A Review of Recent Workshops

Organic Garden Program’s Training on the Rooftop Garden

On April 20 and May 11, the Shanghai Roots & Shoots Organic Garden Program Project once again launched the signature training ‘Gardening for Beginners’, and invited Kylie from New Zealand as the speaker, who has been running her own gardening volunteer program on the rooftop garden for almost a decade. Kylie covered every key point of farming basics and organized hands-on practice. All the participants learnt a lot from her. The two trainings were delivered in both English and Chinese, and 40 participants including schoolteachers and volunteer mentors joined.

Kylie started with the climate in Shanghai. According to the weather conditions in Shanghai, many details need to be paid attention when building a farm/garden, such as sunlight, temperature, wind direction, airflow and humidity. During the planting process, one shall observe the soil carefully, looking for the symptoms of wet or dry soil, to determine whether watering is needed. In addition, Kylie emphasized that planting plans are very important. A good planting plan could avoid leaving the land idle.  Arranging each planting spots based on their characteristics and placing companion flowers and herbs in the garden will improve biodiversity, reduce pests naturally and establish a more productive garden!

Green Lab Workshop | A Cup Fulfilled with Green

On World Environment Day, Shanghai Roots & Shoots brought a Moss Cup Handmade Workshop to Standard Chartered Bank. 25 participants touched nature with their fingertips and created a unique desktop micro-ecosystem.

Under the guidance of the instructor, the participants first learnt about the “moss family members” such as white hair moss and large gray moss, and was surprised by their “surviving for hundreds of millions of years”. In the hands-on session, participants picked up brushes and painted golden wheat fields, blue sky and white clouds, and water lilies, turning plastic cups into microecosystem- light stone base, nutrient soil shaping, moss laying “green carpet”… Step by Step, the participants were slowing down and concentrating on creating their own mini-world.

The participants said that they would put the moss cup on their desks to remind themselves of the flexibility of the moss. This workshop not only conveyed some knowledge about ecology but also allowed people to see the poetic beauty of life through their own moss cups.

Organic Beeswax Wrap Workshop | Little Bees Save the Plastic Planet

May 20th is World Bee Day. Shanghai Roots & Shoots organized the Organic Beeswax Wrap Workshop to celebrate it! Participants selected their favorite cotton cloth patterns, brushed melted beeswax on them by hand, and made their own beeswax wraps that can be reused 300+ time.

At the event, everyone learned a lot about bees and understood that bees are extremely important to our ecosystem and agriculture. They produce natural beeswax to build honeycombs. Beeswax is pure, waterproof and antibacterial, and is a precious material given by nature.

Making beeswax cloth not only inherits the wisdom of bees but also reduces dependence on plastics. It is washable, degradable, and can be used for a long time. Every piece of beeswax cloth is a gesture to protect the earth – reducing plastic waste and protecting ecological balance. One participant shared that, “This piece of cloth is not only wrapped in food, but also a promise to the earth.” We hope that more people will try to “replace plastic with reusable materials” to lead a more sustainable living style. 

Please let us know if you’re interested in any of the above workshops. Email: xiaoxia@srschina.org.cn