Wild food foraging course

On Saturday went on a wild food foraging course with the Peterborough in Transition group. We met at the Olive Branch community garden and the first part of the morning was walking around the site and finding edibles that would normally be overlooked.

There were lots around the site. Chickweed, dandelion, nettle, hawthorn, crab apple, bramble, elder, rowan to name but a few.

We talked about making sure that plants were correctly identified before consuming them, but what wasnt gone into much detail on this course (but was on the previous one I've done) was that care should be taken when introducing something new into your diet that you do so with caution as it may not be something that your body can tolerate and that only small quantities of anything new should be tried at one time.

Another important thing is not to take more than 10% from any one plant and to leave enough for other creatures to eat it, and for the plant to have enough resources left in itself to survive. There are also rules about digging up roots. In some cases permissions from the land owner must be sought, even if the plant (for instance horseradish) is plentiful and on a public route. There are also laws about not taking from crops that are commercially grown ie scrumping, but picking from a self seeded apple tree down the side of a country lane is perfectly permissible. Essentially, make sure you know and stay within the law when out foraging.

After the tour round the community garden site we all set off on bicycle towards the town park. I've never cycled in a big group before but it was an absolutely amazing feeling. I know we annoyed many motorists and that made it all the more sweet (sorry motorists!!)

There wasn't that much to find in the town park except lime leaves, and then we had a wander through the cemetery. There were a couple of things there we'd not found else where, but I've forgotton what it was now, had little purple flowers and a lovely smell to it (was ground ivy). Will look it up when I get my book (is on order).

We went back to the Olive Branch and had tasters of some of some wild garlic pesto which was absolutely delicious, and collected enough leaves from the plants we'd identified earlier to make a salad (complete with edible flowers). We also made a risotto with nettles and hazelnuts which was lovely.

Risotto being cooked on the rocket stoves (that were made on a previous course)

Risotto rolled in lime leaves. Absolutely delicious.

Had quite a lot of trailer envy with this!

My eldest made a batter and we fried dandelion flowers which were fabulous. Youngest has decided that she likes dandelion flowers just to eat, so my fellow allotmenteers will be thrilled if she picks them all before they can set seed!

I was pleased that I had retained the knowledge from the previous course, and as that was an autumn one it was nice to see what's available in the spring. It also was a fab day out.

Wildfood/foraging courses do run up and down the country, google search for more details. A good all round starter book is Food for Free by Richard Mabey, This guy is trying to live a whole year just from foraged food. I certainly plan to go out and about and make use of what nature has in plenty for us.

Last week on the plot

Some form of witchcraft had occurred and the sky had changed colour for the first time in a month. I was so giddy I didnt know what to do first!

Obv running down to the allotment was top of the list

and with the main crop spuds going in a month later than planned that was the first job of the day

A row of Kestrel and Rooster went in. Neither of which I've grown before.

The blue lake French beans I started a weeks ago and which have been hardening off in the garden for the past 2 weeks were desperate to get in the ground. However, this called for desperate things such as lashing and tying knots, which given my girl guide time I should have been a lot better at, but maybe the scouts got too much of my attention!

Was also given some stringless runner beans, which I'm not overly convinced about, but I'll give them a go, and if nothing else will add nitrogen to the soil. I'm kinda hoping that as they look a bit like Jack's beans that they grow into the sky and I get me a golden goose (might be mixing fairy tales now)

Last year, if you recall, or maybe I didnt write about it, but anyway, my cauliflowers did look vaguely like this

However, I forgot to net them sufficiently and the flippin pigeons had them stripped to stalks within minutes.

I forgot to take a photo but they are all under the green net tunnels so can hopefully get to a really good size unscathed.

The asparagus that I moved last year (either 8 or 10 crowns, I forget) is doing well and is producing some much nicer spears that it was doing in the old location. I'm not going to harvest anything off them this year to give the plants a good time to establish. Next year though there should be a really good crop, and the bed should then work for about 20 years or so!

(I have weeded since this photo was taken)

This spot nearest the shed I am going to turn into a semi-permanent salad bed. I'm planning on planting through the weed membrane with chilli's and peppers in a month or so and also making a wind break out of the plastic bottle's I've been saving for ever! We'll see how it works out. I'm pleased with how its turning out, and I just need to construct a few more beds.

I was given a crab apple tree, which probably need moving as I think it maybe a bit close to the boundary of my neighbours plot. Will reassess when I'm next down there. Its only on a small plug root at the moment, so moving wont be an issue.

Also sown (but not photographed) another 3 or 4 rows of carrots, and 2 rows of beetroot, and a row of spring onions.

