Where are all the fruit and nut trees?

Years ago there was a tradition in our society of foraging in the wild. It is a tradition we have lost. Beginning with the Enclosure of common lands - and increasingly as food production has become more and more globalised, we have become used to buying all our food from shops and supermarkets. Before the process of Enclosure became widespread, culminating in the 18th and 19th century Acts, local people had the right to forage, cultivate, cut hay, graze their animals, fish and collect timber and turf for fuel from common land. As the fields, meadows and commons were fenced off, many of the poor became dispossessed and people were forced to leave the land. Food that had previously been free became a commodity that had to be bought.

These days there is necessarily an emphasis on local and low carbon food production; but ‘free food’ remains a largely untapped source. A number of communities have started mapping their local foraging opportunities. Following suit, a few of us from the (Norwich FarmShare) food hub, have created a map to show fruit and nut bearing trees and bushes (walnuts, sweet chestnuts, rose hips, hazel, elderflowers & berries, sloes, blackberries, damson, plums and apples; and so on). Go to http://g.co/maps/m86ft to add any sources you know of on publicly accessible land (please, not private land). And let’s grow the map. Sarah Gann

For further info contact Sarah Gann at sarahdgann@gmail.com

Photo: walnut harvest and oil

Seed Swap Saturday - 19 November

On Saturday 19 November, the third annual organic seed swap will be held at 2 pm in the Grow Our Own allotment hut. Entrance is free.

Grow Our Own is situated on the Bluebell South allotments. The entrance is where 82 The Avenues would be, down a narrow lane immediately after George Borrow Road on the way out of the city. Erik Buitenhuis

For more information on the venue see http://grow-our-own.co.uk/
For more information, contact Erik.

Grapes Hill Community Garden - Task Day 23 October

Summer is becoming autumn in the Grapes Hill Community Garden, but there are still late flowers and vegetables to see. The meadow has been cut and we will be adding Yellow Rattle seeds this autumn. This beautiful plant, with its yellow flowers in June and dry rattle-like seedheads, is a semi-parasite on grasses, so will keep the height of the meadow down once established. The seeds need cold to germinate, hence the autumn planting.

There are two task days in October: Sundays 9th and 23rd. We will be in the garden between 2 and 4pm on those days - come and meet us and join in!

The garden has been open all summer, 9 - 6pm every day, but winter opening hours will start on Sunday 30th October, when the garden will close at 4.30pm. Admission is free.

For more information on the garden see our website and Facebook page. Jeremy Bartlett.

Photograph by Vanna Bartlett: Rudbeckia and asters give late summer colour.

Kitchen Conversation 2 - Low Carbon Cookbook - 16 September

Last month we had our first Kitchen Conversation at the Nectar Cafe and discussed Eating Local Food for Real. Our delicious supper of shared dishes, which included some of the new cafe's raw delights - gaspacho, blackberry and apple crumble, and courgetti, a spiralling bowl of small marrows as you have not yet known them, doused in peppery nasturtium and dandelion leaf pesto (a hit!), Mark's Feel the Beet Medicine Salad and Sophie's grapes from her native France.

Afterwards we discussed the varying engagements with local food from allotments, how you can get out (or not) from the supermarket system, the beneficial and low carbon advantages of eating raw food, veg boxes and how eating in season ties you in with the earth and the people and plants of the neighbourhood. Meanwhile the cafe's next door neighbour dropped in with a picture of a hummingbird he had taken in Northern Peru.

We'll be holding our second Low Carbon Kitchen Conversation at Norwich FoodCycle Cafe on 16 September at 7pm. These free community meals are cooked up each week at the Friends Meeting House kitchens from food that would otherwise be thrown away, all donated by local shops, restaurants and market stalls (including surplus veg from Norwich FarmShare). Our topic for discussion will be (you guessed it!) Food Waste, both the big global picture and the small ways we can rethink how we buy and pay attention to the food that keeps our bodies and souls together. All welcome! Charlotte Du Cann

For further info on The Low Carbon Coobook contact Charlotte at rootsshootsandseeds@hotmail.co.uk

Jo welcomes the crew to the Nectar; our shared late summer meal

Grapes Hill Community Garden - Opening to the Public - 2 July

On Saturday 2nd July the garden opens to the public and during summer it will be open every day between 9am and 6pm, with shorter opening hours in winter. Thanks to lots of hard work by volunteers it is now looking lovely. The wildflower meadow is a mass of blue, yellow and white (cornflowers, corn marigolds and corn chamomile) and the borders are full of herbs and flowers. At the top of the garden the raised beds are full of thriving vegetables, with the promise of later crops (tomatoes, courgettes and cucumbers) to come.

