Autumn Walks

Don’t you just love scrunching through piles of fallen leaves, kicking them up into the air? 
 



Now is the time to get out and enjoy those autumn colours – yellow, gold, red and all shades of brown.  It is easy to get distracted when out walking now, trying to find the perfect leaf – but how to preserve its ephemeral beauty? 

Of course you can take photographs (yours are probably better than mine!), but there are some other techniques that might be worth trying out, such as Japanese hapa-zome leaf printing and anthotypes.

I found out about these techniques on our recent Walk Leader Training organised by Walking for Health – from some of the others taking part during our practice walk. 

One of the best things about walking with a group is the social aspect – having a relaxed chat as you go along.  There’s always someone who notices something, or knows some interesting history, or has a story to tell about the places we pass.

The Bedminster LinkAge group already runs regular short walks around Victoria Park (for over 55’s) from the Windmill Hill City Farm

 

Watch this space for more Fruitfulness walks …

Apple Day 21st October

Our first Apple Day celebration at the Windmill Hill City Farm was a great success.  Over 500 people came to join in a range of fun appley activities, and enjoyed delicious, freshly-pressed apple juice.  There are some great photos on our Facebook page.

A dozen people helped to pick (mainly Bramley) apples from the Farm, staff and visitors brought in fruit from their own garden, and we had some emergency supplies just in case …

Altogether 7 or 8 green trugs full of apples were processed to a fine mixture which started to produce juice as soon as it was loaded into the hydropress.  The juice was intense in flavor, so we were able to do some ‘second pressings’ of the pulp mixed with water and still get a tasty juice.  The final dry pulp was added to the Farm's compost heap.

As people were drinking the apple juice almost as quickly as we were making it, we didn’t get an exact measure of the total volume produced.  Our best estimate is 80 litres.  It was so popular we ran out of cups.  Some lucky people got to take a whole bottle home at the end.

We are now discussing how best to make the fruit pressing equipment available for hire to other City Farms, community orchards and local people with lots of fruit trees.

In the children’s area they had a go at peeling, slicing and coring apples in one go using an ingenious hand-driven gadget.  They also bobbed for apples – not as easy as it looks!  A beautiful Wish Tree was created with hopes for the day and for the future, this is now in the Farm’s Reception area.

Preparing for Apple Day

Staff and volunteers at the farm are gearing up for our first Apple Day on Sunday 21^st October 12-6pm.  Simone has organised a wide range of fun family activities, all to the sound of Country and Western music

(see http://www.windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk/events/appleday.html). 

The Fruitfulness Project will be trying out the Centrifugal Mill (scratter) and Hydropress for the first time.  We were ambitious and procured large volume equipment – so we can process lots of apples and pears (even grapes).  It’s unfortunate that this first year of the project has been such a poor year for apples – it was so cold and wet when the trees were blossoming that the bees weren’t about to fertilise them.  Many people are reporting that they have no, or very few, fruits on their trees. 

We will be harvesting a variety of apples from the Farm itself this week.  If you have lots of apples and pears in your garden and you’d like to turn some of them into fruit juice, do bring them along to Apple Day.  No rotten fruit or windfalls please! 

 
Fruit pressing equipment from Vigo Presses in Devon

Apple Peeler Slicer Corer from Lakeland

Also bring some clean plastic containers (such as milk cartons or pop bottles) to take away the juice. Be aware that freshly pressed fruit juice contains natural yeasts and these will start to ferment after about a week, producing CO₂ gas.  This could cause glass bottles to explode.  The juice can be pasteurized at 70^oC to prevent this, and juice can also be frozen for longer term storage.

We have a small press that children can try out, and some apple peeler, slicer, corers that are fun to use and speed up processing fruit for cooking. Some of the apple slices will be dried out in a dehumidifier, to make tasty and healthy fruity snacks.  

