Allotment Sustainability - Too much or too little produce

 

In today’s environmentally conscious world we have to ask how sustainable is the site? With over 40,000 plots and some 741 sites in London and some 300,000 plots across the UK the ability for allotments to raise the bar on environment is very real. This is one of a series of opportunities to be covered over the coming days and hope that in doing so we stimulate discussion and maybe even action.

6.    Too much or too little?

What do you do with the excess produce?

The highlights of the paper, ‘Feeding a city – Leicester as a case study of the importance of allotments for horticultural production in the UK’, published by Elsevier in their Science Direct Journal in 2019, highlighted among other findings that:

•         Urban agriculture provides important ecosystem services to people living in cities.
•          Allotment gardening in 1.5% land within a city provides fresh produce for 3% of population.
•          Crop yields achieved by own-growers were similar to commercial crop yields.

Today we have food banks and soup kitchens in many towns and cities and the pandemic has heightened the need for all of us to share with those in need and provide food and meals in the community. 

Many allotments are giving their extra produce to these community initiatives, but it’s not easy. Fresh food does not come out of a tap you merely turn and out it pops. It often comes in waves and can be unpredictable, with one-week famine the next feast. Also, fresh food  can quickly deteriorate if not use at the right time and Lacks that magic ingredient that extends supermarket shelf life. Finally, what is grown on allotments today is not always what those in need want or in some case know what to do with it.

Against this social need we all see pictures daily, rightly boasting of the size of the vegetables and amount of produce harvested on the allotments. Daily we hear requests asking what to do with too many plums, courgettes, squash, beans, tomatoes etc. Do you store, or do you share?

Is the size of some plots more than today's smaller sized families can consume?

When the allotment sizes were enshrined in statute families were larger, family groups lived in closer proximity and the distance commute and work relocation as we know it today was significantly smaller. Should the rural size be reduced as it has in many urban and inner cities and would this itself reduce the volumes of produce grown to feed a single family?

Is the glut merely the result of issues further up the chain?

This time of year, seed catalogues drop through the letterbox at an alarming rate. All are brimming over with promotional offers and stuffed with pages and pages of seeds. Comparing one catalogue to another can be like comparing margarine to butter, you may spot the difference, but does it really matter? This mass marketing of seeds and plug plants wets the appetite and before you know it you are in receipt of a jiffy bag full of packets of seeds. Hands up who only buy what they need and rarely have any hidden stashes of unused seeds, which may get used, but are often replaced with new ones?

In essence we buy more than we sow, we sow more than we nurture and develop, and we harvest in some cases more than we need. So can we change this wasteful process or are we destined to grow too much in our own little bubbles?

Group purchasing of seeds makes sense both in the scale and economics and can also in help share experiments of produce one may not normally grow. One problem is that many have their favourite suppliers, and some may like Dobies, whilst others like Kings, or Thompson and Morgan and the other plots likes Browns etc. Seed swaps help and every site could hold a swap and encourage excess seeds to be swapped. It is amazing to see just how many seeds surface at a seed swap and we must remember, these were all bought with the intent to grow. If planned, excess seeds can not only be shared with other plot holders but also be donated to community projects, schools, care homes etc. This reduces their costs to all and encourages all to grow.

Do you swap your seeds?

Do you buy as individuals or collectively?

Does your site have a collective seed swap?

Seedlings come next and we all have excess plants. We must often sow two to ensure we have one plant that is the nature of growing. However, what do we do with the excess, those seedlings, or young plants we don’t need?

Again, about a month after our seed swap we have a plant swap and its amazing to watch plants get a second chance, get adopted and literally walk out the door. This exercise is not just one weekend but continues with plant boxes by the gates where excess plants can be donated and pick up by others.       Some of my best plants have come from others this way and again it reduces waste and plants that would have merely ended up in the compost bins.

This year our site grew some 400 plants to give away. Some went to our community allotment at Canary Wharf Rooftop garden, some to plot holders some to the community. Many folk who had sowings had failed or who were unable to sow or due to the pandemic or to get compost to sow, found our plant swap and giveaway a saviour.

Excess produce donations are a challenge. Collecting them, getting it to the right group in time and ensuring it was what they wanted is not easy. As individuals we can all do something, as allotments we can do a lot more and as communities of allotments we can make a huge difference to ensure the consistency of availability and quantity of excess produce.

So what advice do give someone who asks what they can do with their glut?

Celebrate and Share the Harvest

The pandemic has raised the profile for a healthier lifestyle and wellbeing, be it physical and mental exercise or better nutrition, diet and good ‘fresh’ food. Even the fast food outlets have realised that we need more fresh food and that we can’t live on carbs, processed food and heavily sweetened and salted food alone. Consumers have been increasingly wary of sugar and salt levels and supermarkets that have all but destroyed seasonality and wonky food and are now realising that ‘shrinkwrapped and perfect’ 365 x 24 may not be the solution sought by all.

