Pumpkins for Charity

We’ve enjoyed growing our own pumpkins for the last three years now. Our aim has always been to grow enough Halloween carving pumpkins for ourselves and local friends and family. The children have had their own pumpkins to nurture and carve creatively. This year, we decided that it might be a nice idea to grow a few more on our newly acquired land. Firstly, it was a bit of a tester to see how well things would grow on the plot – what challenges we might face. Secondly, we saw it as an opportunity to raise a bit of money for charity. Finally, it gave us an excuse to share our ideas with local people. The pumpkins grew really well, despite the slug issues along the way. The warm weather meant the pumpkin foliage won the battle in the end. We raised a pleasing £222 for The Brain Tumour Charity. And, in an effort to grow our community too, we got a chance to have a good chat with many of our Eastby neighbours in the October sunshine.

Pumpkins laid out just after harvesting

October 2021

Tree Planting

March 2021

We acquired just over 3.6 acres of land in March. We were not entirely sure what we were going to do with it – just that it needed to be beneficial to more than just ourselves. Looking at the land around us, we felt tree planting would be a great place to start. A friend of a friend, who happened to work for the Woodland Trust, was able to help us source 750 trees, and over the course of a week in early March, we planted oak, field maple, silver birch, rowan, hawthorn, crab apple, bird cherry, dog rose, dog wood and hazel. When I say we – that was us, and a group of our very willing friends and neighbours.