Quite a lot of fruit growing in private gardens is left to rot (something I've never understood). Some places have projects to pick apples, plums etc and then distribute them (see page 14 on this site: http://www.communityindex.co.uk/Issues/sept2008.pdf

Could we do something like that, maybe linking up with Age Concern Brent, Elders Voice etc?

TT K>K

FOOD AND GROWING FOOD

Possible ideas

PW May 09

Get speakers from food projects across london for awareness-raising evenings eg at Brixton they had Andre Vilkoen (architect), Mikey Tomkins (PhD student on urban food growing), and Paul Richens, (roof garden builder) 
visions for urban farming future - research Cuban urban farming, see films "Power of Community" and and bbc film "A Farm for the Future". Make photo-posters of aerial shots of our area but doctored to add in green where we could be growing more stuff
workshops on growing food in small spaces, run by experts (charge £5-10£)
Open Spaceday to plan K>KTT's revolution
mapping land - where could grow more - and contacting the relevant owners/authorities (converting some park areas?)
mapping flat roof tops suitable for container food growing
calculate possible yields for our area from available land
matching food groups to available land
finding market space to see crops grown locally & raising awareness about it
arranging food groups and reskilling more people
encourage food growing in front/back gardens - eg runner beans, potatoes, salad crops, and things like bee-keeping for honey
wild food walks - what exists that isn't being harvested
seed swapping schemes
food box schemes deliveries
go on permaculture courses and raise awareness about permaculture ideas/ get an expert to come and teach/speak
green roof / vertical gardens awareness - converting shed roofs maybe to salad crops?
local GreenDrinks monthly etc (tying in with other TT group events)
organising a "Town Meal" or a "street meal" with food all grown locally. Tying in with a street Party?

A practical suggestion: to help us cut our food-miles, could the group organise a survey of the food stalls at the Farmers' Market in Salusbury School and see how they compare to supermarkets and organic suppliers such as 'The Olive Tree' in Willesden Lane? We could publish the results and get publicity in the Kilburn Times, Brent Magazine and local Residents' Associations. If I knew that I could make a big difference to my carbon footprint by changeing my food shopping habits, I would, even if it put my shopping bills up by 5-10%. But of course I don't have the info ........

http://www.ted.com/talks/carolyn_steel_how_food_shapes_our_cities.html
About this talk

Every day, in a city the size of London, 30 million meals are served. But where does all the food come from? Architect Carolyn Steel discusses the daily miracle of feeding a city, and shows how ancient food routes shaped the modern world.
About Carolyn Steel

Food is a shared necessity -- but also a shared way of thinking, argues Carolyn Steel. Looking at food networks offers an unusual and illuminating way to explore how cities evolved. Full bio and more links

I came across this on the Sustain website and thought it was interesting enough to share with the group. A very succinct discussion of some of the issues and misrepresentations around "seasonal" and "local"...
NEF_What_is_seasonal_food_2009.pdf

On Wednesday 14th October we watched "A Farm for the Future" at the Lexi cinema. If you missed the film you can watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xShCEKL-mQ8.
It was very inspirational and made us want to dash out and plant nut trees and bushes. Instead we had a lively discussion about what the Food Group could do in the short, medium and longer term. What was very exciting was both the level of enthusiasm and the amount of knowledge in our community already.
These were just some of the ideas:
- Community allotments, an allotment at QPCS, use of church land, Brent Housing Partnership land, space in parks for food growing, planting fruit and nut trees in public spaces
- Use of brownfield land, methods of de-contaminating land by soil remediation
- Garden sharing. See http://landshare.channel4.com/
- Garden work parties to carry out major work eg removing concrete, paving
- Methods of achieving soil fertility without use of oil derived chemicals eg nitrogen fixing plants, compost, wormeries, Permaculture methods (see http://www.permaculture.org.uk/default.asp)
- Local restaurants- what do they do with their food waste? We should ask them! Importance of not sending food waste to landfill
- It's now illegal for waste cooking oil to be put down the drain. Do local restaurants know this? Do they know who will collect it?
- Link with local libraries, book shops

Thanks to everyone who came, contributed these ideas and is keen to do more!

FREE VEGETABLE PLANTS
Hi folks -
my name is Martin Harvey - I live and work in NW6 and I am connected with B.E.S.T. Residents Association ...
I've lived in this area for 30 years and am fortunately blessed with a decent size garden .....

Luckily some months ago we were able to obtain a small grant to enable us to buy a polytunnel (large plastic greenhouse) - also Brent Council have been kind enough to deliver several thousand pots (re-cycled from planting in the parks) ...

The Plan is to produce 2-3000 veg plants to distribute to the local community to encourage vegetable growing amongst those who might not have tried before to grown their own veg ...... i.e.
Tomatoes
Courgettes
Cucumbers
Beans
Herbs - etc ........

Everything is in place to start this project ........
We will need help with distribution of plants to those who would like to be involved in this exciting Project ...

If you would like to be involved please contact me for further details ..
urbanveg@yahoo.com

Happy gardening ..................
Martin Harvey .

Hi Martin,
sounds fantastic,as a kick off we have got a stall this Sunday at the Farmers Market,if we've got time could we have a group this Saturday potting up and on sunday selling/distributing? then move it on to other community groups like elders voice,school christmas fairs and other groups
if this is too short a time scale we could plan to do this for the next Farmers market and other events
bs
Careen

February is marmalade time, and I usually make a few batches to keep me in the stuff for the rest of the year. I like experimenting with different recipes, but the key ingredient is the Seville orange. I get them and organic lemons from The Olive Tree in Willesden Lane. I get the impression from Costas, who runs the shop, that hes has only a few dedicated customers for Seville oranges, so he buys only one box. If you are interested then recipies can be had from any cookery book, but it would be worth giving the Olive Tree a call to find out when they get their stocks in and to make him aware of demand. 020 7328 9078.

