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#vandanashiva #whm #womensherstorymonth

Activist, Agripreneur, Educator, Environmentalist, Legend! 💚 #internationalwomensday #landjustice #womensherstorymonth

John Perkins, making it make sense! Read more in his book, ‘Confessions of an Economic Hitman’, in which he describes the role he played in the process of ‘economic colonisation’ and dependency of, so-called, ‘developing’ countries on behalf of global corporations, banks and the US government. #decolonise #makeitmakesense #powermatrix #redpillbluepill #wakeup

The myth of cheap, fresh supermarket produce. Since our inception, we’ve been committed to addressing and challenging local health inequalities, fusing cultural heritage, food, gardening, localism and environmental/land/racial justice. We have striven to support local organic farms and producers to supply produce for 60% of our fruit/veg bags. The other 40% sourced from ethical/organic wholesalers of cultural produce (based in the south of England) which work with international organic/Earth-friendly farms and co-ops. To increase local self-sufficiency, biodiversity and address food poverty issues, we’ve supplied organic/pesticide-free seeds, seedlings, plants, fruit trees and compost to assist residents/businesses/schools/groups as part of greening and grow-your-own programmes. If our small social enterprise can show value in ethical local supply chains and communities, why can’t the big profit-making supermarkets?! Locally-grown/produced food can never compete with the supermarket chains because the latter is devaluing local agri-sectors and supply chains. 📷 @portnoomarketgarden #buylocalsupportlocal #reducefoodmiles

Looking forward to this new podcast series from @kmt_may, which starts with the gorgeous, Jyoti Fernandes - @jyotilovesfood

The global food and farming crises continue, despite the lack of western media coverage. Here, Belgian farmers are protesting in Brussels, though some may call it vandalism. Regardless, the food and farming issues will continue while precious farmland is bombed, eroded and/or taken by multinationals and many are forced to eat more processed and GMO foods. #foodpoverty #naturevstechnology #seedweek #wakeup

Artivist: @tiril.valeur

Our penultimate end-of-winter market & swap shop is happening tomorrow: 10-1pm at Hattons Yard/Joyful Roots. We’re clearing out our stores to make way for new creative projects, so come bag a bargain. From next month, we’ll be starting a monthly ‘alternative’ car boot fair alongside bi-monthly markets / swap shops. More info will be posted shortly.

Thank you to @betterfoodtraders for doing the work to create change and holding space for us and others to ensure the diversity that is essential for better food systems. Check out their page for the original call-out: “Are you a Black-owned food businesses with a passion for organic” which grows or sells “local and culturally-relevant fresh, organic produce”. This post may, or may not apply to you, but please share with your networks so that we can build better and stronger food trading ecosystems. 🙏🏾💚 At a local level, we still face massive barriers and inequities, so we’re always grateful for the people, businesses and organisations that make space for meaningful conversations, solidarity and collective movement building. There’s still a long way to go, but we’re firm believers in the @blk_butterfly motto: ”We go together, we grow together!” 🙏🏾🙏🏽❤️ @achfoodnetwork @awesidefarm @barcobrighton @betterfoodtraders @blackeatsldn @blackfarmersuk @blackrootz__ @cococollective_org @folx_farm @gogrowwithlove @thehoneycombcooperative @earthtoearthorganics @healingjusticeldn @landinournames @landworkersalliance @leedsblackbusiness @mahogany_market @maia_group @ordrsuk @oxfordrealfarmingconference @pempeople @peopledemcollective @prestonwindrush @rooted_rhapsodies @thegaiafoundation @ubeleinitiative

Thanks to @heritage_radio for highlighting this incident at the @museelouvre in Paris in which activists or vandals, depending on your perspective, were addressing the value of art vs food. At the end of the original post they asked the question: “Food for thought or a stunt gone wrong?” At a time when many are experiencing food poverty, land loss and a climate emergency, while parts of the art world continue to be lavish and extravagant, we think it’s a valid question to ask. Globally, people are frustrated by: • Growing inequalities. • Environmental harms • The lack of learning and change post-lockdowns • Corporate / political greed and corruption . • Wars & political instability • A profit over people mindset and more. Don’t get us wrong, culture, heritage, the creative arts and safe spaces are very important to us, so we’re not condoning this kind of actions. However, this incident already happened and an online radio network posed a question about it, to which they’re facing a bit of backlash. Already, some commenters are not happy, not because of the value of food vs art issue, but because of the tarnishing of a valued cultural asset and the subsequent question. What do you think? Is this type of activism, which is trying address the apportioning of value, more harmful to its original cause?

