Foodival

What a fantastic weekend at Foodival with a great range of Tooting food cooked up by local restaurants and local cooks. Music and comedy added to the mix.  Thanks to everyone who helped out, set up, cleared up performed or ate.  More of a report soon but here are a few photos for starters.

We grew all this!

Thanks to all the fabulous donors at Foodival earlier today! Can you recognise anyone below? Come and try local food cooked up by a wide variety of Tootingites on Sunday at Tooting Market as Foodival continues.

Here's an eyewitness report of today's action:

Saturday night and it’s ‘half time’ in the weekend Tooting Foodival.

In the first half:

• We’ve had a brilliant day of walk-in fruit and vegetable donations today: thanks so much to everyone. These ranged from the traditional to the unexpected – all fabulous. From cabbages, kale, carrots and mighty marrows...to Tooting-grown south Asian curry leaves, outdoor dessert grapes from Balham and Pink Fir Apple potatoes grown by Gatton School.
• And much more….some grown in allotments; some in backyards; some in pots on a fifth floor balcony above Clapham South.
• We enjoyed cooking and food preparation demonstrations: squash soup, and later penne pasta with beetroot from Volker; freshly-cooked dosas by Mango Palace; mackerel filleted before our eyes by Rick from Rick’s Restaurant and prepared raw or lightly cooked. All tasting fresh and delicious, and the recipes will be online soon.      
• Visitors talked about healthy eating and diet with Morgan and her colleagues, did some drawing with Jeni, played our Community Garden Seed Game, signed up for the TTT email list – and chatted with each other about all their impressions of the day.  
• Thanks to all today’s volunteers who helped create such a good atmosphere – and as ever to Mushkil Aasaan for supporting us by providing the premises.

Tonight and tomorrow morning it’s time for team talks and strategy.

• The local restaurant chefs and home cooks involved are preparing their dishes – many of them using ingredients collected today.
• The distinguished judges in the ‘Top Tooting Cook’ informal competition are studying the criteria for tomorrow’s analysis and taste-off.

All welcome tomorrow for the action-packed second half.

• We move to the Sunday venue Tooting Market, starting from 12:00. Top Tooting Cook judging is between 1:00 and 1:30 (with the results announced at 3:00). Visitors can sample local produce prepared by all the participating restaurants: all the details in the blog post below.
• There’ll be plenty of varied dishes, plus music and comedy, until the referee’s whistle closes the 6^th Tooting Foodival at 4:00.

6th Tooting Foodival, this weekend 28th and 29th September. All welcome!

Transition Town Tooting present this year’s two-day Tooting Foodival which promises to be even bigger and better than the previous 5.

Foodival is a celebration of local growing and cooking

- with a sustainable slant. 

This year we've made a comprehensive booklet which describes all the whys and whats of the Foodival - plus giving more background on the many partners. It's a proud record of community activity in Tooting.

Click here to read or download a copy of the Foodival booklet

In summary, the Tooting Foodival is a free event for all the family which

runs over two days:

- on Saturday 28th Sept from 11:00-4:00 at Mushkil Aasaan, 222 Upper Tooting Road, SW 17 7EW

- on Sunday 29th Sept from 12:00-4:00 in Tooting Market, 21-23 Tooting High Street SW17 0SN

(click here for a copy of the poster)

Cooking demonstrations on the Saturday at Mushkil Aasaan by: Mango Palace, Rick's Restaurant, Volker Nissen, and guidance on healthy eating from Morgan Serres

Local restaurants who are cooking for the Sunday feast in Tooting Market, using the local produce collected on Saturday, include: Al Mirage, Lahore Karahi, Mis Bar Mleczny, Naked Loaf, Pooja, Rick's Restaurant, Spice Village

Also on Sunday in the market there'll be music and comedy from: Jonathan Buckley, Vincent Burke, The Bara Bara Band, Sam Quinn. Plus local stands and more activities...many thanks to all!

Top Tooting Cook

There is still time to enter this fun and informal  competition.  

See the video clip on the right of this blog and please call Mal on 07980 611704 if you are interested to take part or find out more and see the current contenders here.

Would you like to see the 'competition rules'? Please click here. Entrants to the cooks' competition will take away fruit and veg on Saturday to cook overnight for Sunday’s event at Tooting Market from noon to 4pm, vying to be crowned Top Tooting Cook. 

