Big Green Week

Our EcoVillage is gearing up in a big way to celebrate Harborough Big Green Week, we are so excited!

You know us, we're all about supporting sustainable living in a big way. (But also in many little ways too, always the easiest approach to tackling anything!).

Part of a national campaign by The Climate Coalition, Great Big Green Week is a celebration of sustainable activity and action. From 18th - 26th September, we are hosting a week filled with specialised events, to celebrate positive and accessible action on climate change.

Taking place ahead of COP26, the UN climate summit commencing during November in Glasgow. Great Big Green Week encourages communities across the country to join together, promoting positive action and helping to protect green spaces.

With the impact of extreme weather and climate change becoming increasingly visible, The Climate Coalition see this as a powerful time to highlight diverse measures taking place nationwide. This will be the biggest event combining climate and nature to date in the UK!

Celebrating all the various eco threads we have (and hope to extend!) here at the Village, we are merging these in a HUGE way for Harborough Big Green Week. We are joining forces with Sustainable Harborough Community to celebrate with lots of activities and events taking place across the town, pulling together all of our usual themes in one BIG collective week.

Here's how our week is shaping up here at the EcoVillage -

 

 

Saturday 18th September ⁠⁠- EcoVillage Favourites

• ⁠⁠The Just Shop Clothing Pop Up (9-4pm) - The Just Shop are here with a Clothing Pop Up to highlight some of the sustainable, ethical and Fair Trade enterprises they support. ⁠⁠
  
• Repair Café (10am-1pm) - The Market Harborough Fixers are with us in their usual Saturday spot, repairing all your household goods and saving them from landfill to help reduce carbon emissions.
  
• Plant & Produce Sale (9-4pm) - Our Plant & Produce Sale is back! Head Grower, Bethia, will be selling excess fruit & veggies from our own gardens & allotments, all to raise money for our Community Garden.
  
• Farrinheight Foods Pop Up (9-4pm) - Our friends Farrinheight Foods are here with a Pop Up, rustling up all their finest vegan food!⁠⁠
• Life.Ecology.Food Pop Up (9-4pm) - And we have a Pop Up in the courtyard from Life.Ecology.Food to celebrate sustainably grown food, bringing along their beautiful organic herbs.
  
• Live Music (12-1pm) - To add to the atmosphere, musician Paul Anderson from local band, Scaramouche, will be here busking in the courtyard!

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⁠Tuesday 21st September - Reducing Food Waste

• Compost Jar Activity (10-1pm) - We are running a lovely activity for children to create their very own composting jars. Layering up jars with green and brown waste, which they can watch turning into compost at home to show the process! Drop in any time throughout the morning to make yours, please bring a medium-large sized jar with you if you can.
  
• Children's Book Reading (11am) - lovely Danny will be here from Quinn's Bookshop to read ‘Somebody Swallowed Stanley’ in our Community Garden - a beautiful story about saving our seas. Please bring a picnic blanket to sit on! ⁠
• Ready, Steady, Waste Less, Cook! (4-5.30pm) - We are really excited that Alison & Clare from Two Old Goats will be heading up two teams of Villagers in a battle to create the best dish! Using produce from EcoFresh that has just passed a saleable condition, and store cupboard ingredients from Refill Revolution, to show the wonders that can be created instead of wasting produce. Watch it all unfold on our Instagram channel, and we might even have some special guests being announced very soon!

 

Wednesday 22nd September - Eco Infants

• The Kid Collective X The Nappy Gurus (9am - 4pm) - Here for an amazing Pop Up. The lovely teams from The Kid Collective and The Nappy Gurus will be on hand with their wooden and sustainably made toys, plus cloth nappies and wipes for little ones! With live demos and plenty of welcoming chat, it's going to be an amazing day upstairs in our Community Room!
• Children's Book Reading (11am) - our very own Sarah will be here to read ‘It Starts with a Seed’ in our Community Garden - a beautiful book showing how a tiny seed then supports so much good! Please bring a picnic blanket to sit on! ⁠
• Toy Swap Table (10-4pm) - leave a toy, take a toy! Do one, choose both, we're easy! Bring along a toy your little one has outgrown and pick up something that takes their eye instead! We've loved seeing all the doorstep giveaways over the last year or so (a GREAT lockdown positive!) so extending the life of perfectly usable toys and saving them from landfill is a total win.