I can still remember my childhood and those bountiful and colourful harvest festivals. Each autumn school halls and church halls were decorated, and everyone brought in their own grown produce of all shapes and sizes to celebrate and share the harvest. We still have Harvest festivals, but we now have less space, and many people have lost or never learnt the skills or had the confidence to grow their own.

Our waiting list, like many others, has exploded over the lockdown period and continues to grow with people wanting to grow, enjoy fresh food and improve their health and wellbeing. There are no quick fixes to meeting this demand, and understanding the true latent demand is an interesting challenge especially in the urban and inner cities.

Allotments today can often produce more than the plot holder’s families can consume. Allotments are not allowed to sell produce to the public and when all the pickling, jam, chutney, freezing and wine opportunities have been exhausted, we often find there are still excesses.

Last week there was a wonderful picture on Social Media of a fantastic harvest of food a plot holder had donated to their local food bank. This is to be commended and it was not for commercial gain. Also last week I discussed opportunities to donate on a site, or even borough basis, with a local church whose parish together with other dominations run a food bank and who this year have been supplying food boxes to those needing direct assistance. Throughout the country, allotments and plot holders have programmes to donate their excess produce to many worthy initiatives and long may this continue and be encouraged.

The question is, can we do it better?

Last year we contributed our site excess plus produce grown at our Canary Wharf allotment to a local kitchen. It’s was not always easy to collect, very unpredictable and obviously has to be delivered ‘fresh’ at the right time. We also had talks about linking the kitchen to another charity that could train youngsters how to prepare and cook the produce.

One challenge we have is that we have such an ethnic mix of cultures that there is often more exotic food than traditional and donating non-traditional food to the wrong audience can be a wasted exercise and visa versa. We spoke to some charities who ran kitchens and they declined food on the basis we could not guarantee supply and more importantly they really wanted was tinned, dry goods more than fresh. This was what both the cooks and clients expected. It is no good presenting someone who desperately needs food with a plate of patti pans, yellow courgettes, mangetout and black potatoes.

So the answers are not simple: there are no one size fits all, and often its also down to the logistics of getting the right produce to the right place, right people and at the right time. Real ‘fresh’ and organic produce often doesn’t have that supermarket extended shelf life.

Perhaps it’s the perfect time for council allotment sites to actively involve local charities and health bodies in their allotments and extend their appreciation of health and wellbeing. After all, allotment benefits are far greater than Parks and Open Space.

The balance of benefits from keeping any initiative local, against extending it to cover a borough or even larger community is an interesting one. Dealing with different ethnic and cultural tastes is another. However we should be cognisant that our allotments are community land and we are privileged to have it and work it, and finding ways to share the harvest with those less fortunate should always be on the agenda.

Sharing What You Grow

‘So, what are you going to do with all this food?’ asks a neighbour whilst eyeing up the large carrier bags in my hands which are literally bursting with produce from the allotment.

‘We eat it, freeze some and give some to friends and family’ I reply watching his eyes calculate the amount and what all the different produce is in the bags. ‘Would you like some courgettes and beans?’

‘Well I’ve never seen courgettes like those, how do you cook them?’ he says quickly accepting four large yellow courgettes and a handful of French beans.

After some cooking hints and tips he leaves with some tomatoes and potatoes and I have somewhat lighter bags.

‘Better come home at a different time and by a different route tomorrow,’ says Lottie with a broad grin.

‘I don’t mind sharing some stuff’ I reply.

‘Mugged, and you know I eat those beans,’ says Lottie under her breath.

Lottie puts her nose to the ground and I can hear her chuckling under her breath all the way home.

Dogs only share inside the pack.

‘Not so much today?’ was Annie’s greeting as she examined the bags and started to take out the vegetables for their wash and brush up. I didn’t say anything but caught Lottie smiling in the corner of the kitchen.

At this time of year we all have gluts and famine at the allotments as everything tends to mature and ripen at the same time. You sow every few weeks but it still keeps coming at the same time. It is impossible to eat it all and you find a mountain of salad alongside another mountain of vegetables and then there is the fruit. We certainly eat well and fresh and buy little from the shops from early Spring to late Autumn and then during Winter the freezer supplies us with all those bags of goodies that we squirrelled away during Summer.

We wash chop and freeze in lots of small bags of tomatoes, courgettes, spinach, kale, cabbage, French beans, beetroot etc. The lettuce doesn’t take kindly to anything but being eaten fresh.

The last couple of years my Vice Chair has come into her own with her community programmes and has been brilliant at collecting excess produce donations off plot holders and supplying a local community kitchen but as simple as this sounds, it is often far from easy. All the produce from our community allotment at Crossrail roof garden is donated. However just collecting the produce from plot holders and getting it to the kitchen at the right time and in the right state can prove hard.

Donations can often be that overgrown courgette that resembles a marrow, or other vegetables which maybe are past their prime. Also kitchens want certain produce that they are familiar with and the sight of even a patti pan may not be greeted with the expected enthusiasm.

