Abundance Oxford
Hello! We've interpreted "Abundance" as a project that celebrates abundance through-out the seasons, and before/after harvest time we plan on inspiring, skill-sharing and keeping the project sustainable even as it grows. So we will be running pruning and grafting skill-shares and building our own bicycle trailers to transport fruit and veg around much more easily! Harvest season is our busiest time, and in our first harvest year (2012) we mainly harvested apples and redistributed them to charities and organisations such as Donnington Doorstep (supporting children from low-income families) and Steppin' Stones (supporting the homeless through a social enterprise and café) that used them in cooking hot meals as well as in activities. We also took apples to community events, to the streets, to the One World Fair, to Harvest festivals throughout Oxford, Apple Days and even held our own Apple Day. We also go foraging together, skill-sharing and always making sure we only take from areas where there is an ABUNDANCE and where we aren't making a significant impact on the environment. We've made nettle soup, elderflower cordial, wild green pesto and wild green filled pies, elderberry jam, hedgerow jelly, crab apple & wildings jelly, crab apple & rosehip jelly, sloe gin & more from nature's larder as well as much more from cultivated unwanted fruits such as apples, pears, quinces, medlars, unripe figs and beyond... Whether you've just moved to Oxford, have been living there a while or are passing through and would like to find out more about what we get up to as Abundance Oxford please : Check out our blog: http://abundanceoxford.wordpress.com/ Join our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/abundanceoxford or better still, email us on: abundanceharvestsoxford@gmail.com & we'll be happy to answer your questions, give you a quick update on what you can join in on and what we need help on. We're a friendly bunch so please get in touch and come join in to whatever aspect you fancy: - running workshops on any fruity/veg preserving, or foraging and skill-shares - cycling round the city scouting for trees and flyering or chatting to the owners - making and distributing eye-catching flyers - making contact with those we can collect fruit from and helping organise harvests - making contact with those we can redistribute fruit to and helping organise collections - offering free kitchen space for cooking, offering free meeting-room space, offering implements that could help us in harvest, redistribution and preservation - pruning trees, grafting trees, planting trees and sharing the skills to do so & most of all, sharing food together that would have otherwise gone to waste and spreading the word! We welcome new people, new ideas, new side-projects and new contacts and organisations that we can work with- whether they can provide us with excess or are in need of produce. We look forward to hearing from you! Abundant love Abundance Oxford