Before we take a much-needed break until the new year, we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who got involved this year: our wonderful garden volunteers, the passionate growers and seed savers that sowed and nurtured our seeds against the odds of a changing climate, our delicious supper club guests, the artists and creators who made our glasshouse shine in a new light, the visitors that joined our open days, our tours and workshops, special events like Meeting at the River or our very first Fermentation Celebration, the new and loyal readers of our partner magazine Where the Leaves Fall, and those of you who enjoy our reels and try them at home.
Whether you are new to us or have been following our journey for a while, thank you for caring. Against the huge challenges we are facing, we choose to be hopeful and have faith that the seeds we sow will find their way to the light.
JANUARY
Saturday Morning Themed Walks
Our Saturday morning series of themed walks led by different team members offered a variety of approaches to the gardens: from language to photography, art, fermentation, permaculture, invertebrate identification or conflict resolution.
FEBRUARY
School Outdoor Sessions
As part of our School Outdoor Sessions, children from a Camden School have been regularly visiting OmVed to learn more about nature's seasons, food growing and the living beings that inhabit the gardens.
MARCH
Celebrating women growers with author Alice Vincent
We marked International Women's Day with an emotive panel around Alice Vincent new publication 'Why Women Grow'.
APRIL
Poetry in Nature
Author Will Burns returned to the gardens for his popular poetry writing sessions, which aim to unlock the imaginative interactions we have with places, activating new and surprising ways of 'knowing' a space, and therefore the wider world around us.
MAY
Thrown Contemporary presents the exhibition Trace
In collaboration with specialist craft gallery Thrown and sustainably led floral art & design studio Metafleur, we presented our fifth collaboration for Chelsea Fringe, the exhibition 'Trace', featuring 12 distinctive collections exploring the marks we make.
Summer Friday Lates as part of The Chelsea Fringe Festival
'Trace' was open for three weekends, and every Friday we opened the gardens until late and welcomed a different artist to contribute to the show with their music. Thanks to Antje Lang, Michelle Cade (Mind Like Water) and Maru Jota for making their mark with their tunes.
JUNE
The Chefs Manifesto London Action Hub brought together chefs from around the world to focus on beans
A regular highlight of our year is the Chefs Manifesto SDG Action Hub, which brings together chefs from around the world to explore how they can help deliver a sustainable food system. This year saw a focus on the #beansishow campaign that highlights the benefits of eating and growing beans. A particular highlight from the gathering was hearing the inspirational Asma Khan, who joined us to share her story and wisdom and reminded us to call out prejudice, stand up for all cuisines and stamp out a history of abuse in kitchens. Watch the reel from the event here.
Meeting at the River Symposium gathers educators and Brazilian indigenous-led collective Selvagem
It was a joy and an honour to host Selvagem, an Indigenous and arts-led collective from Brazil, at OmVed Gardens in June, for a two-day education symposium. An inspiring meeting with many profound learnings and an interesting screening and Q&A held at London's Southbank Centre.
JULY
Our summer series of supper clubs showcases our kitchen's creative and zero-waste ethos
Making use of the garden's seasonal produce and the kitchen's creative ferments, our Supper Clubs continue to delight attendees and show the potential of a highly diverse plant-based diet. Here is a behind the scenes video showcasing what they are about.
OmVed Gardens features in London National Park City's billboard campaign
We were so thrilled to be a part of London National Park City campaign "Do London Differently", alongside other wonderful humans all contributing towards making London greener, healthier and wilder.
AUGUST
New creative workshops for children
A new monthly series of creative sessions for children led by artist Corrie Wingate started in August with a sun-printing wildflowers cyanotype workshop. Stay tuned for more in 2024.
SEPTEMBER
The World Food Programme discusses energy efficient school meals
The WFP is one of the world’s biggest providers of school meals, and in September they hosted a lunch to highlight a project with Loughborough University that introduced electric pressure cookers in schools in Lesotho. A global shift in how and what we cook could have a huge impact on time, cost and energy consumption.
Recording wildlife for EuroBioBlitz
Led by our ecologist Kiran, OmVed Gardens invited visitors to join an European initiative to collect information about the wildlife flourishing in our local areas, touring the gardens and identifying trees, animals, plants and insects using the free iNaturalist app.
OCTOBER
Autumn Seed Swap
October was a busy month this year, and it was exciting to see hundreds of people joining us to celebrate seeds and the practice of seed saving with a big seed swap and the presentation of our brand-new seed cleaning machine.
Fermentation Celebration
October also saw the birth of our first ever Fermentation Celebration, an event that gathered a passionate community of fermentation experts and lovers for a weekend of learning and tasty fermented treats.
NOVEMBER
OmVed at a microscopic lense
As well as getting a glimpse of the gardens in full autumnal swing, during our last open day of the year, visitors got a chance to see surprising microscopic portraits of their invisible inhabitants brilliantly captured by Will Hearle.
DECEMBER
A growing community
We finish the year with a milestone, our Instagram community has reached the mark of 30,000 followers, and it keeps growing. We are grateful that our content is appreciated, and we hope it keeps inspiring as many people as possible. Thanks for following our journey!