Green Hustle, in collaboration with the Sherwood People’s Forest Project from Nottingham Open Spaces Forum, and Nottingham City Council Parks and Open Spaces, are planting Nottingham’s first “Tiny Woodland”, on Woodthorpe Grange Park on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th March 2021. It’s one of the first few such forests to be planted in the UK.
Photo credit: Paul Swift – Hustle Holt Tiny Forest site
The 1,000 saplings that volunteers will be planting on the day were paid for by donations made by festival-goers at Nottingham’s biggest multi-venue community festival, Hockley Hustle, in 2019. Hockey Hustle has been running since 2006, and Green Hustle is a new effort from the team behind it to inspire environmental change from a positive, can-do perspective.
Tiny Forests such as the Hustle Holt are an exciting development in tree planting in
urban areas. The Tiny Forest will cover an area around the size of a tennis court. Prepared with enriched and aerated soil, the young trees are planted densely, the ground around their roots is mulched, and then they are kept watered and weed-free for the following two years so that the forest can establish itself; the tightly packed trees quickly form mutually beneficial relationships with each other via mycorrhizal fungi networks.
Adam Pickering, Hockley Hustle founder and one of the directors of Green Hustle, said:
“We’re so pleased to have a hand in delivering Nottingham’s first Tiny Forest. Nottingham’s a city with big green ambitions, and we’re hoping that this tiny tennis court-sized biodiversity hub will play a small part in helping us grow a greener future, and live more harmoniously with our natural environment.”
Christine Katerere, who co-leads Green Hustle said:
“I became involved with Green Hustle as someone that cared deeply about the environment but never felt I could engage with action around climate change, it felt inaccessible. It’s honestly been a little revolution discovering everything that’s going on locally. I’ve realised that I don’t have to understand all the jargon to make a difference and that we can all play our part, one small green act at a time.”
Green Hustle started life as a virtual festival in September 2020, with funding from Arts Council England. The diverse collective hope that through organising environmental action and providing a platform for existing community-led efforts, they can inspire people to envision and work towards a greener and more equitable society.
On June 5th Green Hustle plan to hold an outdoor festival in Nottingham’s up and coming Sneinton Market area. In the vein of other events from The Hustle Collective, it will be a collaborative affair, with Nottingham community groups, artists, and sustainable businesses contributing.
Now Green Hustle working on environment-growing projects with local Nottingham schools, and working towards forming a new CIC. They are backing Nottingham City Council’s UK-leading Carbon Neutral 2028 goal, and have the support of politicians like Nadia Whittome MP and City Council leaders.
Green Hustle and Hockley Hustle
Social media:
www.instgram.com/greenhustlefest
www.facebook.com/greenhustlefest
Nottingham Open Spaces Forum
https://www.facebook.com/NottinghamOSF
Sherwood People’s Forest Project
http://nosf.org.uk/the-peoples-forest.html
Nottingham City Parks & Open Spaces
https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/parks
Tiny Forests
https://ideas.ted.com/how-to-grow-your-own-tiny-forest
Woodthorpe Grange Park history