The Grapes Hill Community Garden Group will have a stall at St. Benedict's Street Fair on Sunday 10th July and a collection of photographs of the garden will be on display at the EXPOSURE Photographic Exhibition at St. Margaret's Church in St. Benedict's Street between 5th and 16th July (admission free; closed Mondays).

Later in the day after St. Benedict's Street Fair we will have an evening of food, drink and music in the garden from 6 - 9pm. Admission is free. Come along and see our Urban Oasis! Jeremy Bartlett.

Above: Grapes Hill Community Garden, 27th June 2011, photo copyright Jeremy Bartlett.

Grapes Hill Community Garden - We've Finished Planting - 23 June

We've now (more or less) finished planting up the Grapes Hill Community Garden.

Highlight of the garden at the moment is Salvia superba 'Mainacht', whose spikes of violet-purple flowers are proving a big hit with bumblebees. We've had three species so far, including Bombus hypnorum, which only started to colonise the UK in 2001, and is steadily moving north.

We've spread mulch in the garden. This is well-rotted compost from Shrubbs Farm at Edgefield and it is a lovely dark backdrop for the plants. It will help to suppress weeds and conserve moisture. We have a watering rota to keep the garden alive in the current drought.

Our gardening tasks are now every fortnight on Thursday evenings (6 - 8pm) as we prepare to open the garden to the public from Saturday 2nd July. And we're preparing for an evening of music and food on Sunday 10th July (after St. Benedict's Street Fair, 6 - 9pm) and our Grand Opening Day on Sunday 7th August (11am - 3pm).Jeremy Bartlett.

Above: Bombus hypnorum on Salvia 'Mainacht', photo copyright Jeremy Bartlett.

Transition Circle West 1 - Cycle Workshop- 10 May

Our first meeting in April was a foraging meeting. We met in the UEA square and then went for a lovely sunny wander round the lake, grazing on the vegetation as we went! We collected quite an impressive variety of different plants and all of us learnt lots of new things. We then took all of our goodies back to my house and made a gourmet lunch of super salad, chickweed omelette and braised hogweed shoots, yum yum! We decided that we should have another session later on in the year when there are different things available.

The May meeting that we have already planned is a cycle maintenance workshop starting at 6pm on Tuesday 10th May, where we will talk about the basics of cycle maintenance. Details of our second meeting will be put on to the calendar asap. Kerry Lane

Anyone in the west of Norwich, who is trying to reduce their carbon footprint is welcome to join us, just get in touch with Helen on mshelenpallett@gmail.com.

Salad of Garlic mustard, salad burnet, cleavers, ground ivy, sorrel and dead nettle

Permaculture Norwich - 10 April

On Saturday 19 March we had our first excursion! The warm sun shone on our faces as we had a social and educational day of tours of permaculture demonstration sites: The Apricot Centre, Manningtree and The Peoples Community Garden in Ipswich. Thank you Marina and Susannah for hosting our group of twelve. See Kerry’s post on the Transition Norwich This Low Carbon Life blog for pics!

Sunday 10th April-10.30 UEA permaculture allotment and forest garden workday Activities could include: - maintaining beds at allotment -sewing seeds in polytunnel - maintaining forest garden site -bonfire Bring work gloves and food to share for lunch. See calendar for times/directions/details. New faces welcome! Contact Tierney for more info on the Norwich Permaculture group (Tierneywoods@yahoo.co.uk).

Apricot Centre Tour, Time to share in the sun at PCG, Leaving the place better than we had found it-helping plant up salad seedlings for PCG

Grapes Hill Community Garden Update - 25 April

Since my last update in early March, we've made good progress at Grapes Hill Community Garden.

We've finished moving our forty tonnes of extra soil, sown our wildflower meadow and cornfield annuals and, most recently, laid turf and planted woodland wildflowers. The first radishes are emerging in one of the deep beds and the daffodils are in flower.

