Have a look at our Harvest and Events Page to find out about Early Spring workshops and events being organised by Abundance, including fruit tree grafting workshops in February and March.
January 21, 2013
A Fruitful December….
While most people were busy hitting the High Streets in search of a last minute Xmas bargain for Uncle Bob and Aunt Fanny during December, we at Abundance were more concerned with future gifts for the city’s residents. In the first 3 weeks of December volunteers and locals planted around 80 fruit and nut trees on 10 different community-led sites across Sheffield as part of the Mini Orchards Project.
Orchards of up to 15 trees (including apples, pears, mulberries, hazels, cherries, gages and even medlars!) were planted on sites in Hackenthorpe, Firth Park, Shiregreen, Broomhall, Handsworth, Lowedges and High Green. If you are interested to know where the trees were planted in your area please get in touch!
The Mini Orchards Project, funded by the charity Trees for Cities, will run until April and will also entail the planting of orchards in 6 schools and workshops around orchard maintenance. If you are interested in volunteering for the project please email Daniele at abundance@growsheffield.com or drop us a message.
Here are some choice photos from December’s tree plantings:
November 26, 2012
The MINI ORCHARDS project
Volunteer with the
abundance mini orchards project
The Mini Orchards Project is a collaboration between Abundance and the tree-planting charity Trees for Cities (you can see what Trees for Cities do here.) Trees for Cities have funded Abundance to plant trees this Winter as part of their national Trees for Food project.
The Mini Orchard Project intends to work with community groups, schools, TARA’s and housing associations in order to plant over 200 fruit and nut trees across Sheffield between November and April.
where and when?
Monday 3rd december, 10am: First Start Nursery and Firth Park community allotment
Wednesday 5th december, 10am: Handsworth Old Rectory Hall
Friday 7th december, 9am: herb, Filey Lane, Broomhall
sunday 9th december, 12pm: Rainbow Park, Hackenthorpe
monday 10th december, 10am: Greenhill/Bradway TARA
tuesday 11th december, 1pm: School for Veg, Grimesthorpe
wednesday 12th december, 12pm: Mortomley Park, High Green
saturday 15th december, 10am: Marigold Estate, Firth Park
monday 17th december, 9am: One4All Community hub, Gleadless
thursday 20th december, 12pm, Park View care home and Neighbourhood Centre, Shiregreen
friday 21st december, 10am: Com.Unity centre, Westfield
How can you help?
We’re still looking for volunteers for the following aspects of the project:
- help with transportation -we need help from people with a car or van to transport things like tools, compost, stakes and volunteers to some sites.
- help with tree deliveries/organisation - we need volunteers to help plan logistics for fruit tree distribution and delivery in order to be prepared for planting.
- help with planting – we need lots of volunteers to help planting wonderful fruit trees on all 11 of the sites above.
- help with mapping – with your help we’d like to develop a map or maps of the sites and the trees we plant.
- help with fruit tree advice – we’re still very much learning and would appreciate help in the form of advice regarding trained fruit tree styles and formative pruning.
November 7, 2012
The Abundance end of season Weekender
Calling all Abundancers!
It’s that time of year again when the trees are hanging on to the last vestiges of their Autumn glory, apple numbers are dwindling and we’re preparing for hibernation into the cold winter. It has been an interesting season for Abundance with the effect the weather has had on crop quantity and quality but there have been lots of positives and what better way to mark the drawing to a close of the harvest season than with a celebratory weekend of fruit-filled events and activities!
Here are some of the things we’ll be doing:
Confirmed Events:
EEK WEEK fruit giveaway > Friday 16th November. 2-5pm. Sheffield University Students’ Union Concourse (map here).
We’ll be teaming up with Student EATS to merrily distribute apple-shaped goodness to one half of the city’s hungry student population. Come along to spread the fruity message. Fruit-themed fancy dress encouraged! Please let Daniele know if you’d like to come along.
SUSTAINED AFFAIRS @ DLS > Friday 16th November. 7:30pm – midnight.
Join us at 19:30 at the Sheffield University concourse to ride en masse to this uniquely exciting bike flavoured event. We’ll be supplying juice and fruit to make bike-powered smoothies and showcasing the bike power that propels Abundance’s fruit across the city. For more information you can check out the Facebook page here.
GROWING EXOTIC VEGETABLES WORKSHOP > Saturday 17th November. 1-4pm, St Mary’s Community Centre (map here).
Grow Sheffield and The Big Dig would like to invite you to an afternoon to learn about the exciting crops that can be grown in the UK with Garden Organics’ Anton Rosenfeld.
The event will include:
- What types of crops can be grown and how
- Seed saving of exotic crops
- How the produce can be used
Come along early and have a look around the Grow St Mary’s raised beds.