Poisonous Berries

On a recent foraging walk with young children that retraced the route taken in June (see post below) it seemed a good idea to point out those fruits and berries that are NOT good to eat.  When trying any new fruit, even when it is generally considered to be edible, it is sensible to try only a little bit first, in case you react badly.  Some fruits (haws from hathorns for example) are used in herbal medicine and may have undesirable effects on you, or you may find you are allergic.

Always refer to a reliable guidebook when foraging and only take things which you can identify confidently.  Some good sources of information on toxic berries can be found on the Internet - see The Wild Food School www.countrylovers.co.uk/wfs/wfsberries.htm which has some good photographs and advice for foragers.  The Royal Horticultural Society www.rhs.org.uk has a list of plants that are potentially harmful to humans.

Always wash your harvest before eating! As well as the general dirt and pollution found in the urban environment, some trees may have been sprayed with chemicals. Anything growing low down may have been contaminated by dogs or foxes, and there could be insects (juicy maggots!) on the fruits that you don't want to eat.

We were asked whether acorns were edible: the information found on this suggests that some types are edible, but only after extensive preparation.  You need to research what type of oak the acorns come from, white oaks tend to be more palatable than red oaks.  They all contain bitter tannins that need to be boiled out, with several changes of water.  It is quite a laborious process to make them into an acceptable substance which can be turned into flour, and the last time they were popular in Britain was when there was a famine!  They are a traditional part of the American Indian diet and are also used to make noodles in Korea.
 

Nominet Exhibition- Our Day Out

The Windmill Hill City Farm Community Development Team are on a day out today.  We are at the Nominet Exhibition in Broadmead.  We are here all day chatting to people and exploring ways to see how the internet can bring people, ideas, learning and communities together.

We met local resident Ron today, who went online for the first time only a few days ago. He had lots of stories to tell us about being sustainable, due to his thrifty lifestyle during the war years spent working on a farm.  He chatted to us about the benefits of being resourceful, how he keeps himself young and always open to learning new things.

Lots of inspiring people came into the Nominet exhibition who shared with us the ways they contribute to their local community and environment. We met Mohammed who works with children and adults with learning difficulties and supports them with numeracy and literacy skills.  He talked to Iwona our Fruitfulness volunteer worker about how is always finding ways to be an 'Active Citizen' in his community in Portishead.

Georgina, Jamela, Abby and Megan from a local school came along to the exhibition to find out what we were up to at the Nominet Exhibition.  Abby was interested in blogging and setting up her own blog about climbing and reading - the other girls said she is a brilliant writer.  We had a chat with her about how to set up a blog and we are looking forward to reading her new blog.

The girls were also interested in volunteering and Jules the Community Development Worker and Rosie our volunteer Sustainablity Engagement Worker talked to them about volunteering at the Farm.
We look forward to finding out what volunteering opportunities they may get involved in.

Today we have also been developing some new exciting projects for Active Citizens in 2013. We are developing a project which we hope will encourage people in the local community to find ways to be more sustainable in everyday life. Step Out for Sustainability (SOS) will explore ways to encourage households in the local community to make thoughtful decisions about how they travel, cook, shop, run their houses and deal with their waste.  Details coming soon...

Our Digital Planet Exhibition in Broadmead

The Active Citizens Project will be taking part in the Nominet Trust’s Our Digital Planet exhibition at Bristol Broadmead on Friday 21^st September.  Do come along and meet the project team, we’ll be there from 10.30a.m. to 4p.m.

The aim of the exhibition is highlight the broad and far-reaching impact the Internet is having on our lives and to help people understand more about its potential.  The exhibition includes images and information on projects that show how the Internet helps with:

• Democracy

• Community Engagement

• Support Networks

• Social Isolation

• Health and Well-being

• Economic Well-being

• Hobbies and Interests

There will be an Internet station for you to use yourself, to find out more, perhaps to get online for the first time?  Nominet Trust experts will be on hand to give help with any questions or issues you may have.

