Herefordshire Gleaning Network fruit pick

Sustainable Ledbury were delighted to be included in setting up this project with the Herefordshire Food Alliance.

The Herefordshire Gleaning Network has been born! 

Great morning last Sunday, picking Apples and Damsons at the Nest for Ledbury Foodbank.

At our cooking day next week, we will process these for longer term storage. 

Our cooking day will be at Ledbury Community Hub @ Pot and Page - Sunday 8th October 11-3.

 Contact Ruth on ruthpullan@hotmail.co.uk to find out more!

Update on Gleaning Project - collection point for Ledbury Volunteers St Katherine Car Park or meet at The Nest

 

Please contact Ruth Pullan on 07951 399176 or ruthpullan@hotmail.co.uk to register as a volunteer in advance.

This is to make arrangements for refreshments and equipment on the day

Town Trail - clearing in the ditch

 

Despite the weather yesterday morning, four of us managed to get out for an hour on the stretch of the Town Trail between Bridge Street and Woodleigh Road. We've finished the project funded by Severn Trent Community Fund #STCommunityFund but the work goes on! 

We were clearing around the wetland plants that we bought with the grant funding. They are still getting established and need a bit of help.

The photos show 'before' 

and 'after'.

There's still lots to do and we hope we have better weather for our next session in a fortnight.

If you'd like to join us, contact us via email on sustainableledbury@gmail.com for details

New - Fruit Gleaning Project

As some of you may know, we've been involved in setting up a fruit gleaning project with Herefordshire Food Alliance. The aim is to make use of fruit which is not harvested for various reasons. There are two locations for the project, one Ledbury based and one Hereford based. Details are as follows.

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 1^st October - Ledbury picking day 11-3. Sites in and around Ledbury. Meeting point TBC.

6^th October - Hereford Picking day, Lower House Farm Herefordshire Wildlife Trust reserve near Cock of Tupsley, HR1 1UT. 11-3

8^th October - Ledbury preserving and community cooking day, preserving the harvest for Ledbury Food Bank at Pot and Page community hub 11-3

14^th October - Hereford preserving and community cooking day at the Living Room. 11-3 

 

Lunch provided on each day, please bring your own mug for soup on the picking days as we won't have kitchen facilities available to us!

 

Transport to venues:

 

Picking days are at rural locations.

We will be hiring the community bus in Ledbury to go to the picking locations, picking up point TBC.

 Lower House Farm Orchard is accessible by public transport with the 420, 469 and 476 from Hereford bus station stopping at the Cock of Tupsley pub, a 10 minute walk from the orchard. There is also a car park for those coming by car. We are also hoping to hire the Hereford community bus for those without transport and to bring the apples back to the Living Room in the afternoon. We will set off from The Living Room at 10.30.

 

The processing days are in central town or city locations and we encourage the use of public transport where possible, however there are large car parks nearby if coming by car.

 

Please contact Ruth Pullan 07951399176 or ruthpullan@hotmail.co.uk to register as a volunteer. We need to know numbers so we can make arrangements for refreshments on each day and to have enough equipment available.

 

If any volunteers have fruit, particularly in Ledbury, we could pick as part of the 1^st October date if a large quantity or they are welcome to bring smaller amounts to the Pot and Page date on the 8th.

 

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These promise to be fun events which will also help the community. The produce from the Ledbury event is destined to go to our Food Bank. Thanks to a grant obtained by HFA, they have a new freezer.

 

If you know of anyone who might be interested, please share this information with them.

 

Town Trail project completion report, and a celebration.

A couple of years ago we got a 'Licence to Cultivate' from Herefordshire Council giving us permission to do conservation work on the Town Trail. In 2022 we were very pleased to be given a grant by the Severn Trent Community Fund to work on the ditch running alongside the Trail between Bridge Street and Woodleigh Road. 

We started work in October 2022. Now, over 200 volunteer hours later, we have completed the project.

The ditch was in a sorry state, overgrown, filled with debris, and liberally sprinkled with litter. The grant covered the cost of hand tools, plants and an information board. 

Over the winter, volunteers worked to dig out the ditch, remove litter, and clear a strip of land along the bank, ready for planting. 

In April, we planted 250 native wetland plants along this stretch.

The information board was designed and made during the early summer and we took delivery at the end of July. Balfour Beatty installed this for us - a professional job as there are gas pipes in the area.

On 4th September 2023 we had a small celebration to mark the end of the project and say thank you to our volunteers and supporters.

We've had very positive feedback from residents, both when we're working and via Facebook. The wildlife seems to like it too. We saw frogs 'inspecting' the ditch in the spring, and have noticed more birds and butterflies, now the area is getting more light.

The plan is to continue to maintain this area and hopefully cover a longer stretch of the Trail. We try to get out on the Trail once a fortnight on a Monday morning and new volunteers are always welcome.

(See the dates for the next sessions in the sidebar on the right.)

New notice board!

As people have spotted, we now have our information board installed on the Town Trail - thanks to Balfour Beatty. This almost completes the project funded by Severn Trent Community Fund. As with all grant funding, there's always the paperwork!