Next up is our children’s market and swap-shop, for budding traders, activists and entrepreneurs. This half-term event will take place on Valentines Day (which we’re neither for or against), so we’ll no doubt have some themed craft activities, especially if it’s about spreading love. ❤️ Refreshments will also be available, as well as some free stuff. Stalls are £5 or trade-a-skill with us. DM or email us for further info: hello@blackbutterfly.org.uk

As we begin the transition from the coldness of winter to the rebirth of spring, we will resume community-led activities at our cultural arts space, Hattons Yard. In all honesty, we remain frustrated by ongoing socio-economic issues affecting local people and heartbroken by the various global crises, but for the wellbeing of our team and our community, we’ll continue to co-create alternative pathways to wellbeing and show value in local people and places. Every Saturday during the month of February, we’ll be holding a Community Yard Sale and Swap Shop, helping local people to support one another and the environment. Also, during these events our community fridge will be restocked with supermarket surplus produce (thanks to a collaboration with @karmabankhastings). Plus, we’ll have more FREE eco sanitary products available from the fab team at @heygirlsuk, which is working to address #periodpoverty Stalls are available for a low cost / trade basis to anyone interested in participating - send us a DM or email: hello@blackbutterfly.org.uk Over the next week, we’ll be posting more information about upcoming enterprise, eco, creative arts and community development activities. Please share! 🙏🏾🙏🏽💚 #climateresilience #solidaritynetwork

The wonderful team @soulfirefarm showing what it means to be ‘in community’! It takes a village!

In the midst of the rubble, the brilliant @free.gaza.circus uses culture and creativity to create spaces of healing, escapism and beauty for the children of Gaza. #culturalhealing #circusskills #legacy #resilience

Poem by @warsanshiree Later that night I had an atlas in my lap, ran my fingers across the whole world and whispered where does it hurt? It whispered everywhere everywhere everywhere. #climateemergency #free_palestine #nowar #silentgenocide #standagainstoppression #sudanwar #yemencrisis

We’ve started harvesting some of the grapes grown in St Leonards, from a garden which has benefited from the abundance of rain and late summer sun. We’ve still got more harvesting to do as there’s a whole crop which still needs to ripen. Yesterday, community members decided to prep the initial crop of grapes for our first foray into juice/wine-making. A lot of fun was had, despite, or perhaps because of some mistakes, but, as always, we’re learning and sharing knowledge together…in community. Thanks also to community members who harvested tomatoes and strawberries this week, to community growers who share produce, seeds, plants and knowledge and to those who continue to donate clothes, household items and/or non-perishable groceries for redistribution to families in need. We’ll be holding another Yard Sale and Swap-shop soon to clear supplies received over the summer. Wishing you all a joy-filled weekend. 🙏🏾💚🍇 #culturalheritage #grapeharvest 🤦🏾‍♀️ #knowledgesharing #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe #wegrowtogether #wrongsodeofthetracks

This is beautiful to see! Africans need to be able to lead themselves and restore the beauty back to their lands. #decolonise

There will be no weekly fruit & veg bag today and for the rest of August while we take a break. We’ll still be supporting the Excelle women’s food co-op and refill project and distributing seeds, fruit trees and plants to local groups. DM or email us. 🙏🏾💚

Food memories + callaloo patties demo from @chefdiyardie. 🇯🇲

We’re looking forward to distributing copies of the new book from @conversationsfromcalais - sharing refugee stories. Recommended reading for those who @chooselove and compassion over hate and othering. 🙏🏾❤️❤️ #chooselove #refugees #refugeestories #nowar @khosseini @mathildadellatorre @blk_butterfly

We had a fab, but long day today, supporting community members with mutual aid, advocacy, space and cooperative development. We’re working together to transition our organic veg bag programme into a more sustainable bulk-buying co-op and food growing scheme, with a long-term vision for self-reliance for our community members. It’s not easy, but we’re slowly working it out. As always, we’re grateful to our wonderful volunteers and community members who guide and support our work. We’re especially, grateful to Mama June, (@seastorm59) who organised our first proper volunteer dining experience. Every week, like our other key volunteers, she and her wonderful daughter, Rebecca, turn up and bring joy to our community space, sharing the load. 🙏🏾 Today, alongside our weekly offering of fresh, cultural and organic produce and some dried goods, we also included @whogivesacraptp and free sanitary products by @heygirlsuk for some households. Being financially constrained shouldn’t mean that people face barriers to decent, nutritional, environmentally-friendly and/or culturally relevant produce. We’re proud to be able to support alternative food pathways and ethical trading options, led by and for our community. #blm #community #food #foodsovereignty #migrantstories #nogreenwashing #organic #refugees #solidarity #togetherwecan

The town of East Palestine, Ohio, recently experienced possibly the worst environmental disaster in its history when a 150-wagon train carrying toxic chemicals derailed. The townsfolk have had to evacuate in the aftermath of the blast, which was described as akin to a nuclear detonation. However, there has hardly been any media coverage of this disaster in a poor area of the country. Every year, well-intentioned people meet to discuss climate ambitions / action, planting trees and avoiding plastic straws, while corrupt / inept government (local and central) officials start and / or promote destructive, expensive wars and enable greedy corporations to wilfully destroy the planet…and we watch. So much for all the events, discussions and ‘wisdom-sharing’ at @cop26uk @cop27_egypt @cop28uaeofficial and the @worldeconomicforum We live in such an upside-down world! #climatechange #climateaction #gaslighting #greenwashing #corporategreed #eastpalestine #mediabias #planetearth #planetoverprofit

Massive thanks to Paulo for hooking us up with Chris and the team at @cellarheadbrew in Wadhurst. Today they dropped off 3 x 1000l litre vats which will be used for rainwater collection at our Hattons Yard site. We’re committed to schemes which reuse and recycle items to reduce landfill, so we’re grateful for the donation. Unfortunately, this week’s high winds broke our polytunnel, but we’re still going to salvage as much as possible to help with our community food growing project. #community #communityled #climate #reuse #reduce #recycle #urbanregeneration #zerowaste

