Preparation is the key!

We are busy getting ready for a Christmas Weekend which includes meeting Father Christmas in the Walled Kitchen Garden. So we have been putting solar lights in and making yet more wreaths to order plus wrapping up the blueberry pots cosily in bracken, planting future wild flower meadows in window sill troughs and generally tidying up and weeding!

A Christmas Quotation

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year

Mistletoe

Sitting under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
One last candle burning low,
All the sleepy dancers gone,
Just one candle burning on,
Shadows lurking everywhere:
Some one came, and kissed me there.

Tired I was; my head would go
Nodding under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
No footsteps came, no voice, but only,
Just as I sat there, sleepy, lonely,
Stooped in the still and shadowy air
Lips unseen - and kissed me there.

Walter de la Mare

Encourage the children!

We currently have a shop in our cafe which has lots of small gifts to encourage children to get into gardening such as seeds, gardening tools, gloves and labels-all excellent stocking fillers. And don't forget that we run family gardening activities during the school holidays and volunteers are welcome to bring their children with them on a Tuesday or Thursday (our regular volunteering days)!

Winter Jobs

We have been busy with Christmas decorations including creating ivy pyramids to go by the cafe door, making wreaths for sale and creating "snowy trees" with branches and white paint to hang decorations on! But we have also been building up our compost and leaf mulch, harvesting salad, sprouts and kale, mulching our asparagus, artichokes, strawberries and rhubarb with bracken from the nearby hill, "forcing" our chicory and rhubarb, maintaining paths and planting lettuce and chinese cabbage!!

Christmas wreath making workshops

Our head gardener Sarah is running workshops (with some mulled wine and spiced apple juice!) to show local people how to create their own sumptuous wreaths using lots of natural materials-this has been very successful as you see below and it's great to encourage people to look at their own gardens as a creative resource!

Inspiration!

I have been inspired by the story of the Incredible Edible Todmorden Project where the local community have grown food in the grounds of all the local schools, along the canal, in the gardens of the health centre, the police station etc and got lots of education and business organisations involved -check the web site and Ted Talk out!

http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqhx4Etdvr0

Launch of the Robin Trail

A group of local school children and the local paper came today to check out the new trail before it opens to the general public for two months in the morning. The trail was put together by Jean and Chris-see photo below-and combines entertainment with some nature education really well!

The Robin Trail

If like me you love this time of year and enjoy seeing the little robins hopping around our gardens then why not follow the Robin Trail that is now in the Kitchen garden. 

 

This will be great fun for children & adults alike with a quick Guess the Word quiz sheet that you can buy from the Coach House cafe for a £1.  If you are correct with working the word out then you can claim your very own little Robin badge. 

Each little robin has its own post with a little information with it all about the habitat of Robins; why not see how many you can spot. Also you can see if you can find the little Robin bird house hanging up in the garden made by a volunteer.

Christmas Wreaths

We are involved in a very seasonal activity! Our creatively inclined volunteers are enjoying making wreaths which are for sale on our produce table -see below. We are also selling some lovely paperwhite narcissi which we planted up in the greenhouse a while ago

November jobs

We have been busy clearing the orchard up (weeding and mulching around fruit trees and completing path maintenance), turning the compost, planting trees, taking down the runner bean poles and making bird and bat boxes

Green Compost

If you have a bare empty patch in your garden or allotment that may consist of poor soil, then why not consider growing something to create green manure or compost. This is just the right time of year and there are various plants you can grow which will enrich the soil and help improve the soil structure. As well as improving the soil these plants will often help cover the ground and prevent weeds from taking over.

Field beans can be grown from Sept onwards over the winter as can rye grass. Once the plants have grown and you are ready to plant something else the plants can be cut down and dug into the ground encouraging micro organisms. These help decompose the green compost giving a really healthy soil. Growing plants that give ground cover also encourage insects and frogs and beetles like the cool damp undergrowth.

