Chair’s Chat - October 2011

As I write it is truly a heat wave, in Oct! But too late for my outdoor toms which are all blighted. I regret not just cutting them down earlier and bringing them in. But, my greenhouse toms are just great.

Potatoes are fantastic, bumper crop, despite such a dry spring. I have super spring onions for the first time ever. Along with Mahesh and Graham Elliott, I have also grown brilliant blight resistant Cara and had fantastic results. I visited NOG member Maggie’s garden and she proudly showed me her super swedes, they looked like something out of a fairy tale. She had covered them with enviromesh to protect them from flea beetle. I have to say I looked on at Maggie’s swedes a bit green, none of my roots other than the potatoes and spring onions have done well this year.

I have heard on the grape vine that 3 weather companies are predicting a very early and cold winter. Snow maybe even in Oct! This year everything will be dug up and stored somewhere inside the house. The garden shed really let me down last year. I lost all my dahlias even though they were nestled in saw dust in wooden boxes. I’m still smarting...

Mary our ‘bookworm’ is stepping down from the committee and the books. Mary has done sterling work and is such a brick. At events she was always the first one there and so organised. The books have grown in wisdom with topics such as biodynamic, fungi, pigs, sheep... Mary always typed out lists of events, and attended every one. Thank you Mary, for all your hard work. We all really appreciate it. Natalie has agreed to take over the books, so welcome Natalie. I hope you enjoy your new project and find the books rewarding.

Exciting news... our new website has been launched into cyber space.  Sarah and I have been beavering away with the ever patient Will Corner.  We researched other organic group web sites, to help develop our own new image. We are really happy with it; I hope you are too. Will has other jobs too, so the pressure was really turned to hot this summer. On the home page, we’ve included a link to a great film that I found out about at the soil association conference 2 years ago. It’s called Farm for a future by Rebecca Hoskings. It’s about 45 minutes long, beautifully shot and with a really important message for everyone, especially farmers. It concludes with solutions, some of which may even shock you!  The new website is only a start, providing the structure. Now it all needs filling in and can be as big and colourful as we want. So if you have good ideas, lets discuss putting them on the site. Any help with this would be really, really appreciated. Thank you for all your help and support Sarah, it wouldn’t have happened without you.

I would just like to say a huge thank you to Andy who helped develop our image, our posters and our bookmarks advertising the new website.

A few days ago we had our visit to Holt hall and our fungi foray. We had fantastic weather, almost too hot for a foray, but still we found an impressive collection of fungi. The best was a huge Bay Bolete, one of the best to find. I reckon the coconut scented milk cap was next. It smelt divine. We had a huge fry up of brought in mushrooms but did include the Bolete. The children really got involved passing each dish of each type around carefully. My son who before the foray declared that he, like everyone in his class at school, hated mushrooms, declared after the foray he wanted mushrooms for dinner...success! A huge thank you to Dr Tony Leech for his patience and excellent Latin fungi knowledge – he made the day. We even found an extra special fungi Tony squirreled away into his ‘special things’ bottle (but not sure now what it was called). After our fry up and a sandwich we ventured into Chris Wrights Roots and Shoots project, a Victorian walled garden full of wildlife and different ways to grow vegetables. Other than the impressive vegetables and fruit, he even had strawberries to give away! The giant insects and spiders made all the difference. His bug hotel is just lovely, photos will be on the web site very soon.

Everybody enjoyed Chris’s Monday night talk so much I let him go on for half an hour extra. He has worked so hard for the project and the children have really benefited. If only more would give their time and energy like this. Children really do need to be taught to have more empathy with nature and know how to grow food and prepare their own food. Technology and the demands of our modern way of life really do get in the way. Chris, you are an example to us all.

On Monday night Alison brought in a tub of bright yellow tomatoes (Estonian yellow mini cherry tomatoes that grow profusely and look like a hanging chandelier) and a leek leaf with long white marks along it. This year seems to have resulted in some unexpected failures or bumper crops that we are really chuffed with. So now some have gluts of things and need to share. That’s one of the best things about being in a group – so please do bring surplus produce to shared, or samples for other members to taste.  

Next talk is Trish le Gal on the Hungry Gap. I have looked through her book and have to say was very impressed and intend to buy a copy. Trish has grown many heritage seeds and done many experiments. Come and learn from her experience, so you don’t have to learn the hard way of trial and error ( maybe!). The book is full of fantastic photographs and detailed information.

In this Sunday’s Telegraph, there was a fascinating article about new ideas for fast food... at last!  New bright orange vending machines t being trialled at schools in the USA, full of strips of  raw carrot, packaged just like sweets in a bag. Then they had apple fries, just strips of raw apple. So far it’s proved really successful, and a bigger trial is already planned. About time!! If only they were organic too...

Has anyone tried growing their vegetables in straw bales? How long do the straw bales have to be soaked first?  Biodynamic gardening recommend this. Can any members tell us of their experience?

If you have spare seed but can’t get to the meetings , please feel free to send them to me and I will bring them in for our seed swap.

Now is a great time to make a compost trench for next year’s beans. Under cover you can sow lettuce, spinach, corn salad. Outside, there is still time to sow spring onions, white Lisbon are hardy. Also landcress, rocket, Chinese leaves, lambs lettuce, winter purslane. Plant your garlic cloves and onion sets. Cut asparagus ferns down, but leave one plant so if you have asparagus beetle they will all go there , then you can cut that down and get rid of them! (Bob’s idea.) Lift all your potatoes and store carefully in bags. Sow a green manure grazing rye anywhere you won’t be sowing small seeded crops directly next spring. Grazing rye stores soil nutrients over winter. Sow Aug – Oct. Let nature help you. Don’t forget to sow some borage. The bees love it, and Bob’s hot on it as a plant food, like comfrey.

from Brigid