Why do we run the Foodival? This will whet your appetite: 

Foodival has always relied on donations of fruit and vegetables from local growers, and on support from local enterprises and home cooks who help create the Sunday feast.

Even in the busy city environs of Tooting, many people are growing fruit and vegetables in their back gardens or allotments, in pots or on windowsills. Foodival aims to show that locally grown food is good for you and can be as tasty as food imported from elsewhere, while of course having a much smaller carbon footprint. 

We will showcase dishes with close to zero food miles.

And there will be more to get involved with on both days from local enterprises, community groups and artists.

We'd like to say a big thank you to Wandsworth Borough Council for event support through the WBC Eco Fund.

Come along and enjoy the fun,

and we look forward to seeing you there!

Plenty in the Edible Garden

Plenty in the Edible Garden at the weekend including this rather sorry looking but unperturbed fox cub!  That garlic should be good for those striving to be crowned "Top Tooting Cook" at Foodival.  Still plenty of time to enter, though judges have already ruled that "Renard du jardin communautaire au gratin" will not be a permitted dish ...

TTT's latest email update Sept 19th: local food and growing with Edible Gardens and the Foodival

The latest update is all about food and growing local - because we have the Edible Gardens Open Day on Sat 21st, and then the Foodival on Sept 28th & 29th. All welcome to both!

In case you don't receive our updates by email - you can read a copy by clicking here. Do mail us at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com if you would like to be on the distribution list.

Foodival 2013

Transition Town Tooting present our 6^th Foodival on the 28^th and 29^th September 2013, and this year’s two day event promises to be even bigger and better than the previous 5! 

Foodival is a celebration of local growing and cooking with a sustainable slant.  Even in the busy city environs of Tooting, many people are growing vegetables and fruits in their back gardens, allotments, in pots or on windowsills.  Foodival aims to show that locally grown food can be just as tasty and good for you as food imported from elsewhere, while of course having a much smaller carbon footprint.  We will showcase dishes with close to zero food miles. 

Competing Cooks

Foodival has always relied on donations of fruit and vegetables from local growers and this year is no different.  On Saturday 28^th Sept., at Mushkil Aasaan in Upper Tooting Road, volunteers will be accepting donations of any tasty Tooting fruit and veg from local people.  Local chefs and home cooks will then use all this lovely produce to create fabulous Tooting dishes while there will also be several professional cooking demonstrations using the donated food. 

Entrants to the cook’s competition (want to join the cook's here?) will take away fruit and veg to cook overnight for Sunday’s event at Tooting Market, vying to be crowned Top Tooting Cook. Local restaurants have also accepted the challenge to do likewise meaning that Sunday’s event will have a wide variety of Tooting food cooked up by Tooting people. All that’s needed is some Tooting Eaters to sample and enjoy the bounty! Sunday in the market will have live music, comedy, local stalls, games with prizes, the cook’s competition and a wide variety of food to sample.  

Foodival is a free event for all the family.  Come along and enjoy the fun, 

Meanwhile final plans will be discussed at a meeting at the Wheatsheaf tomorrow night (Tues 17th at 7pm).  To get involved in any way, please come along or contact Dave Mauger on foodivalttt@gmail.com.  

Edible Open Gardens Day in Community Garden, Saturday 21st Sept

'Edible Open Gardens Day' celebrates local gardening and food, and is taking place across dozens of London gardens.
Click here for Sustain's blog about the event.

We're pleased to be taking part, and the Tooting Community Garden will be open for an extra day from 11:00 until 3:00 on Saturday 21st September.
Please come and visit if you have not been before, or if you have been many times....
ALL WELCOME - and it's free.

Click here to read a copy of the flyer, which includes some of the plant prints that the Challenge volunteers made recently in the garden.

We'll be gardening, harvesting and sharing knowledge on local growing and cooking. There'll be plenty to do for adults, children and families.




Bring a picnic - that will make the sun come out!
And we'll be preparing for the 6th Tooting Foodival - details here - on the following weekend (28 & 29 Sept) - do come and give us a hand.

Have a look at recent activity in the garden on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tooting-Community-Garden/216577221715360

For any more information, email: transitiontowntooting@gmail.com
See you there!