The Active Citizens project team look forward to meeting you and finding out about your ideas for how to use the Internet to get involved with – or start – a local initiative in your community.  We will have information on volunteering opportunities,  local environmental projects around Bristol, the Fruitfulness Project and how to create a blog.

August Fruits

Blackberry Picking

We’ve found several places within 5 minutes walk of the City Farm where blackberries can be found.  August is when they start ripening, and we have already seen some really large juicy ones! 

A small group of us walked into Victoria Park and turned right towards Bedminster station.  There are some really large bramble bushes thriving along the railway fence, with plenty of fruit in easy reach.  We used a long stick to hold back the prickly branches and nettles where necessary so we could pick the darkest fruits.

Past the station entrance and moving onto the start of the Malago Walkway we found so many bushes, we filled up our bags and containers really quickly! 

We have frozen some to use on the next Jam-making session on Wed 26^th September (book online at www.freewebstore.org/windmillhillcityfarm/index.aspx?pageid=1212375 ).  Blackberries are also great in pies and crumbles, especially mixed with apples.

We also found this unusual Umbrella Tree – a useful find given the wet summer we have been having!

Plums on the Bath Road

Some of you may have noticed the colourful mess of plums spreading across the pavement on the Bath Road near the Three Lamps junction.

Initial inspection suggests there is some type of purple plum and two less well known fruits – the Mirabelle plum (which has small, rounded yellow fruit that is popular in France for jam-making) and the cherry plum.   Cherry plums have small, round, red-coloured fruit which are the size of a large cherry but with a plum stone inside and the crease typical of a plum on the outside. 

This is a good example of why the Fruitfulness project was set up as we can’t bear to see this lovely fruit going to waste!  If you’d like to share in gathering this free harvest – before all the fruit falls and turns to mush – contact the City Farm to volunteer.  If you’d like to get involved with other fruit harvesting and  foraging walks in the Bedminster area, keep an eye on the Events page.

Jam-Making Session

A small group of novice jam-makers took part in the Fruitfulness Project’s first jam-making session in the Farm Café kitchen.  Sarah Gillett, an award-winning preserve maker who sells through the Avon Country Market in Westbury-on-Trym set us to making gooseberry jam and redcurrant jelly.

 

She had brought some useful equipment – two large, flat bottomed pans, some flat-edged wooden spoons, a spatula, pouring cups and a ladle, jam thermometers, a muslin bag and frame, plenty of recipe books to look through and some jars, lids and covers to pot up the results.

After a short briefing on what we needed to do, emphasising the sterile techniques employed, we all put on aprons and got cracking, half of us looking after the redcurrant jelly and the others the gooseberry jam. The gooseberries had been picked young from the City Farm – perfect for jam-making.  First they were topped and tailed and washed then put to heat in a flat-bottomed pan with a little water.  Sarah advises using a well-tried recipe to obtain the right proportions for the weight of fruit you are using. 

Meanwhile the sugar (ordinary granulated sugar) was warmed on a large tray in the oven set at 150C.   When the gooseberries had softened and come to the boil the sugar and some lemon juice was added and the fruit was allowed to simmer to dissolve the sugar.  A jam thermometer with a useful clip was hung on the inside of the pan, with the end just dipping into the fruit.  A saucer was put into the fridge to cool, and empty jam jars were put into the oven on a tray, with the temperature now turned down to prevent cracking. The jam was stirred with the flat-edged wooden spoon which ensured that nothing stuck to the bottom of the pan, keeping an eye on the temperature.  When this reached ‘Jam’ at around 220C, the pan was taken off the heat and a spoonful of jam was put on the chilled saucer and put back in the fridge to see had it reached setting point.

We had a head start with the redcurrant jelly as Sarah had brought some redcurrant juice that she had made earlier at home.  This was put into a pan that had first had some butter smeared on the bottom – this prevents scum forming.  The sugar was put into the oven to warm – 1lb for each pint of juice.  When warm this was added to the juice and the mixture was brought to the boil and simmered with a jam thermometer, stirring with a wooden spoon.

