2022 has been an exciting year for OmVed. Check what kept us busy this year:
APRIL
OmVed Gardens features on the BBC Two Gardeners' World
Our Head of Urban Growing Vicky Chown talked about OmVed's permaculture practice and growing ethos with Frances Tophill from BBC Two Gardeners' World. Click here to watch and fast forward to minute 7:20 to see OmVed's feature.
MAY
RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Our Saving Seed Pavilion at RHS Chelsea Flower Show told the story of why saving seed is important, how we grow at OmVed and how we can use seeds in food preparation to enhance our diets. We were thrilled to win a silver medal!
Chelsea Fringe: The Wild Collective Chelsea Fringe is a celebration of gardens. In collaboration with specialist craft gallery Thrown, we contributed to their programme with the exhibition “The Wild Collective” and invited people to join a programme of events celebrating all things wild and collective.
JUNE Thematic Supper Clubs June was the start of our Chef Jo March monthly Thematic Supper Clubs. June's edition was dedicated to Seeds, July's to Wildflowers and September's to our bountiful Harvest. See some beautiful pics of the different events here.
Chef's Manifesto Nutritionists, experts, farmers and chefs from across the globe came together to kick start the Chef's Manifesto #goodfoodforall ‘Beans is how’ Campaign advocating for how eating beans is an affordable, accessible solution to the world’s growing health and climate challenges.
WtLF presents: The Fermentation Jar Live with Sandor Katz Fermentation expert and book author Sandor Katz took part in the first edition of The Fermentation Jar, a Where the Leaves Fall magazine series in which chef Jo March meets with fermentation experts for a conversation - putting their thoughts, experience and philosophies in the jar to see what manifests.
JULY Saving Seed Pavilion Opening at OmVed Our RHS Chelsea Flower Show Exhibition and Pavilion reopened to the public at OmVed Gardens in July. The exhibition received more than 700 visits over the summer and the pavilion will stay at the gardens permanently to host more exhibitions and events.
SEPTEMBER OmVed Outdoor Classrooms kick off In partnership with one Camden School, we have embarked on a pilot educational project throughout 2022/23 to examine whether children can benefit from spending time outside in nature learning from experts in their field about how growing nutritious food depends on a healthy ecological environment. Our aim is to encourage them to appreciate the intricate web of diverse life that supports a healthy environment and how they are part of that.
Festival of Seeds On 25 September, we hosted the Festival of Seeds at OmVed Gardens, a day of seed swapping, seed saving, talks, music and food system rebellion. See the highlights here.
OCTOBER Food Citizenship Workshop We were thrilled to host the Food Ethics Council for a workshop with author Jon Alexander which challenged us to think of ourselves as ‘citizens’ rather than ‘consumers’. Check the highlights from the event here.
NOVEMBER Nature Rights Artists Flora Gregory and Natalie Koffman unravelled the story of humans’ relationship with Nature: from ancient times to the present day. The event invited visitors to watch, read, question, talk, listen and Imagine a future where Nature has rights. Check some image highlights and feedback here.
UK School Meals Network Best Practices On November 8, under the impetus and oversight of Prof Donald Bundy at the School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine, the Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition, together with WFP UK,
launched a case study on the UK’s school meals programmes. By working with experts from each of the four devolved nations of the UK, the Consortium developed four individual case studies on school meals using a standardised template. A summary of the headline findings from across all four nations was then developed.
DECEMBER Thematic Walks Most weekends during Autumn and Winter, a member of our team will lead a different walk through the gardens to offer an insight into their field of expertise. November and December saw our Chef Jo, our ecologist Kiran and our founder Karen lead walks. Check our Events to discover what we have in store for next year!
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us for the journey and shared our special moments together, online and in person.
We can’t wait to see what 2023 brings!
