last week on a particularly rainy Tuesday while sitting in the greenhouse Anne and i thought we would cheer ourselves up by remembering all the things we've planted and harvested during our first 8 months on plot 33 (much better then going out and continuing to clear and level the ground for the new shed) We made a list with 40 different fruits and vegetables on it then patted ourselves on the back and went home it was a very full week last week :)

As part of the Greening Stoke Project I was given the opportunity to draw a set of doors for one of the entrances into St Marks Church in Hanley which had temporarly been boarded up during restoration.
Saturday 17th June, I joined Anne and Rachel up at St Mark's church for the Greening St Mark's event where I met Lynne and Rev. Phillip and discovered more about the church and it's restoration which was really interesting. 
It was a busy day, Rachel and Anne were also running art workshops for visitors to decorate their own tin can planters, planting seeds and plants to take home and adding some bright new additions along the gate as well as two planters beneath.
During an earlier vist I had taken a few photos of the doors and drawn some sketches making a stencil to paint with. With help from Rachel, Anne, Kim and the lovely sun the outlines were painted and dried quickly.
It was always going to be difficult to incorporate every aspect of the church so I started with the shape and structure of the other doors. I was immedietly drawn to the arched nine segment door and the colour pink from the other doors.
To decorate the doors, I added white roses, a symbol of peace and hope for the future, slowly growing around the door and a dove ,who act as messengers and are symbols of love, peace , in a significant place above the door offering guidance and shelter. I included the smaller animals interacting underneath to reflect the sense of community.
More than anything I wanted to create a friendly, welcoming entrance for people to enter through.
I really enjoyed working as part of the team and meeting some lovely people.
Thank you Anne and Rachel and everyone involved for the oppourtunity.
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So things have been crazily busy for the past month and we seem to have missed a few posts! We've run our first public drop in workshop since the pandemic started, a greening workshop at St Marks church (there's a post in the pipeline about this). Anne has set-up, invigilated and taken down an exhibition. We've collected a shed kindly donated by Allan and got it back to plot 33 ordered wood to make a few repairs to it before we put it up. Run banner making workshops and written 3 funding bids. Plus run our weekly Wonder Women session at the plot along with the day to day maintenance that takes place on an allotment weeding, watering, harvesting and planting and very occasionally we've just sat and had lunch caught our breath and marveled at how quick pumpkins grow. 
so here are some photos for you to enjoy and we'll try and keep on top of the posts 
​promise