This event is free, but places are limited so please register your attendance at: www.gstraining.eventbrite.com or in reception at St. Mary’s.
Contact Ruth Hepworth at Grow Sheffield for more information Telephone 0114 2580784 or Email cg@growsheffield.com
HOME-GROWN Abundance Ceilidh > Sunday 18th November, 7:30 – 10:30pm. Broomhall Centre (map here). Entry £5adv/£6 on door/£3.50 conc.
Join us for dynamic dancing, magical music supplied by the Well Dressed band, fantastic food and delicious drink to celebrate this year’s fruit harvest. There’ll be a bar, hopefully with a fruity flavour, a raffle with great prizes, bring and share food and more.
Unconfirmed activities:
Fruit harvests: Look out for information about harvests in your area on Friday and Sunday.
Apple Pie making session.
Apple pressing/cider making.
Watch this space for more information soon…..
October 5, 2012
Arrivals Zone
Sheffield; now with added juicy bits! Officially one of the best things in the city!
If you were running a tourist kiosk showcasing the best bits of Sheffield, what would you put in it? Well if you’re of the same mind as the imaginative folk of at the Arrivals Zone, you’d include Abundance, of course! The Arrivals Zone was a dream tourist kiosk constructed outside the station by the Sheffield Publicity Department and the School of Architecture as part of the Festival of the Mind. And for one afternoon only, visitors and locals alike were invited to share in a celebration of the city’s fruit trees, and press some of the freshest apple juice in town!
October 3, 2012
Fruitful appreciation
Interested to know what we do with fruit donated to Abundance?!? Here are a couple of photographs of fruit being put to good use recently taken by our Millhouses coordinator and style guru Lucy Corkers:
Made by clients of the Canal Street Project
Being enjoyed by volunteers and guests of The Sunday Centre 30/09/12
And here’s a quote from Steve Clark, Chair of the Sunday Centre, where we’ve delivered fruit on harvest sundays for the past 3 years now:
“I just thought that I would contact you to say “thank you” for the fruit that was given to us yesterday – the locally grown grapes. We bagged these up to give to our Guests (our service users) to take away with them after the meal. Some Guests couldn’t wait and were trying them straight away – with very positive feedback.”
And a little bit about what they do:
The Sunday Centre is a voluntary project that works with homeless and other vulnerable people. Our aims are fairly simple:
- to provide a safe welcoming place for people who may, because of circumstances and lack of money may not be welcomed elsewhere
- to provide good tasty healthy food including a two course hot meal
We receive no official funding . Almost all the money we get via fund raising and donations is spent on food. We have no paid workers
September 28, 2012
Harvest & Events Schedule
So it turns out our events calendar hasn’t been working for a long time…whoops!! We’ll be updating it manually from now on so keep an eye on it to see what we’re getting up to throughout Sheffield and find out ways you can get involved!
September 12, 2012
Harvest Time!
There are some strange people in Sheffield: people who walk or cycle around in groups, carrying strange blue plastic sheets, plastic crates and long sticks with bags on the end. They stalk gardens, gennels, parks and alleyways, peek over walls and scrabble through the urban undergrowth in search of their elusive ruby red, orange-green, yellowy prisoners. Once they reach their final destination they set about their task, each with their own role; climbing, scouring, catching, picking, arranging. Sometimes they move elegantly and in time with the wind and others with an almighty tremble they swallow up their prey in crinkly blue plastic. However they do it, they always emerge jubilant and sated – until the next time that is.
If you want to join these people, you can now find details of weekly harvests across Sheffield uploaded to our harvests and events schedule page.
August 21, 2012
Events coming soon…
Abundance Making Day: Saturday 1st September, 10am-6pm (drop-in), 61 Carfield Avenue, Meersbrook S8 9HZ.
We’ll be doing things like making bunting/flags/signs out of material, customising the brand-new Abundance trike, making D.I.Y fruit pickers, making trailer brackets for bikes and anything else you think would be useful and/or beautiful.
There will be plenty of materials available to use but If you have a surplus of anything you think may be useful like bamboo canes/ paints etc then please bring them along with you.
There will be plenty of materials available to use but If you have a surplus of anything you think may be useful like bamboo canes/ paints etc then please bring them along with you.
Contact Daniele on 07535653842 if you’d like to come along.
Summers’ End Soiree 2: Sunday 2nd September, Doors 6pm, Recycle Bikes, Thirwell rd, Heeley.
We’re hoping to be doing an apple-pressing at the 2nd instalment of this unique event. Anyone remember the Shopping Bike Yard Racing World Championship Race last year?! read more »
