Transition Chesterfield

Apart from the ideas I talk about in another post (disposing of 2000 seed potatoes), there are a few other things the Food Group could be doing:

- a volunteer day at Mastin Moor community garden, sometime in the spring. I haven't been, but they're keen to have us, and apparently there's lots to do

- buying fruit trees and planting them in parks, with the help of the 'Friends of' groups. Queen's Park, Holmebrook Valley, Inkersall, Stand Road and Edinburgh Road all have Friends of groups (any others?). We could turn this into a demonstration, with an expert (the person we buy the trees from) giving a talk on what to look for when buying a tree, where and how to plant it, and how to take care of it. Then we could go back each year and do demonstrations on how to prune them. We could throw in elements of the Festival of Fruit idea, such as apple pressing, as well.

- I talked to a lady at Potato Day who has a small orchard in her garden, that's been a bit neglected. Many different kinds of fruit, both trees and soft fruit. Perhaps we could organise a work team to improve it for her, in exchange for some of the harvest and the learning experience? We'd need some one with professional experience to show us what needs doing and how to do it, and different things would need to be done at different times of the year.

Any other ideas, or comments on the above ideas?

-Bill