r u o Y w o Gr d o o F n Ow ent! a better environm to te u ib tr on c and
Through tips, advice, celebrity recipes and community success stories we’ll show you how you can do your bit to cut the carbon cost of the food you eat.
Inspiring people, improving places
welcome Welcome to the BTCV Carbon Army and this handy booklet to help us all cut the carbon costs of everything we eat. Under the Climate Change Act, the UK Government is committed to cutting carbon gas emissions by 80% by 2050. That’s a big target and BTCV believes it’s up to all of us to do our bit to help achieve it. BTCV is leading the way, helping us all make the transition to a low carbon society. This booklet shows you how to take positive action in your own backyard and with your community, have fun and learn new skills too. Here’s a checklist of things to do: ^ grow food you want to eat ^ drive fewer shopping miles and stop
throwing away good food
^ eat locally-produced food in season ^ forage for free, wild food
Sometimes it can be daunting to start a new project on your own, but with BTCV you’re always among friends and skilled experts. BTCV offers great opportunities for people to come together to grow food. It’s a great way to stay healthy, and the fresh vegetables and fruit you’ll grow make for healthy eating too.
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You just can’t beat the flavours of freshly harvested tomatoes, strawberries, potatoes and green beans – to name but a few. They taste even better because you grew them yourself, cared for them as they developed from little seedlings to full-grown plants, and then harvested them when they’re ripe, full of healthgiving nutrition and bursting with flavour. Join the BTCV Carbon Army now and get involved in a community food-growing project near you. As a charity, BTCV needs your support. You can volunteer your time to help us create a better environment, but if you can’t get your wellies on, you can still help us by getting your wallet out and making a donation. Find out more at www.btcv.org/donate
contents
recipes Sample these mouthwatering recipes from BTCV star supporters Charlie Dimmock, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Julia Bradbury as well as our fantastic staff and volunteers across the UK.
It makes good sense
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Half-the-garden-soup from The River Cottage Year by Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall
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Cutting waste
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Doing things differently
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Apple Flapjacks from Yap and Yarn community group, Penzance
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Bringing communities together
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Charlie Dimmock’s Squash Soup
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Digging in together
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Digging in your own patch
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Julia Bradbury’s Greek Meatballs
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BTCV Carbon Army marches on locally produced food
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Seasonal food
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Beetroot Bolognese from BTCV Dorset
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Foraging free food
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Blackberry Muffins from BTCV’s Leeds allotment
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* recipe suggestion
Food-growing projects be inspired by BTCV community food-growing projects
BTCV Nottingham growing food for fun
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The Garden of Eden project, in Carrickfergus
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Community Orchards in Camden
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BTCV’s vinvolved Durham Youth Action Team
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it makes good sense K’s f the U 20% o use gas ho green are totally ns io s is ith em cted w n n c o e u t o n ou r ep what w tes. pla
Each link of the food chain uses loads of energy, starting with farming through processing, packaging, refrigeration in warehouses and supermarkets, transporting in our cars from the shops, and then storing and cooking at home.
What sort of food we eat and what we throw away will have a significant impact on the UK’s response to climate change.
Under the Climate Change Act, the UK has legally-binding targets to cut all production emissions by 80% by 2050 (compared with 1990 baseline). That means we’re all going to be doing our bit to cut carbon emissions, including those linked with what we eat.
• Start composting and cutting down on food waste
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This BTCV Carbon Army booklet will help you cut your carbon emissions by encouraging you to: • Grow your own vegetables and fruit • Buy locally-produced food from local shops and markets
It will also help you find like-minded people to create community food enterprises, share land and harvests, and reconnect with nature and wildlife.
Farm shop 3km
Reduce ‘food miles’ We’ve all heard of ‘food miles’ and many of us assume that these are just the distances that food travels between the farm where our food is grown and the shops where we buy it. Sometimes it’s hard to work out real ‘food miles’. They should include the distances that food supplements, including soya, travel from overseas to feed the UK’s farm livestock, and then you add the distances and carbon emissions from fertilisers used in arable production for biscuits and bread. It all adds up! Some vegetable and fruit crops are sprayed with pesticides, and there are carbon emissions associated with their production and transport.
