Join us on 6th – 8th March 2020! A weekend of workshops, skill shares, talks and a party too of course! We are a worldwide community of land workers that build and modify our own tools. We share our hacks online and at meet ups like this because we become better when we work together. If you enjoy; tinkering with tools and tech, learning new skills and social weekends with like-minded people this weekend is for you.
The weekend is set to include a number of ‘live’ build projects, skills shares, presentations and demonstrations with a party on the Saturday night full of live music and cheer. Think wheelbarrow flame weeder (before the beer begins!), solar kiln, ram pump and seedbed roller.
About the farm hack community worldwide: https://farmhack.org/tools
Proposed skill share / workshops
Edge tool sharpening and maintenance. Leeds Coppice Workers
Making Ash handles for tools. Leeds Coppice Workers
Grafting fruit trees. Ben Lawson Mean Wood Valley Urban Farm
Scything grass and honing/peening blades. Luke Justice (MVUF)
Building and running a Biochar stove for a market garden and household. Ed Revil
Open source software for mapping land use and ownership, an introduction and live demo with R and QGIS by Robin Lovelace
Designing an agrarian commune – Cath Muller
Architecture for a regenerative land and life – Ed Revil
Long wheelbase bike trailers – Demo
Starting a micro dairy- Josh from North Aston Dairy will share how they make a viable business with 18 cows employing 2.5 full time staff.
Screen Printing – We will be screen printing t-shirts with the farm hack logo, make your own!
Sheath making using tractor inner tubes – Joy Justice
Hay Box / wonder bags – Andy Goldring and Joy Justice
Soil blocks for seedling propagation – Have a go wit Ladbroke Soil Blockers and learn from our experiments with different mixes.
Compost Tumbler – Have a go with a DIY large volume compost sieve – a rotating mesh drum on frame above wheelbarrow.
Proposed live design projects
Flame weeder (continued from previous farm hack)
Seedbed Roller – Bike wheel version of Jony’s Selected Seeds roller.
Solar Kiln for drying fire wood.
Passive pump from stream up to pond (Ram pump or similar).
Super insulating a produce display fridge to cut energy use by 50%.
Leek dibbler – Make your own dibbler that can space 3 lines of leeks and punch the holes like a broad fork.
Quick hoop pipe bending – Bend old poly tunnel frame into a double bed mini hoop for floating row covers. Want to make your own to take away? Get in touch to order some metal pipes to turn into hoops.
We are coming together to form community over the weekend and rely on contributions from participants. If you have a project that you would like to work on, skills you would be up for sharing, produce we can eat or products to sell please get in touch via farmhackuk@mailo.com
The itinerary is a work in progress but you can view it here:
https://calc.allmende.io/wmw7n8bfdq
You can input into the process, or keep track of the latest here
http://forum.goatech.org/t/leeds-farm-hack-march-2020-co-ordination/702?u=mvuf_veg
Ticket Prices
Tickets are available to buy on the LWA shop page. All tickets include a hot lunch and Saturday night entertainment. There is a dinner for Friday and Saturday tickets. The cafe on the farm will be catering vegan and meat options please fill in your dietary requirements HERE
Sleeping and Access.
There are communal sleeping spaces in heated rooms of the farm. If this is not accessible for you then we can host a small number in houses of organizers or local housing co-ops. There is no shower facility on the farm if this is an important access requirement for attending we can ask a household to host you.
There are disabled toilets and a lot of the site is wheel chair accessible.
£55 Friday – Sunday (Sleeping space and breakfast included)
£50 Friday – Sunday (No sleeping / breakfast)
£45 Saturday – Sunday (Sleeping space and breakfast included)
£40 Saturday and Sunday (No sleeping and breakfast)
£35 Saturday only
£20 Sunday Only
If you can’t afford a ticket, but would like to join us for the weekend, please contact us at veg@mvuf.org.uk to enquire about subsidised places.
Getting to Meanwood Valley Urban Farm.
The address of the farm is
Meanwood Valley Farm Sugar Well Rd, Leeds LS7 2QG
Leeds train / coach station
Bus 51 or 52 from New Market Street (stop V1)
Getting off at: Meanwood Rd Buslingthorpe Lane. (13min)
Cross the road using the traffic lights. Walk away from Meanwood Road over a small water way and turn left Walk for 13min along footpath along the valley bottom and you will arrive at the farm.
View directions from Leeds station here