Would you like to come Blackberry Picking on Sunday 7th August?

Hi all volunteers

There are plenty of early blackberries about it seems and it looks as though we should be able to have an inaugural pick on Sunday August 7 at 7pm. We’ll meet at Mayfield School, High Lane, Hanwell, W7 3RT and set off about 7.15.

We will almost certainly pick again – but we’ll decide on the exact date after this Sunday. We’ll bring some tupperware to collect the blackberry donations for WEN, but bring your own, too, so you can take some home.

Let’s hope the weather stays fine!

Gill/Diane

Rural Ealing in July + blackberries nearly there

I just went to check the blackberries in the bunny park – and got some lovely photos of rural Ealing – the blackberries aren’t far off ready (another couple of weeks till the Big Pick -if you’re interested in getting involved  in this community activity and maybe subsequent cooking, email  wenabundance@gmail.com). Anyway, thought you might like the pix (click images to enlarge).

 

Fancy yourself as an inventor?

The London Orchard Project is looking for someone to design and make a new pedal-powered apple crusher for easy juicing of urban apples.

This is an exciting opportunity to create a really useful product that does not currently exist. The crusher will be used by us and community groups across London harvesting and juicing local fruit.  It’s a great opportunity to be part of the future of local fruit production and processing in our wonderful city.

Background

Apple juicing is a 2-stage process.  First the apples need to be crushed to a pulp, then they are pressed to get the juice.

Small scale community apple juice producers using hand-operated crushers know through bitter experience that the crushing stage is slow, dull and blister-inducing.  There are electric crushers available, but these are too expensive for small voluntary groups, require a power source (not always available at outdoor events) and conflict with the low carbon/ off the grid ethos of small-scale community food production.

The Vigo website shows the crushers currently available on the market with some useful videos of how these work:

http://www.vigopresses.co.uk/store/index.php?cPath=63_77

The brief

They are looking for an intermediate technology apple crusher: faster and easier to use than existing hand-operated crushers, but without need for electricity.

The ideal crusher would be:

  • Pedal powered
  • Transportable- ideally readily attachable to a bike
  • Safe to use- has a mechanism that ensure apples only get crushed (no fingers in our juice!)
  • Quick – a small electric crusher by comparison can crush up to 1,000kg of apples per hour (but it doesn’t need to achieve aquite these volumes!)
  • Effective – reducing the apples to a fine pulp for optimum juice pressing
  • Very sturdy- it will be used by many groups across London
  • Using reclaimed materials where possible
  • Easy to repair
  • Looks cool! (the most discerning teenager will be keen to give it a go)
  • Replicable

Ideally (but not necessarily), you’d be up for sharing the design with other groups who may want to make their own.

Prize and Budget

They have a £200 prize for the person who makes us the crusher.  And you’ll get the satisfaction of knowing your creation is being put to good use and enjoyed by 1000s of Londoners.  And they will make sure to spread the word about the brains behind the crusher.

In addition, they anticipate the budget for materials to be in the region of £200-£400 (but are still very keen to see cheaper or more expensive designs)

To take up the challenge…

If you are interested or have any questions, please contact orchard@thelondonorchardproject.org outlining:

  • Your initial design
  • Relevant experience in designing, making or working with similar machines
  • Budget breakdown for the work

Closing dates for entries is 20th July. The winner will be announced on 25th July.

They would like the crusher on 31st August at the latest, ready for the harvesting season

More about The London Orchard Project at www.thelondonorchardproject.org

Next up – Blackberry Picking

West Ealing Pickers – you know who you are! (And, if you aren’t in the know, would you like to know more? See below). Blackberries are next on the picking calendar – could be as early as mid-July (but we’re checking out the picking fields shortly).

To stay in touch, there are many ways:

Come to the Star and Anchor, Uxbridge Rd on Weds eve for social eve.

The West Ealing Abundance Blog: http://westealingabundancew13.wordpress.com/

Email: wenabundance@gmail.com

Twitter: @WENeighbours

Facebook: West Ealing Neighbours

Come along and see our stall at Pitshanger – Sunday 26th June

Yummy Abundance Produce

For those of you that missed us at Hanwell Carnival we will be at PPiTP for the first time selling our lovely locally picked and made produce – including our best selling elderflower cordial (£2.50) We will also have our chutneys this time – we had lots of requests at Hanwell for these!

You can also find out more on the Abundance project and volunteer too!

See you there.

Diane

New monthly cheese subscription service launched for Ealing residents

When I took a break from being on the WEN Abundance stall at the Hanwell Carnival on Saturday I wandered over to visit the W7 Emporium stall. W7 Emporium has been set up by Hanwell resident Claire Rosser and is a brilliantly simple idea. She offers a monthly cheese subscrption service whereby for £24 a month she will deliver a carefully sourced and selected range of British and international cheeses. For your £24 you get 1kg of cheeses, often award-winning, which you’re not likely to find in your local supermarket.

I bought five cheeses from her at the Carnival and we had a tasting last night,  and they were all good. Some deliciously strong cheddars, a tangy ewes milk cheese and a very creamy Shropshire Blue amongst them. She will deliver to the W7, W13 and W5 areas on the last Friday of each month.

I’m about to fill out my subscription form and you can find out more details by emailing w7emporium@gmail.com or call Claire on 07828 971200.

I’ll update this post after we get our first delivery.

David Highton

Do you want to know where you can buy delicious elderflower cordial?


We are all working hard to make sure we have enough stock for Hanwell Carnival on 18th June at Elthorne Park.  We will be there from 11am setting up our stall until around 5pm.  Come early to make sure you get a bottle of our delicious elderflower cordial (£2.50). Why not stick with the elderflower theme and also buy some lemon and elderflower marmalade? (£3.00) We will also have a selection of other jams/jellies and chutneys to tempt you.

Would you like to volunteer for Elderflower picking?

Diane, Gill and some volunteers from West Ealing Neighbours’ Abundance project plan to pick several hundred elderflower heads on Saturday morning, May 14th – weather permitting at a location in West Ealing. We might do a repeat ‘pick’ on Saturday morning, May 21. We’ve found a location where they’re quite prolific, in the ‘fields’ beyond Elthorne Park, although you’d need wellies to wade through nettles in some places, and a crooked stick to pull down the high branches.

We’ll be following the recipe on the WEN Abundance blog http://westealingabundancew13.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/292/ which we used last year to produce the cordial which went down very well at Hanwell Carnival and will will be selling again at this years Carnival on the 18th June, as well as Pitshanger Party in the Park on the 26th June.

Anyone who is interested in knowing more, or getting involved, please email wenabundance@gmail.com.

Cheers for now – Gill and Diane.