Shops 10km
Most of th e greenhou s gas emis e connecte sions d transport with food are cause d by people driving to buy food.
Growing your own vegetables and fruit means that you’ll be able to resist the temptation to drive to the shops for a bag of salad because you’ll have fresh and delicious salads in your garden, allotment or even a window box or tub on your patio.
Courgettes
These are quite straight forward to grow and you’re pretty assured of a bumper crop, particular ly if you cut courgette fruit s regularly, when they’re ar ound 10cm long, which enco urages an ongoing supply.
But in fact most of the greenhouse gas emissions connected with food transport are caused by people driving to buy food.1 Defra’s Food Transport Indicators show that UK urban food kilometres rose by 6.7% in 2006. Carbon dioxide from transporting food for UK consumption increased by 2.8% in 2006, primarily due to more of us driving to shop.
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For years Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has shown millions of us, through his television programmes, how to live in harmony with our environment. Hugh is now sharing his Half-the-gardensoup recipe with the BTCV Carbon Army so that we can all enjoy the delights of freshly-harvested vegetables – from plot to bowl in 30 minutes. Thank you, Hugh!
Half-the-garden-soup
From The River Cottage Year by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. www.rivercottage.net 500g onions, sliced olive oil or butter ½ -1kg ripe tomatoes salt and freshly ground black pepper some or all of the following: 3-4 medium carrots, diced 3-4 medium beetroots, diced 3-4 medium courgettes, diced a few handfuls of peas a fistful of French or runner beans, roughly chopped a fistful of chard or spinach leaves, finely shredded a fistful of kale or cabbage leaves, finely shredded
Tomatoes
, n to grow ty and fu em Really tas th rt a for kids St e especially somewher ts po in s e th off indoor en h w d light, an warm and ove them outside m rm a ks soil is w d use stic y spot an to a sunn em t th to suppor
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Serves 4-6
Sweat the onions in a little olive oil or butter in a large pan until softened. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, leave for a minute, then drain and peel off the skins. Chop roughly and add to the onions. Cook gently until thick and pulpy, then add about 500ml cold water (or light stock) and a good pinch of salt. Now add the vegetables of your choice, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Then add the chard or spinach leaves and/or the kale or cabbage. Top up with a little more boiling water if you like. Simmer for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until all the vegetables are tender, but only just. Check and adjust the seasoning, then serve immediately, with a drizzle of olive oil over each bowl.
Seasonal variations: From late August onwards you can add fresh podded haricot beans (i.e. the white beans inside overgrown French beans) or borlotti beans, or the beans from overgrown runners, to the soup. They should go in with the water and have a good 5-minute simmer before the carrots et al go in.
waste
How you can help BT CV’s Ca rbon Army. Just £10 a m onth could he lp BT CV work with vo lunteers wit h learning diff iculties, helping them to become more indepe ndent and co nf ident by establishing their ow n al lotment. www.btcv.org /donate
Cut food waste Every week, the average UK household throws out 6kg of good food, at a cost of £480 a year. It means we waste 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year producing food and drink that goes straight in the bin.2 That wasted carbon is ‘embedded energy’. These are carbon emissions from farming, food production, processing, refrigeration, storage and transport associated with food which we buy, don’t eat and throw away. How can we stop chucking away around 8.3 million tonnes of household food waste each year?
gets ned food s When bin de ra g e it d to landfill methane, s it m and e ouse gas a greenh es more tim that’s 25 an carbon th l u rf e pow dioxide.
• Grow as much as you want to eat. • Carefully plan the succession planting of your vegetables to avoid the gluts, especially dozens of courgettes all ready for harvesting at the same time! • You can extend the strawberry and tomato season by planting different varieties that mature during the summer and into the autumn. It’s easy to grow salads from March to October. Turn to page 14 for more ideas. • Plan your meals and shopping before you go to the shops. Buy only what you need to eat. • Compost uncooked food waste including vegetable and fruit peelings, tea bags, coffee grounds, egg shells and outer leaves of vegetables and salads.
