As the beautiful Autumn colours begin to fade into the stark grey, white and blues of winter, the gardeners’ task changes from a focus on planting, watering, weeding and harvesting to one of replenishing the soil, picking the last of the harvest and tucking the garden in for the winter.
Besides the harvest in the Edible Garden, the campus and its surrounds contains so many edible plants that just ask to be foraged while the internet is a treasure trove of recipe ideas.
We had a bumper crop of blackberries in August, unusually early this year. On my way into work and at lunchtimes, I picked several pounds near Sparrows Farm and along the park cycle tracks. I took my home made scones, blackberry jelly and cream into work for the Clearing team. Some members had never tasted home-made jelly and all declared it far superior to the bought variety. The advantage of jelly over jam is that all the not-so-perfect fruit bits get strained out. I also used blackberries added to stewed apples and pears, sweetened with honey gathered from the beehives on the campus and sold in the student union shop.
I cooked rhubarb by chopping it into 2-3 cm lengths, spreading the pieces in a baking dish, adding grated ginger and a small amount of water then sprinkling it all with honey or brown sugar before and baking it for about 20 minutes at 180oC.
Tucked away at back of the campus I discovered a lone damson plum tree. These plums are tiny and taking their stones out is a nightmare so I made a batch of damson jelly; just as delicious as the blackberry version and just as nice with scones and cream!
We grew squashes in the garden that made wonderful soup while the courgettes (or zucchinis) were delicious cooked as a main course vegetable. The zucchini cakes I made using a recipe I found online sold like hotcakes at our MacMillan fundraiser during Freshers’ week.
We grew a bumper crop of tomatoes in our polytunnel which are lovely munched straight from the vine, eaten raw with salad or in snacks or cooked with other vegetables spiced with our chilli peppers. I made my first batch of green tomato chutney that I am itching to try but because it needs to mature it will not be ready until Christmas.
We are still picking the last of the rainbow chard and I have enjoyed steaming it or using it as a substitute for spinach in my spinach and brown rice bake – a family favourite from Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course book. My most recent experimentation has been making soup from our Jerusalem artichokes. Combined with onions, garlic, celery, carrots and chicken stock it tasted wonderful.
Spending time in the garden allows me time to relax and recharge away from the busy atmosphere of the Enquiry Unit. I have met so many lovely people there that I would never have met otherwise. Cooking and sharing food that I have helped to grow from seed is a wonderfully rewarding experience, and I cannot recommend it more highly.
Below: homemade jams, chutneys and cakes from garden produce.
There is no such thing as a free lunch…perhaps this is not so true especially if you know how to forage.
Foraging for wild food is what humans used to do before we became sedentary and reliant on agriculture. Now people are flooding back to foraging not only for the free food but to connect back with nature and learn more about the different foods that we tend not to find in the supermarket so much.
Alex and Emily from the Sustainability Team were invited to a foraging day in Abbey Wood by Barracuda Digital, a digital marketing agency. The day was hosted by the Caravan Club and Napiers, to put existing foraging skills to the test and to learn more about what to look out for and the history of these plants in herbal medicine. Below they recount what they learnt and how foraging could become a regular event at the University of Greenwich.
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On a beautiful spring morning we were invited to the Abbey Wood Caravan Club site to meet up with other London bloggers and delve into the world of foraging. We had had some experience of foraging but this was mostly limited to picking Sloes for gin and Blackberries for jam so were looking forward to learning more about the wild food available on our doorstep.
We started the day meeting Monica Wilde who was to be our guide for a 3 hour session around the site and Lenses Abbey Wood.
Monica is a director at Napiers- the herbal and plant remedy business, as well as an active foraging business.
“I live in a field in West Lothian. 4 wild acres where I am planting and encouraging medicinal and foraging species. I have been fascinated by herbs and plants since childhood. My original interest was sparked by a wild childhood in Kenya, where I was introduced to herbal medicine by a local Kikuyu herbalist at the age of six. We were outdoors most of the time and I remember with joy the freedom of those early years. I love foraging for wild food as well as wild medicine and would happily never visit a supermarket again.”
