Oxford: Final Update

For those of you coming to the Oxford meeting on 20 September, here is a little last minute information.

Important! Don’t pay the entrance fee at the Botanic Garden.  Just tell them you are there for the Food Growing Bloggers Get-Together.  The entrance fee is included in the price of our room, and I will collect 15 pounds from everyone later to cover our expenses.

There are a few spaces available if anyone still wants to come.  Please email me, leave a comment here or call my mobile number below.  After Thursday it’s safer to call, because I may not have regular access to the Internet as I’ll be traveling.

Tentative Schedule

9:30 – 10:30  Coffee and tea.  Please arrive at this time, and spend a little time chatting with everyone.

10:30 – 11:10  Ben from Real Seeds will give a presetation about seed saving in general and the seeds he sells.

11:15 – 11:30  I will talk a bit about the garlic I’m growing.

11:30 – 11:45  Simon will talk about allotment related things

11:45 – 12:30  Seed swap

12:30 – 1:30  Picnic (indoors if necessary)

1:30 –   5:30  Time to visit the Botanic Garden, or use our room for more coffee and tea.

Route information to the Botaic Garden is here.

My mobile telephone number is:  +31 6 4010 9417

For the picnic, be sure to bring everything you need to eat or drink with (plates, cups, etc).  It also might be handy if you bring something to sit on.  Please try not to bring excess trash, because we are responsible for disposing of our trash ourselves.  We can accommodate a reasonable amount of trash.  Remember to think about bringing things from your garden to share, but don’t worry if you don’t have anything along these lines to offer.

A simple kitchen is available for our use, but we have been asked not to prepare any food there because it is not licensed for catering.  If you need to rinse a few vegetables, need some hot water, or need to do a little washing up afterwards, these should be no problem.

A few people have not yet confirmed.  There is still space if you want to come, but please get in touch first to confirm, because it is still possible we could run out of spaces.  I would also appreciate hearing if you have decided not to come.

People with a * next to their name have confirmed.

Bifurcated Carrots (2)*
MustardPlaster (2)*
Spade Work (1)*
Daughter of the Soil (1)*
The plot thickens (1)*
Joanna’s Food (1)*
Growing Our Own (2)
A Blog Called Fuggles (2)
Veg Plotting (1)*
Soilman’s Allotment Blog (1)*
My Tiny Plot (1)
Manor Stables Veg Plot (2)*
Fluffius Muppetus (1)*
NomeGrown (1)
Hills and Plains (1)*
Speaker: Ben – Real Seeds (1)*

Real Seeds Newsletter

The Real Seeds Catalogue just posted their 2008 newsletter.  It has a lot of insight into what they are working on and what we can look forward to seeing in the future from them.

For those coming to the Oxford get-together in September, you should have a look through it and come prepared with questions!

Vacation

We’re off for a couple of weeks.  First a short visit just over the border in Germany, then a longer visit to Spain.  I might have occasional Internet access but please excuse the delays in answering emails and approving comments with links in them, which may have to wait until I get back.

Oxford – Please Confirm!

It’s been a little while since I last posted an update on the status of the upcoming meeting in Oxford, so I thought I would do a quick post.

Please Confirm Your Attendance by 20 August

The following bloggers have said they may attend.

Those marked with a * have already confirmed, or I’m pretty sure are going to come, and don’t need to reconfirm.

The number next to the blog name is the number of seats I have reserved for you.

Bifurcated Carrots (2)*
MustardPlaster (2)
Spade Work (1)
Daughter of the Soil (1)
The plot thickens (1)*
Joanna’s Food (1)*
Growing Our Own (2)
The smallest smallholding (2)
A Blog Called Fuggles (2)
Veg Plotting (1)
Soilman’s Allotment Blog (1)*
My Tiny Plot (1)
Manor Stables Veg Plot (1)
Fluffius Muppetus (2)*
NomeGrown (1)
A Nice Green Leaf (1)*
Hills and Plains (1)*
Horticultural (1)
Speaker:  Real Seeds (1)*

Total people attending:  25

Total number of seats available: 25

Please check to make sure the information I have here is correct, and let me know if it’s not as soon as possible!  If you need an extra seat, I can probably figure something out.  If you have an extra seat, please let me know!

If I don’t hear from you by 20 August, I will try to contact you directly.  If I can’t get a firm answer from anyone by 1 September, I won’t necessarily cancel your reservation unless someone comes along who says they want to come.  If you are still unsure by 1 September, you are welcome to wait until the last minute to see if there’s still space available.

If there is anyone else who wants to come, let me know.  If I have unconfirmed seats on 1 September, I will happily offer them to you.  At the moment I have no waiting list, and it seems likely at least one or two people listed above won’t attend.

It’s still the intention to find a place for everyone who wants to attend, if at all possible.

Speaker

We have one speaker already arranged.  The Real Seed Catalogue have said they would send someone to meet with and speak to us.

We might consider a second speaker if anyone has concrete ideas.  The best thing would be if you contacted the person you were thinking of first and get an agreement in principle they would be available, then give me contact information and I will confirm it with them.

It needs to be clear to me the person is appropriate for our meeting.

Costs

I am still expecting the costs to be between £10-15.  It depends on how many people show up to share the costs, so I will calculate it on the day.

The cost of entrance to the Oxford Botanic garden is included in the price of the room we have reserved.  Please don’t pay the usual entrance fee, just tell them you are there for the food growing get-together.

Place and Time

20 September 2008, 9:30am – 5:30pm

Oxford Botanic Garden, High Street, Oxford

Please arrive between 9:30am – 10:30am for coffee and tea.  We will begin shortly thereafter.

Closer to the time I will publish a proposed schedule for the day.  Much of the time will just be spent socializing, and perhaps visiting the gardens, but there will be a few planned speakers as well as the picnic and seed swap.

Picnic

Rain or shine we will have a picnic, so bring any food you want to share with others. Since most of us are gardeners, consider bringing something from your garden, but anything you want to bring is fine.

Also bring something to sit on, and anything else you want for the picnic.

Our room can be locked, so personal belongings can be left inside while we go outdoors.

In case of bad weather, we can eat indoors.

Seed Swap

Be sure to bring any seeds or other propagation materials you want to share with others. I will bring some seeds and other things from my garden.

The most interesting of course are seeds you have grown and saved yourself, but don’t be afraid to bring any seeds you think anyone else might be interested in.

You don’t need to bring seeds in order to receive them from others.

We Have a Banner

FoGroBloMe

For more information see Simon’s post.

Phone Number

I will have my mobile phone with me on the day, and you are welcome to call anytime until then if you have any questions:  +31 6 40109417.