Reduce packaging Around a third of household waste is down to food packaging – those boxes containing ready-wrapped cereal bars and confectionery, shrink-wrap plastic around vegetables and fruit, and polystyrene food containers.
When you’re growing your own food you can harvest your potatoes, beans, carrots, tomatoes and strawberries into your reusable bags and containers. When you go shopping take enough bags to keep any muddy root vegetables away from the bread and cakes. It’s a good idea to use separate, insulated bags for fresh and cooked meats too.
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Change Growing your own food means doing things differently - living lightly on the land! Climate change is happening and we know that we’re all going to have to ‘do our bit’ to cut carbon emissions. Many of us have been cutting our carbon for years, but we need to do more now and in the future. BTCV Carbon Army is here to help you make small changes for a big difference.
Fancy growin g your ow n but don’ t know how to get st arted? Join a BT CV project and learn al ongside experienced leaders. See www.btcv .org/ carbonarmy
Learning the ropes Fiona Binks is a training co-ordinator with BTCV in Nottingham and loves to turn people into grow your own fanatics!
We can learn to live lightly on the land, understanding how nature and wildlife work with us in the garden and on the allotment. Many insects, including bees and ladybirds are very beneficial to vegetable and fruit growing. Birds and hedgehogs love slugs and snails.
“I am currently teaching two groups of adults with learning difficulties. We have a vegetable patch where we grow our own vegetables from seed. We then harvest our crops and cook them for all of us to try. It’s always an exciting menu round our way!
Working out in the veg patch is even better than going to the gym – you’ve got wonderful fresh vegetables to eat as a result of the digging, sowing, hoeing and weeding. And you’re outside listening to birdsong, chirping grasshoppers, and bees buzzing – totally in tune with nature.
“We have made things like stuffed courgettes and marrows, ratatouille, salads and even green tomato cake. It’s great to give everyone a chance to taste things they may never have tried before.”
Research among BTCV volunteers shows that people taking part in conservation volunteering are not only reconnected with nature, but also positively change their attitudes to the environment.3 The ethos ‘think global, act local’ comes into play. When we make small changes to our nearby nature we also care more about the wider environment. Taking part in conservation activities and gardening helps to improve our physical and psychological wellbeing too.
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Apple Flapjacks This Apple Flapjacks recipe comes from members of the Yap and Yarn craft group in Penzance who love baking goodies for community events. “We make cakes that use fruit and vegetables,” says group member, Pat Wildman. “We give out recipe cards to residents so that they can cook them at home with the kids. All the ingredients are affordable, the recipes are easy to follow and are much better for people”. 2 large Bramley apples, peeled and cored Juice of ½ lemon 150g butter
Makes 10-12 slices
Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas mark 5. Slice the apples and place in a saucepan with the lemon juice and a tablespoon of water. Gently bring to the boil, turn the heat down, cover and simmer until the apples are soft. Mash with a fork to make a purée and set aside. Melt the butter, sugar and treacle/syrup gently in a saucepan. Stir in the oats, cinnamon and salt. Mix thoroughly to combine the ingredients. Spoon half of the oat mixture into a 20cm/8 inch sandwich cake tin and press it down evenly. Spread the apple purée on top and then cover with the remaining oat mixture. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and mark the slices, but leave the flapjacks to cool before removing them from the cake tin.
85g brown sugar 85g black treacle or golden syrup 225g rolled oats ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon Pinch of salt
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we can help Bringing communities together BTCV helps many communities to grow their own food. Take a look at our website www.btcv.org and be inspired by what people are doing all across the UK. In Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim the Garden of Eden Project is helping dozens of people to grow their own vegetables, many for the first time. The Garden of Eden Project was awarded BTCV’s Project of the Year at the 2009 Green Heroes awards.