We started with the innocuous daisy found on most lawns and learnt a fancy dinner party trick that we will definitely be trying out. When picked, daisies will start to close up however once dropped in liquid they begin to slowly open up again. For a spectacular starter you can drop a couple of closed daisies onto your soup and your guests will be impressed as the daisies open up before their eyes.
Alex sampling some bitter cress.
We also took a look at the common dandelion which is a rich source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The leaves can be used in a salad or cooked. Flowers can be made into juice, or added into many recipes. You can even use the root and dry it to be used in dandelion tea.
There were many things to taste enroute and we sampled wild garlic, wild parsley hawthorn buds, common chickweed, pineapple weed and the favourite of the day which were the buds from a bramble bush which inexplicable taste like coconut!
Foraging for Wild Garlic and Wild Parsley, and learning about the dangers of Hemlock (also known as poison parsley)!
As well as expanding our knowledge in botany we also had a crash course in herbal medicine learning some historical applications of herbs as well as things we could benefit from now. Women have used the seeds from the wild carrot plant for centuries as a contraceptive, the earliest written reference dates back to the late 5th or 4th century B.C.
Wild carrot with its distinctive purple spot.
Now we may not be trying this one out for ourselves but Emily did try some crushed clove roots on her wisdom tooth and will be reaching for the clove oil in future and not the paracetamol.
Monica cleans and cut some clove roots for Emily’s tooth
Alex found it extremely useful to learn about how to use dock plant sap to sooth stings from nettles. After a lifetime of mindlessly rubbing her hands and legs with the leaves of the dock plant, we learnt how it is actually the sticky sap at the base of the plant that you should rub onto your stings! If you venture into the base of the dock plant, around the point that the leaves divide above ground, you will find a sticky substance ‘as if someone has blown their nose in the middle of the plant’, as Monica described it. It is gross, but very worth it!
Monica ventures into the base of the plant to find some of that magical dock sap
Foraging for food is extremely seasonal, allowing you find a huge variety of foods throughout the year. Successful foraging is also reliant on the ability to follow the food. Summer is a great time to forage on the coast for a huge range of edible seaweeds rich in iodine. Autumn is the perfect time to stock up on mushrooms (reliant on knowing what to pick of course!) and nuts for your winter larder.
We hope to return to Abbey Wood in autumn to see what seasonal changes have done to the wild food available.
The smell of wild garlic gave it away as to what Emily was eating.
Now that we have caught the foraging bug we hope to continue this on our own patch. Learning your area and watching how it changes over the year is a great way to start and we would like to bring together people from around the University who either already know something about foraging and would like to share this knowledge, or people who are interested in learning more.
Foraging is a great way to get outside, enjoy the seasons and connect back with an aspect of nature that was so important in our human history. Foraging can help us connect to history, what we put on our plates, health and or course can be a social event too.
Delving into the hogsweed looking for delicious buds.
Thanks to Monica from Napiers who provided a very interesting and fun day out, and the Caravan Club for having us rummage around the bushes of your site in Abbey Wood. We would like to send special thanks to Barracuda Digital for arranging and running the day and encouraging us to meet other London bloggers!
So if you are interested in foraging at the University or would like to know more about our visit please get in touch at sustainability@gre.ac.uk
Greetings to you all, my name is Charity Imagor a 3rd year undergraduate Public Health student at the University of Greenwich. It is indeed a great pleasure to be a part of the University of Greenwich Sustainability Team.
Pursuing a Public Health course at the University of Greenwich has greatly enhanced and extended my knowledge in acquiring skills on how to promote health through the environment, for example, encouraging walking and cycling is a good way of increasing physical activities. Regular physical activities reduce incidences of coronary heart diseases, stroke and chances of being obese. Therefore, creating active, safe and accessible greens spaces such as parks and community gardens will encourage individuals to participate more in physical activities and gaining knowledge in growing their own fruit and vegetables hence promoting a healthy lifestyle.
