Harvest News

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Harvest News Roundup for April 2012

Queen’s Crescent garden, on York Road, is a much-neglected corner of the city centre which is better known for anti-social behaviour than food-growing. Over the past year Harvest have been working with local residents, the Mosque and the university’s Street Wardens to clear the borders and turn them into vegetable plots. At the end of March, over 20 students, staff and Harvest volunteers had a great day weeding, preparing beds and planting salads and herbs in the glorious spring sunshine.

We also discovered that the garden is an urban wildlife haven, having found nests of baby blackbirds and slow worms during the session!

There’ll be one more clear-up session on May 8th, in preparation for the students’ Jubilee Tea Party on Wednesday 6th June. If you live nearby and would like to get involved with the garden, please get in touch with the Harvest team.

Residents of the Esther Community, a women’s hostel in St Davids, have been busy designing and planning a container garden in their back yard – complete with 3 chickens! First seeds were sown in March and Henrietta, Margaret and Pigwidgeon have been settling in to their new home since Easter. The residents are planning a communal meal from the garden in July, to celebrate their efforts.

The Garden at the Foyer is also continuing to thrive with the help of Harvest Growing Champion Elaine. Young residents are growing food which they can use in their regular Friday cookery, which forms part of the important Life Skills sessions undertaken during their time at the Foyer.

Throughout May we will be working with the Carousel Project at the Beacon Heath Children’s Centre, creating a “Keyhole Garden” with families. Keyhole Gardening is an innovative high-yield technique used in Sub-Saharan Africa where resources are scarce; it can also be used to create interesting, compact gardens in our climate.

Harvest volunteers pitched in to help Andy Shiach, Wonford & St Paul’s Youth Worker, to clear a dense patch of brambles and litter from behind the old Post Office on Wonford Street. The building has been transformed into a youth centre for the area, and the garden will be used by the Dads and Granddads group for growing food and barbecues.

This spring and summer we are also looking forward to working with the Shilhay Community, and developing the Chestnut Children’s Centre garden with the new staff team there.

Mini Salad Garden giveaways

The Harvest team will be giving away this year’s Mini Salad Garden starter kits for anyone who’d like to grow some food but doesn’t have a garden or allotment. Starter kits (container, compost and seeds) will be available for collection from the following places:

Wonford Community Learning Centre
Monday 16th April, 6.00 – 7.30 p.m.

Countess Wear Community Primary School
Tuesday 24th April, 1.30 – 3.30 p.m.

Rennes House, Vaughan Road, Whipton
Thursday 26th April, 4.30 – 6.00 p.m.

Come along and meet the team and start growing your own summer salad and spuds. More details here.

Get Growing's third workshop a big success

[20 March 2012]

The third Get Growing workshop on 17th March, like it’s predecessors, was a great success. ‘Starting From Seed’ gave us the chance to look at techniques for preparing seed beds, sowing different kinds of seeds, planting potatoes without backbreaking digging, pricking out and planting up seedlings and looking at what to start when. For more details and photographs, visit the Harvest Training page.

Seed Swap and Potato Day 2012

[15 February 2012]

Seed saving and swapping is a great way of broadening the variety of food and flowers you grow, saving on cost and meeting other keen growers in the community – up and down the country, Seed Swaps are becoming an established part of the gardening calendar.

The growing season got off to a great start in Exeter on Saturday 11th February, when gardeners from all over the city gathered to swap seeds in anticipation of spring. A great variety of seeds were exchanged, from good old reliable root vegetables and salads, to more exotic and bizarre squashes and heirloom bean and tomato varieties. Growers brought their surplus seeds, some collected from last year’s harvest, and a generous donation from Tuckers Seed Merchants ensured no-one went home empty-handed. Shillingford Organics and Exeter Community Agriculture provided a range of seed potatoes, along with advice about choosing and growing different varieties.

For Gardeners’ Question Time, an expert panel of local growers Martin Godfrey (Shillingford Organics), Rebecca Wells (Garden Design) and Greg Towning (Stallcombe House) answered the audience’s growing conundrums, and delicious hearty seasonal soup and cake were enjoyed in the Love Local Food café. Love Local Food Education also ran children’s activities, and stalls from a range of charities, organisations and local food businesses helped to make the day a great celebration of growing and eating well in Exeter.

On Saturday May 19th Harvest will be holding a Plant Swap and Sale from 11 – 2, at St Matthews Church Hall, Exeter.