Thursday 23rd September - Slow Fashion, Slow Drinking Special

• Slow Fashion Shopping (exact time TBC) - think all things vintage and preloved clothing, for the most cost effective, plant-friendly and stylish way to shop! We will be joined by High Vintage Shop and The Attic Dress Agency during the day.
• Clothing Repair & Care Social (exact time TBC) - Grab your sewing stash and bring them along for a little social stitching! Perfect for getting all those mends you've been meaning to do for AGES, actually done! And with lovely company too, what a winner. Our expert team will be on hand to offer advice if needed.
• Sea Changes Wine Pop Up X Duncan Murray Wines (5-8pm) - our very own Villager, and local legend, Duncan Murray will be here with his ever-popular Pop Up Wine Bar! This time with a Sea Changes special, discover all about this inspiring producer, riding the plastic-free waves and start a wine-based revolution in the industry.

 

Friday 24th September -

• EcoFika (10-11am) - we are delighted that our EcoFika is returning! Adopting the Swedish Fika custom, we will be having a very relaxed and informal session, chatting all things eco issues and sustainability steps. It's the perfect opportunity to learn, inspire and share ideas! Come on your own or with a friend to chat, drink coffee and eat cake, which is how all things should be discussed. Always.
• Electric Car Q&A (10am - 12pm) - ever wondered about owning an electric car? Wanted to know more about the pros, pitfalls and features? Then pop along on Friday morning to find out more! Join Will and his wheels, ask any questions you may have, and learn from his expertise and knowledge on all things electric cars!
• Wind-Powered Car Activity (10am - 1pm) - the perfect opportunity to nurture any hidden scientific skills and creative flair, by taking part in our Wind-Powered Car Activity! Construct your own mini car using recycled items, test your theories and then perfect your design! A great demonstration in re-imagining waste goods.

 

Saturday 25th September - Village life!

• The Great Refill Revolution Bottle Count! (9am - 4pm) - our amazing Refill Revolution team are here on a refilling frenzy to demonstrate the collective power in small steps! They'll be keeping a giant tally of each bottle refilled during the day & saved from landfill, to show the difference made collectively. Bring along your refills, join in the fun, and help to make a difference!
• Repair Café (10am-1pm) - The Market Harborough Fixers are here in their usual Saturday spot repairing all your household goods and saving them from landfill, to help reduce carbon emissions.
  
• Houseplant Pop Up (9am - 4pm) - our very own Susie from Windowsill Plants will be bringing along even more green-leafed goodies for a Pop Up in the courtyard! Here with all the expert advice and care tips, plus her ability to match you with the perfect planty pal, of course. Susie will also be doing live 'Bulb Lasagne" demonstrations! Showing you how to plant layers of bulbs in one pot, for blooms all year long in the garden! Perfect!
• Live Music (12-1pm) - EcoVillage favourite, Tracey Foster Joy, will be busking in the courtyard with her beautiful saxophone! Enjoy all the tunes from old to new whilst celebrating the end of Harborough Big Green Week.
• Macramé Workshop (9.30am - 12.30pm) - the brilliant Kuldip from GreenNest is here to share her love of macramé! Using recycled t-shirt yarn to create beautiful hanging plant pot holders, this class really demonstrates the beauty that can be created using otherwise wasted fabrics. This workshop is now full, but check here for future dates.

 

Sunday 16th September -

• Community Litter Pick (10am - 12.30pm) - meet at the EcoVillage on Sunday morning, grab a stick and a bag, and help us to keep the nearby streets, parks and river clean and tidy! A couple of hours out in the fresh air and being close to nature, plus doing good for the community and planet is an EXCELLENT way to spend a Sunday morning. Even if we do say so ourselves. Open to all!

 

We'd really love it if you joined us for any of the above events and activities! Or get in touch if you've got a great idea for next year too! Remember to tag us in all your photos on Instagram too, we'd love to see how you're joining in.