So wonderful to see this artwork while walking around the trendy #eastvillage in Stratford and recognise the talents of @abraham.o1. We’re so lucky to have an amazing creative like him in our community! #streetart @ldn_calling_blog @migratefuluk @blk_butterfly

On Tuesday, 13th September, our co-founder, Dawn Dublin, will be joining a panel of amazing change-makers and knowledge-keepers working in the food, agriculture, community and land / environmental justice sectors. This online convening will be a space for discussions about Black cultural & food heritage, food sovereignty, land access, racial and environmental justice, wellbeing and more. TBH, it would be nice not to need to have these discussions, but in a world of continual inequities, extraction, omission and exclusion, we’re leaning into the uncomfortable…for clarity, for healing, for community and for legacy. More info via the linktree in our bio. #afroecology #agroecology #blm #community #culture #biodiversity #foodsovereignty #foodislife #healing #reparativejustice #spacematters #windrush #womeninagriculture

We’d like to wish our UK followers a wonderful, joy- filled Bank holiday weekend. For locals, there’s a jam-packed weekend of events and festivities. Like @djnickspinelli we and the rest of the @blk_butterfly family will be mixing it up at different events, including these: Hastings Makers market at @theyard.waterworksroad with @southcoastsoapco and lots of other stall selling local produce. It’s on the last Saturday of the month. Breathe - Play - Laugh, an afternoon of radical community care for BPOC creatives, community organisers, space holders and facilitators. Brought to you by @afri.co.lab at the @delawarr @rarmet_official launch party for their Rock Against Racism Militant Entertainment Tour The legacy creating @nhcarnivalldn is back after 2 years and we’re so excited to be joining @1dende.nation on the procession route. We’ve missed the cultural spectacle and celebration of life that is Notting Hill Carnival! @hastingspride celebrations have already started and will continue over the weekend. If you missed our lovely @theparisgrande at @goatledge on Thursday, head to the Pier on Sunday afternoon to see more of her fab performances. For further details, programmes are available from businesses around the town. #carnival #arts #community #creative #culture #joy #dj #pride #inclusion #music #nottinghillcarnival #nottinghill #stleonardsonsea #hastings #bexhill #london

We’re sending out birthday blessings to these 2 gorgeous members of our creative community. We were celebrating Nichelle when Derrick strolled by. It’s his 69th birthday today, so we pulled him into the festivities too. They’ve both had some tough times in recent months, but despite this, they both continue to spread love, joy and good vibes in / with the community! 🙏🏾❤️🎶📖 Big love too to @sarahgomesharris @elouisekempton for being lead organisers for yesterday’s beach-front festivities for Nichelle. 🙏🏾❤️ @cyclestleonards @hastingsrentalhealth @stelladore_gallery @cllr.maya.evans @ericatateuk @blk_butterfly @fizzel_castro @southcoastsoapco @therefugeebuddyproject @hastingsbutterflies @storytime.site #celebrate #community #creative #culture #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe

The rain has finally arrived in our little corner of East #sussex and we’re truly grateful. While our community garden spaces enjoy this break in the drought, we want to take time out to promote some other local community greening and wellbeing events taking place in St Leonards over the next couple of weeks: - Bike ride tonight with @cyclestleonards - Bike giveaways tomorrow to support #Ukranian refugees - @hastingsboroughcouncil Refugee Resettlement Programme / ESCC / @sustrans . - Community gardening events and walks with the fab @craigscabin team. - More fun family activities by the Friends of @gensinggardens #community #cycling #communitygarden #gardening #inclusion #mentalhealth #nowar #refugeeswelcome #spacematters #wellness @_mentalhealth_community_

Today we’re really happy to host bike specialist, Jamie Lynch with Sustran’s Jamie Lloyd (rear) as they put together 6 #bikes4refugees as part a joint #eastsussexcountycouncil and @sustrans programme to support #ukranian #refugees in Hastings. More bikes will be made up and offered for free soon. If you’re local and looking to get into cycling and need a bike then check out Hastings Bike Lab (https://bikelabhastings.org) on the seafront opposite Warrior Sq. For friendly beginners rides join the weekly Wednesday afternoon rides by @cyclestleonards which start from the Bike Lab. For more advanced rides check out Hastings Breeze (women only), Hastings & St Leonards Cycle Club (road rides) or the @britishcycling website for local #letsride events. #community #cycling #letsridetogether #partnerships #wellbeing

We’re experiencing lots of issues growing produce due to the #heatwave in our South East corner of the UK. Both at our community garden space, where we’ve had to adapt to grow more produce, and at our rooftop space @higherground.skyfarm due to the continuing heatwave and drought conditions. We continue to ask for support for our initiatives to develop local, inclusive and environmentally-friendly food growing sites. We’re community-led, developing underused spaces collaboratively to support community development and build resilience. Here’s hoping our local ‘leadership’ decides to work with us equitably to find workable long-term solutions to support inclusive community development and climate-resilient solutions. #climateaction #climateresilience #community #diversity #foodsecurity #foodsovereignty #inclusion #risingprices

