Thursday 30 May 2013

Thursday 30th May 2103

Young people have been very high profile with us this week! The Family Activity yesterday was "Grow a Pizza in a Pot" and involved 10 young people with accompanying adults constructing a pot with garlic, tomatoes and marjoram in-fabulous!!


We have also had 2 days of visits from South Lakeland Young Carers who have explored the park, taken  herb cuttings, harvested salad and planted out in the kitchen garden. These young people aged 8 to 16 who look after family members were a pleasure to work with!! One of the staff, Sarah,  has previously volunteered with us over many years and it was good to see her back!






Wednesday 29 May 2013

Wednesday May 29th 2013

Yesterday we had help from the Youth Offending Service with collecting dandelion heads for the chef and weeding the path to the orchard-all support very welcome!




We also planted up the new brassica bed with sprouts and kale and netted it carefully! And pricked out lots of salad and herbs too



Monday 27 May 2013

Monday 27th May 2013

Our Family Activity this Wednesday at 2pm is "Grow a Pizza in a Pot!" with Sarah, our head gardener. It should be a lot of fun, so if you are local to our project do come along! Our post code is LA12 7JP and you can ring for more information on 01229 588164
Garden Quotations

I love all quotations and especially like this one by Robert Browning. Will post more of these as we pass through the seasons. 


The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven -
All's right with the world!


Please feel free to post below using the comments link any of your favourite quotations and whether they have a special meaning for you.

Thursday 23 May 2013

Thursday 23rd May 2013

Carnival is coming! This year we are having a "Fruit & Veg" float and Jean, who takes a lead in making costumes has made the first one -a giant strawberry! It is for someone else to wear but Jean modelled it for us today-a great job!

Today we have also had a very successful visit from the Coniston Mother's Union -they enjoyed a walk around the grounds and nature trail including some history of the property and then Sarah, our head gardener gave them a tour of the kitchen garden


Wednesday 22 May 2013

Tuesday 21st May 2013

We are developing links with schools. colleges and youth groups and our head gardener Sarah was showing the reception class from Church Walk School what was growing in our kitchen garden and encouraging them to taste lots of salads, herbs and vegetables!


Tuesday 21st May

We had some help from the National Trust and their Working Holiday volunteers today -they are posing in our children's playground! It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed a coffee break on our beautiful circular oak benches which are outside our "posh" tool shed and ....



the visiting volunteers enjoyed afternoon tea at our cafe when they had finished!

Monday 20 May 2013

Monday 20th May 2013

Everything is growing! The peas, strawberries, herb garden, leeks, onions, garlic are all looking good!




Thursday 16 May 2013

Thursday 16th May 2013

We are developing a "Demonstration Back Yard" in our kitchen garden. Many houses in Ulverston and other local towns are full of terraced houses with only back yards rather than gardens of any size. We are trying to develop an area that looks like a back yard with a small shed, a table and chairs and lots of pots growing beans, potatoes, chard, carrots, salads, herbs and flowers to give people ideas about having an attractive place to sit with the potential to grow food too! This week we have built the shed and repainted/recycled an old table and chairs as well as adding to a number of pots full of plants -let us know what you think in the comments section below!






Thursday 16th May 2013

Well this week we have done masses of harvesting (lettuce, rhubarb, mizuma, purslane, rocket, purple sprouting broccoli) , weeding, planted courgettes and finished planting up the "Bee Bed" with a rose, cornflowers, wild strawberries and scabious!



Wednesday 15 May 2013

Wednesday 15th May 2013

The beautiful wild garlic in our woods is a free food bonus!


Tuesday 14 May 2013

Tuesday 14th May 2013

Sarah, our head gardener, is working with Impact Housing and their young people to develop a food growing area in their courtyard. This is part of the outreach work connected to our Local Food project. They have already taken some pots containing Spinach and Swedish Chard and today Josh took a trough with Strawberry plants


Tuesday 14th May 2013

Today we took delivery of three fabulous benches from the workshop at HMP Haverigg. Here are some photographs of choosing a site in the orchard  to place the large hexagonal picnic table, putting it in place and then with our trainee gardener, a volunteer and one of the workmen who created it sitting on it. A great spot for a picnic!





Monday 13 May 2013

Monday 13th May 2013

Beautiful apple blossom in the orchard! Looking forward to the apples and what our chef Rufino will do with them!


Sunday 12 May 2013

Saturday 11th May 2013

The Keswick to Barrow (K2B) walk is a huge local event with thousands of people walking the 40 miles to raise the profile of charities and help with fundraising. Here are two of our team at the start at 5.30 am wearing their Growers and Scoffers team shirt -we chose the name to represent the fact that we eat what we grow!! More information about the walk can be found here: https://www.keswick2barrow.co.uk/


Wednesday 8 May 2013

Wednesday 8th May 2013

We are heavily involved in planning and delivering a Good Life Festival in June which will give lots of opportunities for people to get involved in food growing, cookery and eating all our lovely fruit and vegetables amongst many other things -the programme looks like this


Monday 6 May 2013

Thursday 2nd May 2013

Flag Fortnight is under way in Ulverston and, thanks to Jean, we are taking part in the kitchen garden!


Thursday 2nd May 2013

Greengage blossom is filling our little orchard! We have had a sunny blue sky kind of day and just look at our blossom! Hopefully we will have a good crop and be able to make lots of jam and fruit crumble later in the year