Ben Fogle to carry Olympic Flame at Eden on Saturday

Presenter, writer and adventurer Ben Fogle will be carrying the Olympic Flame in our helium-filled balloon in our Rainforest Biome on Saturday 19 May.

He is one of thousands of torch-bearers who will carry the Flame on its journey around the UK, starting at Land’s End on the morning of 19 May, travelling through Cornwall that day and eventually arriving at the Olympic Stadium in London on 27 July.

The Olympic Torch is due to arrive at Eden at around 4.20pm, stop outside the Visitor Centre, where the flame will be transferred into a lantern, and transported to the Rainforest Biome, where it will soar 50m in the air, held aloft by Ben.

Ben said: “I am thrilled to be one of the Torchbearers for London 2012 in such an iconic location. To be flying the Flame in a helium balloon within the dome is a great honour and a great treat. It will certainly be an experience I won’t forget.”

As well as the chance to see the Olympic Flame in our unique setting, there will be a whole day of activities for families who want to have a day out at Eden around the visit of the Flame:

• Freaky Nature, a series of interactive activities exploring the strange world of plants with a special Olympic theme focusing on nature’s gold medallists (all day).
• Cornish wrestling displays (11.30am, 1.30pm, 2.30pm),
• performances of traditional sea shanties from the Barrel Rock Boys (12.30pm, 3.30pm)
• dance demonstrations (1pm, 2pm, 3pm)
• Eden sports day in the arena between 11am and 4pm, featuring events such as hobby horse dressage, bean bag shot put and an obstacle course relay.
• Marketplace of Ideas, a chance for visitors to find out more about community projects from Eden and other groups.

The Eden Project will be open from 9.30am on 19 May and standard admission prices will apply. See full details of the day on the Eden website.

About Ben Fogle

Ben’s achievements include racing 160 miles across the Sahara desert in the notorious Marathon Des Sables. He has rowed the Atlantic Ocean in 49 days and crossed Antarctica in a foot race to the South Pole. He has also presented numerous programmes including BBC’s Animal Park, Wild In Africa, Countryfile, Crufts, One Man and His Dog and Extreme Dreams.

He writes regularly for the Sunday Telegraph and the Independent and has written five bestselling books. Ben’s latest book, The Accidental Adventurer is out now. He is an ambassador for WWF, Medecins Sans Frontieres and Tusk, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the President of the Campaign for National Parks.

Olympic Torch Relay route animation

Watch the Flame whizz through Eden in the amazing computer-generated animation.

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Win a luxury garlic hamper or two tickets to the Eden Project this Father’s Day

Dads usually get the raw end of the deal. After a lifetime of hard slog, tolerance and unlimited car rides we typically say thank you each year with a new pair of socks or a comedy mug. How about looking beyond the high street for gifts for dad this Father’s Day with something a little more unusual, ethical and thoughtful.

To celebrate Father’s Day on Sunday 17 June we’re giving away a free luxury garlic hamper from our webshop; a delectable collection of all things garlic. This sustainable wicker hamper is packed with artisan chutneys, marmalades, mayonnaise and a hot smoked garlic bulb. Perfect for garlic lovers.

We’re also giving away two tickets for a memorable day out at the Eden Project, enabling two lucky people to explore our stunning gardens, visit the world’s largest rainforest in captivity and discover our world-class sculptures.

How to enter

To be in with a chance to win our popular garlic lovers hamper or a two tickets to the Eden Project, all you have to do is place any order on our webshop before Sunday 17 June and we’ll automatically enter you in to the prize draw.

Prize draw terms and conditions

• The first name drawn at random after the closing date will receive the prize as detailed above.
• The prize is non-refundable, non-transferable and subject to availability. No alternative prize will be offered and there is no cash alternative.
• The draw is not open to employees of The Eden Project, their families, its agents or anyone professionally connected with the prize draw.
• All shop orders must be received by 9am on 17 June 2012. The winner will be notified by email after the closing date.
• By entering this competition you are giving the Eden Project permission to contact you at a future date. You can unsubscribe from this service at any time.
• Prize draw open to all UK residents. Entrants must be over 16 years of age.

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How to attract butterflies to your garden

Saturday 2 June, National Butterfly Awareness Day, will see a celebration of these beautiful creatures across the UK. What better time to start shaping your garden to be a hive of activity for bumble bees, butterflies and birds?

These delicate creatures certainly brighten up the garden with a flurry of colour, but they also play a crucial role in our ecosystem.

Why are butterflies so important?