Learning so much about biodynamics and the beneficial properties of sprouts and microgreens. Next we move onto planting using recycled packaging, including one which can be used as a mini greenhouse, especially useful as its only partially recyclable. We could get into a discussion about the amount of non-recyclable packaging being used for fresh produce in supermarkets or why they don’t use #biodegradable labelling. We could also talk about the impacts the packaging and sticky labels have on our coastal community, but that’s for another day. For now, we’re enjoying learning with @kasia.lukasz 💚 #community #microgreens #sprouts #knowledge #knowledgeispower #climateaction #recycle #plasticpollution #environment

Join microgreens specialist @kasia.lukasz tomorrow morning for another workshop about the benefits of growing and eating microgreens. Starts at 11am. #community #microgreens #healthyfood #knowledgesharing

We had another busy day today, but thanks to our wonderful team of volunteers we managed to pack 50+ bags of fresh, organic produce for our members, supply organic veg plants / herbs for people to grow at home and provide eco laundry liquid and organic rice as part of our bulk-buying/refill programme. A happy accident meant we over-ordered delicious kale from @stonelynkorganics which was shared with our community. Then our fab Kings Road neighbours, @wonderfill.st.leonards and @thedandeliondeli came to the rescue of our members when we ran out of our bulk supply of laundry liquid and used, refillable containers. Gotta love about our amazing St Leonards community! #stleonardsonsea #community #cooperation #organic #supportsmallbusiness #zerowaste

Yesterday was yet another busy day in our mutual aid, community development / food security and resilience-building journey. Every week since 2020, our lovely volunteers have given up their time to enable community members to access fresh, cultural, organic produce. We are truly thankful. 🙏🏾 Our bags comprise a mix of local and internationally grown fruit and veg to cater to our multicultural community. Plus we provide a limited amount of refill products as part of our bulk-buying scheme, reducing costs to our members and reducing harmful packaging from our coastal community. We support local businesses and/or buy from UK suppliers, our small contribution to supporting the local (and national) economy. Our volunteers, facilitators and residents are helping us to co-create spaces of healing and wellbeing, bringing value back into long-term empty spaces. We are greening spaces for wellbeing, biodiversity and food production, whilst centring the voices of our multi-ethnic community in community and climate conversations. Especially as many have (directly or indirectly) experienced the ravages of climate change caused by industrialised nations. On top of other priorities (work, family, health), and in the face of constant barriers, we put in the extra time to run various community-centred projects in multiple locations. We do this because of the high levels of community need and because we understand that change is needed from the top-down systems of old. However, neither this project, nor our parent organisation, has received any funding, support and/or intentionally inclusive opportunities from @hastingsboroughcouncil . Our greening of an empty rooftop car park @higherground.skyfarm to support local food production, biodiversity, carbon offsetting and many other solutions-driven objectives, has only encountered barriers, despite being a council-owned property. #levellingup and #inclusion are both achievable, but not at this rate and not without centring the voices of, and supplying meaningful funds to, racialised and underserved communities. #climateaction #community #cultural #foodislife #foodsovereignty #lipservice #nomorelipservice #unglobalgoals

If you missed our last micro-greens class, don’t worry. Next month @kasia.lukasz will be back at our community kitchen/shop on Kings Rd, talking about the health benefits of micro-greens. You’ll learn how to grow seedlings in recycled containers, plus you’ll get to eat some of the produce for lunch and take home some seeds. DM us to book a place. #community #foodislife #locallygrown

Organic okra is back in our fruit/veg bags today, alongside apples, avocados, bananas, beetroot, chillis, courgettes, grapefruit, kiwis and locally grown broad beans, spinach and turnips from @stonelynkorganics #climateaction #community #foodsovereignty #organic #supportlocal

First unofficial organically grown strawberries from our community garden being tested by a young member of our community. Plus gorgeous chard and beans from local farm, @stonelynkorganics to accompany our other bought-in fresh produce. We’ve got a load of transplanting still to do, moving seedlings to our rooftop farm space to grow even more local produce for our bags. Thanks to all of our volunteers and collaborators for helping us to co-create healing and joyful spaces. 🙏🏾❤️#community #foodresilience #localgrowers #towngrown @higherground.skyfarm

Growing Microgreens & Sprouts workshop 🌱🌱🌱 Microgreens are 5-6 times more nutrient-dense than when that same plant reaches its full maturity, so you don't need a lot in one meal. That's one of many benefits of nourishing with Microgreens & Sprouts - you can reduce the volume significantly compared to the mature plant, which is going to support digesting process enormously. You can include fresh microgreens & sprouts in your meals, sprinkle them on salads, wraps... All you need is a window/ a warm spot in your home, water them, watch them grow and witness the miracle of expanding seeds into small nourishing plants! Growing Microgreens & Sprouting is Easy, Quick & Fun 🌱 Please join us to learn the process in the upcoming workshop on When: Saturday, 4th June 2022 // 11.00 am - 1.30 pm Where: Hattons Yard, Hatherley Road, TN37 6LB A small meal / fresh simple salad with Microgreens & Sprouts is included at the end of the workshop to experience the nourishing benefits as well. You will be provided with everything you need to start growing your own Microgreens & Sprouts: soil, seeds, containers... Just come, learn & enjoy growing living plants at home, absorb the vibrant energy & nourishment from your Mini Garden 🌱🌱🌱☀️💚 Kasia 🧡 #community #microgreens #knowledgesharing #towngrown #wellbeing