Smaller jars were put into the oven to sterilise (upside-down on a tray).  When the jelly had reached 220C a spoonful was put onto a chilled saucer, with the pan taken off the heat.

The jam / jelly has reached setting point when the surface crinkles with a finger drawn across it. The redcurrant jelly was judged perfectly, while the gooseberry had to go back on to boil for a few more minutes.

We found the pouring cups that Sarah had brought were ideal for trying to pour the redcurrant jelly into the smaller pots. 

We used cloths to protect our hands as the pots were hot – especially after being filled. 

We had to fill the jars right up to the top and cover them quickly: we used a small waxed disc, waxed side down then a cellophane circle that had been damped on one side (used on the outside), held in place with a rubber band.  The edges of the cellophane were pulled down as flat as possible around the side of the jar, to ensure there was an air-tight seal.  We weren’t quite as neat as Sarah, but this was our first time, and after a quick wipe with a damp cloth to remove the drips we were very pleased with our clear red jelly! 

After a short break to sample the Café’s brownies and drink some elderflower cordial (made with flowers from Victoria Park), we agreed to add a couple of spoonfuls of cordial to the gooseberry jam, which was now ready to pot up. The gooseberries had turned red, having started out as pale green.

This time we used new lids which were scalded in boiling water to sterilise. Again the jars were filled to the top and the lids screwed on quickly. These were the kind of lids that ‘pop’ once opened, so you could tell if they were still air-tight.

We also boiled up some more local redcurrants until they were soft enough to put through Sarah’s muslin strainer to extract the juice. After one straining, the pulp was returned to the pan with a little more water to boil up again, to get the maximum juice out. We were therefore able to replace some of the juice that she had provided. At the end of the session we divided up the produce and Sarah gave us some notes and answered questions.

We are pleased that we have invited her back to take some more jam and chutney-making sessions in the Autumn – see the Events page for details.

You can buy Sarah’s preserves at the Westbury-on-Trym Country Market which is held every Friday 10.30-11.30a.m. at the Methodist Church Hall on Westbury Hill and the Wednesday Farmer’s Market on Corn Street.  For more details see www.avoncountrymarket.co.uk.  If you are already an expert jam-maker and would like to sell your own preserves, contact the Avon Country Market for your nearest market.

Fruit Tree Identification Walk

Andy Hamilton, well-known forager and author of ‘Booze for Free’ and ‘The Selfsufficientish Bible’ lead the Fruitfulness Project’s first Fruit Tree Identification Walk on Monday. On a fine June evening we walked in a loop starting from the Windmill Hill City Farm. We found a surprising variety of trees with edible fruit, leaves or flowers.

Starting on Philip Street itself we found out that Ash keys (the fruiting bodies) can be pickled and eaten, and that Henry VIII enjoyed them (although they can cause flatulence!) Ash trees can be identified by their black buds.There were plenty of berries forming on the Rowan trees – a tree with strong spirits, both mythological and when used to flavour vodka (Jarzembiak). When ripe the berries are orange coloured and can taste bitter. Like sloes the berries are best after a frost so if making a conserve (mix with the same weight of apple) put them in the freezer for a while first. We crossed over Whitehouse Lane to find the big Cherry tree there. Sadly most of the fruits had already been blown off by strong winds or eaten by the birds – we could see plenty of stones on the ground (these are poisonous).

Moving into Victoria Park we found another Cherry by the school and Andy explained that, while the fruit from most cherry trees are edible, some are small or sour tasting (Bird Cherry) so are only worth using in a jam or to flavour vodka (Wisniówka). The ornamental Japanese varieties tend not to produce fruits.