They help to pollinate our fruit and vegetables, providing us with food. Second only to bees, they help to put about 10% of our food on the table. And they don’t just increase the quantity of the food we harvest; the quality of food is much better when it comes from a countryside that is rich, flourishing and full of butterflies and bees. This is because they pollinate our fruit and vegetables, spreading seeds and ensuring the best yield. Vegetables that are well pollinated will even stay fresher for longer and keep a better shape.

We know how healthy our ecosystem is by looking at the butterfly population, as their delicate existence depends on so many other factors. Think of them as being the canary in the coal-mine for indicating early stages of environmental problems.

So what’s the problem?

Research from the Butterfly Conservation shows that nearly three quarters of the UK’s resident butterfly population is in decline. Butterfly Conservation President, Sir David Attenborough, says, ‘If all butterflies were to become extinct, the damages to us would be incalcable.’ He explains that, ‘Small birds feed on caterpillars, so if you have fewer caterpillars you get fewer small birds. The ecosystem is incredibly fragile and complex. If you break one relationship in the food chain, there are significant echoes down the rest of the ecosystem.’

What can I do about it?

Take charge of our butterfly stocks and create a butterfly-friendly garden. You don’t need a vast area to attract butterflies – a patio or path will do. Here are a few simple steps to create a butterfly breeding ground.

Plant the right seeds and grasses for caterpillars

To attract butterflies, it helps to start off with encouraging caterpillars to breed. Believe it or not, caterpillars are fussy eaters. If they don’t have the right type of leaf to eat, they’d rather starve than vary their diet with another leaf. Plant caterpillar-friendly plants and they’ll lay their eggs on these particular leaves (and not your cabbages), happily transforming into butterflies. These plants are a caterpillar’s delight:

Plant a garden awash with colour

Plant in clumps of colour, as this will gain butterflies attention more than isolated flowers. Butterflies’ are particularly attracted to pinks, purples and yellows so think pink flowering clematis, the aptly named butterfly bush (buddleia), rosemary with its beautiful blue flowers, and lavender. We sell a collection of butterfly seeds specifically selected to attract and sustain butterflies in your garden.

Create a butterfly sunbed

Did you know that butterflies need to be between 28-38 degrees Celsius, and that they struggle to fly when they’re too cold or hot? That’s why butterflies love sunbathing on large flat stones that have spent all day absorbing the sun. In your garden, it’s really helpful if you leave a few flat stones around in sunny south facing positions sheltered from the wind to give them a nice warm resting place.

Put up a butterfly home

Our butterfly and moth habitat has been designed to be irresistible to butterflies. The feed tray has been covered in ultra-violet paint, which encourages them to come closer. You can put a sugar / water solution in here, or fruit and flowers such as lavender. It’s also safe for butterflies and moths to sleep in over winter.

Brush up on your butterflies

‘Attracting Butterflies to your Garden’ explains about the different types of butterflies, the plant species that attract them and the right food plants for caterpillars. There’s also a chapter all about getting the best photographs of butterflies, so you can capture their breathtaking diversity of colours. In this book, you’ll learn the basics of butterfly life-cycles, preferred habitats, human impact on populations, breeding and overwintering.

Avoid using nasty chemicals

Most of those harmful chemicals that get rid of garden pests also get rid of butterflies. Instead, try coir compost. It’s naturally insect and pest-resistant, while encouraging your plants to grow healthily. Coir is a wonderfully sustainable product, as it’s made out of the inner coconut husk – a by-product that would usually be thrown away.

Encourage others to get involved

We’ve got a range of butterfly gift bags on our webshop brimming with all you need to attract butterflies to the garden. This jute bag comes with a colourful butterfly feeder, food for butterflies to give them all the nutrients they need, and a mix of bright wildflower seeds chosen for their high nectar content. A perfect gift for butterfly lovers.

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Join the Eden schools team at the Sunday Times Festival of Education

We’re delighted to have been asked to take our own brand of learning to the Sunday Times Festival of Education on the 23–24 June 2012, dubbed the ‘Educational Glasto’.

We’ll be rubbing shoulders with the likes of David Starkey, Lord Adonis and our very own Tim Smit, who are discussing aspects of education in all its glory at Wellington College in Berkshire.

You’re most likely to find the schools team, however, running around in the mud (yes, just like Glastonbury) delivering a practical session on taking the curriculum outdoors, a subject close to our hearts.

Working in the beautiful 500-acre grounds of Wellington College, we’ll be running activities for teachers that will help them encourage young people to look again at the world around them – for example writing poems outside, creating stories, doing maths with nature, and making beautiful natural art.

