Forest Row Festival, Park(ing) and apples

I'm hoping the weather holds now for a couple of weeks, since we're in the final run up to the Forest Row Festival on the weekend of 4/5 October (see details on forestrow.org). There are loads of events, music, performances and film, and it's the bike ride as well on the Saturday; Hillside (the road between the village hall and Bishops) is going to be closed, so it promises to be a great opportunity for people, bicycles and horses to assert their presence.

I know Charlene and Rowena have been planning a Transition Forest Row presence at the festival, and I was attracted to the feature in yesterday's Guardian about the annual Park(ing) Day events. The concept is delightfully simple: take over a parking bay for a day or a few hours and convert it to a green space (lawn, pot plants, bench, picnic, buskers, whatever) as an alternative use of public spaces other than for cars. More information available at the Parking Day site, including their How-To manual, and a bit of legalese, since the originators of the idea want a bit of credit.

Rather regretfully, I think I'm going to have to give up my allotment; I've just got too much on and I'm trying to scale things back to manageable levels. I'm going to be better off trying to get more fruit and veg in the garden instead. Consequently, we were pleased to get a nice-looking crop off our new apple tree, which we planted last winter. It's a variety called Red Falstaff. I don't think we've picked it too early; it has a lovely edge to it, which makes it a juicy eater with a bit of a bite.

Finally, is anyone else interested in blogging about Transition Forest Row and related activities? Until I get a bit more actively involved I'd be interested to know what we're all doing.