Tell us about your food-growing projects We’re always keen to
hear about the bumper tomato crops, odd-shaped vegetables,
prize-winning specimens and your favourite recipes Send an email and image to:
news@btcv org uk
Do you want to do your bit for the BT CV Carb on Army? £20 could provide basic tools for volunt eers to establish a comm unity allotment on dis used land.
www.btcv.org/don ate
Growing in the ‘Garden of Eden’ The ‘Garden of Eden’ allotment project in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, was set up to involve residents of sheltered accommodation and individuals from a drug and alcohol rehabilitation group in practical work to improve their mental health. Together the volunteers created an allotment producing home-grown fruit and vegetables. Gentle exercise and a fun, safe and relaxed working environment helped to improve the volunteers’ physical health and mental wellbeing. This was the team’s first experience of growing their own vegetables and they produced a range of organic produce and even won 1st prize for their Brussels Sprouts at the Belfast Garden Gourmet Festival! Volunteer Jim Doherty rates his experience with the project very highly: “I love working on the allotment. It has really made a difference to my confidence and I love getting out to work every week. Taking home the vegetables is good but the best bit is the craic while we’re working.” Fancy getting involved in a BTCV food-growing project? Find out what’s happening near you at www.btcv.org/carbonarmy
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Squash Soup Charlie Dimmock’s winterwarmer soup is a gorgeous deep orange colour and full of goodness. “This is best made with one of my favourites either the Crown Prince or Butternut squash,” says Charlie. Both of these varieties keep well into the winter, so this is a good soup to warm the cockles of your heart any time between October and March. 1 squash (Crown Prince or Butternut) 1 large onion 3 carrots 20g butter ½ pt chicken or vegetable stock salt, pepper and nutmeg
Serves 4
Add this to the stock in the saucepan. Gently bring to the boil, check the seasoning and add more if you prefer. The consistency will be quite thick, but you can adjust it either by adding more stock to thin it, or milk to make it creamier. Serve in warm bowls and garnish with chopped parsley.
chopped parsley to garnish Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6 Cut the squash in half – if you’re using Butternut, cut it in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds. Place the two halves cut side up on a baking tray and cut the cut surface in crosshatch to let the heat get inside. Dot with butter, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and roast in the oven for an hour until the flesh is soft. Remove from the oven when cooked. While the squash is roasting, peel and grate the onion and carrots, and simmer in the chicken or vegetable stock for about 10 minutes. Leave to cool. Liquidise and put into a saucepan.
Squash
them You should sow June, outside in early le of up co allowing a s You nt pla n ee feet betw ing ail tr ow gr en ev can or e nc varieties up a fe ! ed sh e to hide th
Scoop out the flesh from the roasted squash and push through a sieve to make a smooth purée.
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Digging …in together BTCV Carbon Army is recruiting people to dig in for climate change. There are lots of different ways to get started. Can you join forces with your neighbours to take a plot on a nearby allotment or find a garden to share? Some people are trying ‘meanwhile gardening’ on currently unused land. BTCV has food-growing projects across the UK. Here you’ll find expert advisers and organised groups where you can learn gardening skills, how and when to sow seeds, why it’s important to make compost, caring for plants during the growing season, and when to harvest the fruit and vegetables. We’ve got all the tools you’ll need – all you need to bring is yourself!
Rocket
Sow rocket ever y few weeks to give a constant supply from Marc h through to Octo ber.
Other ways of digging in for climate change. • Gardenshare enables people with gardens to be matched with people who want to grow food. There are local schemes in towns and cities from Totnes to Edinburgh, usually associated with the Transition Town movement. • Sign up to your local council’s allotment waiting list, and find out about ‘meanwhile gardening’. Local authorities are encouraged to support groups keen to grow vegetables and fruit on land which is currently not being used.4 This is known as ‘meanwhile gardening’, and makes good use of derelict land. • If you want to grow food, have spare land or just want to help out, take a look at the Landshare map on www.landshare.net – an initiative set up by Channel 4 with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
Contact your local BTCV office, you can find them on our website www.btcv.org and ask for information about food-related projects. You might be the first recruit or you could be joining an established group. It’s a great way to make friends and enjoy the fruits of your labours! (see opposite)
The BT CV C arbon Arm y is working w ith local c om munities on food-g rowing pr ojects. Just £30 c ould prov ide fruit trees for communit ies to pla orchards nt , giving a sustainabl source of e fresh and delicious local fruit .
www.btcv.
