Oak Tree Sustainable Living Centre will be a place for people to learn self-sufficiency and sustainability skills. We will offer short one day and longer residential courses focusing on a wide range of skills including: permaculture gardening, humane beekeeping, basic plumbing and electrics and eco-building. We will offer these courses at full price to the general public and use the profits to subsidise the same courses for hard to reach or marginalised groups such as people from the LGBT+ and BAME communities, people with disabilities, those on low incomes, the homeless and refugees and asylum seekers. We will also host repair cafes and a zero waste pop-up shop in conjunction with established community groups and businesses and become a drop-off point for recyclable items that aren't collected by the council.
We aren't up and running yet but the plan is to find a plot of land near to Leeds and convert several recycled shipping containers in to use as a kitchen and cafe, a shower block using rainwater harvesting and a loo block using composting loos. A mini-festival will launch the centre to generate income and give local people the chance to come and sample some taster sessions and mini courses. From there we will take bookings for the longer courses. All courses will be facilitated by qualified practitioners hires by the centre.
The cafe will provide food for those attending our courses as well as hosting the repair workshops and other appropriate community groups/events.
