Want to grow some food and flowers?

Come to BAG’s first FREE beginners gardening workshop on Sunday the 7th of June.

There will be containers for everyone to plant out with organic vegetables and flowers. Once you’ve finished, take them away and enjoy.

THE WORKSHOP WILL TAKE PLACE ON THE 
DOUGLAS EYRE PLAYING FIELDS, 
2.30-4.30pm.

The Workshop is completely free and open to all, but numbers are limited so please book in advance by emailing Caroline.

The workshop was funded courtesy of Grassroots Grants.

ORGANISED BY BLACKHORSE ACTION GROUP AND ORGANICLEA,

• Cut household bills                          • Make new friends
• Environmental benefits                    • Health benefits
• Visits to eco-houses

No one can do everything – but we can all do something!

BAG is currently recruiting for 2 EcoTeams to start Mid-November. There are only 6 more spaces to fill – first come first served.

EcoTeams are free to all residents in the Blackhorse Road area.

What is an Eco Team?
An EcoTeam is a group of 6-8 local people who meet once a month for five months to learn simple yet effective ways of conserving household energy and reducing bills while helping to save the planet. Small changes can make a big difference by living more sustainably.

What is involved?
Meetings are informal, friendly and are organised to be within walking distance of your home. EcoTeam participants meet to discuss choices for shopping, energy, transport and water – and you can try the ideas that appeal to you.
You also monitor how much rubbish & recycling you generate and your domestic use of energy. You’ll receive our information folder filled with tips, facts and internet links to help you and your team members.

How much time will it take?
About 2 hours a month, including the meetings and measurements.

Does it work?
Yes! Past teams have achieved great environmental savings:
Waste – 20%, Gas/heating – 21%, Electricity – 7%, Water – 15%
Household annual average saving of £148

Joining an EcoTeam
If you want to be part of an EcoTeam, just let us know your details and you will be invited along to a short initial meeting. The local team leader will show you a DVD and explain how the EcoTeams initiative works in your area. You then decide if you want to participate. It’s as simple as that and, remember, it’s free.

To join or to find out more
Please email Irina

National website: www.globalactionplan.org.uk
Registered charity number 1026148

Next Saturday 11 October sees the return of Apple day at the Vestry House Museum. The event will run from 11am until 4pm and is organised by ELOG (East London Organic Gardeners). It will showcase everything apple including the hundreds of varieties that exist, apple juicing, apple bobbing, apple tasting, apple bonsai, heritage apple trees for sale, homemade apple cakes to name but a few activities on offer on the day. Walthamstow LETs (Waltham Forest Local Exchange Trading Scheme) will also have a stall promoting their skill swapping scheme and the Waltham Forest Children’s Art Project will be providing the entertainment for the children with an opportunity to make apple fridge magnets as well as drawing apples. For more information please contact Adrian Stannard at adrian.stannard@btinternet.com

Check out all the days and details below. For more visit their swish looking new website.

All workshops are at the Hornbeam Centre, 458 Hoe Street, Walthamstow unless otherwise specified. Prices indicated are for waged first then low income and unwaged.
Registration is appreciated and for sessions marked with * numbers are limited so please let us know if you are coming: email us or call 020 8558 6880.

Wednesday 20th August (3-4.30pm)*
Baking for kids (age 4-10) £1.50/£1
Come and have a go: mix, chop, stir and bake simple biscuits, cakes or smoothies, then enjoy the results!

Saturday 23rd August (4-5.30pm)*
Jam making £3/£2
Home-made tastes better… Discover the basic methods of this long-established way of capturing fruity goodness in a jar.

Wednesday 27th August (7-9pm)
Wine from the hedgerows: introduction to homebrew £3/£2
Brewing your own is cheaper and more satisfying. Find out how to make a fine wine from fruit you can find in the hedges, and get your cider started in time for the swap. Or just sample some we made earlier!

Sunday 14th September (11am-1pm)
Introduction to food growing £3/£2
Start early for next year’s swap – find out the basic principles of organic growing and pick up some simple tips to get you started growing your own. At Organiclea’s growing site, Drysdale Avenue, E4

Wednesday 17th September*
Kitchen pharmacy: using herbs for common remedies
3pm herbal walk – to be confirmed, call for details £3/£2
6-8pm preparation workshop £3/£2 £5/£3 for both sessions
The herbs and plants that you can grow in your garden or allotment site have many uses beyond the cooking pot. This session will show you how to prepare your own herbal treatments and take advantage of the many benefits herbs can bring to your health.

Saturday 27th September (4-5.30pm)
Seed saving £3/£2
Find out why we save seed, learn the basic principles and gain confidence. Then have a go yourself and become part of a local outlawed seed saving mission!

Saturday 4th October (4-5.30pm)*
Pickles and chutneys £3/£2
This workshop will take a peep at traditional uses of preserves and chutneys in different cultures. An opportunity to jar up goodness from locally grown and foraged fruit. Come along and share your recipes and ideas.

Saturday 4th October
Scrumping apples ‘n’ pears pick ‘n’ press day (Free)
11am intro and picking (meet at Hornbeam, come by bicycle if possible)
2.30pm juicing
Fruit grows in abundance in Walthamstow and the scrumping project helps to ensure it doesn’t go to waste. Come and take part in a picking session and using the apple press, and have a taste of the freshest juice you can get…

Thursday 9th October (7-9pm)*
Cake baking £3/£2
Learn a simple recipe for dairy free cake which you can adapt and experiment with to add your favourite fruits and flavours.