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org/donat e
Feeling fruity The middle of Camden in London might not be the first place you would think of to look for an orchard, but thanks to local volunteers that’s just where to find them. With help from BTCV, and support from Camden Council, the Community Orchards project has planted fruit trees on housing estates and sheltered housing sites across the Borough. Each site is different and the varieties of trees and shrubs are selected to make the most of
paved terraces, small raised beds, south-facing walls and old spoil sites. There are now seven mini-orchards in place, each with at least four trees plus a combination of currants, raspberries, gooseberries, strawberries, blueberries and rhubarb. Local residents, who are unlikely to have gardens or access to allotments, are now involved in caring for the orchards and – the best bit – deciding what to do with the produce!
Could your local community benefit from a project like this?
Find out how BTCV supports local community groups at www.btcv.org 13
patch! Digging in your own patch You can join the BTCV Carbon Army by growing food in your own patch. What you grow depends on how much space you’ve got. You can grow lots of different varieties of vegetables and fruit in the largest or tiniest of spaces, even if there’s no earth visible! BTCV can help you if you don’t know what to do to get started. Contact your local BTCV office and join in one of the organised groups to find out what seeds to sow when, how to care for the growing plants and when to harvest. If you’ve had a go at gardening before and feel competent to dig in your own garden, you can start by sowing and planting a succession of vegetables and fruit that you and your family enjoy eating. Most vegetables will grow in any garden soil, but they need daylight and watering in the summer, so make your veg patch in the right place in the garden. If you don’t have space for a veg patch, you can grow vegetables among the shrubs and other plants in your garden.
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A regular, mont hly donation of just £2 could help BT CV volunt eers work with local school children, teachin g them about healthy ea ting and supporting them in establishing a sc hool vegetable garden .
No garden? No problem! Herbs, tomatoes, salad leaves, French beans, peas, cucumbers, courgettes, peppers, chillies, aubergines, strawberries, nasturtiums, chard and even potatoes all grow well in containers. You can grow ‘cut and come again’ salads and herbs in a window box right through into autumn. Alpine strawberries are intensely flavoured and make great hanging basket plants. Yellow and red cherry tomatoes, peppers and aubergines make colourful displays in tubs and hanging baskets too. Even in a tiny back yard you can grow your own veg. Make your veg box out of a few planks of wood and some peat-free compost. Mark out a grid on the surface and grow a few plants in each square, sowing successive crops of salads, beans, peas and chard to keep you well fed throughout the summer. Courgettes, squashes and cucumbers like rich soil, so add extra manure or give a liquid feed during the growing season. Grow them in old compost sacks or sturdy plastic bags, but be prepared for the leaves to take over.
Creating an outdoor classroom
Children at a Durham primary school now have 30 new beds – but they’re far from feeling sleepy! The beds in question are raised planting sites, varying in height to cater for different age ranges. They were installed by BTCV’s vinvolved Durham Youth Action Team as part of a transformation of the site from overgrown area into a wildlife friendly, produce growing outdoor classroom. “When we started, the site was overgrown with brambles and the scrub reached up to 30 feet high,” explains James Leslie, BTCV’s Volunteer Support Adviser. “We helped to clear it all, built the raised beds and a composting bin from scratch, and put in lots of other features such as benches and habitat piles. The school was thrilled and we can’t wait to see the pupils putting it to use as a green learning environment.”