We’ve been quiet on the socials for a couple of weeks, but we wanted to mention that there’s less than 1 hour left for members to tell us about any changes to orders. Our team of helpers and collaborators have been invaluable in helping us to maintain our place-based community activities - developing our Hattons Yard site, adding more delicious, cultural goodies to our fruit/veg bags, transplanting seedlings destined for our rooftop urban farm space and helping the @blk_butterfly team with the development of the community kitchen space. We’re so thankful to the various people who share time and space with us to co-create our community spaces, but we’re still on the look out for more volunteers and collaborators to help set up the rooftop space. If you, or anyone you know, might be interested in helping us over the coming weeks, contact us via DM or email: hello@blackbutterfly.org.uk 🙏🏾❤️ #community #foodsovereignty #joyful #supportlocal

Members: please remember to let us know of any changes to your collection by 7pm tonight. We’ll be at Hattons Yard until 1.30pm and then we’ll move on to our Community Kitchen space on Kings Road for collections until 4.30pm. 🙏🏾🙏🏽💚 #community #cultural #organic #foodsovereignty

Our lovely volunteers have packed our bags with delicious, organic produce, including bunches of chard and salad from @stonelynkorganics farm in Fairlight. We’ll be heading over to our community shop soon on Kings Road soon for the remainder of our collections. Thanks to @sugarpiehoneybunscoffeeshop for being one of our collection points. #community #organic #togetherwecan

We’re back tomorrow with our bags of fresh, #organic produce. We’ll be packing bags at our warehouse between 10.30 - 1.30pm, then we’ll be moving over to our Kings Road (43a) shop for collections until 4.30pm. We can also drop off bags at @sugarpiehoneybunscoffeeshop on London Road (pick-up by 4pm) for any members living closer to Tower Road. DM us for any other collection/delivery requests. 🙏🏾🙏🏽💚 #community #cultural #foodsovereignty #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe

Thanks to our wonderful volunteers who covered our organic fruit/veg collection service today. Next week we’ll be prepping at Hattons Yard, but the collection service will move to our community kitchen space on Kings Road as we join in the final @hastingslastthursdays festivities. There will be late-night shopping and events until 9pm. More info on their insta page. #community #culture #springtime

We’re back this week with our bags of fresh, #organic produce. We still have a few staffing issues, so we’ll be closing at 4pm this week, but we can get deliveries out tomorrow for a limited number of members who we may miss today. Plus we’ll be putting out a call shortly for more volunteer gardeners and cooks to support our #community 🙏🏾🙏🏽💚#communityfirst #cultural #reparativeagriculture #foodsovereignty #togetherwecan

Unfortunately, we have to cancel tomorrow’s cultural fruit/veg bag collection. We’re really sorry for all those families which depend on this service, but we’ll be back again next week with more produce as part of our plans to help start a new food buying co-op for our members. See you next week. #community #cultural #organic #hastingssupportsrefugees #foodsovereignty #solidarityeconomy 🙏🏾🙏🏽💚

The sun is shining and spring is finally here. Today we welcomed the #joyful sight of bugs sun-bathing on a palm leaf and the first fruit tree buds getting ready to blossom. It’s so lovely to have the team from @atownexploresabook at our community space (#hattonsyard) as part of their March Monday Model-making classes. They’ve been making some great models from recycled materials and even had some live musical accompaniment when Derick dropped by with his guitar. The model-makers will be here every Monday in March (between 11-2pm) running these FREE workshops. #community #communitygardens #creativearts #culture #music #wellbeing

Thank you to the wonderful volunteers and visitors who brought joy today to our community space, Hattons Yard, including Emmanuel from Dende Drummers, who gave an impromptu music lesson to our co-director, Anime. Apparently, she’s a quick music learner…no surprise there! The sun was shining while we packed our bags full of fresh, organic produce, chatted and listened to traditional folk music from #ukraine . We stand in solidarity with all peoples fleeing war, violence and persecution. #community #culture #joyful #foodsovereignty #lovenotwar❤️ #supportrefugees 🇺🇦🇸🇾🇦🇫🇾🇪🇮🇶

Remember to get your orders in before 7pm tomorrow for our veg bag service this Thursday. #community #culturalheritage #fairtrade #fairtradefortnight #foodsovereignty #organic #reparativeagriculture #solidarity

Members, don’t forget to come and pick up your bags of goodness this afternoon. #culture #organic #foodsovereignty

Thanks to the work of our fab volunteers, we’ve just finished bag-packing delicious, organic produce ready for our members to collect. Doors open from 1pm for collections. 🙏🏾❤️ #community #cultural #foodislife #foodsovereignty #communityledchange

It’s that time again for our regular members to let us know if you do / don’t want one of our lovely bags of organic fruit / veg this Thursday. We’ll also, hopefully, have okra and plantain on offer too this week (non organic). #community #cultural #foodislife #foodsecurity #foodsovereignty #organic #regenerativeagriculture

Thanks to our fab volunteers, here’s just a selection of our bags of gorgeous organic fruit and vegetables. Today we had 8 more vulnerable families turn up than had been forecast, but we were able to adapt and supply all, but one, of our orders. We also managed to donate some surplus Savoy cabbages to our lovely neighbours, the @seaview.project. Our sincere apologies to anyone who missed out this week, we’ll be sure to have extra bags next week. #community #culture #culturalheritage #solidarity #togetherwecan

