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with Jennie Spears of Lemon Tree Trust
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Harking back to the very first episode of the podcast, we’ve still not departed very far from thinking about plants and how they help us to express notions of identity and home. Back then, I was pondering what I’d seen of Tom Massey’s garden for the Lemon Tree Trust at Chelsea in 2018, so I was delighted for this episode to have the chance to talk in depth with Jennie Spears of Bloom PR about life in the camps in Kurdistan, and how the charity works to support and encourage the residents with their gardens.
Claire Ratinon drops by for a quick catch-up and finds time to read for us the introduction of her book, How to grow your food without leaving your house, published by Laurence King at the end of August.
Thank to so many of you for your kind comments and enquiries while the podcast has been off the air, it’s been such an encouragement to know that people are out there waiting for the next episode to drop.
Please do continue to share the podcast on social media, and if you’d really like to brighten my day, leave a review on iTunes or your podcast app of choice. Or drop me a note in the comments section below, having listened on the embedded player on this page.
Gardens, weeds and words podcast, S03E01 show notes
A blend of slow radio, gardening advice and conversation, and readings from the best garden and wildlife writing.
These notes may contain affiliate links.
Garden soundtrack
Why do we build gardens? Looking back to the very first episode of the podcast and Tom Massey’s garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the Lemon Tree Trust
https://www.tommassey.co.uk/the-lemon-tree-trust-garden
Reading 05:21
Extract from How to grow your dinner without leaving the house by Claire Ratinon, published by Laurence King in 2020, read by the author. https://amzn.to/2QrpPtD
A quick catch up with Claire since the release of her book, my review of which you can find here
http://www.gardensweedsandwords.com/gwwblog/how-to-grow-your-dinner
Interview with Jennie Spears 09:42
09:42 Bristol community gardens
“Gardening is the most therapeutic and defiant act you can do. Plus you get strawberries.” Ron Finley https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerrilla_gardener_in_south_central_la?language=en
10:24 Sara Venn and Incredible Edible Bristol
11:29 Jennie’s background in horticulture
13:09 Childhood plant memories
Border Alpines, her parents’ nursery https://www.borderalpines.co.uk/
Black viola, Viola 'Molly Sanderson'
https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/82731/Viola-Molly-Sanderson-(Va)/Details
16:13 The work of the Lemon Tree Trust, and how Jennie became involved
19:10 Bringing plants from home to the camps
25:36 How gardening happens in the camps
30:59 What to do with plant surpluses – a working economy?
35:01 Food and gardening
37:13 Plumbing in the camps
38:49 “At some point, people want to LIVE”. The joy of plants
40:27 The impact of COVID on the work of the Lemon Tree Trust in Kurdistan
44:08 Upcoming projects and the best way to support the Lemon Tree Trust
46:49 A call from Jennie to get in touch if you know of any UK based refugee or migrant based gardening projects that would benefit from seeds from the Lemon Tree Trust (see below for contact details)
***
Thank you to Jennie for joining me on this episode to talk about the Lemon Tree Trust. You can find the charity’s website here with more details of their work, their campaigns and the gardeners in the camps in Iraq. https://lemontreetrust.org/about/
And on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/lemontreetrust/
You can find Jennie’s work for Bloom PR here:
Bloom PR website: http://www.bloom-pr.co.uk/
Bloom’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloom_pr_insta/
Thanks also to Claire Ratinon for joining me to talk about her book, How to grow your dinner without leaving the house.
I’m ever grateful to all my listeners for your continued support and reviews, I really do appreciate them. You can support the podcast by buying its producer a virtual cup of coffee for three quid, at https://ko-fi.com/andrewtimothyOB. Proceeds will go towards equipment, software and the monthly podcast hosting fees.
website: gardensweedsandwords.com
email: gardensweedsandwords@gmail.com
Instagram: instagram.com/AndrewTimothyOB
Twitter: twitter.com/AndrewTimothyOB
You can hear find the podcast trailer and the first four episodes here, either on iTunes or on Switcher.
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Hello! I’m Andrew, gardener, writer, photographer, and owner of a too-loud laugh, and I’m so pleased you’ve found your way to Gardens, weeds & words. You can read a more in-depth profile of me on the About page, or by clicking this image.