Saturday 11th October (11am-4pm)
Apple Day (Free)
Apples galore at Vestry House Museum, Vestry Road, Walthamstow – juice, fruit, games and information for all ages.

Saturday 11th October (12-2pm)
Seed sprouting drop-in at the Hornbeam market stall
Even closer than a balcony is space for one of the most nutritious, fast foods you can grow. Learn this simple growing skill – and produce a crop that will save you £££s.

Saturday 11th October
Raw food talk 6pm and pot luck supper 7pm (Free)
Find out how healthy and tasty raw food can be; bring something to share for the supper.

Thursday 16th October
World Food Day discussion evening (Free – donations for food)
7.30pm, with food served from 6.30pm
On the day designated to mark food as “a requisite for survival and well-being and a fundamental human necessity”, take part in a discussion with Simon Fairlie, editor of The Land, to look at how we can break the corporate clutch on our food chain and how we can feed ourselves sustainably.

Saturday 18th October 2-4pm)
The Great Local Food Swap (Free)
Bring your swapping goodies for registration from 12pm
Swap your grown-produce for somebody elses pickles and bakes in a locally celebrated “good food swap“. It’s about sharing food you’ve made, grown, picked or found. It’s a chance to show off your produce and share good food by swapping what you’ve brought with other people, without the need for money changing hands.

How will it work?
You can pick up your box every Wednesday, from 3.30pm – 7.30pm, at the Hornbeam Centre (at 458 Hoe Street, close to the Baker’s Arms junction). The scheme is collection only, but if enough people in the Blackhorse area are interested they may consider delivering en masse. They can also make alternative pick up arrangements if you can’t make it on a Wednesday.

A few BAG members used the scheme when it first ran, and reported back very favourably.

Which box should I order?

Here are the box choices, with options for every size of household.

Standard veg bag – £41 per calendar month (equivalent cost per week: £9.46).
These contain around 8-9 varieties of seasonal produce. Standard bags always include carrots, onions, potatoes and two greens (e.g. spinach, chard, savoy cabbage) plus a selection of seasonal vegetables.

No potatoes standard veg bag – £46 per calendar month (equivalent cost per week: £10.61).
This contains 9 varieties of veg including a leafy green vegetable instead of potatoes. Greens cost more to buy than potatoes which is why this bag is slightly more expensive than the standard veg bag.

Small veg bag – £22 per calendar month (equivalent cost per week; £5.08).
This contains around 6 varieties of seasonal produce. Small bags always include potatoes and carrots and have onions every other week.
They always have one green item per week (e.g. spinach, chard, spring greens) plus 2 or 3 varieties of other seasonal vegetables.

Standard fruit bag – £31 per calendar month (equivalent cost per week: £7.15)
The standard fruit bag has 5-7 varieties of UK and European seasonal fruit each week. These are a combination of the following depending on seasonal availability: pears, grapes, oranges, clementines, Fairtrade bananas, kiwi fruits, plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, limes, lemons, grapefruit, apples.

Small fruit bag – £17 per calendar month, (equivalent cost per week: £3.92).
The small fruit bag contains 4 to 5 varieties of UK and European seasonal fruit each week. Fruit bags contain a combination of the following depending on seasonal availability: pears, grapes, oranges, clementines, Fairtrade bananas, kiwi fruits, plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, limes, lemons, grapefruit, apples.

Large fruit bag – £34.00 per calendar month, (equivalent cost per week £7.84).
Same as the small fruit bag above, but double the size.

What do I do next?

Either email Hornbeam or call in your order on 020 8558 6880 (leave a message). Let us at BAG know so we can try and get enough people ordering to justify a delivery!

How do I pay?

For July only, Hornbeam would like cash or cheque in advance, for the month’s cost of fruit and veg. After that a Monthly standing order allows them to plan in advance and offer a better service.) They will give you the standing order details when you pick up your veg.

If this is not possible please speak to us about paying by Monthly cheque (we would receive this by the 23rd of the month before -so for example, July 23rd would be the payment for August’s boxes). For those on low-income, we can offer a split payment option: Half monthly payments in advance.

Any questions either leave a comment below and we’ll answer or contact Hornbeam direct.

There was so much going on, it was amazing. We had jugglers, a Kids’ corner knee deep in paints, paper and scissors, stalls giving away goodies -even bikes!- right left and centre, face painting (THANKS Carol!) and everyone had a really great time. We’ll post a fuller report and some of the fantastic pictures taken once we’ve finished the washing up!

But right now, a great big THANK YOU to Colin, Keeper at the Douglas Eyre Playing Fields, who made the pavilion available to us for free. We promise, Colin, that we’ll organise that quiz/karaoke/barn dance soon!

And a whopper of a THANK YOU to Irina (and Caroline, Nuria and others from BAG) for organizing it – I’ve not seen smiles that wide on so many kids’ faces in a long time! And there was so much community spirit that we had heaps of people sign up to our initiatives, such as timebanking.

(Oh, and THANKS to the Singh family who brought a vast and delicious chickpea curry with accompaniments at just the right time at the end of the evening, and then helped us carry all the day’s debris home!)

Signing off now, but we’ll get more about Super Saturday out soon!

To find out more, email: foodgardeningandenvironment@blackhorseactiongroup.org.uk