Peas
as but growing pe o Kids love c as an als et that pe ng ou don’t forg y ty s ta for their be grow n reat added ch taste g hi w shoots, to salads
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KEFTAIDES
(pronounced Keftethes – Greek Meatballs)
BBC Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury who also hosts Kill It, Cook It, Eat It, has donated this favourite recipe for a Greek dish. 500g minced beef or lamb 1 large, finely chopped onion 5 finely chopped cloves of garlic 2 slices of white bread soaked in red wine 2 medium sized eggs, beaten 1 cup of finely chopped mint salt and pepper ½ cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese plain flour olive oil
In a large bowl, mix the meat, onion and garlic together. Add the bread, chopped mint and Parmesan cheese and mix well. Season to taste, and then add the beaten eggs. Mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl and leave to stand in the fridge for 24 hours. Dust your palms and fingers with flour and scoop out the meat mixture in small amounts. Roll into meatballs approx 4cm in diameter, about the size of a ping-pong ball. Coat in flour and set aside. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil and fry the meatballs a few at a time. They need to roll around in the oil to get brown all over and cook right through. Remove from the pan using a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen roll and keep warm while you cook the rest. Serve with a green salad, Feta cheese and black olives. Alternatively add the meatballs to a tomato-based sauce and serve with spaghetti.
Onions
Onions are reall y easy to grow from mi niature onions! Harvest them when the leaves are brow n, around Au gust, by lif ting out th e bulbs and putting them somewhere to dr y.
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BTCV Carbon Army marches on locally produced food It’s amazing to find there’s so much food grown, reared, baked, smoked and produced within a few miles of where we live. Just about every major town and many villages in the UK have a farmers’ market at least once a month, and every county has farm shops selling top quality, locally-produced food. You can support the local economy and cut down food miles when you buy more of your food from local sources. Farm shops and farmers’ markets are great places to meet growers and farmers. This is your chance to discuss how they produce their vegetables and rear the meat and makes it a unique shopping experience. Reconnecting with food in this way helps us realise what the true cost of food is to the planet. You’ll find that fresh vegetables and fruit are harvested straight from the fields and orchards just hours before they’re sold with the minimum of packaging, refrigeration and storage.
Cut down waste by taking your reusable bags to shop at farmers’ markets and farm shops, and your own containers when you go to pick-yourown farms.
Find your nearest farm shops and farmers’ markets FARMA, the national farmers’ retail and markets association, has a comprehensive listing of farm shops, markets and pickyour-own farms – all accredited so that you can be sure you’re buying authentic local produce. www.farma.org.uk Food Lovers Britain www.foodloversbritain.com lists all the local food festivals and events.
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Seasonal food… – best for the planet and best for BTCV Carbon Army. Food grown close to where you live and harvested at its seasonal prime will be fresher, tastier, cheaper and almost certainly have fewer carbon emissions than produce grown outside the UK. When produce such as asparagus, strawberries or beans are in season, the price is cheaper and we can all make the most of it. It’s worth waiting for the right time of year to eat these fantastic foods - just packed full of flavour. Early summer is the time to enjoy succulent asparagus grown in the UK. Traditionally the asparagus season starts on St George’s Day, April 23, and finishes on Midsummer Day, but growers in the south-west get an earlier harvest in polytunnels. Strawberries are available in the UK during the spring (from April and early May if they’re under polytunnels) through to first frosts in October. The joy of anticipating the short but very sweet plum season is only surpassed by tucking into gorgeous plum crumbles and potting up plum jam to enjoy on toast in the winter. Juicy golden and dark purple plums are available from July for only a few weeks, so buy them when you can.
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Crisp and sweet apples and pears are harvested from our orchards from the middle of August throughout the autumn. Raspberries are in season from the middle of summer through to the autumn, depending on the variety. When you grow broad beans, French beans or stick beans (also known as runner beans) in succession, you’ll be harvesting from May through to October. Who needs imported beans in winter? Nutritionally-packed root vegetables such as celeriac and parsnips are traditionally harvested after the frosts which intensify the flavours. Red cabbages are in their prime in January, soon followed by purple sprouting broccoli. You can check up which foods are in season by visiting Eat the Seasons website www.eattheseasons.co.uk
Support the BT CV Carbon Army and our wo rk with community grou ps to help people eat with the seasons.