Young people volunteering at the Tooting Community Garden, Sunday 8th Sept

Thanks a lot to the young people who came along to the garden for four and a half hours, in rain and sun (they are taking part in a Challenge Network programme).
What did we do?
The young people selected from a set of helpful jobs in the garden:

> They ground our bread wheat into flour
They used creative ways to thresh the wheat (to separate the seeds from the heads); and to winnow it (getting rid of the chaff mixed in with the wheat kernels). Then they milled it into flour. (Come to the Tooting Foodival and you can try Tooting Sourdough bread made with this flour by Furzedown's Naked Loaf)

Or: gently treading on the heads

Bashing the seed heads against the wall



Milling the wheat into flour



Blowing the chaff away

> They saved home-grown sunflower seeds to sow next year

> They picked a lot of brambles for the Tooting Foodival

> They cleared up rubbish out in the entrance to the Garden

> They prepared a plot and then sowed 'green manure' seed

> They made a series of plant prints for us to use as posters:

 

Pleased with a full-size print of a sweet corn plant

 

The day - like any day in the Community Garden - was not only about doing tasks. We looked at what's growing, tried radishes and rocket, chatted together, sheltered under the holm oak for lunch, experienced of being outdoors all day. And the group prepared a bit more for the one-day project they have designed, which takes place on 21st September on Tooting Common - more info to come on their Facebook page here.

 

Many thanks to the other garden volunteers and families who came along yesterday, and to Adrian for the loan of the flour mill.

It was a really good day!

 

PS: in a fortnight, on Saturday 21st Sept from 11:00-3:00, the Community Garden will be open as part of the London-wide Edible Gardens Open Day. More info to come.



TTT round-up, end of August '13

TTT's latest email round-up of news and plans has just been sent out to our subscriber list. You can read a copy by clicking here Or, email us here to join the distribution list.
Contents include:
News on TTT activities coming up:

• The 6th Tooting Foodival: planning meeting 3rd September
• 'The Story of Growing in Tooting' Art project for the Foodival, 4th September
• Mariza Figy's research project
• Tooting Community Garden 'Edible Gardens Open Day', 21st September
• TTT 'Carbon Conversations', tbc October and November

News from local and partner organisations:

• ‘Asian Elders Support Scheme’ Open Day Saturday 31^st August
• ‘My Back Pages’ bookshop closure – last day Saturday 7^th September
• Friends of Streatham Cemetery Open Day Sunday 15th September
• ‘Grow Active’ Seasonal Food Growing Workshops from 18^th September

Local food and gardening are on our minds as we prepare for the 6th annual Tooting Foodival in four weeks' time. We visited Chelsea Physic Garden this week - which is looking wonderful. Do get there if you can in this good weather, and see if you can spot this clever planting of bread wheat (wish I'd thought of it!):

Save The Wheatsheaf from Tesco

News this week that the Wheatsheaf, a long standing Tooting Bec pub, right opposite the tube may be closed down and turned into a Tesco supermarket has stirred up some  determined action from local Tootingites!  Like others, TTT are keen to be part of campaigning to ensure that this iconic Tooting landmark does not become part of yet another multinational chain that will invariably suck money out of our local economy.  Not least because there are two other Tescos providing that opportunity within a few hundred yards in either direction!

Jon Irwin has started a campaign on 38 degrees HERE which has garnered more than 8,000 signatures as I write.  Please sign if you haven't already.  At our meeting on Tuesday evening the group was keen to support looking into how we can make the Wheatsheaf a community pub, maybe with local people buying shares, along the lines of other similar ventures in London. 

On Tuesday evening next week, there will be a meeting at the Wheatsheaf to discuss the pub's future at 7.30 p.m.  TTT and many other interested parties will be in attendance.  Please come along and add your voice to the campaign to Save The Wheatsheaf!  DT

Managing our water use so the Garden flourishes

This Sunday July 21st, from 1130-1200, come along to help us plan our water use in the Community Garden.
Maybe this weather will continue, or maybe not: in any case there are some practical short term and long term choices to be made linked with water use. What is doing well and what is not? Can we construct some water catchment and storage - or just install a tap? What different plants could we grow? How will we look after them?

For interest:

• In June there was only a quarter of the normal rainfall locally
• It has not rained in the garden for 15 days - in July there has been just one mm of rain (July's average is 40 mm for the month)
• sweet corn needs 20 litres of water per square metre 2x a week
• our runner beans need half that

Do come along - and /or join in with 'normal' gardening between 11 & 1.
The forecast...is for cloud!
We're at 5 North Drive, south of Tooting Common, and the entrance is in the fence to the left of the large brick house. All welcome!

