It’s Harvest Time!
October’s theme for GROW is ‘Harvest’: Here we suggest some articles and videos we think will interest, entertain and inform. Enjoy!
‘Harvest’
1. The act or process of gathering a crop; 2. a. The crop that ripens or is gathered in a season 2.b. The amount or measure of the crop gathered in a season. 2.c. The time or season of such gathering. (Source)
Celebrating your harvest
Harvest time is celebrated the world over. This short film shows some harvest-inspired art, and illustrates many traditional harvest practices. Modern harvest celebrations range from the the wild Tomatina in Spain to the urban wine festival in Paris to small competitive vegetable shows in the UK. Look out for opportunities at your local church, allotment, town hall or community garden to celebrate what you’ve grown. Or just get you neighbours round to enjoy eating some of your produce.
Preserving your harvest
How about turning some of your fruit harvest into jam? Here’s a video guide for beginners, and here’s something for the more advanced, featuring over 100 types of jam including apple, carrot, elderberry, hawthorn, lavender, onion and green tomato.
Sandor Katz is the world’s leading expert on food fermentation. Visit his website to learn more about this ancient way of preserving and enhancing the goodness in food, or watch his video introduction to making sauerkraut.
Recording your harvest
If you’re a small grower, recording yield can be difficult as you may harvest a little every day. Two growers that do record everything are Graham Bell and The Balkan Ecology Project. Graham achieves 1.25 tonnes of food from 800 sq metres and BEP manages 218kg from 66 sq metres. A research trial by the Permaculture Association Britain suggested 3kg from a sq metre bed is a decent yield for an amateur grower.
Valuing your harvest
However big or small your harvest, value it. Not only does harvesting your own food benefit your mental wellbeing and your physical health, you are also contributing to food security, increasing local resilience, and boosting local biodiversity and aesthetics. And, most importantly, you’re producing delicious food for you, your friends and your family.
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