If you'd like to get involved, we will have further work days on Sundays 3rd and 17th April, Easter Monday 25th April and Sunday 15th May 2011. Tasks start at 11am and all are welcome. Bring lunch and, if you have them, gardening gloves.

See our website (www.grapeshillcommunitygarden.org) for further details and the latest photos.We are also on Facebook as "Grapes Hill Community Garden, Norwich". Jeremy Bartlett.

Above: Laying turf, photo copyright Grapes Hill Community Gardening Group

Grapes Hill Community Garden Work Days - 27 March, and 3 April

Come and join us at Grapes Hill Community Garden, as we prepare the garden for opening to the public on Saturday 2nd July 2011.

Once the garden is fully open everyone will be welcome to come in and enjoy the space, every day during daylight hours. (It will be locked at night.)

The garden will contain a large number of food plants - vegetables in raised beds, fruit trees and bushes, herbs and edible flowers. In the shadier areas we will plant woodland wildflower and there will be a small meadow area, as well as ornamental shrubs and flowers to make the garden attractive to people and wildlife alike. There will be several seats and a lawn area where visitors will be able to relax and enjoy the garden.

Garden Work Days will be held on Sundays 13 and 27 March, 3 April. Meet at the garden, 11am. All welcome; tools will be provided. We will also hold a Public Meeting on Monday 14 March at The Belvedere Centre, Belvoir Street, Norwich, NR2 3AZ, 7.30 - 8.30pm. All welcome.

The garden opens to the public daily from Saturday 2 July And on Sunday 7th August 2011 we will celebrate with a Grand Opening Day.

Further information, news and details of upcoming events can be found on our website at http://www.grapeshillcommunitygarden.org/ and on our notice board on the garden railings.

Jeremy Bartlett. Photos copyright Grapes Hill Community Gardening Group

Low Carbon Cookbook - 16 February

January was all about Roots. Edible roots, radical roots. Mark and Bee had been struck down with flu, so we talked medicine soups and lemon and ginger tea, before doing our seasonal round-up of local veg and recipes. I had just visited the Grapes Hill Community Garden where Jeremy had told me about the hardy and delicious Andean winter roots, oca and mashui. I grow oca, said Erik and produced some equally South American yacon roots out of his knapsack, like a rabbit out of a hat. (You can read about our Strictly Roots exchange here. ) Afterwards we watched Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's C4 documentary about the crazy fishing quota system in the North Sea. It was the first time I had watched television in 16 years.

January was a fierce month for campaigns. There were campaigns for every kind of creature under duress from the industrial food system: bees, fish, cows (Nocton superdairy), pigs (vast American-style factory farm). Even though the perils of growing and eating food under these conditions are well-documented, the system keeps pushing against nature for greater and greater profit and control.

But some of us are starting to push back and gain momentum. What we do in the Cookbook sessions is to pay attention to these big issues and align them with our own small-scale carbon-reduction eating habits. No point, as Kerry pointed out, in knowing this stuff if you're not acting on it. Who would listen to us?

This month we're meeting at Bee's to discuss the writing part of the project (and not get too distracted by campaigns and cooking). If you would like to join us contact Charlotte Du Cann at rootsshootsandseeds@hotmail.co.uk

Photo: supper with sweet potato, Arizona 2001; Greenpeace poster.

Norwich Permaculture Workday and Excursion - 5 March

Not one but TWO permaculture group workdays took place in January....oooh we’re keen!

On a sun sun sunny day in Hethersett we had an afternoon in Erik’s garden. A good old wood-chopping, bed-mulching, perpetual-onion- transplanting, vegetable-lactofermenting (a way of preserving for those that weren't there!) session.

Ruth (like a lightning bolt) then organised a second workday at her house to maintain her shed sauna. A superinsulated double roof layer stuffed with straw was crafted then re-felted decreasing the amount of wood needing to be chopped to keep it toasty (and dry!). Activity rolled into the evening with various food experiments to create a meal with the ingredients contributed.

Thanks and welcome to new faces Lesley, Louisa, Matt, Luci, Ruth and Clare for their time and energy.