Can we get together to do something for the showing of the Food Inc film at the Lexi - a leaflet with some of our ideas and aims? Is someone working on this. Also, drum up some publicity. I have a pile of Food Inc leaflets to distribute. Anyone fancy farmers market handing out of leaflets with Lexi date?

Good idea - I think we could put up small posters on lampposts like Belsize TT and also libraries etc.

Hope you saw the email I sent to the Lexi asking for any promotional materials... also did you see the article about the film and Joel Salatin in yesterday's Observer? http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jan/31/food-industry-en...
George

didn't see the email to lexi, but let me know if you get anything. will look up article. thanks. will email foe and soil ass to find out if any other promo stuff around.

any thoughts about what to put on leaflet about TT. We can put fruit pickers on it. Any other projects out there that we should put on ????

This is a public debate being held at the British Library on 9th March. Should be interesting - particularly for anyone who has recently seen "Food Inc" and is concerned about similar developments happening in the UK.
debateflyer090310.pdf

This is a very nicely produced kit for kids to grow seeds, though not particularly cheap http://www.secretseedsociety.com/

This looks exciting - 5 days of food related events in Kings Cross:
UCL invites you to participate in Food Junctions ‘a festival
within a festival’ at Camley Street Natural Park. A full
Menu of Events will bring food, nature and culture together.
A wide group of food enthusiasts from the local university
UCL, businesses, communities, creative organisations and
activists will be exploring a range of topics, and exchanging
ideas, knowledge, skills and love of food.
Ingredients include:
talks, films, workshops, walks, tours, games and much more
Starters (24-25 and 28 April)
 Bespoke architectural installation  Hands-on Garden Workshops
 Swap recipes, plants, seeds and ideas  Poet in the City  Urban Wines
Mains (1-2 May)
 Free healthy breakfasts  Healthy living  Politics of food
 Growing a new piece of the city  Identity, memory and heritage
 Art, literature, culture, performance, and spirituality

http://www.food-junctions.org.uk/

I can offer free plastic flower pots, seed trays etc. (I hope this is the right place to put this offer text).

Also, I forgot to mention that I have some glass sheets from old sash windows, which would do for cold frames (or old sash windows). Again, free to whomsoever collects.

I have various seeds that people can have (peas, carrots, beans, toms etc) - I have had them for a few years now, so they really should get used this year. I have used them successfully, but have small garden and know I won't use them all. let me know if you want some! I can leave out for collection or drop off! would like them to be used in communal/shared projects if possible.

I've just been potting up some broccoli, brussel sprouts and raspberries, and I know that I'm going to have more than I can use... Since I'm about the fifth person to come to this conclusion this week - why don't we have a seed/seedling/veg plant swap event - I'd love to swap some broccoli for some peas or beans etc... Would anyone fancy hosting such an event? I would offer but we have a baby due any day so I might have to withdraw at the last minute... We could hold it in someone's garden.. or perhaps we could suggest a picnic in the park by the bandstand one saturday - and people could just turn up with their surplus and hopefully take away something too??? How about it? George

I'm up for that George, at the bandstand, not my garden. I've grown some carrots, peppers and tomatoes from seed, but didn't label them and now don't know which is which, but someone else might. Happy to bring along to veg swap event. Good luck with babe too x

I have left the seed trays and starter flower pots in the front garden of 34 Lynton Road. Please help yourselves. I have some more robust flower pots but haven't had time to sort them out. Glass sheets - leave me your phone numbers and I'll contact you. Also, there are 3 (fomerly white) plastic garden chairs going free, in our front garden. They are a bit brittle now but should last a summer or three if you are careful.

Hi all,
I've met a few of you before but i've been a bit off the radar recently with work being far too busy for my liking! I've finally also got round to sorting out my account on here so now I can keep in touch with what the food group is up to. I don't have a garden or any outdoor space to grow things or much time to put towards growing thing so I'm not sure what use I'm going to be but I'll keep an eye out for opportunities to help out. Jen

Event in Camley St, Kings Cross this weekend and next: www.food-junctions.org.uk

I have some glass sheets (old sash windows) which I am happy to give away - could be used for cold frames. Someone was interested and did send me their phone number, but I can't now find the message (not really competent with the software running this site) so please send your phone number again

Has anyone got any tomato seedlings I could have? thanks!
Px

The Westminster Community Gardening Programme will reach out to at least 900 participants and develop 2,500 square metres of green space in Harrow Road, Queens Park and Westbourne. From clearing litter to creating ‘edible gardens’, activities will be developed in partnership with the local community. Answering local needs, it will also provide people with fun activities and exciting career opportunities.
Get involved!

Community gardening is an exciting opportunity to get out, get active, learn new skills and have fun while improving local gardens and green spaces.

If you are interested in participating, Please contact the Westminster Community Gardening Team on 020 7239 1290 or email wcgteam@groundwork.org.uk.
http://www.london.groundwork.org.uk/what-we-do/projects-and-consult...
http://westminstercommunitygardening.ning.com/

Not sure if you have seen this yet?
"Grow your own revolution gets major land boost"
http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1492679