of the River Kelvin Summer Gala on Saturday 7th June. There will be live bands, activities, food and craft stalls and even canoe rides down the Kelvin. 

The Clarion Glasgow Rides Again

The Bike Station who provided bikes and maintenance support. 

Colleagues.

The whole group together. 

The high road to the canal; the low road along the Kelvin. 

Fresh air and peace and quiet. 

A ride that catered for mixed abilities and experience. 

Through the bluebell woods. 

For many years we have taken part in the Jack in the Green spring Festival in Hastings on the May Day bank holiday weekend. With links to the Celtic celebration of Beltane it became very popular in the 16th and 17th centuries as the Works Guild tried to outdo each other with more and more elaborate costumes. The tradition of parade goes back to Carnivalesque when the usual rules and hierarchies of society were subverted, turning the world upside down, challenging social structures. As well as releasing the spirit of spring from the cold clutches of winter, the festival, which was revived in Hastings in the 1980s, brings the most unlikely of people together and encourages interaction and free expression while being part of a united group. The town's controversial Tory MP Amber Rudd was seen walking in the parade - she wasn't dressed as a chimney sweep - the original main performers until the Act which stopped boys climbing chimneys was passed - she was dressed in 18th century finery. Many people oppose her low value for money road building scheme that is ruining countryside in Combe Haven Valley as well as causing distress and disruption to residents of Sidley. Her claim that the low value for money road will ease traffic and improve air quality on Bexhill Road has been proven to be inaccurate by the Campaign For Better Transport. They state that new roads lead to more traffic and pollution. At the same time there has been little investment in public transport and cycle paths that were installed through grass roots campaigning have been destroyed by extreme weather and are unusable. When it came to light that the land, which is owned by Trinity College Cambridge, has vastly increased in value since the road build started, the true objectives became clear. Have we as a society got used to the carnivalesque escapism of getting out of our minds then going back to grudgingly accepting poor standards of living? How many in this day and age demonstrate the beliefs of socialism which offered from it's beginning an alternative to a life of drudgery by educating, agitating and organising? 

One of the reasons I decided to leave Hastings and come back to Glasgow was because I became aware of the huge investment the Scottish Government and local councils have put into renovating the vast canal system and creating new opportunities for walking and cycling safely. I want to be able to show my six year old the benefits of regular outdoor activity and for us all to enjoy this as a family.  We now often cycle two miles to school and back through Kelvingrove Park. It is a great way to start the day and my son's teacher has noted he is better at settling and focusing in class. Much of the "bad behaviour" boys become labeled with is just a need to burn off excess energy. We were amazed one day cycling home from school to see a fox and her cubs playing on the bank and a duck with her ducklings. There is no better celebration of spring than nature itself. 

And we have not been deprived of our yearly spring parade. This year I was honoured to be asked to design the poster for Glasgow's celebration of the International Worker's Festival. I loved walking and talking in the march with guest speakers, journalist Owen Jones and Kerry Fleck of the Belfast and District Trade Union Council. A bit like the Jack in the Green parade but the green is exchanged for red, it was raining and the marchers filled the O2 Academy to hear powerful speakers highlight issues that are affecting the workers and most vulnerable in society; those who have always had to fight for the rights that we take for granted today. These rights have been won by many years of Socialist Campaigns and tragically many are being reverted by the Coalition Government. This was an engagement with the problems of society rather than an escape from it and all the more empowering for it. Three food banks a week are opening in the UK, the poor pay a higher tax rate than the rich, by 2015 1.4 million jobs will be lost to the public sector, unpaid and zero-hour work has risen, an MP claims £37,000 for a second home while the bedroom tax has led to people committing suicide, bankers (who caused the financial crisis - not the poor) have had massive pay rises while 70% of nurses had no pay rise at all, a welfare cap will push as many as 345,000 more children into poverty. If ever there was a time to face the realities of the way our country is run it is now. 

I feel more hopeful now that I am back in Glasgow and have been surrounded by people who are actively involved in all sorts of grass roots campaigns (many of which as I previously noted are supported by the Scottish Government) as well being aware of the strength of and support for the Unions here who have won campaigns even in the current climate. One of the highlights for me was going on my first group bike ride with the newly revised Clarion Cycling Cub, which was organised by the Glasgow Trade Union Council. We came together to have our bikes checked by the Glasgow Bike Station who were volunteering their services. They also had bikes for people to borrow who don't have their own. Unlike most cycling clubs which involve cycling fast on roads, have predominantly male members and involve lycra and leg shaving (yes men shaving their legs!) this was a mixed group of women and men with a range of abilities and experiences. So two routes had been planned: one along the Kelvin and back and another continuing to the canal path and on towards Kirkintilloch. In the spirit of all the May Day events there was plenty of humour and we set off with someone joking that we were splitting up already and not to mention the war (in reference to a German colleague) as a lone piper marked our leaving with a cheery tune. 

Past bluebells and the pungent scent of wild garlic along the river Kelvin it was not long before we were out in open countryside leaving the city’s traffic and noise behind.  We were able to travel at a good pace on picturesque cycle paths without being near any busy roads. It was a pleasant and relaxing ride for seven and a half miles until we got to the Stables pub in Kirkintilloch and were choked by fumes from something being burned in a nearby field. So much for fresh country air! So we didn’t stay long and set off back to Glasgow for more May Day festivities. Riders naturally paired up and chatted along the route. I spoke to a Glasgow City councilor about vegetable growing; family cycling and the Hastings road protest I was involved with. The Clarion Cycling Group was set up as a socialist group and we demonstrated this by all travelling together, waiting for those who had fallen behind and sharing ideas and beliefs. One of the points Owen Jones regularly makes in his writing is the necessity for discussion and sharing opinions. This is how we step out of our personal worldview and embrace diversity. Somehow it felt effortless while cycling along the canal. I’m looking forward to our next adventure. I might even shave my legs. 

Find the Glasgow Clarion Cycling Group on Facebook

My blog post and photos of Hastings Jack in the Green Festival

School Outdoor Learning: Spring.

Planting alpine plug plants. 

Upcycled pallet and plastic bottle planter and planting in the wall.

Wall planted with alpine plug plants. 

Using pegs to represent bird's beaks. 

Nest building. 

Became land art. 

Making the most of the school grounds. 

I have been volunteering every fortnight for a couple of hours to help Primary Five with outdoor learning at my son's school. Sarah from Woodlands Community Garden is funded by a grant to plan and deliver the activities. The children have created a recycled plastic bottle and pallet planter which they painted a couple of weeks ago. This week they planted some cuttings in it. It stands against a wall that is used for access to one of the playgrounds. The wall being made of rocks held in place with mesh is a perfect spot for planting some alpine plug plants which the children really enjoyed doing. In fact they have been so enthusiastic about all the activities. As well as planting and learning about plants the children made nests. They used wooden clothes pegs to pick up twigs and other materials. The pegs were a clever way of demonstrating how the birds use their beaks. It was lovely to see the children carefully arranging the things they found to create visually pleasing designs. They looked guilty as though they were cheating when they started to use their hands to collect more items such as stones, which were to represent eggs. The collection of different textures and colours of natural materials and the design of the nest became more important to them. So without instruction the children had turned a nest building activity into a land art activity. There are more ideas for making land art with kids by Richard Shilling and Julia Brooklyn here. Outdoor learning provides an opportunity for children to work spontaneously, break the rules and discover new, pleasing results on their own as well as being good for physical and mental health.

Love is in the Air

Spring in the botanic Gardens Glasgow.