 

Phacelia is a lovely plant with pretty blue flowers that can be used to attract bees and hoverflies. This can be sown in early spring and cut down before it flowers and dug in after a couple of months or you can wait till the autumn and then dig it in the following spring. Phacelia will thrive in most soils and as it’s a fairly bushy plant will help with keeping the weeds out.

For more info on the different plants to use for green manure and lots of useful information on producing green manure then check out this website: www.gardenorganic.org.uk

Co-op supported community gardening day

Had a great day on Saturday October 26th with 38 people all busy harvesting carrots, radishes, beans and salad, planting kale, sowing seeds, propagating plants, clearing brambles, mulching trees, weeding, sweeping leaves and much more!

Autumn Tasks

Its a time of year for sweeping leaves, sowing green manure and tidying courgette and squash plants onto the compost heap. We are sowing salads for the greenhouse to keep the cafe supplied during the winter and potting Narcissi for Christmas purchases.

Ulverston - Super Saturday Market

If you get chance do try and pop into Ulverston tomorrow Saturday 2nd November to see all the various market stalls including our very own Ford Park stall.You can find fresh produce from the Victorian Kitchen Garden, the Coach House Cafe's famous scones and lots of other things as well as various wooden items made on site such as bird boxes which could be the ideal Christmas gift. Thanks to an agreement with South Lakeland District Council, an all-day stay in one of the district council’s car parks on a Super Saturday costs £1.20. You can be sure you will enjoy wandering round and sampling the various foods on display. Also if you can't make it tomorrow then the date for your diary for the next Super Saturday Market is the first Saturday in December.

Remember remember the 5th of November

As it's nearly Bonfire night I thought you might like to see this poem all about Guy Fawkes.  Bonfire night is celebrated by buildling a bonfire & letting off fireworks to celebrate the foiling of the plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament by the catholic Guy Fawkes.
As children we had great fun collecting pieces of wood to "build" the  bonfire and then making a " Guy" with old clothes to sit on top. As soon as it was dark the bonfire would be lit and then it would be time to light the fireworks and have fun with sparklers. Our parents and friends and neighbours would go round with baked potatoes & sausages and of course treacle toffee which did more than it's fair share of damage if you happened to have a filling in one of your teeth.
 I hope if you are having a bonfire or you are going to an organised Firework display that you all have a great time, but remember to stay safe!

  English Folk Verse (c.1870)

            

The Fifth of November

    Remember, remember!
    The fifth of November,
    The Gunpowder treason and plot;
    I know of no reason
    Why the Gunpowder treason
    Should ever be forgot!
    Guy Fawkes and his companions
    Did the scheme contrive,
    To blow the King and Parliament
    All up alive.
    Threescore barrels, laid below,
    To prove old England's overthrow.
    But, by God's providence, him they catch,
    With a dark lantern, lighting a match!
    A stick and a stake
    For King James's sake!
    If you won't give me one,
    I'll take two,
    The better for me,
    And the worse for you.
    A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,
    A penn'orth of cheese to choke him,
    A pint of beer to wash it down,
    And a jolly good fire to burn him.
    Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring!
    Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King!
    Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!

Rufino – Chef at the Coach House Cafe

I recently sat enjoying a latte in the Coach House Cafe while waiting to speak to Rufino who has been the chef at the Cafe since April 2012.

You will be glad to know I resisted the temptation to indulge in one of the delicious cakes on display at the counter.... if I had succumbed  it would all have been in the name of research of course! I have eaten at the cafe many times and often enjoyed a scrumptious monster of a scone with my afternoon cuppa and also had lunch on more than one occasion with friends. The soup is excellent and just the job on these blustery autumn days, and of course you can always add a sandwich. There is so much on the menu that you are bound to be spoiled for choice.

Originally from Angola & brought up in Portugal Rufino was initially a landscape gardener before training to be a chef. He loves to travel and has worked at various hotels around the world including time spent at The Carlton in Amsterdam. His travels have taken him to France, Spain & Kenya where he could indulge in his hobby of the history of food. 

