- This event has passed.
Sow Grateful: Our Biomes
Our Biomes: a microbiome health and soil art workshop at Lauriston Farm
Click here to book your free space on Eventbrite
Lauriston Farm is transforming the invisible life of North Edinburgh. Find out what that means for our health in this immersive microbiome art workshop. We’ll be painting with the soil and going on a journey with the bacteria that live there. The workshop will involve some learning activities, some embodiment and mindfulness, learning how to make paints from soil, and painting with soil-based watercolours. Eventually, the paintings will add up to make a community mural that shows ‘Our Biomes’ – our relationships with the invisible world of bacteria and what they mean for community health.
Suitable for ages 16+
This workshop is offered by Toby Pepperrell (medical doctor and wellbeing economist, currently doing research on urban farms and public health – scroll down for more about Toby).
It is free to attend but spaces are limited, so please book, and if you can no longer attend, please cancel your space so it can go to someone else.
Click here to book your free space on Eventbrite
About Sow Grateful
When we sow seeds to grow food, we continue a lifelong partnership between people, plants, pollinators and the hidden world of microorganisms in our guts and in the soil. It’s not just human hard work that makes a harvest. This is a day to celebrate the web of life we’re in.
With thanks to the Kũmatha group (allotment holders at the farm), and all the contributors, we are offering a choice of two morning workshops (ages 16+) and an open, all-ages live music gig in the afternoon…
Bring a picnic and stay for free music in the afternoon with The Black Sails Collective and singer-songwriter Mike Delaitre from around 1:30pm-3pm (the afternoon session is unlimited spaces and all-ages, no booking needed).
All the contributors to Sow Grateful are generously gifting their time for free and we are so grateful to them too.
More About Toby Pepperrell
Toby Pepperrell is a medical doctor and PhD student at the University of Stirling. His research looks at what urban agroecology means for health and places like Lauriston Farm, asking the question: How can soil microorganisms like bacteria change how we understand our bodies and our cities? The research uses art and creative writing to make sense of these complex topics in unexpected ways. Workshops like this one will be the background to a citizen science approach to understanding microbial public health and design local interventions.
Workshop Accessibility Notes
We will be in our Community Garden. The ground is rough and uneven, but there are no steps and people have navigated it in robust wheelchairs. We will mostly be outdoors – be prepared for windy north Edinburgh! There are hands on activities, but no heavy lifting. We can support a small number of vehicles to drive onto the farm to park at the entrance for this workshop – this is reserved for disabled people who need it as an access requirement – please email info@lauristonfarm.org if you need to do this (or have any other accessibility questions or requests).
~~~
‘Harvest’ image with barrow by Trina McKendrick, Written in Film