We’re aiming to show teachers that teaching outside can be quick, easy and effective, and that it will add depth, quality and meaning to a child’s learning experience. It doesn’t need a lot of planning resources or paperwork – and is also a lot of fun.

If you can’t come to the festival, then why not book a place on our outdoor learning teacher training day here at Eden Project on 28 September 2012, a whole-day course dedicated to these same issues?

By Bran Howell

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10 tips for gardeners in May from the Eden Project

Video: 10 tips for gardeners in May from the Eden Project

1. Harvest rhubarb to eat.
2. Now the frosts have passed, plant out bedding plants.
3. Remove weeds by hand, or perhaps with a hoe.
4. Protect strawberry plants from rain splashing up against them by surrounding them with straw.
5. Put in supports, such as cane wig-wams or twiggy sticks, for climbers and herbaceous plants.
6. Control pests by using other insects that feed on them.
7. Sow annual wildflowers in gaps.
8. Encourage bushy growth from plants propagated last autumn by pinching out the tips.
9. Take cuttings from and propagate tender perennials.
10. Amid all the many jobs, don’t forget to take some time out and enjoy your garden!

With thanks to Catherine Cutler.

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Seeds of a solution for rainforests?

Deep inside our tropical quarantine, some precious seeds are germinating; ones which could hold a solution to the deforestation caused by slash-and-burn agriculture.

They’re from the Inga plant, a fast-growing tropical tree that subsistence farmers in Honduras, Central America, are being encouraged to grow as a way of reclaiming land exhausted by slash-and-burn farming.

Slash and burn is the practice of cutting and burning forest to create fields, and while it can be effective in sparsely populated areas, intensive cropping can drain the soil, meaning farmers have to move on to repeat the process on virgin forest elsewhere.

What makes Inga edulis so special is that it has been shown to rehabilitate abandoned, infertile land, adding nitrogen to the soil and encouraging beneficial fungi to grow.

UK charity the Inga Foundation is educating and supporting Honduran farmers to grow Inga trees in rows on tracts of land, in between which they can cultivate other crops such as beans and corn, or even high-value spices like vanilla or pepper.

This ‘alley cropping’ technique requires trees to be planted close together and pruned heavily to allow in the light. It works so well because when the Inga trees drop their leaves they not only smother weeds, but also provide a rich mulch for the crops below. What’s more, the sweet, pulpy flesh surrounding the Inga seeds taste delicious.

Our own Inga seeds were harvested in Honduras by the Inga Foundation’s Mike Hands, who plucked them from the tree as they ripened and brought them over to our nursery just in time for them to germinate.

Once they’ve grown big enough we’ll be planting them in our Rainforest Biome, where visitors will be able to see alley cropping first hand and learn about the potential it has to reduce pressure on tropical forests.

Find out more about Inga on the Inga Foundation website.

With thanks to Neville Evans

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Eden hosts China clay film screening

On Saturday 28 April we’ll be hosting a screening of ‘Days of Clay’, a selection of archive film of the china clay industry, some of which has rarely been seen.

The film, featured recently on BBC Spotlight, has been put together by Wheal Martyn, China Clay History Society and Azook CIC to help communities in the Clay Country explore their cultural identity.

The film will include historic footage and oral history recordings of local people who worked and lived within china clay industry, mainly from the 1930s to the 1970s. A compilation of archive photographs will also be on display.

Eden’s a fitting venue for the screening as it was built within a disused clay pit, known locally as Bodelva, which had been mined until 1998 when it reached the end of its working life.

Admission to the screening is free and pre-booking is advised. Places can be booked by calling 0845 0509 429 or by emailing enquiries@azook.org.uk. Doors open at 7pm and the show will start at 7.30pm. Refreshments will also be available.

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Spring Fayre in St Austell

This weekend St Austell will be hosting its first annual Spring Fayre.

There’ll be arts and crafts, delicious locally produced food and drink, plus live music and entertainment. Families will also be able to get involved in green-fingered activities including a flower show and a ‘flower power’ parade.

We’re supporting the event with storytelling at the Eden Cafe on Saturday, and the Big Green Bus will be in Biddicks Court on Sunday with a member of our Pollination Team entertaining children throughout the day.

Spring Fayre details

Entry is free and events will be taking place in the town centre on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 April 2012, between 10am and 4pm.