For more information about the organisations and who took part in the event, please follow the links below:

Shillingford Organics
RSPB
West Town Farm
Transition Exeter
HogCo
Carbon Compost Company
Exeter Community Agriculture
Love Local Food
Men in Sheds
Rebecca Wells
Tuckers Seeds
Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens
Photographs by Paul Ligas Photography

Harvest's newsletter for Winter 2012

[30 January 2012]

The Harvest project's winter 2012 newsletter is out now, with information on upcoming events, guidance on how to become a Harvest volunteer, information about community food growing projects and more! The newsletter is available as a pdf, just follow the link to catch up with what's happening with Harvest! [link]

Would you like to get involved in more food growing?

[26 January 2012]

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a way for farmers and their communities to work together so that more people can access seasonal, local food.

If you’re itching to experience food growing on a bigger scale, two projects on the outskirts of Exeter are looking for new members. CSA is a brilliant way to not only learn new skills and get to eat lovely fresh produce cheaply, but also to become part of a community of people who are passionate about where their food comes from.

Broadclyst Community Farm is a working farm leased from the National Trust on the Killerton Estate, and run by volunteers. They produce a range of vegetable crops, have an orchard and also keep pigs and sheep for meat. They are inviting new members to get involved in all aspects of running the farm, particularly horticulture, and have a big fencing project coming up which will need a lot of willing hands! To find out more visit their website http://farm.broadclyst.org/ or contact the Harvest team.

Exeter Community Agriculture leases 4 acres of organic land in Shillingford just south-west of Exeter. Since 2009 a group of 40 members have been working together to growfood, to share and learn new skills from each other and to generally have a good time together! New members are very welcome, so if you are interested in joining or finding out more please contact Margaret on 01392 660332 or visit
http://exetercommunityagriculture.wordpress.com/.

More information about Community Supported Agriculture can be found here: www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk/about/csa/index.cfm

Also, Mincinglake Community Orchard Group needs new  members. The Orchard Group manages the trees and organises community events to celebrate the seasons in the orchard. The group meets monthly on Wednesday evenings in the Devon Yeoman, Beacon Lane. If you would like to find out more contact the Harvest team.

Volunteering with Harvest in 2012

[26 January 2012]

Are you an enthusiastic grower? Do you have some time on your hands to help spread the growing bug in Exeter?

We are looking for green-fingered folk to join our volunteer team and help run a variety of activities in Exeter – perhaps you would like to mentor a community growing project in your neighbourhood, or help manage the Harvest allotment? Volunteers are also needed to help run events such as our seed, plant and produce swaps, to do outreach work around the city, and to pick, redistribute and process fruit during the autumn with City Fruit Harvest. Or perhaps you have more ideas about how we can support and encourage food growing in Exeter – we want to hear from you!

It doesn’t matter how experienced a grower you are. What is important is that you have a passion for growing your own food and that you want to help other people get started. All volunteers will be given the opportunity to go through our “Growing Champions” training course. By joining the volunteer team you will get to hone your growing skills, have fun with a group of enthusiastic, like-minded people, and know that you’re helping to make a real difference to your community.

Stop Press: dates for 2012 Growing Champions Training  will be 24th and 31st March. Call for details.

For more information and to arrange an informal chat about volunteering, please call Andi or Ellie on 01392 205800 or email ellie@eci.org.uk.

Waitrose Community Matters presentation

[15 December 2011]

A big thanks from the Harvest team to everyone who voted for us in October’s Community Matters at Waitrose. Each month the supermarket invites customers to vote for one of three local community groups, each group receiving a share of £1000. We were fortunate to be nominated to take part in October and were delighted to get enough votes to receive £485. So thanks to Waitrose for their ongoing support, and to everyone who supported Harvest.

Tuckers help spread the growing bug in 2012

[05 December 2011]

Many thanks to Tuckers Seed Merchants for the generous donation we received last week – helping us to spread the growing bug into 2012! Look out for them at our Seed Swap in February. We’re particularly excited about growing an amazing range of pumpkins and squashes.

Harvest Newsletter for November is out!

[05 December 2011]

Catch up with the latest Harvest news with our regular newsletter. The latest copy is out with information on City Fruit Harvest and upcoming events. You can view it* here [link].

*Adobe Reader or other PDF reading software required

City Fruit Harvest Update

We’re now more than half way through this year’s City Fruit Harvest, and its been going brilliantly.