This side of the park has plenty of Elder, and by now the berries are starting to form so it is easier to identify these trees. The flowers are best picked in the morning, when the pollen is heaviest (check they have that delicate scent). Elder flowers can be used in fruit salads or fried in a tempura batter, as well as for cordial and champagne. They can be dried for later use (including as a tea).  Andy recommends leaving the flowers on the grass for a little while before using them, so that any insects can crawl out, as washing them also removes the pollen.  The purple coloured elder berries can be made into wine, ketchup and port (add a banana!)

There is a mature Common Pear tree further along, and plenty of brambles, as well as some Hazel (although the squirrels are likely to harvest most of the nuts).A number of large Lime (also known as Linden) trees are growing in the park. Now starting to come into flower, attractive pale green bracts can be seen under the heart-shaped leaves. When dried, the flowers can be used to make a tea or tisane - which Andy uses to help him sleep. Members of the group recommended lime honey, where the bees have collected pollen from these trees. The leaves when young, pale and thin can also be eaten like salad – try adding some to a ham sandwich.

Having reached the other side of the Park we went left along St Lukes Road – where Andy pointed out the Silver Birch that is reputed to have detoxifying properties (tap the sap) – before reaching the Banana Bridge. Here can be found the first of the Apple trees that we saw growing along the banks of the river, surrounded by brambles. You would need a long-handled implement to harvest these fruits safely, as no-one wants to end up in the river!
There are more Apple trees along this stretch of the river going towards Bedminster Bridge, and you would have to taste them when ripe to find out whether they are good to eat uncooked (wash them first).
We saw more elder and rowan and another Bird Cherry, which had plenty of fruits, still mostly yellow coloured.

There is also a Hawthorn, the haw from which can be used to make jam and may even be used to flavour vodka.We were then amazed to find a sprawling mass of Fig trees, with large green fruits forming. These might not ripen fully in this country, but we will come back later in the summer to find out!
There was also a promising Plum tree with plenty of smallish yellow-green fruits ripening among the branches – again one to check back on later.


The most surprising find were some Mulberry trees – unfortunately set quite far out towards the water.These are covered in red fruits, looking a bit like strawberries now, that darken into something more like a blackberry, and are, reputedly, delicious!

Voscur Thrive! Magazine Article

We have recently had an article in Thrive! Magazine.  Have a look at the piece here, it's on page 5:

Thanks Voscur! If you want to get involved, just leave a comment in the comments box below.

Playground Media Update - animations and films!

Our Playground Media project have been busy making animations, films, learning new skills and generally getting to be more media-savvy.  The following activities were all child-led, the young people involved feature in the films as well as helping to film, edit and compile the videos.They have produced the films about some of their hobbies, interests and activities they are involved in around their area.

This is one of our young people editing some of the footage to make a video:

The first video is of some young people at the Adventure Playground at Windmill Hill City Farm, they are playing basketball and trying out new skills.  They chose the music, filmed, directed and edited it:

This next video is a video o the young people skating at Campus skate park in Bristol.  The children filmed it and skated in it.  Again, the whole video was child led, edited and featuring them and the music was chosen by them too:

The last video is a stop motion animation featuring two figures.  It was edited in time to a track chosen by the young people involved and the activity was completely led by those taking part:

Project Leader, Diego Alcala, said "this has been a great opportunity for our young people to engage their creative and team working skills.  They are learning through their creative experimentation, it allows them to develop a hunger for making things and to gain new skills and interests along the way.

"We are really excited about the opportunity that this project has given the young people involved, it has meant they can explore the things they enjoy and create a final film from it, which has been really rewarding for them".

The Community Asset Map is Live!

Our community asset map is live on the Farm's website!

Check it out at here

We are inviting local organisations, community action groups, community centres and local resources to be involved, let us know your details and have your place on the map!

We are planning to split the organisations into three groups: community actions groups, local resources and community centres.

If you'd like your organisation to be on the map, please leave your details in the comment box or email bethany.crowe@windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk

Active Citizens Launch

We recently held a launch for our Active Citizens project, we invited local partnership organisations to join us to discuss their involvement.

