Ever wondered what to do with stale bread, a carrot or two, left-over apples, orange peel and a few nuts at the end of a packet? If so, the Transition Town Wellington sustainable food group may have the answer.
‘Waste Not; Want Not’ at the Methodist Church, Waterloo Road on Saturday 30 January from 1.30 to 4.40pm is an invitation for anyone concerned about food waste to take along vegetables and fruit leftovers (not meat or fish) and learn how simple ingredients can be turned into tasty dishes, both sweet and savoury.
The demonstration is free and suitable for the whole family. All materials are provided and all the dishes made can be sampled.
The ‘Waste Not; Want Not’ event is to encourage participants to make the most of what they have, helping them save money and reduce waste. Members will be demonstrating dishes such as savoury bread pudding, apple charlotte and nut loaf using stale bread, orange peel marmalade and making cider vinegar with apple peelings.
This is just the latest in the sustainable food group’s programme of free workshops aimed at reskilling the local community. These have already included bread making, soup and chutney workshops and a well-attended ‘Make Your Own Christmas’ in December.
On Sunday February 14th the Transition Town Wellington group is running its annual seed swap at The Dolphin in Waterloo Road and, for vegetable gardeners, Helen Gillingham is running a series of free talks about growing organic vegetables at specific times during the year:
24th Feb: Preparation for the year, planning space, the rotation method, no dig method
23rd March: Details about growing each vegetable, how to prevent pests and diseases,
6th July: Continuation of harvest and new veg to sow for winter harvest
7th September: Harvesting and storage techniques, plus lots of recipes & preparing the soil for winter.
The local Transition Town group is part of the worldwideTransition Network and is active in areas such as food cooperatives, promoting gardening, vegetable growing in schools, energy conservation at home and local energy generation from the sun.
The transition movement began in Totnes in Devon in 2006, co-founded by Rob Hopkins and Naresh Giangrande. Since then communities all around the world have started running local projects in response to the joint threats of climate change and dwindling supplies of energy as well as a recognition that unlimited economic growth cannot continue in the face of the earth’s finite resources.