In the heat at the Community Garden yesterday

It's been dry - and now very hot - and both have had an impact in the garden - some plants have speeded up and gone quickly to seed, some have slowed down...
There was lots to explore and to harvest: we cleared the broad beans and the garlic; we chatted; we looked at insect predators and prey; we tended the potatoes and sweet corn; we made plans for the Tooting wheat with Juan and Anta from Naked Loaf in Furzedown (come to the Tooting Foodival 28 & 29 September and see we what we do together!).
I'll let the photos tell the story of the day:


Sorting broad beans

Raspberries

Larva of seven-spot ladybird hunting down aphids

Garlic can dry all week

Looking at insects

Wheat is getting tall



'The bread is going to be great!'



All welcome to join in at the Garden: every Sunday

from 11am to 1pm at 5 North Drive behind the large brick house.

Or email us for info at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com



No need for a bag to carry beans

Stories Told in the Garden

Yesterday's Story Telling at the Community Garden with Emily Duizend (Story Island) was a really successful event, raising £240 for Macmillan Cancer Support.  The garden bedecked in bunting provided a tranquil setting for a crowd spanning the ages to relax, eat cakes and enjoy music from guitar and sitar, and stories from Emily and Vanessa.

Many of those visiting were new to the garden, so there were many questions about the space and how it is used.

We look forward to more chances to stage events in the garden.  Local youngsters' learning opportunities continue in this special green space with the Gatton School visits on Tuesdays while the regular Sunday gardening sessions continue between 11 and 1.  Mail TTT if you would like to find out more.  Everyone is welcome to get involved.

Thanks to Emily for organising this event.

Community Garden vegetable patch today

 






Do come and have a closer look on Sunday 30th June for Emily's outdoor storytelling and music session from 2:30-4:15 (see post below).
There's a good forecast!
You'll also see there is more to enjoy here....come along from 11:00 to 1:00 on the 30th if you would like to join in with the gardening.
All welcome!

Storytelling and music in the Community Garden Sunday 30th June - and more

During the afternoon of Sunday 30th June, lay down your trowels and spades and come to the Tooting Community Garden for a couple of hours of outdoor storytelling, music and cakes with Emily Duizend and friends. (Emily also took part in the Garden Open Day on June 9th).  All welcome, and we'll be collecting for Macmillan Cancer Support.  We'll start at 2:30 and finish by 4:15 - all the details are in the Events Calendar to the right on this blog.

Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility, 26th June
In a totally different setting, compared to the Garden, TTT is taking part in a workshop in Camden about Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility on 26th June from 12:30-4:00. 
The event is aimed at people involved with current policy and practice linking jobs, organisations, training and sustainability - and it's free and open to all. For details, please click here.

For us at TTT, this topic relates to our projects with the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone and South Thames College. 
Click here to have a look at our recent student-led video: 'Better Choices for a Better Tomorrow'. 


A special prize for anyone who comes to both days!

Community Garden Open Day, Sun June 9th

The TTT Community Garden was open to the public as part of the Open Garden Squares weekend last Sunday.  Regular garden volunteer, Jenny Teasdale, reports.


It was a time of excitement and reflection when we opened the garden to celebrate our second birthday, linking up with Open Garden Squares weekend and the Chelsea Fringe.  All the volunteers had been busy bees preparing for the big day and what a big day it turned out to be with nearly 100 visitors, young and old, enjoying the garden with us. People came out of curiosity and community, exploring the range of spaces we have created over the last two years, including the vegetable beds tended by volunteers and local school children, the new herb garden, the secret garden, the willow house and the play area. It was great to see young children taking such delight in throwing themselves into the tall grass, before settling down to hear a story from Emily in the secret garden or printing plants with Chuck under the holm oak.

I know I speak for all our volunteers when I say that we came out of the day with a strong feeling of community and a desire to open up the garden more often for special events. We are already planning another story session, a composting workshop and some harvest days, and will be creating a new wildlife and wild flower space in the coming months.

Everyone is welcome to come along to the garden on any Sunday this summer between 11 and 1 whether you are interested in getting involved or just curious to see this fantastic space.

Furzedown Low Carbon Zone 'AGM' at Furzedown Festival Big Day Out

On Saturday 15th June from 1200 - 400 the FLCZ will be celebrating its second birthday  at the Furzedown Festival's Big Day Out. This is located at Furzedown Recreation Ground, Ramsdale Road, Tooting SW17 9BP. 