£10 could be enough to provide the seed s needed by local groups to kickstart a healthy eating project. www.btcv.org/don ate
Supplied by James Miller, part of our Youth Team in Dorset. “It’s a bit fflexible but this should feed four people,” says James. “I cook by smell and taste of course and probably change this recipe a bit every time.”
Beetroot Bolognese - add whatever vegetables you have in season. 1 large onion – peeled and chopped 2 garlic cloves – peeled and chopped 2 good sized beetroots (raw) – peeled and grated 400g tinned tomatoes (whole or chopped) 1 tablespoon vegetable oil Salt and pepper Vegetable stock powder and vegan Worcestershire sauce Herbs and spices to suit your tastes Half a pack of Quorn mince (optional) Any other vegetables you fancy adding – these could include chopped or sliced leeks, carrots, sweet potato, pumpkin, spinach, beans, cauliflower or broccoli.
Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan and add the onion and garlic until it’s soft. Then add the grated beetroots and cook a bit more. Add Quorn mince (if desired) and let it brown. If you’re not using Quorn, then add one or two grated carrots instead. Add the tomatoes, teaspoon of stock powder, Worcestershire sauce and whatever other herbs and spices you like. Season with pepper and a little salt – check the sauce isn’t too salty. Let the sauce simmer for 15 minutes or so. Taste it after 15 minutes – you may need to cook it a bit longer. It will be ready when the strong beetroot flavour has moved on to a lovely mixed, sweet flavour. If you need more flavour, add another teaspoon of stock powder.
Beetroots
eat for Beetroots are gr ow You can beginners to gr em as baby th t start to harves e root has th en wh vegetables e of a grow n to the siz golf ball
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Foraging… …free food. The origins of BTCV are founded in conserving and creating wild places in cities, towns and the countryside for biodiversity. More habitats for wildlife and wild plants can mean wild and natural food for us too. Why not enjoy nature’s bounty for free – when it’s safe and legal to do so? BTCV volunteers have planted and managed thousands of miles of hedgerows over the last 50 years. That’s a plentiful supply of hawthorn leaves for spring salads, summer rosehips for jellies, elderflowers for thirst-quenching drinks and elderberries for autumn cordials.
ing on When you re forag ke sure private land, ma downer s you have the lan It st fir permission ot ro up to al is illeg your wild plants, sell rvest ha foraged food or eg op cr al ci a commer an in g in ow gr apples orchard
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In woodlands, some planted by BTCV volunteers, you’ll find edible mushrooms, fungi and nuts. Take a mushroom and fungi guidebook with you, or have fun fungi-hunting with an expert. As with all wild food, you must be certain it’s OK to eat it before you pick it. If you don’t know what it is, leave it until you do. You’ll have to be quick to beat the squirrels, but hazelnuts and sweet chestnuts are worthwhile collecting. Chestnuts must be boiled or roasted before eating because of tannic acid. Hazelnuts (also known as cobnuts) are good to eat fresh and green or left for a few weeks to mature. Picking blackberries, rosehips, elderberries and sloes are idyllic ways in which to reconnect with nature and wildlife. Wandering along the hedgerows on Rights of Way e.g. public footpaths and bridleways, you’re more likely to spot birds’ nests and identify wild flowers.
Many urban plants that you may think of as weeds (dandelions and nettles spring to mind) are in fact delicious additions to any meal. Young dandelion leaves are good in salads. Pick nettle leaves carefully, wear gloves for this, go for the young leaves at the top of the plants. Chop and cook them in butter to add to stock for a soup, make a pasta sauce with tomatoes and garlic, or add to pancakes and omelettes. If you live near the seaside there are lots of wild foods to enjoy along the shoreline. Seaweeds, shellfish in rock pools, samphire and sea kale – all packed with nutrition and flavour. Check the tide timetable before you start and keep an eye on the weather at all times – it’s easy to be caught out by incoming tides and sudden storms.
