'Blooming marvellous!' That's what the people of Middlesbrough will say when they taste the delights of their own home-grown food.

Over the past week dozens of local community groups, school children and young people started planting herbs, onions, lettuce, pumpkins and peas under the guidance of Stuart Dexter, Groundwork development manager for Middlesbrough, and his team.
During the next stage of the project, 100's of containers, thousands of litres of soil and thousands of herbs and plants are being delivered to various locations around the town.

Along with Middlesbrough's Deputy Mayor Bob Kerr, Dott 07 visited the Berwick Community Allotments to see the banquet of greenery for ourselves.

Designers are back in school - and loving it!

Since April designers, from a range of disciplines, have been busy arranging diaries and timetables with teachers across the North East of England.

Options' Service Designer, Jenna Singleton, had a creative afternoon at Longbenton Community College. Architect, Michael Atkinson, from Newcastle-based company Purves and Ash visited Lord Lawson of Beamish School in Gateshead. Check out the Dott blog for updates.

Next month, designer, Sebastian Conran will spend the day at a school in the North East.

Who designs your body?

From prosthetic body parts to smart textiles or wearable computing, this exhibition will look at the shrinking divide between us and the technology we use. There will be computers designed to help elderly people or perform operations and devices designed to connect our bodies and minds to communication networks.

Me or Machine will invite you to discuss 'Is this the future we want?'. There’ll be encounters and conversations at every turn.

Our Cyborg Future: Me or Machine? The Discovery Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne, from 10 August - 27 October, and it's FREE!

May has been jam-packed with Dott events. We've had a special mapping weekend with the Mapping the Necklace team in Durham, a scrumptious dinner at Belsay Hall and everyone's favourite Pecha Kucha returned to Newcastle for round two. If you missed the fun and frolics, find out what happened in our archive of events.

There's no Explorers Club in June, but make a note of 12 July: then we'll have a special one-day event on sustainable tourism that kicks off our ten day design camp.

If you would like invited to future Dott events, drop Claire an email with Dott Events in the subject line.

Vocational learning has emerged as the hottest topic within Walker Technology College that needs addressed in the OurNewSchool project.

Engine ask, 'What systems and resources are needed to provide a range of vocational options sustainably?'

The benefits to the school having their own, co-designed, vocational learning zone are numerous. They range from greatly reducing the time wasted travelling to outside vocational learning facilities, to providing more choice and better opportunities for pupils.

Joe and Julia will be back in Walker working with the co-design team next month.

What should professional designers do with the lessons being learned in Dott 07?

Dott, Northumbria University, and the Design Council, will host a national conference on design practice in October. ‘Intersections 07: design know-how for a new era’ aims to engage the global design community in an inspiring discussion of the skills required for future world-class design practice.

The two day event will take place at the Baltic, Newcastle upon Tyne, on 25 and 26 October 2007, during the two week Dott 07 Festival.

Tickets: earlybird price £250 + VAT until 1 July 2007. Full price £300 + VAT. Sign-up to be alerted when tickets go on sale.