Do stop by our stand and take part in our pop-up AGM: which simply means come along and discuss about what we've been doing, what we want to do, and how you can become involved as an individual, a family, and a local enterprise.  We'll have copies of our mini Annual Report available, plus some low-carbon games and energy-saving tips, and we'll let you know about joining in at the Community Garden.

Click here to read or download the 2013 FLCZ Report.  We can chat about our most recent project coordinated with South Thames College: 'Better Choices for a Better Future'. See the video online by clicking here. College students gained practical experience of sustainability in the community - exploring projects at Eardley School and Wink Salon. One student reached the shortlist for The Mayor of London Low Carbon Prize.  

We hope to see you; and if you would like to get in contact with the FLCZ project, please email Graham at GPetersen@UCU.ORG.UK

Tooting Community Garden Open Day: 10:00 - 5:00 Sunday 9th June

We’re a surprising community vegetable garden within a hidden-away space that we share with exuberant native trees and plants, just off Tooting Common at 5 North Drive, SW16 1RN. Look out for the signs.

It's our second birthday this weekend, and do come and visit our Open Day on Sunday, being held in conjunction with two great London-wide initiatives: Open Garden Squares, and the Chelsea Fringe.   

At the start in 2011

• Come along and relax in our secret garden-within-a-garden
• Do some gardening if you like
• Chat about your ideas for the space
• Explore what Gatton School children have been doing as part of their outdoor learning programme (more info here)

Bread wheat, autumn 2012

There are two timed events within the day:

12:00-14:00. We’re offering the historic and fascinating art of printing from plants. You’ll like this if you are interested in looking at plants in a new way, experimenting with textures, shapes and patterns, playing with rollers and ink, and making beautiful images to take away. Suitable for all ages, and all materials provided (and there's plenty of leaves here for printing).

15:00. Join Emily Duizend from Story Island for Bring me sunshine! Tales of the Sun from around the world 'I plan to tell a Japanese and a Maori myth about the sun, maybe peppered with some sunny songs on the ukulele and a bit of harmonica'. Outdoor storytelling for all ages. www.storyisland.net



Spring 2013

All welcome

admission is by voluntary donation, and under-12s are free

Magical Day of Stories with Tooting Library May 11th

The 2nd Day of Stories with Tooting Library was a surprising and experimental day. In the morning and afternoon we were transported from the centre of Tooting to join five storytellers' worlds of wonder - crossing boundaries of geography and time from Norfolk to the Great Plains, with sound effects from the beautiful (the harmonica) to the funny (blowing custard through straws).

In the middle of the day we offered two and a half hours of printing from plants (it was difficult to stop), using leaves gathered that morning in Tooting.  Have a look at the slide show below, to see concentration and the work of many hands in action!
We rolled out ink, selected leaves and coloured paper, folded it all up and rubbed with our hands to transfer the image, feeling the different leaves through the paper.  Some continued with another colour or a different leaf, producing detailed and dramatic results.

Many thanks to all who came and took part, and to our colleagues from the Library

We'll be offering plant printing, and storytelling with Alison Royce, in Tooting on Sunday 9th June, at the 'Tooting Community Growing' open day at the Community Garden at 5 North Drive. For more information click here, and all ages very welcome.

TTT turns 5

Keen community gardener and TTT "newbie", Sel, provides her take on the AGM and 5th birthday party, a couple of weeks ago.  

Transition Town Tooting turned five on Monday April 29th and was celebrated in the Graveney and Meadow pub by various activists, organisers and volunteers. The seeds of this flourishing movement were planted in 2008 at Lucy's dinner table and today it has not only branched out into several projects, but has a respectable rapport with the Council, local businesses, schools and of course the people who live in the community who have benefited from what we have hosted.

I am one of the newer volunteers and this was my first AGM and I have to say was a friendly affair and for anybody who is interested in getting involved in Transition Town Tooting, it was accessible and welcoming. I volunteer with the community garden and like some of the other volunteers, wanted to do so to meet other people, learn about how to grow food and to reclaim a connection with nature, which I felt I had lost since coming from the countryside to London. I have really enjoyed getting "green fingered" and would recommend coming along to anybody,whatever your age and experience. Or if gardening isn't for you, there were other projects showcased on the night covering a wide array of green ideas.