Hilltop Gardening Club July 7th - Heather Collins - The Blackness Banks Nature Reserve

What might have been a parochial talk about three local uncultivated fields totalling a modest 8 hectares, via our guide Heather Collins, became expansive as Blackness Banks Nature Reserve’s importance as a ‘key stepping-stone’ in linking diverse habitats along the Golden Valley was revealed. A self-confessed Map geek Heather, with infectious enthusiasm and armed with 1880s OS maps showed uncultivated land little changed across 140 years. Shepherding us across the steep south-facing limestone bank with a terrain unsuitable for anything but occasional rough-grazing the ecological significance of the site was soon uncovered. Well-illustrated, we were inducted into the work of stoic volunteers who survey, monitor and manage the at times challenging site. Heather’s personal experience of monthly transect walks from March to October fascinating stuff. Blackness Banks has a remarkable 65 species of flowering plants and 30 species of butterflies. Occasionally needing time to ‘chill’ Heather can be found watching a single flower’s insectivorous visitors for 10 minutes at a time and recording her findings. Systematic surveys pick up early warning signs of decline. Such close attention to looking and detailed recording put me in mind of early ecologist Gilbert White’s 18^th century ledgers and journals and fascination with new technologies such as barometers. He would no doubt be in awe of the national data bases that ‘an army of boots on the ground‘ citizen scientists, botanists and birdwatchers collect using Apps such as iRecord and Merlin. New volunteers at Blackness Banks are welcome! Members’ numerous questions and contributions were welcomed by our absorbing, engaging speaker.

Pam Meecham



5^th May.  Speaker, Kevin Alviti “Our Homestead & How We Got Here”.

Many aspired to ‘the good life’ inspired by River Cottage and self-sufficiency guru John Seymour, but we rarely hear first-hand, lived-experience relayed with such energy and humour as our speaker Kevin Alviti was able to conjure. His account of growing-up on a hard-pressed tenant farm within a mantra of self-reliance, coupled with being a ‘useful child’ with early live-stock farming responsibilities, proved formative. Post-school our speaker found his vocation in a carpentry course considered then an inferior option to a university degree. Undaunted Kevin became a carpenter by trade, working with traditional and medieval skills. Combining woodwork with those farming foundations from childhood, Kevin, wife and family have created their Homestead: a small holding with big ambitions. Adept at adapting to change, recycling, rebuilding and repurposing land and buildings, the family created orchards and fruit and veg beds beyond the quotidian: variety evidently is key to self-sufficiency. Mixing child-care and woodworking with the Homestead’s hard-graft of planting, foraging and preserving, cooking is a combined family enterprise. If this sounds against the grain of contemporary life, the reality is anything but an isolated rural idyll. At the core of Kevin’s life and work is a commitment to family and to the wider communities beyond the Homestead’s self-reliance perspective.  From contributing to play-groups, being a scout leader, mentoring and schools, Kevin and family are also integrated into the wider-community. A blogger, lecturer and writer for woodworking magazines, Kevin arrived with beautifully carved and well-designed wooden tools and harvest boxes for sale. An entertaining and uplifting evening. We look forward to hearing more about the unusual fruit and veg that Kevin grows in our programme next year.  

Pam Meecham