It was great to see my neighbour’s reaction when she came back to her plot last week after 16 weeks of lockdown. They have been getting special food parcels every week as well as home deliveries but a bag full of fresh produce off our plots plus a large bunch of sunflowers put a broad smile on her face. But she did ask what to do with the patti pans!

My daughter is Chair or a women’s shelter and a Director of a large homeless charity and I asked if they wanted excess produce. The response was interesting and was dependent on what produce, when, and if the cooks knew what to do with it to make dinners the clients wanted to eat it. Fresh was also an issue and I realised that convenience often could trump fresh.

We set out this year to donate more excess and learn from previous experience as to where, who and how to make a difference and to step up the internal awareness on the plots. Folk like to give but want to know where its going and who is benefiting. We had several discussions with community groups and one really was interested in not only taking the donations but also into using them to help training their clients into cooking with them. We also spoke to Cross-London organisations with a view to potentially widening a relationship to other sites which obviously meant dealing with the associated logistics, communication, and supply. If a pilot was successful, then it could be potentially roll.

Then came the pandemic and lockdown. This effectively scuppered this year’s ideas as the focus shifted to maintaining the allotments and looking after those unable to work their plots. We also weren’t allowed access the Canary Wharf plot during lockdown and our big plant giveaway and seeds swaps were impacted. Also, my appointment as London Representative for the National Allotment Society was deferred so effectively scuppering those discussions this year.  As lockdown eases we are just starting to look at some localised donation opportunities again but the one we used last year is still not back up and we may have to be more ad hoc in any donations until a new normality starts to take shape.

Meanwhile Lottie tucks into her doggy biscuits, meat and French beans. Her favourite vegetable is broccoli, even the chopped-up stems!

Getting the Right Amount of Produce at the Right Time

Kneeling down even with my little cushion can be hard, but the weeding must be done and I love to see the plot looking tidy and free of weeds. I look over to the bench and because it’s a windy cold snap Lottie is snuggled down, curled up and having a nap.

I return to the weeds between the rocket and the lettuce. There’s not many weeds so it is easy and a gentle hand fork down the space between the rows is all that is needed.

‘Are you going to do round the mange tout?’ I hear in my ear.

I look around and there perched of the end of the scaffold board walkway stands Robin my red-breasted friend.

‘I’ll do it next,’ I offer with my head down focused on my current area.

‘You’ve grown far too much of that stuff,’ declares Robin pointing his right wing towards the lettuce.

‘I know what I’m doing.’

‘Of course you do. Mind, you could feed an army on what you have grown there.’ Robin offers with a sarcastic smirk across his beak.

I look at the tight tidy rows of lettuce, red and green salad bowl and lolla rossa grown from seeds I bought back from Spain, wild rocket and more. I better not admit it to Robin, but I did sow a bit too much. However, the recent weather has been hot and we were eating salad on our balcony every day. Now the weather has once again changed and we are back to the vegetables and inside. The lettuce is disappointed to be left waiting to mix it with the others in the salad spin washer and the cucumbers are starting too mount up to but they can always be used in drinks. Lottie will not eat salad and will peck it out and spit it onto the floor.

Judging how much to grow is an art form. It’s not just about getting the sowing right, bringing them on, judging the weather and hoping it all comes together correctly. The right amount of anything is probably the biggest challenge and then there is succession sowing to ensure that you don’t have salad for just a couple of weeks in summer when it’s raining and cold.

Storing, bottling and freezing excess can be a challenge not just of how but with space. We have only just finished last year’s tomatoes and beans out the freezer. I like squash best. They can just sit there doing nothing and waiting literally months for you to decide to cook them. If only others could follow their example.

We as an allotment have started to collect any excess produce and donate it to a local community kitchen run by the farm. It can be difficult to even donate food this way as those receiving it need to understand how to cook or prepare it and even want it. It must be fresh and used fresh. I would think in today’s climate and with the demand on food banks, charity kitchens etc that donating it would be easy, but it is far from it. WE are not allowed to sell or give it to commercial organisations such as restaurants and it is primarily for family only.

‘Have you finished yet only I’ve a family to feed?’ Robin asks impatiently.

‘In a minute.’

I get up stretch, pick up my bucket half full of weeds, fork and kneeling cushion and move over to the mange tout.

I can almost hear Robin salivating at the thought of fresh grubs.

‘Can’t you put mulch around all the plants? It encourages my food.’ Robin says as he starts to follow me along the rows. He stops, cocks his head to listen and then with the precision of a heron fishing, swoops his beak into the ground and then pulls out a grub. Next minute he is gone and moments later returns to repeat the process. It’s like a drive-through food bar for him.

I look at the Mange Tout and think at least these can go with salad, be steamed or thrown in a stir-fry or curry. Why can’t more be like that?

Perhaps I need to grow less of more and not get sucked into mass sowing and potting on exercises. Mind you this year I am looking after my neighbour Anna’s plot whilst she is in isolation and guess what, I know there are too many spuds, courgettes, and squash. I can only hope she comes back soon as I don’t have space for this harvest.

‘Stop daydreaming and lets get over to that bean area now,’ demands a hungry Robin.