Stroud Community Agriculture Open Day: Saturday 24 January 2009
This will be held at the walled garden at Brookthorpe Farm. Stroud Community Agriculture will be having it's regular farm workday for members that day, and so you’d be welcome to join them from 10am (remember your wellies!). There will be a farm tour with the farmer at 11.30 and shared picnic at 12.30. From 1.30 there will be a workshop .There will be a bring and share picnic with farm members at lunchtime. Booking is essential for the afternoon workshop as space is limited. Please email Charlotte Muspratt if you are interested in attending and to book a your place E: cmuspratt@soilassociation.org T: 0117 914 2423.
Click here for details of the programme

Making Local Food Work: Communities Taking Control, 30 March 2009 at Aston University Business Centre, Birmingham
Put this date in your diary for the first Making Local Food Work annual conference. Making Local Food Work is an initiative managed by the Plunkett Foundation and funded by the Big Lottery Fund.
Exploring community enterprise approaches to connecting land and people through food, the programme aims to increase access to fresh, healthy, local food with clear, traceable origins. The conference will include the best speakers, most inspiring case studies and most innovating workshops relating to local food and community enterprise. Look out for further information over coming weeks on the Making Local Food Work website. www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk

CSA Conference 2009
CSA conference at Green & Away near Worcester – 6-9 August 2009 - put it in your diary for next year!
We are organising an exciting conference next summer at the inspiring Green & Away location in Gloucestershire. It will be a great opportunity for CSAs around the country to get together to network. We will also be running technical workshops on how to develop your CSA and we'll be hearing from people already involved in successful initiatives who will be sharing their experiences with us. Watch this space for more information and how to book. Please email Charlotte Muspratt if you are interested in attending E: cmuspratt@soilassociation.org

Other Soil Association events

Soil Association master classes From keeping bees to how to make cheese, the Soil Association is offering you the chance to learn from master bakers, butchers and beeswax candlestick makers in a revival of all things rustically rudimentary to the simple joys in life.

Other Events:

Norwich, 14 January 2009 at 7.30pm
Transition Norwich are holding a CSA workshop, at the Baptist Church on Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 3AP (corner with St Mary's Plain). This is the inaugural meeting of a CSA sub-group of the Food theme group of Transition Norwich. The aim is to find out more about how CSAs work. Kirstin Glendinning from the Soil Association will give a presentation followed by a discussion on what appetite there is within Transition Norwich to begin to develop a new CSA for Norwich. Contact Tully Wakeman for details: tully@eafl.org.

Torganics CSA , Glastonbury Public Meeting, 28 January 2009, 7.00-9.00pm
Torganics in Glastonbury will be holding a public meeting in Glastonbury Town Hall. Dan Keech from the Soil Association will introduce CSA in the UK, and Colum Pawson will be talking about the possibilities in the Glastonbury area. Email Colum Pawson for more information E: torganics@hotmail.com. See their blog for more information. http://torganics.blogspot.com/

National Food Co-ops Conference
London, 2 February 2009, 10am - 4pm,
As part of the Making Local Food Work programme Sustain is organising a national food co-ops conference at 76 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT. The conference is free for volunteers and community workers but we will be charging a fee of £50 for PCTs and local authorities to help us subsidise travel costs for volunteers. Click here for more information.