Posted on

Your guide to food for free at Pitshanger Park Sunday 17th June 2.00pm

Why not party the morning away at Pitshanger Party in the Park then spend the afternoon foraging for food with Ealing Transition Community Garden…

Wild Garlic Mustard, mild Linden leaves, wild spinaches and elderflowers await you by the side of the Brent in Pitshanger Park. Ealing is overflowing with free, healthy, delicious food. It’s wild and free, not in the sense of Woodstock but rather of glittering salads full of exciting new flavours. Local transition town supporter and expert forager Sam Sender will lead a wild food walk in Pitshanger Park on Sunday 17th at 2pm. Meet at the tennis courts, and bring baskets and bags.

Cost: Free

Check out their blog at http://ealingtransitioncommunitygarden.wordpress.com/, and refer to the Upcoming Events tab for dig day dates.

Posted on

The Bees have finally arrived at Walmer Gardens!

For those of you who have been keeping up to date with WEN Abundance activities you will know that we have taken the renovation of on a small orchard in Walmer Gardens W13. We cleared it and pruned the trees over January/February (ably managed by The London Orchard Project)  Ealing Transition have the rear part of the orchard where the pond is for their first bee hive and on Saturday around 15,000 bees finally arrived in their new home.  The crew donned suitable clothes before opening the box to let them into their new home.  Needless to say once I had taken a picture of this I scarpered! Pictures of the event below.

Look out for more news when the Elderflower season starts towards June!

Posted on

-3.5c and we were still up for pruning our West Ealing Orchard

Oh yes we at WEN Abundance and Ealing Transition are a hardy lot!  We braved the freezing cold on Saturday 4th February to be part of a pruning workshop at our lovely little Orchard at Walmer Gardens. The London Orchard Project are doing a fantastic job helping us and brought in an expert to guide us through the day.

With some dedicated volunteers and support – including Jon Skoyles, Ealing Park Ranger, this Orchard has undergone a complete transformation. It will take a couple more years of pruning, planting and caring for the place but we know it will be worth bringing this place back to life.

Next up is the beehive Ealing Transition will be setting up around April – I’ll let you know exact dates when confirmed should anyone be interested in coming along.

Here are some pictures of the day (click to enlarge).

 

Posted on

5 years of West Ealing Neighbours – Let’s celebrate!

No we can’t believe we are that old either!

To celebrate this milestone you are invited to a gathering on October 13th from 7.30pm onwards at OPEN Ealing 113 Uxbridge Road, West Ealing (opposite the fire station) W5 5TL with a glass of wine and some of our yummy Abundance produce.

This is an important time for WEN as many of our committee members now have to step down after their 5 years in office – includng the chair (David Highton) and Vice-Chair (Eric Leach) Don’t worry though they aren’t leaving WEN, just taking on different roles – we are therefore keen to talk to you about how you can get involved.

We are a small group that think we have achieved quite a lot in the 5 years we have been together. We’d like to tell you some of what we have done and what we plan to do, but just as important are your ideas about what the next 5 years might look like.

And to top it all Cheddar Deli, 108 Northfields Avenue are also donating a fantastic cheese board for you to win in a raffle.

Posted on

A fantastic West Ealing Family Day in Pictures

Opera Viscera at St James Church
Pamela Howard School - Japanese Dancing
Melbourne Avenue
Melbourne Avenue
Some dancing to the steel band!
Some of the food stalls on Melbourne Avenue
Melbourne Avenue
Steel band on Melbourne Avenue
WEN Abundance in action with apple press
The Oddfellows in St James Church
Lots of Children interested in our apple press!
Get stuck in Pauly!
WEN Abundance setting up stall
Posted on

Fancy volunteering for some apple and pear picking?

WEN Abundance are coming into our exceptionaly busy phase with apples and pears coming out of our ears ready to be picked. If you are free, particularily during the daytime this week or next I would love to hear from you.

Most of our picking takes place in private gardens, we have equipment for you to use and will offer safety guidelines too.

We use the fruit in a variety of different ways from juicing through to making our own jams and chutneys. Any money we make from the sale of the produce is ploughed back into the project to help us buy equipment.

So if you want to help us reduce waste please offer up some of your spare time.

Contact me on here, or by email to wenabundance@gmail.com

Posted on

Success at WEN Abundance first blackberry pick

A small team of us went out to pick blackberries on what was a very pleasant Sunday evening.  Bitterns Field, Brent River Park did not disappoint.  Lots were ripe and a lot more to come. Plenty for jam making and I’m sure we will be going back to get more soon.

Some pictures of the evening..

Pauly and Gill
Veronica and Deb
Deb, Veronica and Pauly
Posted on

Abundance goes out to the local community

The Abundance team  were contacted by Nuria Rodriguez from Catalyst Housing about a foraging and jam making event for residents of Windmill Park Estate, Southall.

Our resident expert, Elizabeth went along with the group to pick blackberries to turn into delicious blackberry jam back at the community centre. Everyone had a go and the children loved the tasting at the end!

We will be looking forward to more events this year.

Here are a few pictures of the day – Click on the pictures to open them.

 

Posted on

Would you like to come Blackberry Picking on Sunday 7th August?

Hi all volunteers

There are plenty of early blackberries about it seems and it looks as though we should be able to have an inaugural pick on Sunday August 7 at 7pm. We’ll meet at Mayfield School, High Lane, Hanwell, W7 3RT and set off about 7.15.

We will almost certainly pick again – but we’ll decide on the exact date after this Sunday. We’ll bring some tupperware to collect the blackberry donations for WEN, but bring your own, too, so you can take some home.

Let’s hope the weather stays fine!

Gill/Diane

Posted on

Would you like to volunteer for Elderflower picking?

Diane, Gill and some volunteers from West Ealing Neighbours’ Abundance project plan to pick several hundred elderflower heads on Saturday morning, May 14th – weather permitting at a location in West Ealing. We might do a repeat ‘pick’ on Saturday morning, May 21. We’ve found a location where they’re quite prolific, in the ‘fields’ beyond Elthorne Park, although you’d need wellies to wade through nettles in some places, and a crooked stick to pull down the high branches.

We’ll be following the recipe on the WEN Abundance blog http://westealingabundancew13.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/292/ which we used last year to produce the cordial which went down very well at Hanwell Carnival and will will be selling again at this years Carnival on the 18th June, as well as Pitshanger Party in the Park on the 26th June.

Anyone who is interested in knowing more, or getting involved, please email wenabundance@gmail.com.

Cheers for now – Gill and Diane.