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New season West Ealing Abundance apple juice available from Saturday’s craft market

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It’s juicylicious!  It’s this season’s first consignment of local apple juice (with a pinch of pear).  It’s on sale at our Abundance stall at Saturday’s craft fair in St James Ave 10am – 3pm. All the fruit is local with some from our Walmer Gardens orchard and others from trees in local back gardens. It’s pure juice with no added sugar or preservatives. It’s £2.80 a bottle (75cl) or three for £7.50.  Also available will be the last few bottles of our elderflower cordial.  So come along on Saturday and stock up whilst you can.

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Abundance plum jam on its way for SoundBite Festival

We’ve had a bumper crop of Marjorie Seedling plums this year. Other plum varieties seem to have suffered from last frosts but our tree is fairly well protected so must have avoided the late frosts which hit the blossom and stop any fruit developing. So, it’s been a busy weekend cutting up plums and making jam. The jam has an added ingredient to give it a little bit of a special taste -star anise. I’ve tried it and its delicious – a slightly sharp edge to the plums with a hint of aniseed.

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It will be on sale at the SoundBite Festival on 21st September along with blackberry jam, elderflower cordial, lemon and elderflower marmalade and more.

For all the latest on SoundBite – stalls, bands, children’s entertainment, food follow the SoundBite Facebook page

 

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The Walmer Garden bees are happy

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Beekeepers – from a safe distance

I know it’s a bit far away but the Ealing Transition beekeepers arrived this morning as we were tidying up around the apple trees in the Walmer Gardens orchard. I thought I’d take a look at what they were doing but saw lots of bees swirling around the hive so decided this is as close as I’m going. The bees get a weekly check and I’m told they are doing well. Last year was tough going for them so I hope this year is better and they can produce some honey.

As for the apple trees – they have a decent crop on this year. Last year was dreadful. So, looks like apple juice come September.

Our Abundance blog is the place to keep up to date with all these things  – http://westealingabundancew13.wordpress.com/about/ – and don’t forget we have Elderflower Cordial for sale through the w7emporium in Hanwell.

 

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Winter and the bees: good news from the Walmer Gardens orchard, West Ealing

Thanks to WEN Abundance volunteer, and novice local beekeeper, Veronica Chang for this update from the Walmer Gardens community orchard:

“Wow, 30 jars of honey!! That’s amazing. I hardly had any from my hives this year”.  That comment from an experienced bee-keeper in Suffolk was a real testament to the good fortune we had with the hive in the Walmer Gardens orchard (helped along by a bit of skill, dedication and enthusiasm from our beekeepers too).

 An encounter with Sarah Dye during an Abundance blackberry-picking session led to my involvement with the Ealing Transition Community Bee group, which Sarah was setting up.

Our bees arrived in April this year and over the spring and summer months we carried out weekly inspections of their hive.  We checked to see if the queen was present, if there were eggs, and if the eggs were turning into adults.  It was amazing to see the workers (female adults) bring in the pollen in such a fantastic array of colours, and they managed this despite the appalling summer weather. And of course one of the most rewarding and exciting things for us novice beekeepers was being able to take our wonderful crop of honey in August.   As the cold weather descends we ensure that the bees have enough food to get them through the winter; and we look forward to next year, with hopefully a good harvest for us, and my friend in Suffolk too.

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Where has all the fruit gone?

WEN Abundance is having a lean year for the first time since its inception 5 years ago with very little fruit on offer so far. We are by no means the only group suffering from a lack of Abundance, groups across London and the rest of the country are scaling down activities.  A mixture of a bumper year last year and mixed weather earlier on this year has resulted in fewer yields to date. 

Luckily for us we made lots of produce last year – including delicious new chutney recipes. All of which will be on sale at West Ealing Family Day on Saturday 22nd September.  Come along to our stall outside St James Church, St James Avenue from 10am – 4pm (providing stocks last!).

If anyone knows of any suitable fruit going spare, particularly apples for our fruit press to use at West Ealing Family Day please contact wenabundance@gmail.com

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Your guide to food for free at Pitshanger Park Sunday 17th June 2.00pm

Why not party the morning away at Pitshanger Party in the Park then spend the afternoon foraging for food with Ealing Transition Community Garden…

Wild Garlic Mustard, mild Linden leaves, wild spinaches and elderflowers await you by the side of the Brent in Pitshanger Park. Ealing is overflowing with free, healthy, delicious food. It’s wild and free, not in the sense of Woodstock but rather of glittering salads full of exciting new flavours. Local transition town supporter and expert forager Sam Sender will lead a wild food walk in Pitshanger Park on Sunday 17th at 2pm. Meet at the tennis courts, and bring baskets and bags.

Cost: Free

Check out their blog at http://ealingtransitioncommunitygarden.wordpress.com/, and refer to the Upcoming Events tab for dig day dates.

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Volunteers needed for stall at Queens’ Jubilee event 15th May

Volunteers needed for stall at Queen’s Jubilee event
The London Orchard Project
The London Orchard Project has been invited to have a stall at a big event forming part of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations in Richmond Park on Tues 15th May.The event is likely to attract 20,000 plus people and is to showcase some of London’s environmental projects. They really need some help on the day with their stall – juicing apples, children’s activities, apple bobbing and showcasing our pedal powered apple crusher.If you are interested in going along, please drop an email to kath@thelondonorchardproject.orgKath needs to let the organisers know everyone’s names and details in advance due to the heightened security. Should be a fun day and the Queen herself will be visiting their stall.

 Can’t miss an opportunity to see her madge bobbing for apples!
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The Bees have finally arrived at Walmer Gardens!

For those of you who have been keeping up to date with WEN Abundance activities you will know that we have taken the renovation of on a small orchard in Walmer Gardens W13. We cleared it and pruned the trees over January/February (ably managed by The London Orchard Project)  Ealing Transition have the rear part of the orchard where the pond is for their first bee hive and on Saturday around 15,000 bees finally arrived in their new home.  The crew donned suitable clothes before opening the box to let them into their new home.  Needless to say once I had taken a picture of this I scarpered! Pictures of the event below.

Look out for more news when the Elderflower season starts towards June!