We'll be keeping an eye on the progress of the planting we've done to make sure it doesn't get swamped by other wild flowers. With the increase in light in the area, everything is growing more strongly - and we've noticed an increase in birds and butterflies.

Residents have asked if we can do some work on the next stretch of the Trail, south of Woodleigh Road, and we'll be looking at that during the winter.

Thank you for all the positive comments we've received since we started work on the Trail. There's always plenty to do and new volunteers are always welcome.

LIFE ON AN ORGANIC DAIRY FARM

 LIFE ON AN ORGANIC DAIRY FARM

Join us on Monday 21st August at 6.30 p.m. in the Burgage Hall, Ledbury, when Claire Howlett will be talking to us about organic dairy farming. Claire and her brother power their farm by renewable energy, the cows are grass fed and there are areas for wildlife.

Claire will be bringing their Halloumi style cheese, Apple Juice and Apple Jam for sale.

Admission is free with donations welcome towards the cost of the hire of the hall.

Town Trail Ditch update

Have you walked the Trail between Bridge Street and Woodleigh Road lately? Hard to believe that it looked like the photo only a couple of months back. Since then, we've planted 250 bog plants along the edge of the ditch, and been back to make sure they're not getting choked by other vegetation. 

The grant from Severn Trent Community Fund also covers an information board. This is in production at the moment. We haven't got an installation date yet but it can't be long now.

Hellens The Garden Festival.

Hellens The Garden Festival is aways a brilliant event, two days showcasing Sustainable living in the Three Counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. 

Sustainable Ledbury have had a stall at Hellens for a number of years, showing the progress we have made on the various projects we carry out, and providing advice on composting, recycling, food waste, plastic reduction and conservation and sustainable living in Ledbury and the surrounding area.

This year, we had a stall inside in The Georgian Stables, a much needed cool space as it was a very hot weekend!

Sarah Blenkinsop, Waste Reduction co ordinator for Sustainable Ledbury, also gave a popular and well received talk on Composting, with around 40 people attending. Sarah did a lengthy Q and A session after the talk. 

A very successful day and a very enjoyable event, as always. 

Great Big Green Week in Ledbury

 The Great Big Green Week is the UK’s biggest ever celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature. 

Every year, people come together to unleash a wave of support for action to protect the planet. Tens of thousands of people in every corner of the country celebrate the heartfelt, brave, everyday actions being taken to stand up for nature and fight climate change.

In 2023, Great Big Green Week will take place between 10th and 18th June.

The first Great Big Green Week took place in September 2021, and was the largest event for climate and nature ever seen in the UK.  Over 5,000 events celebrated how communities are taking action to tackle climate change and protect green spaces, and encouraged others to get involved too.

Communities came together once more in September 2022 to show how people everywhere are ready and willing to take action to tackle climate change. Over a quarter of a million people got involved, and national organisations, institutions, businesses and media outlets joined in, ultimately putting pressure on the government to up its game on climate change.

Town Trail - Bog Plants go into the Ditch.

We had a hard working morning on the Town Trail yesterday, Monday, planting bog plants along the stretch of ditch between Bridge Street and Woodleigh Road. Many thanks to our lovely volunteers who, undaunted by the mud, finished preparing the ground and planting 250 plants. With the funding from Severn Trent, we are preparing an information board to explain what we've done and the plants we've used.

You won't notice much difference for a while as it will take some time for the plants to settle in and grow. Once they start flowering then they'll be obvious, although we'll need to keep an eye on the nettles so they don't swamp the bog plants.

Town Trail - preparing to plant up the ditch

We were out last Monday preparing the ground for planting and clearing nettles (there are still plenty for butterflies). This Monday (3rd) we will be out again planting bog plants.

If you'd like to join in, contact us on sustainableledbury@gmail.com for more information.

Town Trail update

We've been working away on the stretch of the Town Trail between Bridge Street and Woodleigh Road. We've got a bit more work to do clearing out the ditch and then we'll be planting marginal plants. The photos don't look very interesting at the moment -

We're looking forward to seeing flowers along the bank, hopefully this summer.

Our next session is on Monday morning (13th) - fingers crossed that the weather is fine again by then. If you'd like to join us, contact us on sustainableledbury@gmail.com

Seed Library reopens!

 Let's start sowing - it's time to get growing!

After a generous donation, the free Seed Library at Pot & Page in Ledbury (in partnership with Sustainable Ledbury ) is ready for spring!

Pot & Page also have some super helpful books on sowing, growing and eating all things plants on their shelves for inspiration

It's always exciting to get started with some seedlings inside on your windowsill - aubergines, chillis, cucumber, tomatoes are all good to get started in March!

If you're lucky enough to have some outdoor space, or an allotment you can start preparing a no-dig bed. It may still be a little too nippy to plant most things outside, but hardy flowers (sunflowers, nastratium, nigella, poppies, cornflowers etc.) can survive these nippier temperatures along with radishes, lettuces and potatoes

Remember, you don't need a lot of outdoor space to grow your own. Come to Pot & Page and pick up a copy of #veginonebed by HuwsGarden to find out how you can maximise your small space.