Ingredients:

As more of a side dish than a main course, this makes an excellent snack, with rich flavour and a coconut caramelized glint all over the leaves, this tender, nutty, green treat is a must try.

Combine all ingredients except kale in a small saucepan and heat until slightly warm. Mix in kale leaves, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Remove, then grill on a very, very hot pre-heated grill pan until softened and sizzling.

Large Vegetable Bags have same as standard bags with larger quantities of potatoes, onions, carrots, kale, leeks, and additional cucumber!

Small Vegetable Bags have baking potatoes (Kent) and onions (Norfolk), Spring greens (Essex), Cauliflower (Suffolk), Beetroot (Kent).

Standard Fruit Bags have bananas (Dom Rep), avocado, Ortanque clementines and oranges (Italy), kiwi (Greece).

Small Fruit Bags have bananas (Dom Rep), avocado, Ortanque clementines and oranges (Italy).

12-4pm plant stall and seasonal gardening activity, ‘The Joys of Weeding’, using a variety of tools
1-2pm lunch, soup available by donation
2-3pm talk by Iain Tolhurst
3-4pm site tour

This month’s Open Day on Sunday 26 May at Hawkwood Plant Nursery is a celebration! Our first fully certified organic produce has been harvested from the site, and the day will feature a presentation by acclaimed organic farmer Iain Tolhurst. Iain Tolhurst has been a practising organic vegetable producer for over 37 years, one of the original pioneers of the organic movement in the UK. He has taught and written extensively on ‘stock free’ farming (increasing fertility without animal inputs) and using plants to increase biodiversity to create resilient growing systems.

As our name suggests, we have always used organic methods and promoted organic food. However, registration with the Soil Association gives us certification that confirms our standards and will allow us to supply our produce to other outlets who are also certified, such as Second Nature in Walthamstow. It takes a minimum of two years, from the time of application, for your land to be fully approved as organic, so this month’s spring garlic is our first fully certified produce.

We agree with Simon Fairlie from The Land that it will be a fine day when the current order of things is reversed, and you have to get special certification not to grow organically… but until then we’ve decided it’s worth the cost and the paperwork to get certification for our own produce. We don’t certify our box scheme or market stalls, as we want to be able to sell produce grown locally by allotment holders and gardeners who would find it extremely hard to get certified as organic; instead for them we use the Wholesome Food Association mark so that they can confirm that they are using sustainable growing methods, and operate an ‘open gate’ policy so that anyone can come and check out how they are growing.

Open day at Hawkwood Nursery, Sunday 26 May, 12-4pm

As well as Iain Tolhurst’s presentation the day will include a site tour, plant stall, seasonal horticultural activities and a freshly cooked vegetarian lunch (for a donation). All welcome, drop in any time or stay for the day!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 30g butter or extra olive oil
• 250g risotto rice (arborio)
• splash white wine or vermouth (optional)
• 1 litre vegetable stock (hot)

• 3 wet spring garlic, sliced thinly
• 1 small onion, chopped finely

Cook garlic and onion slowly in some butter and oil for about 10 minutes without colouring.

Add rice, turn up the heat and cook until the rice is coated with garlic mix, season and add alcohol if using. Stir until the wine has been absorbed.

Next, add the stock until rice is just covered and turn down the heat. Maintain rice at a gentle simmer and keep adding stock once the last addition has been absorbed.

After another 5 minutes, when rice is just cooked but has some bite, add the butter and cheese (if using). Season and serve with a sprinkling of cheese and a handful of rocket or mixed salad.

Standard Vegetable Bags have baking potatoes (Kent), onions (Norfolk), carrots (Norfolk B), cauliflower (Suffolk), beetroot (Kent), chard (Dagenham), mixed salad, spring garlic (Chingford).

No Potato Bags have same as standard bags but no potatoes and additional broad beans or avocado and lemon (Chingford).

Large Vegetable Bags have same as standard bags with larger quantities of potatoes, onions, carrots,  beetroot, chard and additional peas (Chingford)!

Small Vegetable Bags have carrots (Norfolk), spring garlic, rocket (Chingford), spinach (Dagenham), mushrooms (Suffolk)

Standard Fruit Bags have Bananas (Peru), kiwi (France), ortanque clementines and oranges (Italy), rhubarb (Chingford).

Small Fruit Bags have Bananas (Peru), kiwi (France), ortanque clementines and oranges (Italy).

A number of Hawkwood volunteers have learning difficulties, physical difficulties, are referred by mental health teams, face language barriers, or have various other support needs. We value our diverse community, and recognise that working here can bring enormous benefits.

Being a Support Gardener
The role is to support others to participate successfully in volunteer work days.

• Create and maintain a safe and welcoming space.
• Be a friendly face that people can approach with questions or for reassurance.
• Provide practical support to enable people to carry out horticultural tasks around the site. This may be within a general group setting, or facilitating specific activities with a smaller group. You will not be expected to work on your own with other volunteers.
• Feed back to the wider Hawkwood team about how individuals could be better supported/ integrated in the work.

