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Harvest update
What’s on
What to eat and grow now
Project support
Harvest update
Local Food Week: This year we are bringing a new element to the Brighton & Hove Food and Drink Festival. Running 20-26 September, Local Food Week will be dedicated to celebrating the fantastic range of food grown or produced in and around Brighton & Hove as well as the fantastic food projects in our city. We’ll be organising some great events (more info to follow) and we’d love for you to organise an event to form part of the week’s programme too. It could be a food swap, an open day at your growing project, a mini farmers market, a community meal – there are many possibilities! If you’d like to discuss your ideas, get in touch with the Harvest team on 01273 431700.
Grow It! – As a part of Local Food Week, together with the Brighton & Hove Food and Drink Festival we’ve just launched Grow It!, an exciting new growing competition for Brighton & Hove Businesses. Wherever you work, be it a restaurant, bar, cafe, or office building, you’re invited to enter. We think this will bring loads of colour and flavour to the streets of Brighton and spark even more interest in growing, and eating, local foods. Find out more about Grow It! and how to enter... And please do print off the forms and bring them to your favourite dining/drinking location or your workplace to encourage them to enter!
Volunteering position: Harvest is seeking a volunteer to help us promote our work at the many community events we attend. This would involve coming along to events with us, helping with activities such as planting, and speaking to people about Harvest. The role is flexible and no experience is necessary. If you would like to find out more please contact us on 01273 431700 and we will send you a description of the role.
Preston Park Demo Garden update: planting is well underway, with lettuces, strawberries, chives and rhubarb in the beds and containers. More to come soon! The pergola is also now up, offering a place to relax and enjoy the garden. Come down for visit or check out the demo garden blog for updates.
Harvest training:
Seasonal summer cooking: Interested in learning more about cooking with the seasons? Starting 10 June, our new hands-on 6 week course will teach you all about cooking with early summer produce. Find out more...
There are also still spaces on the following training courses in our Spring programme:
14 May: Growing in a Small Space
15 May: Growing on a New Plot
2 June: Container Gardening
A full description of the courses can be found on the Harvest website. Sign up now to guarantee your place! Summer and autumn courses will be announced soon.
What’s on: As ever, there are lots of great food-related events coming up...
A couple of things to do this bank holiday weekend:
- Fringe City: 1 May, 1-5pm, New Road Brighton. Lots of Fringe fun, with the Food Partnership running demonstrations on cooking with leftovers and reducing food waste.
- Transition Community Allotment workday and spring party: Saturday 1 May, workday noon – 4pm, party to follow. All welcome. Read more...
- Plant swap & seed saving in Blakers Park: Sunday 2 May, 10:30 - 2:00. All residents with seeds and plants (at any stage of their growth) are invited to come along for a morning of sharing knowledge and swapping with neighbours. More info...
And more food-related events later down the line:
- Question Time for Gardeners: 13 May, 7:30pm, The Old Market, Hove. Get your gardening questions and queries answered by a panel of horticultural experts. More info and how to book...
- Big Sussex Market: 15-16 May, New Road, Brighton. A two-day Sussex food extravaganza.
- Roedale Valley Allotment open day & plant sale: 22 May, 10:00 – 2:00, Lower Roedale Valley Allotments (off Lynchett Close, Hollingdean). Cakes, games, plants and more!
- Brighton Spring Food Fair: 22-23 May, Hove Lawns. Come plant a seedling in a recycled newspaper pot with the Harvest team; lots of local food too!
- Springwatch: 6 June, Stanmer Park. A day of fun for all ages, celebrating Spring and the importance of biodiversity. There will be information stalls, activities (Harvest will be making seed bombs for bees and some salad planting) and much more.
School Food training event – 13 May attach
The primary & special school catering contract is shortly coming up for renewal - the Food Partnership and the Brighton & Hove Parents’ Forum would like the views of parents included in specifying & evaluating the new contract. The specification part of the process is happening in the next 4-8 weeks.
We are co-organising free training on Thursday 13th May on conducting school gate surveys to find out parents’ views on school lunches and the new contract. The training is for parents, governors and friends of schools.
Fairlight Primary School is hosting the training and participants can help run a school gate survey at the end of the school day, using methods learned in the training.
If you (or people you know) have an interest in school food and the new contract, please do book to attend the training - and volunteer to run school gate surveys about the new contract in your local schools. The Participatory Appraisal tools and techniques learned can be applied to any issue. A leaflet including booking details is attached.
May growing & eating tips
In the kitchen...There’s still lots of tasty spring produce around, and as we approach May comes the promise of what we eagerly await all year…asparagus! There’s still time to enjoy purple sprouting broccoli and cauliflower, and there are lots of leafy greens around including gorgeous rainbow chard and spring cabbages. Check out our recipe index for some Spring recipe ideas.
In the garden...April was a frustrating month for many gardeners. The cold start followed by warm, dry weather created difficult sowing conditions. So this means there’s even more to sow in May now the weather is hopefully more reliable.
Some things to try sowing under cover in early May include sweet corn, pumpkins, french beans, courgettes and cucumbers. You can sow all these straight into the ground in late May when the soil warms up. Some veg to sow outdoors includes runner beans, peas, and spring onions.
There is still time to sow half hardy annuals such as nasturtiums, marigolds and nigella to attract wildlife and beautify your garden. Also try and get your main potatoes in the ground by the second week of May.
More May gardening tips…
Funding & project support
Harvest advice for community & school growing projects: Just a reminder that the deadline for applications for free expert gardening advice for your growing project is Friday 14 May. Find out more about the Harvest Mentoring programme and how to apply.
Enjoy the bank holiday weekend!
the Harvest team
To find out more and keep in touch with Harvest, you can find us at www.harvest-bh.org.uk or become a fan of Harvest on Facebook.
Harvest is a city-wide project, delivered by a wide range of partners and led by Brighton & Hove Food Partnership and Food Matters. The Food Partnership is a membership organisation, and membership is free to anyone who lives or works in Brighton & Hove. For benefits of membership and to join go to: www.bhfood.org.uk
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