Here is a little background information in Rufino’s own words.

“I moved to England in 1999 and started working as a chef at Fayrer  Garden House hotel in Bowness for 3 and a half years,  during this time I also trained at Kendal college for my level 3 and Advanced diploma in Patiserie. After finishing the course in Kendal I started working as a part-time lecturer teaching NVQ1 and 2 and 3 in catering. I moved to Linthwaite House Hotel as Head Pastry Chef and then Miller Howe in Bowness as Head Pastry Chef.

I started University in 2007 studying Landscape Management because I wanted to combine my passion for food and the Environment.”

It was during this time that as part of the degree course he volunteered to work at Ford Park and completed his degree in 2010.  It was a marriage made in heaven when he took over the running of the Coach House Cafe.  The idea that he could create meals from produce grown virtually right outside the kitchen door appealed greatly to him. In the beginning he liaised with Sarah the gardener as to the best produce to grow to use in the restaurant.  At the moment he is using a lot of courgettes & chard as well as onions, garlic & various herbs and salad leaves in his recipes.

Originally trained as a pastry chef he loves to makes cakes & especially scones, his favourite main course dish to make at the moment is Falafel which is an Egyptian dish  made of ground chickpeas or fava beans or both and these can be found throughout the Middle East. The ingredients are mixed together to form a deep fried ball or patty and can be served in a pitta or wrapped in a flatbread known as “lafa”. They can also be served with salad & pickled vegetables.

It seems to me that with his love of gardening & his ability as a chef Rufino is in the perfect job.

Community Group of the Year!!

Last night 6 of us attended a very glitzy dinner for about 220 people hosted by the North West Evening Mail. There was champagne and canapes and live music and a black tie dinner. It was the first Heart of Ulverston Awards and we won Community Group of the Year with a beautiful crystal glass bowl and lots of brilliant press coverage!!

Visiting University Students

Today we had help from 14 University of Cumbria students who helped us with cutting back blackberry brambles, clearing out our pond, working in the greenhouse, weeding, preparing materials for the compost, cutting flowers for the cafe and much more! Thanks guys!

A Gardener's job is never done!

We are very busy harvesting beans of all sorts, chard, salad, tomatoes and of course pumpkins! We still have a produce table full of vegetables, plants and crafts and are busy making up herb gardens and planting bulbs for the Christmas trade!

Food Safety

Eight of us did a level 2 Food Safety course yesterday to prepare us to be more involved in preserving our produce and selling it -it was very enjoyable and we should get the results in a couple of weeks. We will be able to work with our chef Rufino to make jams, chutneys and cordials!

Carol - Volunteer

I spoke to Carol another volunteer at Ford Park on a lovely sunny day while she was busy  weeding in the kitchen garden, she told me that she lives locally and works part time as an Adult Education Maths Lecturer at the local college.   When asked about how she came to volunteer she explained that it was a way of keeping busy during her days off and during the holidays. Carol volunteers two days a week & the work she does is mostly gardening but she is very happy to do other jobs as well.

At the time I was talking to people to get their views about recycling and it was interesting to find out Carol’s ideas. This is what she says “I think of recycling as really thinking before anything is thrown away in order to see if it can be used again. So if you are working in the garden I am aware of being able to use certain weeds, grass and cuttings to make compost. Sarah the gardener has been instrumental in really developing my understanding of how composting works and as a result of that I am trying to replicate it in my garden at home.”

Since speaking to Carol her circumstances have changed & she now works full time & so she has reduced the time she spends at the garden and is now happy to help out whenever she can & on community gardening days and the like and supporting the cafe.

Would you like to find out more about Volunteering, whether it be for an hour or a day or any time in between then please get in touch either by calling Kim the Volunteer Co-ordinator on 01229 588164 or send an email to:

 kim@ford-park.org.uk

You can also find more information about all aspects of Fork Park on: http://www.ford-park.org.uk/