Sat 5March. Workday at Brenna’s, Kirkstead .Activities could include: preparing a no-dig veg area (which does initially involve some digging!),coppicing willows building a haybox cooker (and possibly modifications on our outside fridge) planting comfrey, planting out seedlings..lots of general garden stuff! Contact Brenna for more info/directions. brennasbox@yahoo.com

Sat 19th March 2011 Our first excursion! To two sites registered with the Permaculture Association as good demonstration sites of permaculture design in action. We will be visiting: The Apricot Centre, Manningtree and The Peoples Community Garden in Ipswich. Having tours and doing a little work as a thank you for hosting us. We will leave Norwich at 09.00 and return at 18.50. Contact Tierney if you are interested in coming along (Tierneywoods@yahoo.co.uk).

Bed mulching/perpetual onion transplanting, Erik’s wood pile (no we didn’t chop all that wood that day!),shed sauna pre-renovations

Permaculture workday - 23 January

To meet, to share, perchance to do some work if it stops raining/snowing!

This Norwich permaculture workday caught the turning of the weather last weekend but held off enough for us to prepare 3 raised beds, plant beans, peas and garlic and weed the herb spiral in Ruth’s garden in Costessey between warming cups of tea.

Before our shared meal and shed-sauna we chatted about what we wanted from being in the group. We like the hands-on ‘doing’ side of meeting up. Being outside and helping each other out whilst sharing knowledge from our own experiences. A visual ‘ah! Look what got done!’ balanced with the social and relaxed chats and fooooood. We decided we were happy for it to grow, and go, however and wherever it wanted rather than to force it to take a direction. Less pressure, less stress! As long as everyone is happy with that! :)

Next stop Eriks garden Jan 9th and CSA tree planting Jan 30th. See Calendar for details (Tierney Woods)

Weeding the herb spiral, preparing raised beds for planting, steamed vegetables, tomato borlotti bean stew, carrot and beetroot salad, shed-sauna.

Grapes Hill Community Garden Opens the Gates - 15/16, 17 and 23 January

The Grapes Hill Community Garden Group wishes a Happy New Year to all our members and supporters.

Some important dates for January
Firstly we have discovered that the topsoil that was stored for us on Mousehold Heath and delivered in November is full of bindweed roots. 8 members spent several hours on 28th December forking it through to remove the roots but there this is going to take several more hours with only 8 pairs of hands. So we are posting this to Transition Norwich, BTCV and the Green Gym to see if any of their members are willing to help us out as well as our own mailing list. We need as many people as possible to join us on the 15th and/or 16th January from 11am to 2pm both days. Bring wellies, waterproof gardening gloves, a large fork if you have one and/ or sturdy soil rakes. We will be able to provide some of these for those without. Tea, squash and cake will be provided. Please pass this on to anyone you think may be willing to help.

Information including directions to garden can be found on our website http://www.grapeshillcommunitygarden.org/. Please call 07729 540 482 or email contact@grapeshillcommunitygarden.org if the weather is bad and you want to check before you leave whether dates have been cancelled or postponed. The website will also post this last minute information (Fran Ellington).

Weekend of 15/16 January – bindweed root removal days between 11am to 2pm both days.
Monday 17 January: AGM: 7 30 – 8 30 pm Belvedere Centre bar lounge, Belvoir street, NR2 3AZ
Sunday 23 January – Tree planting day. Meet on site from 10.30am. All welcome.

Photo: Open Day at the Garden, 2010.

Seed Swap - 6 November

On Saturday 6 November the second annual organic seed swap will be held in the Grow Our Own allotment hut from 11-12am. Entrance is free.

Last year, a seed saving circle was formed (even before the term was coined by realseeds) to grow seeds for the group. The group will meet up at the same time to swap these seeds as well.

Grow Our Own is situated on the Bluebell South allotments. The entrance is where 82 The Avenues would be, down a narrow lane immediately after George Borrow Road on the way out of the city. For more information on the venue see http://grow-our-own.co.uk/

For questions or to sign up for next year's seed saving circle if you can't come on 6 November, contact Erik.

Seedy Saturday at Transition Canturbury by Kathryn Siveyer

Grapes Hill Community Garden

Grapes Hill Community Garden is near the bottom of Grapes Hill in Norwich. It was an area of tarmac until September 2010, when hard landscaping work began.