Fire safety training today at our community hub & garden, Hattons Yard, with @seaview.project and East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service #community #communityled #safety #regeneration

Regular customers, don’t forget to let us know if you do / don’t want a bag this week. 🙏🏾🙏🏽🙏🏼 #community #foodislife #joyful #organic

Lovely ingredients for our members today. 😋 #organicfood #regenerativeagriculture

We’ve been working on the transformation of our warehouse, Hatton’s Yard, from a disused plot into a community hub, storage centre and community garden. Thanks to local contractor, Graeme Stoodley and his team, we now have separate and part-painted internal spaces. The walls of the main space now have a base primer coat, but they need some colour. We’d really love to work with a creative artist / designer (and community members) on a design for the walls. Please DM or visit us if you can offer some help. 🙏🏾 HATTONS YARD ‘POWERED BY COMMUNITY’ Hattons Yard is a community-led urban regeneration project being developed by Black Butterfly through its agricultural and food justice programme, Joyful Roots. Our hope is to create an inviting, functional community space, offering a wide array of affordable events, workshops, classes and discussions. Now, more than ever, we need to be looking out for one another. We want to help shape our community, build resilience, share knowledge and promote wellbeing, but WE NEED YOUR HELP! We want to platform local expertise with a wide range of activities led by diverse community educators. We’d love to hear from anyone with any shareable knowledge/skills: crafters, gardeners, walkers, photographers, all the other creatives, artisans, performers, fitness lovers and community members. If you can’t help us with in-person support, we’ll be offering virtual classes and also fundraising to support the continued running of this space and our other community resilience projects. #community #joyful #culture #solidarity #diversity #equality #equity #inclusion #streetart #publicart #heritage #health #wellbeing #garden #communitygarden

We’re back this Thursday for our first organic veg bag service of 2022. Regular customer, please DM us today if you need a bag this week. We’ll be opening up the service for new customers soon, so let us know if you’re interested in the service. Collections from 1pm this Thursday. Please remember to wear a mask! 🙏🏾🥔🥕🍠🫑 #community #foodsovereignty #solidarity

We’re taking a well-earned break from our public-facing work. We’ll still be offering mutual aid support during this time and revamping Hattons Yard, our community hub/storage/garden, ahead of reopening on the 2nd week of January. We’re so grateful to the many volunteers, crafters, cooks, gardeners, advisors and creatives who donated hours of their time to help bring our project and Hattons Yard to life. Our volunteers and collaborations have enabled us to: - Support locally-led regeneration by bringing a long-term empty building back to life for community use. - Supply 3000+ bags of culturally relevant, organic fresh fruit and veg. - Support 250+ families from racialised / displaced / underserved communities. - Host 1500+ community members via meetings, discussions and events. - Supported the development of 4 new and 5 existing community organisations/ charities. - Limit food waste by redistributing excess fresh farm produce to families in need, batch-cooking free hot meals or donating to local partner organisations. - Repurpose scrap wood / pallets for raised beds and other projects. - Supply 1000+ free fruit / veg / flowering plants to our members to support wellbeing, biodiversity, food security and resilience. - Provide biodegradable packaging, compost added shopping bags to our members, small catering businesses and community organisations. - Supply storage space for local businesses to support community development and local economic growth. - Develop a local supply chain of goods and services. - Platform and promote local makers / creatives from diverse backgrounds. - Minimise rubbish production. There’s so much more that we could list, but that’s not bad for a project which only started 15 months ago. And we should mention that our project is just ONE of the brilliant projects being run by our parent organisation, @blk_butterfly . We would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been a part of the development of this community project. We wish you all, our community and everyone else, a Joyful Christmas / Holiday season. We’re still here if you need help, otherwise, we’ll see you in 2022 for more community / gardening fun!

In our bags of fresh, organic produce this week we have: Apples, Aubergines, Bananas, Carrots, Cassavas (non-organic), Celeriac, Clementines, Courgettes, Pomegranates, Potatoes and Red Peppers. 😋 Find delicious recipes from @l2k_smoothies and @plant__theseed in our stories. #community #foodislife #foodsovereignty #culture

Regular customers, don’t forget to confirm your bag collection for this Thursday. 🙏🏾 #community #organic #slowfood

A sneak peek at our fruit/veg bag selection this week. As well as organic bananas, broccoli, clementines, kiwi, lemons, red peppers, persimmons (limited number), spaghetti squash, and spinach, we also have a limited supply of non-organic cassava, okra and butternut squash. Thanks to ongoing support from @tnlcommunityfund for supporting this project. #community #cultural #heritage #foodsovereignty #foodislife

We’re open until 5pm at Hattons Yard for veg bag collections. Lots of gorgeous organic produce on offer again this week. #community #cultural #foodsovereignty #organic #tnlcommunityfund

Limited number of these lovely pomegranates in some of this week’s bags. #community #culture #foodsovereignty #organic

Regular customers, don’t forget to order your fruit/veg veg bags by 8pm tomorrow. #community #culture #foodsovereignty #joyful #organic

