The 3 year Edible Essex project, managed by the Rural Community Council, has been working to increase the availability of locally produced food by increasing allotment numbers and establishing orchards as well as providing training, publications and competitions.
Whilst it will continue on a smaller scale Edible Essex has helped to create 68 new allotment plots and 10 community orchards. It has also provided support to 3 educational providers and initiated a public planting scheme. It has offered training and events to 901 individuals, produced 3 information booklets and run 2 highly successful competitions, entered by over 2,000 primary school children!
Upcoming Edible Essex events include:
Family Foraging Fun
This is a free event near Colchester on 3rd May, but booking is essential. Priority will go to those who have already expressed an interest in foraging sessions. To put your name on the list please email: [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”].
Wild Food Identification
This will be in the form of an exhibition at the Essex Schools & Farming Day at Writtle College on 5th June.
Publications
For those already converted to producing or harvesting local food, the following publications may be of interest (click on the images to download a copy in Adobe Acrobat).
More can be found at edibleessex.org.uk/publications/.