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Free green building event at Eden 17 May

If you’re interested in green building and sustainable construction, whether you work in the industry or are planning to retrofit your home, come along to Green Build Cornwall on Thursday 17 May 2012.

Organised by Cornwall Sustainable Building Trust, the event is a chance to find out what green building options are now locally available, and to get the latest news on emerging companies in the renewable energy and green construction sectors in Cornwall.

On the day there’ll be:

• Stalls from green building and energy companies, where visitors can learn about cutting-edge technologies and speak to experts.
• Short seminars on subjects such as energy in buildings and integrating renewables into construction.
• ‘Ask an Architect’ sessions with RIBA South West (Royal Institute of British Architects). If you already have plans, bring them along with you to one of these free half-hour sessions with a local architect. (Please book for these – see below.)

Visitors can also find out about the Green Build Hub, an exciting project by Cornwall Sustainable Building Trust due to be built at Eden. Currently seeking planning permission, the energy-efficient centre is designed to be a test bed for building elements such as walls, windows, living roofs and renewable energy systems.

The Green Build Hub would also demonstrate what can be achieved in Cornwall to improve the sustainability of construction, and collaborators would also be able to use the facility for training and to engage with the public. Many of these collaborators will be at the event.

Eden’s Sustainability Manager Caron Thompson said: ‘The interest in building sustainably is increasing rapidly and Cornwall is well placed to be a leader in this field so we are delighted that this event is being held at the Eden Project. It’s a great opportunity for visitors to Eden to see some of the fantastic work and innovation going on in and around Cornwall.’

How to register for the event 
Green Build Cornwall is free and open to all. Please
register online or, to book a session with an architect, contact CSBT on 01726 64651 or claire@csbt.org.uk

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Rainforest debate rages at Eden

A lively audience packed out Eden’s Gallery last week for a fascinating rainforest debate chaired by George Alagiah, ‘Are the rainforests for sale?’

The debate sparked discussion on solutions to deforestation, ranging from global financial incentives to sustainable palm oil to ecotourism.

The expert panel, who had some 150 years of combined experience working in rainforests and campaigning for their protection, shared their infectious passion for these incredible places and revealed a bit about what inspired them to devote their lives to this cause.

The audience heard how a chance encounter with a three-toed sloth in Panama first got Andrew Mitchell [picture above], now Executive Director of the Global Canopy Programme, hooked on rainforest protection and canopy exploration.

He’d bought the animal off a local market seller who was about to sell it for meat. Having rescued the tenacious sloth he released it back to the wild; as he watched it climb slowly and majestically up to the top of the trees he knew he needed to find out more about the rainforest canopy and the amazing life it holds.

Some considered questions from the audience got the speakers offering their take on pressing topics.

Emma Rundle from South Devon College asked about palm oil: ‘I try to avoid using palm oil as I know it causes rainforest destruction, but what are the alternatives?

Andrew Mitchell explained that ‘Palm oil itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s important that it’s sustainably produced palm oil. At the moment this is more expensive so very few people use it. We need to support sustainable production and understand the real cost of cheaper palm oil; environmental destruction.’

The panel also mentioned the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, a consortium of groups working together to promote the growth and use of sustainable palm oil

Eden’s Fiona Dunsmore asked what penalties companies faced if they were found operating illegally in protected rainforests areas.

Simon Counsell, Director of the Rainforest Foundation UK, explained that the real problem is that there is no way to enforce laws and penalties. National laws are undermined by corruption, whilst fines for illegal logging are small in comparison to the profits logging companies make, and are rarely enforced.

Fierce debate ensued from the floor and the panel over whether the law of ecocide should be introduced. ‘Ecocide’ refers to holding individuals or companies legally accountable for large scale environmental destruction or over consumption of non-renewable resources. It proposes a system being put in place that would be the equivalent of the International Courts of Justice in the Hague, to deal with ecological crimes.

Two thirds of the audience voted in favour of recognising ecocide as a crime, but there were more doubts over how it would be implemented.

The evening ended with an important question from Chris Salisbury: ‘What is the most useful action an individual can do or make at a personal level, to sustain the rainforests?’

‘Use less stuff,’ said Simon Counsell, Chief Executive of the Rainforest Foundation, who suggested that we need to be more careful about sourcing products from rainforests, on a large scale.

‘Start a revolution!’ was Andrew Mitchell’s answer. He believes we need to use the power of the internet to create a social revolution and campaign on rainforest protection.

Plant specialist Professor Sir Ghillean Prance FRS insisted that: ‘We must be politically active. This is one of the most important things we can do.’

By Robyn Cummins

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