Don’t forget to book by 8pm tonight to get one of our #organic veg bags (bananas, cooked beetroot, chilli peppers, lemons, mangoes, rainbow carrots, rainbow shard, Savoy cabbage, a limited supply of small pumpkins, plus more). Collection, as always, will be on Thursday from our warehouse in Hatherley Road. Please bring a bag! #community #culture #foodsovereignty

If you’re collecting from us today, you’ll get to see some of the changes to the space. Michael’s been doing some artwork on the gates, builders have moved the racking to the rear of the space for our community storage project and installed new doors. Next up internally: a dividing wall, more cleaning, painting and a kitchen area. This is all made possible by our awesome @blk_butterfly leadership team, wonderful #volunteers , brilliant local community support and much needed funding from @tnlcommunityfund #community #togetherwecan

We’ve been making some improvements at our warehouse space this week ahead of our Thursday fruit/veg service. Please remember to let us know if you’d like a bag this week. #community #culture #organic @blk_butterfly

Due to technical issues, we’ve had to cancel this weeks veg bag scheme. We’re really sorry, as we know some families rely on our service, but we’ll be back next week, as usual. 🙏🏾❤️

OMG! This flu-buster smoothie is nice and spicy. That kick of ginger is hitting the spot on this cloudy day. Super stuff! Thank you @l2k_smoothies. 🙏🏾❤️

Check out these goodies in our bags this week. #culture #foodislife #foodsovereignty

We’re back this afternoon for collections for our regular customers. We’ve got yummy recipes provided by @plant__theseed and @l2k_smoothies , plus we’ll have some flu-buster smoothies on site.

Thank you to all of the lovely members of our community who donated time or skills to support our work. We appreciate you more than you can know. 🙏🏾❤️ @plant__theseed @l2k_smoothies @claudiathecrystalangelx @charlotte_on_sea @lynnesalvage @sophiedening, June and Sam. 🙌🏾🙌🏾❤️

Have you booked you fruit / veg bag for collection this Thursday? You’ve got just over an hour until this week’s deadline ends. 🍋🥑

We’re full of so much joy today. Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers and local creatives who took time out of their day to donate time and products. We’re loving the recipe cards made for us by @plant__theseed to compliment some of the fresh ingredients in our bags! Gotta love our community! 🙏🏾❤️ #feelingblessed #community

Hi folks, we’re back! We’ve been gone for a bit longer than planned, but we’re back open this Thursday. We’ll have our weekly veg bag collections of culturally appropriate produce available between 2-5pm at Hattons Yard, Hatherley Road, St Leonards on sea TN37 6LB. This week’s call out is for regular customers only, though we’re working on expanding our customer list, so keep checking for announcements. DM us if you’re a regular customer and want a bag of organic produce, or send us an email to hello@joyfulroots.org. If you’re really in need, but have not ordered with us before, send a message and we’ll try to help. PRICES Pay It Forward: £5, 10 or £15 - pay extra for someone in need. Full price: £15 big / £10 small Reduced cost: £10 Low waged: £5 Free bags available for families in need or Trade-a-skill: swap one of our bags for a service / skill. ❤️

Thank you to @micheal.hughes.501 for helping to look after Joyful Roots wonderful community space Hattons yard, In Hatherley road, this week ☘️🌿 and giving us all fantastic nicknames himself being the Irishman 🇮🇪 & a massive special thanks to @claudiathecrystalangelx & @anna_bunting 110% and powerhouse respectively for volunteering and taking time out of their busy schedules 🤗 #community #communitygarden #garden #stleonardsonsea

Thank you to @lynnesalvage & @micheal.hughes.501 helping keep joyful roots community space thriving this week. 🌱 #plants #organic #greenfingers #sustainability #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe

As you may know Joyful Roots food bag project is taking a break until September. We are still open for crafter noon on Thursdays from 2pm until 5pm. Hosted by the wonderful @lynnesalvage we’ll be making sustainable, reusable bags 😍 Come on down & join us #sustainablefashion #sustainableliving #sustainability #embroidery #community #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe

DM us by this evening if you want a veg bag as this is our last week before we take a month off. This Thursday (if the weather stays nice) we’ll be providing some home-cooked food, tunes and good vibes alongside our veg bags, to say thank you to our Joyful Roots community from 2-5pm. #community #joyful #foodsoverignty

Some beautiful nature in Joyful Roots community space 🌿 Photography by the fantastic @rachel_manns 📸 #bees #greenery #nature #naturephotography #sunshine #garden

The third instalment in our Joyful Kitchen series is finally here! Huge thanks to @nickis_kitchen_hastings for sharing this recipe with us and to @southcoastsquared for another banger! 🙏🏾 Enjoy! #community #eachoneteachone #strongertogether #eachonereachone

🧵🪡 Photography by the wonderful @rachel_manns & fabulous @grannie.duck 📸📷 #craftclub #embroidery #embroiderydesign #radish #radishing #community

Joyful Roots collection is open today from 2pm to 5pm 😊 Find us at HATTONS YARD 4 Hatherley road St Leonards TN37 6LB Photography by the wonderful @rachel_manns 📸 #community #communitygarden #organic #organicfood #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe

Crafternoon club at Hattons Yard tomorrow from 2pm alongside fruit and veg collections 😊 Photography by the lovely @rachel_manns 📸 #craft #embroidery #art #communitygarden #stleonardsonsea