So far we have picked 387 kilos of fruit (plums, apples and pears). Most of the fruit has been distributed amongst local organisations including 4 Childrens’ Centres, Age UK, two soup kitchens and various homelessness/supported housing charities.

We’ve had a brilliant team of volunteers on board at every stage, from picking to jam and chutney making, distributing fruit, taking photos, selling the goodies and generally mucking in. So far 20 people have been involved, some religiously turning up to almost everything, and others just popping along for a single session.

Any fruit that wasn’t in great condition has been processed into jam or chutney, which is available for sale. All proceeds from these sales go straight back into the project so that we can run it again next year. So far we’ve made 52 jars of jam and 60 jars of chutney.

And as if that wasn’t enough, on Sunday 25th Sept we held a magnificent apple pressing day in Belmont Park. The sun came out for us and we enjoyed a fun but exhausting day making apple juice. Big thanks to Greg Towning for lending us his press, scratter and pasteuriser, not to mention expertise. Thanks to him we’ve made 56 bottles of beautiful fresh apple juice which are now available for the merest £3 each.

We’re also really grateful to Newtown Community Association for letting us use the hut, and to everyone who has volunteered their time to make the project so successful.

There’s more picking and processing to do over the next couple of weeks, ending with another pressing day planned for Sunday 16th October. Let us know if you’d like to come and join in by calling 01392 205800, or email: andit@eci.org.uk

Extra! Extra! Harvest's latest Newsletter is out

Catch up with what the Harvest team have been up to recently, and get a taste of what's coming this fall. With news about the final Seedy Sunday Saturday, information about City Fruit Harvest and upcoming practical workshops. It's all in the Harvest Newsletter. You can view it* here [link].

*Adobe Reader or other PDF reading software required

Our First Pick!

[01 August 2011] And we’re off! It’s an amazing year for fruit – our first outing got City Fruit Harvest off to a great start with its first donation of cherry plums. Liz Cole of Sylvan Road very kindly donated fruit from her trees which were absolutely laden. We picked about 14 lbs of fruit, and hardly made an impact on the trees.

Our first picking expedition was great fun. As the plums are so tiny we decided to turn them into jelly rather than give them away as fresh fruit. There were two different varieties of plums, so we have two rather beautiful jellies all ready to sell. We’ve learned a lot from our first outing, and are looking forward to lots more picking and preserving sessions in the next couple of months.

We still need lots of help, so if you have any time to spare (we’ll be working some weekends, and some weekdays too) please get in touch and get signed up.

Pick your time to help fruit project

[08 July  2011] A PIONEERING environmental scheme is looking for summer volunteers.

City Fruit Harvest will collect unwanted fruit from city gardens and redistribute it to... [read more - external website]

Seedy Sunday, July 2011

July’s Seedy Sunday was a lovely sunny affair. Lots of plants found new homes: there were salad seedlings, courgette and cucumber plants, celeriac, tomatoes, beans and Jerusalem artichokes. We were also fortunate to have the first of the summer’s produce, including mangetouts, chutney, raspberry jam, fresh strawberries and plenty of lettuce to exchange.

As well as the seeds, plants and produce swapping, the Newtown Community Association held their monthly community café, providing drinks and delicious snacks, and there was music from a wonderful collection of local artists. We also had the magnificent Men in Sheds. MIS is an Age Concern project that collects unwanted tools and re-conditions them, sending some to countries in Africa, and selling others at surprisingly low prices.

Harvest Newsletter for Summer 2011

The latest Harvest newsletter for summer 2011 is out. News about Harvest's latest activities and the plans for summer events. You can download the newsletter as a pdf file (requires PDF reader software) by clicking on the following link [link].

A Community Garden in Beacon Heath

A group of residents in a block of flats in Beacon Heath have been working with Harvest to develop a shared growing space in one of the gardens behind their flats.

With the help of unpaid workers from the probation service the site was transformed from an overgrown wilderness to a rather lumpy but weed free fruit and veg garden. The residents are currently engaged in building raised beds and improving the soil, ready to plant out the seedlings that they have been growing in anticipation.

St Sidwell’s Centre Competition

Inspired by a London grower who produced £750 of food on his small balcony, Harvest challenged two other groups to see who could grow the most in a 380x125cm raised bed. The Ivy Project, Kazlum Support and a group of Harvest volunteers have until 30th September to produce the highest value crop, overseen by volunteer gardener Clive Temperton, who will act as moderator and guardian of fair play.