It was a great opportunity to discuss how we might work with other local organisations, including the Totterdown Residents Environmental and Social Action Group (TRESA), UWE, some student froms UWE's SIFE team, the Square Food Foundation, Windmill Hill Community Orchard, Bristol City Council, Somerset Terrace Action Group (STAG) and others.

We discussed our community asset map where we will be able to have local organisations represented on an interactive map on Windmill Hill City Farm's website, our Playground Media  Project, the opportunity to have an fruit map and how other organisations might be involved.

It was a fantastic evening and everyone who participated brought
Here are some pictures of the event with various people from the organisations who joined in the discussion.

For the event we had some lovely soup and bread and cheese and pickle, the pickles used produce grown at the farm.

Watch this space for updates about the fruit map, the community asset map and other projects...

Playground Media

As part of Active Citizens, we have a new youth project called Playground Media. The project aims to teach young people aged 8-14 new skills in multimedia such as photography, graphic design and digital music editing.  We have a studio where structured activities take place, which are lead by our tutors.

The first set of workshops were around graphic design. This is how the workshops went, as well as some pictures:

The aim in the graphic design workshops was to learn new skills around graphic design, develop team working skills and more specifically to create a logo. Each of the young people contributed different things to the group and this was encouraged throughout the process.

The group discussed with the tutors what they knew about design, what they thought design was and they were asked to give an examples of design and branding that they could think of.  They explored everything they knew about design and the tutors guided them to think about design in a useful way.

Tutors then gave them examples and made them aware of different designs, talked about common themes and how good designs are simple and memorable.

The group were given homework to think about what design means to them and what is important to them.  They were asked what they want their design and logo to be, for example, music, film, tv, fashion, issues.  They were encouraged to think about these things when they were sketching out designs.

During the next session the group went through each of the designs and ideas, they discussed their thought processes and why they chose certain imagery.

The next session was used to develop ideas, create new sketches and take the design forward. 
They also began to use graphic design software to draft some ideas and play around with colour. Lewis guided the group and gave them tips on how to use the software and create graphics.  In the end the group designed and created their own logo for the Playground Media project, which encapsulates their own style, what they are interested in and skills they hope to learn during the project duration.

Here are some photos of our young people learning how to draw, design and make up a logo using a combination of sketches, line drawings and graphic design software.

An initial sketch for the whole logo created at home without the help of tutors:

Drafting some ideas with Lewis, our graphic design tutor:

 Discussing the important things to consider when sketching out ideas:

Sketching out letters to use:

Laying out images and symbols to use, Lewis, the tutor gave some stencils to use as part of the logo design



Another draft idea:

Some sketches from the first week's session:

This is the final logo that has been produced:

We are on the lookout for new volunteers with skills in these areas so if that sounds like you please email diego.alcala@windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk

Welcome to Active Citizens

About the project

The purpose of the project is to use the internet to help people to connect with local issues and each other; to take action to improve their lives and enhance their community.

 It is split into three main sections.

The first element is to map local community facilities, services and natural resources and groups of people who are already ‘active’ in their communities in some way (eg local residents group).  This online map will help to build active citizenship and will strengthen community networks.

The next element of the project is to use digital media to help people to become active citizens. Most of the ideas for ‘social action’ will come from people themselves.  To get things started the project will initiate two:

The first will produce an online urban fruit map identifying readily accessible fruit trees in public spaces in order to harvest this free, but neglected resource to produce jams and pickles.  Using a local, natural asset to create a social enterprise will provide both an income to sustain the activity, and equip participants with greater skills.

The second element involves establishing a digital media studio where young people can develop life, citizenship and work skills offering activities that are highly desirable to them.  This will promote their own sense of worth and identity, reflect what they value and give them a greater voice to express and act on their concerns.

The final element of the project will develop of an online toolkit that will help similar organisations to replicate the idea in their own context.