New video coming out tomorrow to accompany your fruit/veg bag goodies. 🙌🏾🙌🏽 #community

SHE CHOIR HASTINGS are coming to Hattons Yard next Monday the 19th of July 🎶 at 5:30pm to 7pm (Sorry to anyone who attended this Monday, that was my fault for not letting everyone know 🤦🏽‍♀️ NK) Anyone who is interested in lifting their spirits in some fabulous choir singing next Monday send us a message 😊 @shechoirhastings #joy #choir #sing #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe

Thank you to @micheal.hughes.501 for giving up part of his weekend to run another great workshop. Thanks also to our fab participants. 🙏🏾❤️ #community #eachoneteachone #joyful #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe

Michael’s busy preparing some examples for tomorrow’s DIY bird box class. 3pm at Hattons Yard, Hatherley Road TN37 6LB If your interested in attending tomorrow send us a dm 🤗 #joy #community #communitygarden #eachoneteachone #woodworking #stleonardsonsea

Thank you to all the wonderful members of our community who came along to Hattons Yard today: our volunteers who packed just over 70 bags, the talented crafters who shared their skills with adults and kids alike and our joyful patrons. Thank you all, we really appreciate your support in helping us bring this space to life as a community hub. 🙏🏾😍#community #communitygardening #joyful #livelife #strongertogether #wellness

Stitch Club will be running an informal gathering this Thursday at our outdoor space alongside our organic veg bag collections. Plus, Michael and Geof will be back this Saturday to share more tips for DIY pallet reuse garden projects. #community #eachoneteachone #joyful #strongertogether

It’s Friday (yay!), a day on which many people eat fish, so here’s a fish stew recipe donated by one of our community cooks. We’re told that it’s traditionally made in Burundi, Congo and Rwanda, and maybe other countries too. We tried it and loved it! 🐟🍅 A big thank you to Claire and Marietta for sharing this recipe with us. 🙏🏾❤️ Non-meat eater? Replace the fish with some delicious veg, tofu, beans, etc. 🥦🥕🥬 #veg No fish in the house today? Remember that you can support our Hastings fishing community by buying direct from one of the fishing huts. #supportlocal #fishing #hastings Whatever you do, try to make it joyful! #joyful #community #culture #togetherwecan

A big thank you to @grannie.duck for bringing us some of her beautiful embroidery made especially for us 🤗 Stay tuned for some workshops and fun stuff coming real soon 🔜 Thank you everyone for your continued support #support #community #embroidery #embroideryart #stitching #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe

A glimpse of the goodies available in today’s Joyful Roots organic fruit/veg bags. Thank you to @afrohairandskinco and @candaromacandles for their generous donations. We have a limited supply of these gorgeous local handmade products - first come, first served! #organic #organicsheabutter #handcrafted #handcraftedcandles #fruit #veg #community #strongertogether

So, last week a lot of things happened that we didn’t get a chance to properly mention, but we’ll post more about them tomorrow. For now, we wanted to dedicate a post to the gorgeous ladies behind @hastingsfoodaction . It’s hard to properly convey how much we love these beautiful members of our community, suffice to say: they are amazing women who get s!*t done, in spite of barriers that are put in front of them! Last week, however, they stepped up and made a donation of £800 to support the work of our food growing / community garden project. We are so thankful to have wonderful people in our midst, who, like us, are working hard to support our community and create opportunities for development, wellbeing and joyfulness. Thank you for being part of our journey of growth - we appreciate everything you do! ❤️🙏🏾🙏🏽 #community #joyful #togetherwecan ❤️❤️

Last week a beautiful member of our Joyful Roots community took flight from this world. To say that we are shocked and saddened at this sudden loss is an understatement. We’re sending our love to her family and friends - she will be missed! ❤️We had planned some more diy planter/bird box classes for this Saturday, but we’ve decided to postpone them for a week and instead take the weekend off for ourselves. Wai Ling was going through a creative metamorphosis, finding herself and enjoying life, so we want to honour her memory by filling our week with the people, places and things that bring us joy and add colour to our lives. We urge you, our community, to do the same - fill your week with smiles and belly laughs. We’ll also try and add something special to our bags this Thursday. #joyful #butterfly #community #gonebutneverforgotten

A big thank you to everyone who came through yesterday to support our community project 🤗 & a massive special thank you to @hastingsfoodaction for their support and kind donation of £800 🙏🏽 thank you 🧡💖 #joyful #fullofjoy #organic #organicfood #organicgardening #community #support #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe

We’re in Hattons Yard today 😊 Come check out our veg bags 🥔🌶🥦 #organic #community #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe

We are growing some beautiful plants and some tasty produce 😋in our community space, Hattons Yard on Hatherley road st Leonard’s on sea, Tn37 6LB To reserve your veg bag for tomorrow send us a DM 🤗 Photography by the fantastic @rachel_manns 📸💖 #community #communitygarden #communityspace #joy #joyfulliving #organic #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe

Thank you to the wonderful @micheal.hughes.501 for teaching a fantastic planter making class.🪴Thanks too to Geof Gage for the wonderful planter he made for our new sophora tree. Keep an eye out for more upcoming classes next month. 😊 #community #communitygardens #eachoneteachone #woodwork #planter #diy #diygarden #teacher #newskills #stleonardsonsea #stleonardsonseaistheplacetobe