Teresa has a point!

Teresa, a friend from Transition Cambridge made a good point in the last Food Group meeting I attended. " it is all well and good to reap the fruits of the trees that are now nearly 100 years old, we need to plant some new ones, for the next generation".  Good point well made.

It would be great if we could find larger areas in Cambridge for the public to enjoy the fruit but for now, I  have decided to start in our own back yard.

Autumn is now well and truly on the way and it is time to put my little garden to bed for winter.
Compost bin full and space created, I have planted a mini apple, pear and espalier cherry tree from
 J Parkers

I hope that if I won't be able to enjoy the fruit, others will be able to do so in the future.

Carrie's Medlar

When harvested walnuts and quinces a few months ago I noticed an amazing Medlar tree.
It brought back memories and brought me back to the time I was a little girl and used to spent time with the gardeners. I noticed at the back of the greenhouse a tree with strange fruit. Jos, the headgardener told me it was a Medlar and that it needed to 'rot' before you could eat it.  From the last lawn cuttings he made me a pile, we picked the medlars and pushed them deep into the grass. He said the warmth of the grass would 'ripen' the fruit. I had to be patient, (still not one of my strongest points) but waited until the fruit was soft. I remember the excitement when I tried this mysterious fruit more than the taste to be honest.

So seeing the fruit again, wondered if there were some better recipes and Jamie came to rescue.
The blossom in spring is amazing, the leaves big and stunning and the fruit beautiful, even if it is a acquired taste.

Strawberry tree in Bridge Street

Leaving the pretty Christmas lit streets behind me and walking into  Bridge Street, I noticed strawberry like fruit scattered across the street. I look up and a beautiful ever green tree, covered in red fruit adorning the corner of the street.

On arrival home, I did a search and found that it was a Strawberry Tree.
and Jul's wrote a lovely blog about it including some recipes. So if you have a Strawberry tree in your area and don't want the fruit to go to waste, check out her recipes.

Now I remember again how I got inspired to grow

Yesterday I met 4 new ladies from Chesterton, they all loved gardening, they mentioned that their attempts to get people involved in a open front garden event had been an uphill 'struggle'.

When I mentioned Incredible Edible and the wonderful conference I went to last week, they told me they had not heard of Incredible Edible before. So on my return, I searched for the Ted Talk presented by Pam Warhurst in 2012. When watching it after so many years, I got inspired again. Gosh, isn't Pam's enthusiasm infectious?

I hope The Chesterton ladies, will get inspiration from this talk, just as I did so many years ago

Have a look at the talk, enjoy and turn that little p(l)ot in front of you house into something edible!