These are 2 varieties of swede. I've not had any luck growing them straight in the ground before so thought I'd try and experiment germinating on kitchen paper and then transferring to cardboard tubes to grow on before planting out like I did with the parsnips. Speaking of which they are looking fab.

There is so much ready in one of the greenhouses to move either into bigger pots or to plant out, but the weather could do with warming just a little bit more, and there have been rumours of frost at the weekend which wont do most of them any good.

Busy and productive couple of days. Have harvested lots of purple sprouting broccoli, rhubarb and leeks this week

Drought plagued plot

Because of the drought(!) yesterday was the first day in over 2 weeks I managed to get to the plot. Was starting to get a bit anxious that everywhere isnt ready for planting out. 

There was much intaking of breath and tutting from the ol' boys when I said I was going to weed. 'Nah, you cant do that, its too wet' etc so I rolleyed my eyes as usual and showed them how its done!

So I went from this:

 to this:

And this:

to this

No soil was compacted in the making of these photographs!

Elsewhere on the plot the raspberries are looking fab

 As are the onions

 and shallots

And the view down the site is looking rather lovely too.

Now, just need to see a bit more sky every so often and all will be right with the world.

Oh, before I go, my little fig tree in the back garden has 7 baby figs on it :D

This week's round up of the plot

Finally taken the fleece off the red onions and shallots and they're looking really good. A couple of the shallots have yet to do anything, but I guess there's still time.

The raspberries are looking fab. So mayn new shoots and loads of buds already. Hopeful for a very good crop this year.

Pulled the first rhubarb stems today.

Strawberries are starting to pick up now having all been moved at the end of last season. I may not pick from one of the beds and remove flowers to hopefully encourage a better crop for next year, but that involves me being around at the right time to do that.

The rest of the onion bed looking really healthy pretty good (crap photo tho)

The squash bed - before

 and after. 

Obviously still needs a bit more work, but wont take long now,

 but had 2 bored kids and it was lunchtime 

The parsnips have all survived that yuck weather of the past week or so

 and are putting out more leaves. Fab :)

On my neighbour's plot was this weird fungus. She's had mushroom compost delivered so maybe its edible?

Introduction to Permaculture Course

This weekend (14/15th April) I spent at The Greenbackyard on the Introduction to Permaculture course. I knew some of the principles already from things I've read and other people I've talked to, but to have the course here in town rather than having to travel 100 miles to the next nearest one was fantastic.

Permaculture has 3 ethics at its heart and uses the principles learned from nature to design and create productive, eco-friendly, energy efficient places and projects. What I hadn't realised before the course was that the ethics and 12 principles of permaculture can be applied to events. This was especially useful to learn with Peterborough in Transition  group as we prepare for the launch in June.

The 3 ethics are

Earth care
People Care
Fair Shares

We did an exercise using these ethics in a Venn diagram (made out of stones on the ground outside the classroom) and had various activities given on pieces of paper and were asked to see how these activities fitted into the Venn diagram. It sparked interesting discussion.

We looked at input/output analysis for a 'typical' small holding.

Watched a really interesting film about forest gardening which although it may not produce the same amount of crops as say a traditional allotment plot, it is more resilient, and is less energy intensive, and therefore overall more productive.

The permaculture design process that we started looking at was fascinating, and simple and complex all at the same time. Learning about zones and sectors for a project. The size of the project isn't important as the same process can be applied no matter the scale.

One of another things that I found really useful were different feedback techniques that we looked at. A positive, minus, interesting (PMI) chart (an Edward de Bono technique), and a bullsye type chart were both different and short feedback systems that could be really positive within the groups that we're all working in at the moment.

There was lots more that was covered, and during the breaks and the social on the Saturday evening there were some fascinating discussions and ideas/concepts that have given a lot more food for thought. (I didnt take any photo's myself, but am hoping to get permission to use some in this blog post that someone else took.)

On a personal level what I gained from the course was a more joined up picture of how permaculture basically underlines the dreams and aspirations I have for myself (will go into detail at a later date), and also gave me confidence in the knowledge that I already have. The realisation that the principles can be applied to event planning as well was a real revelation.
There were parts of the course that took me far from my comfort zone and I need to work out a way to deal with those situations more productively in the future than have a 'rabbit in the headlights' reaction.
I know there is much more I would like to read up about and further my knowledge on a range of subjects
After the design exercise in small groups I volunteered to present the information to the rest of the group, which was something I'd not normally do and I think it went really well.

It was a great course, a fantastic experience and something I definitely want to pursue further....

Thanks to Peterborough in Transition for use of the photos.