Saturday 19 May 11am – 6pm: Edible Dalston
From 11am – 2pm you can visit the Dalston Roof Park and meet the gardeners who are growing fruit and vegetables in mini ‘allotments’ high above the Printhouse Building on Ashwin Street, supported by Get Growing, a Hackney based social enterprise that trains people how to grow food in their homes and communities.
Then you can pop across Dalston Lane to FARM:Shop, to hear more about the hydroponics and other techniques they are using to pack food growing into every inch of this terrace building, While there you can enjoy their fresh cafe produce and sample some edible flower treats.
From 2pm we’ll be cooking ‘rocket pizzas’ in the clay oven at the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, you can sample teas made from the garden’s herbs and hear about their health-giving properties, join in workshops including botanically inspired drawing with the Hackney Children’s Art School, find out about the programme for the whole show and sign up for the following weekend’s garden tours.
Sunday 20 May 3-5pm: Botanical Sun Printing
Local Dalston resident and artist/photographer Heather McDonough will lead this workshop where you’ll be able to discover camera-less photographic printing techniques. Produce cyanotype prints and discover how to make wonderful compositions from flowers and grasses found in the Eastern Curve, using this intriguing process. You will also hear about the birth of photography and photographers Fox Talbot and Anna Atkins, who made some of their earliest images using flowers and plants.
Heather has been a professional photographer for twenty years, making work for numerous public commissions and exhibitions in the UK and abroad. She is also a senior lecturer in photography at London Metropolitan University.
There is a £5 charge for this workshop. Places are limited so please register at info@dalstongarden.org