The garden has been planted up by volunteers during spring 2011 and is open to the general public every day (during daylight hours) from Saturday 2nd July 2011.

The garden contains a large number of edible plants - fruit trees and bushes, herbs, vegetables and edible flowers, such as French marigolds (Calendula) and day lilies (Hemerocallis).

We have planted a small apple orchard, fan-trained cherries, a fig, cordeon pear trees, four grape vines, a plum, an apricot, raspberries and blackberries. More unusual fruit include quince and medlar trees, honeyberries, Japanese wineberries and alpine strawberries.

There are four large ash trees and these provide shade in summer. In the shadier areas we have planted woodland wildflowers such as primroses, snowdrops, bluebells and Welsh poppies.

Underneath the apple trees is a small meadow area with wild flowers and grasses.

We are also growing ornamental shrubs and flowers to make the garden attractive to people and wildlife alike.

There are several seats and a lawn area where visitors can relax and enjoy the garden.

If you'd like to become involved in the garden, you can join the Grapes Hill Community Garden Group. Visit our website, http://www.grapeshillcommunitygarden.org/, for more details.

Come and enjoy our urban oasis!

For further details contact Grapes Hill community Garden website.

REPORT: Seedling Swap

We came from Bungay by bus and Hethersett by bicycle (and from quite close by, by car - but with very heavy boxes). The list of plants we swapped was huge: kale for valerian, quinces for sunflowers, squashes for raspberries; tomatoes, Slovak white peppers, lettuces, aubergines, datura, feverfew, chillies and much more.

The Playhouse kindly hosted us and brought lilies and mint to the swap, happily taking away chillies and basil.

It was a fun, relaxed day. We chatted with friends old and new. Some people heard about Transition Norwich for the first time, others had been with us since the Unleashing.

It felt good, to be sharing something of ourselves, these tiny plants we'd nurtured from seeds - in airing cupboards and on windowsills; and to share our pleasure and our passion with other plant lovers.

To give freely, to share and receive, and to plant something in hope. A symbol for Transition. (Elena, Food & Farming/TN2)

Transition Plant Swap - Saturday 15 May

Growing more of our own food is a great way to start designing a better future. Very environmentally friendly, doesn't require fossil fuel and kind to our pockets too! So we're having a plant swap, where we’ll have seedling plants (tomatoes and other veggies plus herbs and flowers too) and we invite people to bring along their own plants to swap. If you haven't got anything to swap for our plants, a donation would be much appreciated. Do come along with your plants - organic for preference, labelled and with advice on growing tips if possible!

Playhouse Bar terrace, Norwich Playhouse, St George's Street. Saturday 15 May 11am - 3pm. For more info contact info@transitionnorwich.org.

Allotment and Growers Group

From the autumn of 2010 the TN Allotment Group is widening its remit to include all our veggie-growers, whether they have an allotment, a garden in the sky, a proper kitchen garden or just a window-box. We'll carry on swapping seeds, plants and tall stories at regular events throughout the gardening year. Look out for the garden-share scheme coming soon too.

Securing reliable sources of local food is the most urgent of the Transition tasks, because most modern farming and food production is totally dependent on fossil fuel and chemicals, which can't be sustained even in the short term; and increasingly climate change will affect the reliability of intensively farmed crops. In Transition we're buying from our local growers, producers and sellers (organic wherever possible) to support our communities and build sustainable food practices for the future. And we're working as a group to grow our own seasonal and regional fruit and vegetables -we're learning new skills and rediscovering skills that have almost been lost. Along the way we are growing and eating really delicious food together.

Our aim is to share and learn together, with a mix of conventional allotment growing and permaculture techniques. We are keen to concentrate on delicious tasting fruit and veggies as well as exploring what grows best in our Norfolk climate!

Members of the group so far are a mix of experienced gardeners and newcomers keen to learn how to grow great food for themselves and their friends and families. Several of us have plots at the Grow Our Own community allotment scheme at Bluebell Lane South and we catch up at Grow Our Own regular meetings to share a meal together (ideally made with produce from the allotments), on the first Sunday of each month.


Contact: Jane Chittenden jane@janechittenden.co.uk