In my second year one of the modules that I undertook was environmental health and Housing. The information and knowledge I acquired during these lectures raised my awareness that there are certain circumstances that impact greatly on our health if our environment is not cared for appropriately. For example human behaviour that causes air pollution such pollution from cars and highly industrialised areas, is a leading environmental threat to human health. Particles in the air such as dust, dirt, soot, and smoke are one kind of air pollution that is known to cause health problems. People exposed to fine particles over a long period of time have more heart and lung problems such as Asthma than people who are not breathing this kind of air pollution.
The environment is one of the determinants of health and closely links to Public Health. For example the Physical environment which includes safe water and clean air, healthy workplaces, safe houses, communities and roads all contribute to good health among individuals and communities at large.
I hope through being on placement with the sustainability team, I will gain more Public Health knowledge and skills required to promote environmental issues and personal health including for those around me. I will also be able to share my knowledge and skills in combating the determinants of health with other Health Students on placement and with the Sustainability Team
I am so enthusiastic and cannot wait to meet with the sustainability team, to learn more from others about the environment in particular its benefits to the community. including how it could be conserved and preserved for the future generations.
Nnenna Nzeh
Hi, I’m Nnenna and I am currently writing my final year project in Public Health. I complement my studies with being one of the Green Impact Assistants and I’m also doing my work experience with the sustainability department. Great! Work experience is one of the requirements needed for the award of the degree that I have undertaken and to help prepare me for the roles ahead. I’ve been allocated to work with the Grey building team. I have undertaken an induction course with an amazing staff of the Green impact Team at the Grey building and this is in relation with the objectives that I have agreed with my tutor and sustainability. The objectives in a nutshell include; examine the interrelationship between behaviour change and health as part of a green impact process; to identify different areas that form part of Green Impact and to highlight other areas of personal improvement.
It’s been great working with Emily and Alex and I’m looking forward to working with the team at the Grey building and to upgrade my experience. The placement will give me a window of opportunity to see different aspects of sustainability and to apply these aspects in public health practice and more over to meet people from other fields of work.
Esther Oyeniran
Hello, my name is Esther I am currently in my final year studying Public Health at the University of Greenwich. I love listening to classical music and also play the Viola. I also love travelling and exploring new places. My studies at University of Greenwich has been very exciting so far and has widened my knowledge about public health issues both locally and globally
It is a great privilege to be part of the sustainability team working towards protecting the environment from pollution and the effects of climate change. Necessary to achieving this goal is a clear understanding of how the integrated social, economic and environmental aspects of our world affect sustainability. These aspects represent a related set of concepts that when considered together form a solid basis from which major decisions and actions can be made with regards to public health. The issue of sustainability is extremely important because of its immense impact on the present and in particular the future world. The choices we pursue and all the actions that we make today will affect how we live in the future. We need to make sound decisions at present in order to avoid limiting the choices of generations to come.
As an undergraduate undertaking a work placement with the sustainability team I hope to acquire the necessary skills that will help me in my future job role as a Public Health Practitioner.
Elizabeth Conteh
My name is Elizabeth Conteh. I will be doing my forty hours work experience with Sustainability team. I am a final year student at the University of Greenwich and I study Public Health in the School of Health and Social Care.
I love music and going to church with friends and family. I have no previous experience in sustainability, therefore doing this work experience with the sustainability team means so much because I want to learn more about growing food.
Additionally, I wish to work as health promoter in my future career to promote and increase awareness of the benefits of healthy eating, so for this placement I would also like to gain skills and knowledge in relation to organic gardening and healthy eating that can help me increase my knowledge of healthy eating.
Ruth M’bayo
Hi my name is Ruth, a final year public health student at the University of Greenwich. I’m so excited to join the sustainability team this February and March as part one of my courses. My objectives for this placement are:
To be able to identify the significance of the natural environment to public health and wellbeing. In other to achieve this objective, whilst doing my research on different edible gardens, I will try and explore some of the benefit and importance of the edible garden. This will include identifying how the edible garden promote mental wellbeing, social inclusion, healthy eating and life style and also community development.
