Edible Hexham participated in Waitrose’s ‘green token’ scheme in August and as a result we will receive a cheque of £277 from Waitrose. This is great news, as we were in need of additional funding to purchase fruit trees and bushes to plant either this autumn or next spring at various sites around the town. Do you have a public area you think would suit a fruit tree ? We have some areas in mind but all suggestions are welcome. In the meantime, keep picking and enjoying the produce at Wentworth, outside Prospect House, and at the Middle School garden! The Wentworth beds will be (mostly) cleared later this month (October ), so we can improve the soil over winter, ready to plant new crops in the spring.
Category: Food
Home, Food
Edible Hexham
Do you shop at Waitrose ? If you do then you know that every month Waitrose share 1,000 pounds between 3 local charities / projects. Every shopper is given a green token to vote for their choice and the money is shared out proportionally at the end of the month.
So – please vote for the Edible Hexham project with your green counter at the exit – the more votes we have the more money we get! Tell all your friends and family too !
We have had lots of positive feedback and favourable comments on the existing beds. We want to help spread the transition message through home produced food and money from Waitrose will help towards plants and planters for next year .
Thank you !
Edible Hexham is here!
Two beds adjacent to the Wentworth Café in the Wentworth car park were planted by an enthusiastic team of volunteers this Sunday.
Many thanks to Rosemary, Wendy, Elizabeth, Judy and Jo who planted, Michael who dug the holes for the tree and bushes, and to Ted and his son who brought a pickup load of mulch for us to finish the beds. And to the cafe for providing welcome cups of tea and water for the plants.
Hopefully this will be the start of more debate about local food, get people thinking about where their food comes from, to support local food producers and encourage more to start growing their own. If vegetables can be grown in a car park – why not try it in your own garden ?
More planting is planned this year for some areas in the hospital grounds and some new raised beds near Prospect House. We are also providing seedlings for some of the privately maintained planters in the town centre. This is just the start of what we hope will be a Tynedale wide move to plant edible produce throughout the area – and everyone is encouraged to harvest and eat it !!
For more information, to suggest new sites or to volunteer please email Sue or Rosemary at transitiontynedale@googlemail.com
Don’t forget !
Apple Grafting at Acorn Bank
Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of going to an apple grafting course run by the North Cumbria Orchard Group and The National Trust at Acorn Bank near Penrith. It was a fun day out in beautiful surroundings run by some very knowledgeable people who were very willing to share their wisdom and teach us new skills. I came away with eight newly grafted apple trees and full of anticipation for how they would turn out.
Calling all gardeners !
Now is the time to start planning which crops you will be growing this year, an exciting time of sowing seeds and anticipating a warm spring. (!!!)
This is an appeal to all gardeners to grow a few extra plants for the TT food projects we are involved in – the 2 community gardens, the annual ‘Seed and Plant swop’ stall at the farmers market in May and our new initiative – Edible Hexham.
All these initiatives are aimed at encouraging local food production and they all need your help ! Please sow a few extra seeds and grow them on for these projects, they will all be gratefully received. Plants are needed from March onwards for the community gardens and Edible Hexham , and more again in May for the plant stall.
Manpower is also needed for these projects. From the experienced gardener to complete novice, we need your help to make things ‘grow.’( pardon the pun !)
For offers of plants and help please contact the following people at transitiontynedale@googlemail.com
– Megan – HMS community Garden
– Claire – No 28 Garden, Hexham east
– Debbie – May plant stall
– Rosemary – Edible Hexham
Edible Hexham
Edible Hexham came into being after a small group of TT members paid a visit to Incredible Edible Todmorden in June last year, a visit organised by Richard Powell.
We met some amazingly enthusiastic people who had began working with vegetables, fruits and herbs as a way to engage a somewhat dispirited community following the closure of the last Mill some years previously. The story of what they have achieved can be found on their website, http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/, and we came away with the conviction that this is something which we could do in Hexham – not the same as Todmorden, but developing in our own way.
Sue Hick and I made a start in the autumn. TT members will know how knowledgeable Sue is and how good it is for me to work alongside her. The Incredible Edible idea is one whose hour has come, for no less a prestigious organisation than the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is looking to see edibles included in its competition gardens. We are represented on the Hexham in Bloom committee who have welcomed the idea and we intend to have edibles planted by the Spring Judging in April.
We have identified a few small plots in Hexham to include in the scheme and a few planters in the town centre. Plots are the Goose Market, Wentworth Car Park near the Tourist Centre, and at the hospital. We will need signage to explain the idea of Edible Hexham, and to invite members of the public to help themselves to the veg, fruit and herbs when they are ready to be picked.
This is just a snapshot of plans so far, and very shortly, I will be asking for volunteers to take responsibility for just one of these planting places so that they will be watered and cared for.