Training
There will be weekly training sessions for two months – Wednesdays 10am-3pm, June and July 2013 – after which we hope you will continue volunteering at Hawkwood in order to practice your learning and to support other volunteers here.

Wednesday is our busiest volunteer day, which you will be joining. The program will involve training sessions and experiential learning.

• Structured sessions to learn about potential support needs of others, including through sharing knowledge and reflecting on experiences.
• Active participation in the horticultural activities around the site, with a focus on individuals who may need support.
• Lunch is provided.

What we are looking for
There are no required skills or experience to join this training programme, but an interest in sustainable food production and enthusiasm for involving diverse communities in food growing are essential. We are looking for people with good people skills, who are interested in gardening or food growing, and who have an enthusiasm for the benefits of working in the natural environment and as part of a productive team.

It might suit you if you are:

• Looking to work with or participate in a community growing project.
• Have a background in care work and are interested in developing your experience in a ‘green care’ or food growing setting.
• Are looking to widen your horticultural experience to include people care.

To become a support gardener or for more information
Please contact Kate Ulrick at info@organiclea.org.uk or at the Hawkwood growing site on 020 8524 4994.

To apply you will be asked to fill in a short application form, including a criminal record disclosure.

No Potato Bags have same as standards bags but with no potatoes and additional peas (Chingford).

Large Vegetable Bags have same as standard bags with larger quantities of potatoes, onions, carrots, leeks, mushrooms, chard (not spinach) and extra purple sprouting broccoli (Norfolk),

Small Vegetable Bags have Valour & baking potatoes (Kent), onions (Norfolk), leeks (Norfolk B), chard & mixed salad (Chingford).

Standard Fruit Bags have Jonagold apples (France), Bananas (Peru), oranges, ortanque clementines,, lemons (Italy), avocado (Spain).

Small Fruit Bags have Jonagold apples (France), bananas (Peru), rhubarb (Chingford), oranges (Italy

Read all about it in the Guardian: Walthamstow yellow cress: the culinary comeback of an old Eastender

And on Ru’s grower’s blog: On the Yellow Cress Road

Standard Vegetable Bags have Valour potatoes (Kent), onions (Netherlands!!), carrots, (Norfolk B), cauliflower (Suffolk), Purple Sprouting broccoli (Lincs), coriander (Dagenham), mixed salad and beansprouts (Chingford)

No Potato Bags same as standard, but with no potatoes and additional spinach (Dagenham).

Large Vegetable Bags have same as standard bags with larger quantities of potatoes, onions, carrots, purple sprouting and extra larger spinach (Chingford).

Small Vegetable Bags have Valour potatoes (Kent), carrots (Norfolk B), mushrooms (Suffolk), Spring Greens (Essex), beansprouts (Chingford).

Standard Fruit Bags have Gala apples (Kent) and Jonogold apples (France), Bananas (Dominican Republic), rhubarb (Chingford), oranges, mandarins and/or clementines (Italy).

Small Fruit Bags have Gala apples (Kent) and Jonogold (France), bananas (Dominican Republic), mandarins and/or clementines and lemons (Italy).

 

    Rhubarb is a vegetable native to Siberia. The leaves are poisonous due to their very high levels of corrosive oxalates; it’s the stalks that we eat. They are intensely sour. Counterracted with sufficient sugar, their fascinating flavour emerges: cooking apples, tomato plants and strawberries. It became popular in early 19^th Century England as the first fruit-like produce to appear in early Spring. It is used as a cathartic in Chinese medicine. In Iran and Afghanistan it is used as a vegetable in stews, with spinach. And in Poland, with potatoes. The name comes from a combination of the Greek rha (rhubarb and the Volga river) and barbarum (foreign). Forcing stalk growth to produce pinker, sweeter, tenderer stalks faster, and availability of cheaper sugar resulted in a rhubarb boom which peaked between the wars. Different varieties vary in colour between green and red. Acidity is notably due to oxalic acid which is present in quantities double or triple levels in spinach. The colour of red stalks is best preserved by minimising both the cooking time and the quantity of added liquid which dilutes the pigments.

Pairings:ginger, orange, anise, vanilla, saffron, rosemary, almond, juniper

Obviously there is rhubarb crumble and rhubarb and custard but also:

Raw rhubarb with cucumber and rocket (Paula Wolfert):

Thinly slice cucumber and rhubarb, toss with a little salt and and leave to stand. Mix in rocket, lemon juice and a little mint.Serve with  generously oiled roast root veg.

Poached/roast rhubarb:

Cook short lengths in a pan gently, with a couple spoonfuls water only, sugar (about ¼ the weight of rhubarb, depending on taste) and sparing flavourings – combinations or singles from the list above (or in the oven without water, and with the flavourings slightly crushed) serve with custard, cream or almond cream (below)

Rhubarb and dried apricot fruit salad:

Marinate raw sliced rhubarb with rosemary and honey for a couple of days. Mix with sliced dried apricots. Serve with almond cream, made by blending 1 tbsp skinned whole almonds per person to a fine powder-paste, then dripping in a little water and blending until the desired consistency is achieved.

With thanks to Ruth at Hornbeam Cafe