The Harvest Team has already begun to pick produce: the first salad from the Harvest bed was served in the St Sidwell’s Centre Community Café at the beginning of May. The good weather has helped, although the team have had to be vigilant about watering the bed, and are currently looking forward to a drop of rain so that they can have a day off.

Incredible Edible MiniGardens

2011’s Incredible Edible Mini Garden scheme was a great success. Throughout April the Harvest team visited 9 neighbourhoods in Exeter, giving away MiniGarden starter kits. 180 people received a starter kit consisting of a container, compost and a choice of seeds to set up their MiniGarden. Most of the new growers don’t have a garden or allotment, so their growing space is very limited. Many were surprised at how much you can grow in a container.

16 volunteer Community Growing Champions were on hand to offer advice, demonstrate planting and even deliver kits to residents’ homes. The new Incredible Edible MiniGardeners can look forward to tucking into salads, herbs, tomatoes, courgettes, root vegetables and more throughout the summer, with ongoing support from the Harvest team.

Harvest garden's growing potential

[March 2011] EXETER residents are being encouraged to get gardening and grow their own food.

Harvest, an Exeter Community Initiatives' project, is organising Incredible... [read more - external website]

Seedy Sunday and Potato Day

The Harvest team held their first Swap event of the season on Sunday 27th Feb. There were plenty of seeds to swap, as well as lots of other delights for gardeners and their families. Exeter Community Agriculture brought a variety of seed potatoes to give away, Garden Designer Becky Wells ran workshops on sowing seeds, and Men in Sheds were there selling their beautifully refurbished tools.

Eve Malster ran an activity for children, helping them to make ’Potato Worlds’, and Harvest volunteers ran a cafe serving soup made from organic veg from Shillingford Organics, plus a range of yummy cakes. And to add a bit of atmosphere we had music from Roots Acapella from Wren Music.

The day was officially declared a huge success; people came from all over Exeter and beyond. There was a wonderful community feel to the event, and visitors went away inspired to begin the new season’s growing.

Seedy Sunday and Potato Day was the first of a series of swaps that will take place throughout the growing season in 2011. Harvest will host more events where growers can swap seeds, plants and produce. Details of dates, times and venues can be found on the Harvest Events page.

Harvest would like to thank the following people and organisations for their contribution to the event:
Shillingford Organics
Exeter Community Agriculture
Tuckers Seeds
St Bridget Nurseries
Eve Malster
Rebecca Wells
Wren Music
Men in Sheds

 

Harvest scheme provides people with room to grow

[February 2011] GROWING your own food is a dream for many people but not always possible because they do not have enough garden.

And with 700 people currently on the waiting list for a city allotment... [read more - external website]

Exeter Garden Match

Do you want to grow some food but don't have any space?

Or do you have more garden than you can manage, and would like to let a neighbour grow food in it in exchange for some of the produce?

Then let us match you up and get Exeter growing!

Easy and tasty recipes

Need new ideas for using up seasonal gluts of fruit and vegetables? Have a go at some of these easy and tasty recipes. [More recipes will be posted on the Harvest Recipes page.]

• Irish Potato Bread
• Masala Potatoes with Cumin & Tomatoes
• Chocolate Fudge Cake
• Spicy Apple and Parsnip Soup
• Waldorf Salad
• Apple Cake
• Pumpkin Curry
• American Pumpkin Pie

Help Spread the Growing Bug in 2011

New ways to get involved with Harvest

We are looking for more people to join the Harvest team and help get the people of Exeter growing. We have lots of different opportunities for volunteering - you could join the team as a Community Growing Champion - helping to recruit your friends and neighbours and encouraging them to join in with Incredible Edible MiniGardens, or helping to set up and co-ordinate a community growing space.

You don't need to be an expert gardener (although if you are we'd love to have you on board). You just need a passion for growing food and a desire to share that passion with other people.

It will soon be spring and there will be loads to do, so start now; give us a ring or send an email and we'll contact you and arrange to meet for a chat, explain more about how Harvest works and help find the best volunteering role for you.

Call for families to join growing group

[January 2011] THE growing bug is spreading around Exeter and you could become part of it.

Launched last year with help from the Big Lottery, the Harvest project aims to... [read more - external website]

Contact the Harvest Team 

For further details, contact Andi Tobe or Ellie Parker on 01392 205800 or email andit@eci.org.uk or ellie@eci.org.uk.

Please click here to view the Harvest leaflet.