As always, TT wants to involve as many new people as possible, and Edible Hexham sees itself working in partnership with Hexham in Bloom, the Town Council, the Community Partnership and most importantly, the Food Bank, so that more people can enjoy cooking with fresh fruit, vegetables, and herbs.
Watch this space for further updates and opportunities to be involved.
Apple Picking replaces Community Garden on 5th October
We’ll be picking apples this Saturday, 5th October at the Leazes Lane orchard. If you need directions, please contact Pat at info@transitiontynedale.org.
Unfortunately this means, we won’t be having our regular gardening day at the community garden. But if you’d like to keep those fingers green, come along for the apple pick.
Edible Hexham
Planning this new project is now underway with the sites of the Goose market, Hallstile Bank, the upper end of Wentworth car park and the hospital being considered for planting next year.
The aim is to start preparing the ground and planting next March (weather permitting). Some beds will have fruit trees and fruit bushes, others tomatoes, courgettes, salads, runner beans , and herbs. All will be free to the good people of Hexham to pick and eat.
This idea follows on from a trip some members took to Todmorden last June.( for more information see www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk ) There it has inspired lots of discussion about the importance of local food and supporting local businesses with many different groups in the community becoming involved. By choosing such public areas to plant up with fruit and veg, Edible Hexham has the potential to be a high profile Transition project .We hope to generate a similar discussion about food and community in Hexham.
Can you help ? We need people to grow seedlings, propagate fruit bushes etc for March next year and to help plant in 2014. We would also welcome a free source of manure or compost ! Please contact Sue , Richard or Rosemary on info@transitiontynedale.org if you can help. Or come to the next transition meeting on Sept 4th to find out more
Trip to ‘Incredible Edible Todmorden’ – Inspiration !
Seven intrepid Hexham Transitioners eventually went on a minibus to Todmorden last week and came back inspired by their adventure. Here are just a few comments – Photos to follow
Incredible Edible, a small group of people deciding that they could make a difference to “change the world with kindness.” The abiding message that I was left with was kindness. Estelle was our gentle tour guide, passionate, funny, humble…she must have conducted tours on numerous occasions, but her enthusiasm was palpable. Having her tell her story convinced me of the potential of a few dedicated and committed people can make to bring about change on such a dramatic scale. Transformation: – the place & it’s people – through tangible inclusive action.
Very simple really just three things – community, business and education – and they started with food because everyone eats! Not an exclusive thing: ‘If you Eat, you’re In’.
Stories have the power to ignite the soul…If you are sitting comfortably I will begin. Remember all the produce is free, yes free, a bit of counter culture going on there. One Sunday morning a working party was making its way to a site where two youngsters were helping themselves to fruit, filling a bag, lots of fruit, caught in the act you might say.
‘We’ve been doing this for you, you can have it’, the working party explained.
The boys took some convincing that if they wanted the fruit that was fine so long as it was for eating. So utterly overwhelmed were they by the suggestion that they could actually keep the fruit that they remained and helped weed. Little actions can bring about behavioural changes, simple powerful stuff.
Todmorden isn’t a rich place – it’s normal, even poor – but what they have going on there is pure gold. I’m a convert. I left with more hope than when I arrived…I have a sense of longing to continue to develop and build on what we already have going on here in Hexham. Richard
Our eyes were opened! And on our return to Hexham, we found ourselves looking at dismal pieces of Council planting and filling them in our imaginations with Todmorden – style herbs, leaves, and fruit trees, all full of colour and interest. And it gets better because not only can the residents of incredible, edible Todmorden look at them but they are encouraged to pick them, eat them, and put them in their salads and stews.
Estelle, the dynamic inspiration behind the idea, gave us a wonderful tour of the town, with every raised bed or planting yielding its own story through her rapid telling of how it came into being and how it continues to flourish.
Earning social capital was a new concept to some of us, but it is certainly happening in Tod. Rosemary
A great inspirational day out ! Todmorden certainly has made an impact on the UK environmental movement and shown what is possible. .
What struck me most was not the planting but the enthusiasm of the organisers and the tremendous amount of organisation and fundraising involved – all by volunteers. From small beginnings in just 5 years they have had a very valuable number of spinoffs involving schools, local business, police etc. There has also been an unexpected spin off of ‘green tourists’ – some of whom were us ! check out the incredible edible film at http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/home
All plantings are well signed with large signs explaining that the food is free,
planted especially for bees etc. Essential for spreading the word .
Hexham has made a good start in local food production with its community gardens, farmers market, apple days, food festival etc. The success of Incredible edible Todmorden is due, I think, to its volunteers and its publicity machine. We need to do more public planting and in particular more publicity about our work – only that way can we really get the message about local food across to everyone in Hexham. Sue
Interested in hearing more ? Come along to the next Transition general meeting , July 3rd, 7.30pm in the Forum café.
Transition Tynedale 