Get your FREE Blackberry. No purchase necessary, and lots of blackberries to be won! Wait until autumn. Go out along your local highways and byways. Find a bramble bush. Pick your own free blackberry. Savour the flavour, free of texts, e-mails and annoying ring tones.
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Blackberry Muffins Jessica Duffy started as a BTCV volunteer way back in 1983. She is now BTCV’s Staff Training Officer in Leeds. Jessica says: “Get to know when your local blackberries are ripe. The ones on our allotment, which must have come from cultivated stock, ripen in the first week of August. Wild ones tend to be ready to pick a week or two later.” 160g plain flour 115g polenta (cornmeal) 100g caster sugar ½ teaspoon salt 1 dessert spoon baking powder 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 4 tablespoons vegetable oil ½ teaspoon vanilla essence 1 large egg 225ml buttermilk. Alternatively use milk and natural yoghurt in equal amounts. 225g fresh blackberries. Frozen blackberries are just as good. Either let them thaw and gently stir into the muffin mixture, or add in frozen and extend the cooking time because they make the mixture very cold!
Makes 10 muffins
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6. Grease a muffin tin or line with paper muffin cups. In a large bowl, combine the flour, polenta, sugar, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. In a separate bowl, beat together the oil, vanilla essence and egg. Stir the egg mixture into the dry ingredients alternating with the buttermilk until it is just moistened. Gently fold in the blackberries and spoon the fruity batter into the prepared muffin tins or cups. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes until they are golden. Serve warm.
Notes: 1. Food Transport Indicators to 2006 (Defra) published in Food Statistics Pocketbook 2009. www.defra.gov.uk 2. Household Food & Drink Waste in the UK, 2009 WRAP www.wrap.org.uk
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3. Evaluating the impact of environmental volunteering on behaviours and attitudes to the environment – University of Essex 2008. Pretty J et al 4. Place to Grow: supplementary document to Growing in the community, 2010. Local Government Association.
BTCV’s Carbon Army helps people across the UK unite to take front-line action on climate change, whilst improving the places that matter to them, for this and future generations. We’re a practical, hands-on response to the global challenge that faces us all. For over 50 years, our charity has worked in the heart of communities, where trained staff and volunteers are inspiring individuals and communities to improve their environment and work towards saving the planet. Every day BTCV volunteers are in action, tackling the impact of climate change through tasks such as: • Planting trees to lock up carbon • Managing water courses to reduce flood risks • Growing food to cut CO2 emissions from food miles. Practical action really can make a difference – to people, to local communities and to the planet. But we cannot make this difference alone. To achieve real change, we need your support:-
Dig... £10 could equip a volunteer to dig a drainage ditch, diverting water to help prevent flooding during stormy weather.
Plant... £20 could help volunteers rejuvenate a local woodland by planting saplings fitted with special protective guards, so they can withstand all weathers and have the best chance of maturing into magnificent trees.
Build... £30 could teach new volunteers how to stabilise sand dunes and strengthen our coast’s natural defences against erosion by the sea.
Clear... £40 could enable a team of volunteers to clear dogwood from chalkland areas to give juniper and rare flowers the chance to thrive, bringing colour and life back to the landscape.
Grow... £50 could help a group of volunteers plant vegetables and fruit in a communal garden in an inner-city area, reducing food miles and therefore CO2, improving the diet of local families and introducing them to the joys of growing their own! A donation of any amount will be put to work immediately to help us connect with more volunteers and deliver more practical conservation work. A regular gift by direct debit from as little as £2 per month would go towards securing the future for the Carbon Army, and make a lasting difference throughout the UK. By supporting BTCV’s Carbon Army you enable us to educate and inspire local people and communities to care for their environment.
Register your support, volunteer or donate online at www.btcv.org. Help us reach out and inspire more people. Together we can make a real difference.
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BTCV Sedum House Mallard Way Doncaster DN4 8DB Email: information@btcv.org.uk Telephone: 01302 388 883 www.btcv.org Registered Charity in (England) 261009, (Scotland) SCO 39302
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