To be able to explore the application of environmental policies to public health practice, in particular community gardening. The policies that will be observed during this placement with the sustainability team, whiles researching on the edible gardens will be, the sustainable development food and environmental policies. However I will be exploring the link between the policies and the localism agenda and how it relate to public health practices. Also I will be able to explore how they are similar and what goals they are all aiming to achieve.
To be able to demonstrate my public health knowledge and skills and highlight any areas for further personal improvement. In other to achieve this objective I will use the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the three years of my course to do research and bring back ideas to the team. Also whilst on this placement I will highlight any area I need to improve on, and develop this as it will be beneficial for future job roles.
I hope this experience will help broaden my knowledge in the sustainability field, by making me understand what sustainable development is all about. Also to understand what link it has to public health. Furthermore I hope this experience will lead to exciting opportunities in the future, and also enable me put my public health knowledge in to practices in terms of what will be required of me in my future job role. I look forward to meet and be a part of the team.
If you would like anymore information about work experience or internship opportunities within the team, please get in contact: sustainability@gre.ac.uk
I am Daniela Gangan and I will be joining the Sustainability team as a Fairtrade intern.
I am a first year student at the University of Greenwich, currently studying Business with Law. I moved from Romania to the UK for a change of environment, educational system and way of thinking. I like challenges and getting involved in a variety of projects in order to gain experience. Sometimes I volunteer and I like getting to know new people from different backgrounds. I am passionate about sport, music and photography.
I consider this internship to be a great opportunity to get involved with sustainability at Greenwich and to learn more about ethical business and the importance of supporting local producers. Furthermore, I am excited about the chance of studying sustainability in more detail, a growing movement in the UK. In addition to the knowledge gained from my course, my Fairtrade internship will allow me to understand better the consumer insight of ethical brands and give me experience of event organization for Fairtrade Fortnight. Studying Business with Law, I would like to develop professional skills that can help me in my future career. Similarly, ethical and positive businesses are essential to sustainability. I believe that getting more people involved in sustainability will improve the chances of moving to a sustainable society.
What is Fairtrade?
Fairtrade is about better wages, decent working conditions, local sustainability and fair terms of trade for producers in developing countries. It has a strong vision of justice and sustainable development in all trade structures and practices.
The Fairtrade Foundation is a charitable organization that has expanded to Europe, Japan, North America, and Mexico, with the launch of the first Fairtrade label Max Havelaar in 1988. The Fairtrade major principles are to cope with poverty and injustice through trade, and to bring together producers and consumers in a vision to move to a more sustainable society. Therefore, for certain products (such as coffee, cocoa, cotton and rice) Fairtrade only certifies small farmer organisations. Fairtrade standards protect workers’ rights according to International Labour Organization conventions, including health and safety standards, freedom of association, collective bargaining, no discrimination and no bonded or illegal child labour. Since Fairtrade’s beginnings in the 1980s and the launch of the current Fairtrade Mark in 2002, Fairtrade has become the most widely recognized ethical label in the world and is a growing brand in the UK. It is a chance to start protecting natural resources, to produce goods with care and to convince customers that Fairtrade products are better in the longer-term. However, it needs a lot of dedication and involvement to find and to create best deals for farmers and to gain the trust of people who would invest in a brighter future, thus the Fairtrade Foundation work hard in order to do this.
Fairtrade is about trust and transparency. It is a social initiative that has opportunities for students to get involved in a wide range of projects, such as Fairtrade Fortnight. I am very concerned about the ethical and the social responsibility in business.
Therefore, Fairtrade is a great method to promote awareness and create an alliance of ethically thinking people who will help build community.
Fairtrade Fortnight!
Fairtrade Fortnight (24 February – 9 March 2014) marks the launch of a special campaign that aims to transform the banana industry. It is a campaign initiating the movement Make Food Fair.
To support the Fairtrade Fortnight everyone can pre-order event packs, stickers, T-shirts, ethically sourced bananas suits and inflatable bananas. Moreover, there is free access to recipes, quizzes, presentations and a media toolkit.
The University will be participating in Fairtrade Fortnight, and if you would like to get involved please email sustainability@gre.ac.uk!