A marvellous feast and much seasonal conviviality.

Great quiz by Mouse. Amid much hilarity we played 'Sorry I haven't a clue - films that would be popular with gardeners', eg. The Golden Compost and Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Bean.

Thank you to everyone who donated raffle prizes

Yet another great talk by Geoff Mead. He related the agricultural practices to the geology of the landscape and traced through time how events in the world at large influenced farming in Sussex.

Interesting fact: Sheep don't poo when they are walking.

Fascinating witches, scintillating table decorations created by Sue.

It was a great opportunity for people to chat about their successes and blight!

A fabulous clear, sunny and warm Autumn day. A relaxed get together - drank tea, ate cakes and we even managed to swap some seeds. A particular highlight was the Lemon Drizzle Cake.

Thank You, Tessa for organising this event.

Another excellent tour by Dave Bangs through some fairly secret woods near Ditchling Common. This year's fungal highlights were Stinkhorns and Earthstars.

A good outing despite generally gloomy weather. Our guide Peter gave us an excellent extended tour of the gardens including the compost bins. He seemed puzzled until we explained we are organic gardeners. We wandered through the seed bank at our own pace.

Fascinating place, well worth the trip.

We set off by minibus into the Sussex countyside for a guided tour around Hankham Organics Farm. We were shown the glass houses where the veg is grown for the organic veg boxes and their new project of rain water harvesting. A very enjoyable and educational day rounded off with tea and cake.

Thank You Miles for a very informative tour.

A wonderful summers day was spent at Ruth's allotment. A great opportunity to look round her allotment and chat to other BHOGG members.

It may have been down to the warm sunshine or possibly the advert in the weekend Argus but we welcomed more than 200 visitors to our allotment this year - a great turnout. In spite of the organisers being slightly overwhelmed by the numbers, everyone had a good day out and much cash was raised for the Moulsecoomb Forest Garden Project. We sold plants, tea and home made cakes and also ran a bric a brac stall to raise the funds, £270 in total. So thanks to everyone who helped on the day or in the week leading up to the event helping to make the site look good or who donated stuff to sell on the day.
The Bug Hunt with Dave Bangs drew the largest crowd and not all of them children. We asked Dave to particularly look for bees around the allotment and I recall him finding carder and leafcutter bees. At one point a fox appeared along one of the tracks some 50 meters or so away. This distracted the youngsters a little and a stalking posse was formed.
Later in the afternoon, Mike Russell, a local story teller, entertained us with quirky tales of hidden worlds - a calming end to a hectic day.

A very enjoyable meeting at the beautiful garden of Malcolm and Linda Kemp, our newsletter designers, a lazy afternoon of good food and idle banter.

Dispite intermittent pouring rain 30 to 40 people turned up. We swapped plants and seedlings, drank tea and ate yummy cake. Local cat dropped in to say hello.

Former resident of Findhorn Community, Clive, gave a very good talk which gave us a sense of what it is like at this spiritual community, ever famous for the giant cabbages, beautiful gardens and its relationship to nature in its many forms.

Ruth recapped on the principles of soil management, plot planning and companion planting. We then sowed seeds in modules and pricked out seedlings to take home.

There was also be a talk with Erica Pepe about planting by the moon, a system of gardening used in Bio dynamic agriculture and probably used by our ancestors for thousands of years.

A ROOM WITH A VIEW

It was a lovely mild spring day in mid March when the Bhogg allotment became home to a new living willow structure. Jackie Sweet, a local basket maker and willow expert, demonstrated the build which involved pushing willow into the ground and weaving it together to create the desired shape. With some tender care we have seen the willow grow and the initial cage like structure transforms into something akin to a giant green hedgehog.

Many thanks to Jackie Sweet for her energy and skills in seeing this structure built and we look forward immensely to her second visit in September when she will be leading a basket weaving group. Thanks also to Mouse for planting up the pond with a few native species of pond plants.

A chance to celebrate and reflect on what we have done in the last year and look forward to the next. Several good ideas for trips in the coming year.

A very enjoyable evening - where Bridget Saunders went through an A to Z of plants to Brighton (pun intended!) your garden through the cold, dark winter months.