Team VON have had a busy summer visiting events up and down the country. The season started in March with the Bristol Vegan Fayre, followed by Chace Water Vegan Fayre in Cornwall, and we had several events in Manchester including MMU’s Sustainability Festival at Manchester Business School where student VON volunteers helped on our stand.
Here is some information about some of the other events we attended.
Crops not Shops’ Solstice Roots and Culture Gathering is held on a beautiful woodland site with views of Glastonbury Tor. Crops Not Shops are a growing project and their aim is to create social change by connecting people to nature through community food growing, land based education and community outreach programmes. Dan was invited to give a talk in the Sacred Earth Defenders tent.
With the launch of VON’s Vegan Organic World Map, we got the ball rolling with a VON Map Event at Cherry’s Nature Patch in Manchester, and local friends and supporters gathered to share food and ideas.
The London Permaculture Festival took place in Camden in July, and Sarah, Theresa, and Jenny engaged lots of visitors with many people interested in joining the map.
Sarah gave her inaugural talk: ‘An Introduction to Vegan Organic Growing’ at the Bristol Vegan Fayre in August, which was a great success and sparked interesting conversations with some of the event attendees.
In late July we traveled to Buddhafield Festival near Taunton, a joyful gathering of people who come together to celebrate community and connection with the land. The theme for this year’s event was With Arms Wide Open: as when a young barn owl spreads her white wings, yielding to the night air for the first time, we must ride the winds with arms wide open. Dan and Cherry were joined by Jon and Jules from Willow Way in Cornwall who helped on the VON stall. Dan’s talk ‘Transforming the Food System’ was on each day and Cherry led a workshop to build a willow sculpture workshop around our stall. Opposite our stand was Old Tree Soil, and we joined in with a fascinating biochar compost making workshop. They are growing a network of local compost makers and living soil activists sharing knowledge, inspiration and information for a regenerative future. You can find more about them by visiting the VON Map, they are near Lewes, which is close to Brighton.
In July, VON attended what is officially the world’s largest Vegan Camp Out, Dan and Lyn drove from Manchester to the festival in Oxfordshire, where we teamed up with other VON volunteers and the Vegan Land Movement crew who shared our stall. VLM’s purpose is to remove land from animal agriculture and give it back to endangered species and the earth. The VLM has been created for ALL OF US who want to help create a vegan world. Removing land from those who harm life and returning it to wildlife that desperately needs habitat to survive is a laudable and practical way to do this. The event is held on an airfield with a diverse array of food vendors, funfair rides and campaign stalls, and in the big top tents were well known speakers such as Chris Packham and Michael Greger. Mobius Loop helped provide a contrast with their Hemp Redemption stage where Dan gave two talks.
We had a great time in early August at the Green Gathering where we (Cherry and Dan) were part of a 150 people strong Permaculture community demonstrating practical future-proofing, with numerous activities and workshops including the VON stall with Cherry’s bark basket making workshops and Dan’s talk. The permaculture area was blessed with an all vegan kitchen crew who kept us fed with three amazing meals a day. There’s a lot to do at the event, with activities in the healing fields, campaign stalls, activist workshops and spoken word venues vying for attention with intimate music stages showcasing up-and-coming talent and socially conscious performers. With refreshing strolls through the Wye Valley the Green Gathering was my favourite event.
Giles Bryant (host of Veganic Gardeners Question Time) & Juliette Bryant (VON Trustee) have taken VON on the road with them to numerous events. The trusty VON banner, the informative leaflets and our excellent Growing Green magazine have been a great way to spread the veganic message – but nothing beats having conversations about veganic growing with the people we meet, supporters and newcomers alike.
Big thanks to the many volunteers who have helped at events and with the running of VON and please get in touch if you would like to get involved!