Mobbed Monday

7 volunteers arrived today, full of energy to get a good mornings work in. That's exceptional for a Monday in January with a lazy wind (that's one that blows right through you, rather than bothering to go round!), so we hope it bodes well for the coming weeks. There is always so much to do here, and getting a good crowd in makes all the difference.

First we all gathered in the fruit cage so that we could help Dan, Danny and Jason revise fruit bush pruning, finishing off the last of the bushes in the process.

After that we all moved on to smaller jobs. Hassan potted up the red and yellow willow cuttings that we grew in a bag bed last year, whilst Vanessa and Rachel bravely tackled the bindweed roots. The Dans and Jason went off to plant up some gooseberries that had grown when we layered the plants last year, and Joyce went to clear the hazel coppice in the orchard. The Dans and co joined her and we coppiced the older hazels for the first time. It seems strange to just cut a tree down almost to the ground, but we know it will respond by sending up lots of new growth. We can burn the wood we cut down as well, and apparently Hazel has more calories for weight than Willow, so it should be really useful for the clay oven once it's seasoned.

Vanessa beats the renegade rasps
into submission

The Dans and Jason got a lesson in how to use a flint and steel to light the Kelly kettle, and soon managed to make this wonderfully efficient gadget provide enough hot water for everyone to enjoy a well earned cuppa. The break got even more interesting when Hassan produced a box of chocolates! It may not have earned us the healthy eating points, but the chocs definitely boosted morale and productivity, giving the Dan's enough energy to tackle planting some onion sets in the polytunnel, whilst Vanessa and Rachel moved the Autumn raspberries that have invaded the fruit cage. The pruning gave us some nice cuttings, so Hassan and Joyce set those up in the bag bed.

Joyce and Hassan set up the cuttings 

All in all, a very good morning!

Climate-Friendly Cooking with Forest Fields

Members of the Forest Fields Gardening Club came to visit us today for a really fun session that gave us a chance to try out the rocket stove. We had a great afternoon here getting to know how to use fire safely, and also how to cook in a "climate-friendly" way.

First, we introduced the group to the allotment and explained our views on how to do things sustainably. Then, we helped the group work out where the wood for our fires comes from (our own trees!), and did a little thinking about how this differed from using fossil fuels.

The next bit was fun - first the group helped to build a fire in the fire pit. For many of them, it was the first time, so Tracey initiated them with a promise to only light fires in a careful way, with adult permission. Then we showed them how wasteful an open fire was by demonstrating with a kelly kettle and our new rocket stove, how little fuel is needed if you burn it carefully.

For those of you who haven't come across it before, a kelly kettle, or storm kettle, is a clever beastie. It's a kettle where the reservoir for the water is in a sleeve, wrapped around a chimney. That means if you light a fire and keep it going with small twigs, it will heat the water up in about the same time it takes to boil an ordinary kettle. We used it to boil water to make fresh mint tea, which was a huge hit.

We used the rocket stove to make popcorn, and then used it to cook pumpkin pancakes. Both were huge hits. The group had a great time feeding the fires and seeing how much wood each type used. They also became very good as safe match use and were very aware of the fire risks and how to deal with any accidental spilling of fire.

When the time came to leave, the group really didn't want to go, so we hope they will come back to see us soon.