sustainability - The Bridge Cottage

Produce for Hexham Fresh Food Bank Group

Foodbank use has become all too common in our towns, and since the coronavirus pandemic, many more are turning to them for help. All foodbanks welcome donations of tinned and packet food, and volunteers work hard to deliver food to those in need, but what about fresh fruit and vegetables?

For many, access to fresh food is just not possible. We are pretty much self-sufficient in homegrown fruit and veg here at Bridge Cottage. We eat seasonally and with our homegrown and home-cooked food. However, for many, fresh fruit and vegetables are not something they are able to bring to their family’s table. Fresh fruit and vegetables are priced way over their budget. How then, to address this and maybe share some of what we grow?

Ginnie O’Farrell, founder of Hexham Fresh Food Bank Group

For a few years now, we’d dropped surplus cucumbers or apples off at West Northumberland Food Bank or popped them on a table in front of Bridge Cottage with ‘free food, help yourself’ sign. It was small fry though, and it took at an initiative from a Hexham allotment grower, Ginnie O’Farrell to set up the Hexham Fresh Foodbank Group to bring donations of fresh food into some form of organised project, and to increase the awareness and amount of local produce.

We have a Facebook Group, the Hexham Fresh Foodbank Group, and it is through this that we communicate with each other. Many have turned to vegetable growing for the first time, and lockdown gave us all the time to focus on our veggie patches. The Bridge Cottage Way is playing its part in helping new growers learn about growing veg through the posts on this website from The Bridge Cottage Garden, and through social media. We now have over two hundred growers in our community of foodbank growers.

Dropping off produce for Hexham Fresh Food Bank Group at Matthais Winter in Hexham

This is how Hexham Fresh Foodbank works: on a Thursday, we let the group know via the Facebook page, what we have available, and this is communicated to the food bank, so they know what is coming. Over the weekend, growers drop off homegrown or home-cooked produce at Matthais Winter, the eco-home shop in Hexham. Now that autumn is upon us, and jam and chutney making is, the food bank is welcoming donations of these. Some are even making pies and crumbles. Sam Gilchrist who runs the foodbank has told us our donations are very welcome. They now have a freezer, so homecooked soups are also welcome.

This week there has been great excitement amongst at the Hexham Fresh Food Bank Group, as BBC Look North wanted to film us. It followed an article in The Guardian which talked about how the coronavirus has led to a UK boom in community food growing.

Guardian feature: How the coronavirus has led to a UK boom in community food growing

Alison Freeman and Jas from Look North arrive at Bridge Cottage

On Wednesday, Alison Freeman came out to Bridge Cottage with her cameraman, Jas and filmed me in the garden, pulling up leeks, digging potatoes and picking kale. I was interviewed about my views on growing and sharing food, then we all raced into Hexham where Ginnie was waiting at Matthais Winter. They filmed me dropping off, then spoke to Ginnie about how the fresh foodbank came about.

Watch the BBC Feature here: Hexham Growers Donate Surplus to Foodbank

Being interviewed on behalf of Hexham Fresh Food Bank Group

We hear folk saying ’foodbanks don’t want fresh food, as people don’t know what to do with it’. To this I reply that it is true, some folk are reluctant to use fresh food for different reasons; indeed, we are told some don’t have access to a cooker or cooking utensils. Some do not have the culinary skills or knowledge of how to cook some of the veg, and some find it all too much of a challenge. However, we should not be making judgements about who uses a food bank, or what level of skills they have.

We do offer recipe cards and simple cooking instructions for those who would like them. Many are only too grateful for the donations of fruit and veg. We are told there are chefs out of work due to coronavirus who are thrilled at the thought of fresh, local organically grown food. A father of a large family was overjoyed with a monster of a red cabbage that was donated, and the feedback from the food bank is really encouraging. Folk are touched by the kindness of strangers, who take the time to grow, pick and bake for them.

Digging up potatoes for Hexham Fresh Food Bank Group

The feature went out on Look North at 6.30 on 2^nd September, and then was picked up by the National News, where it was aired on BBC Breakfast TV, and well and the BBC one o’clock news. So, if you saw someone in a red t-shirt digging up spuds, that was me! We’re hoping very much that other allotment groups and growers think about how they can donate to food banks. We also hope very much that food banks across the country will welcome fresh, locally grown produce onto their shelves. Fresh food is so expensive, and this a way to get it to those who need it most.

Being filmed for Hexham Fresh Food Bank Group

Foodbank use, food poverty and the thought of children going hungry is abhorrent in a so-called developed nation in the twenty-first century, and I strongly believe that we must all do our part to help make our communities more resilient in these challenging times. Sustainable living is not just about looking inwards but looking outwards to make sustainable communities. Let’s begin with food.

Ginnie and Sue from Hexham Fresh Food Bank Group

As ever, we’d love you to share your thoughts, either by leaving a comment here or on our social media pages, where this article will be shared.

You can find the Bridge Cottage Way on Facebook Twitter and Instagram.

You might enjoy some of the writing and ideas in other sections of this website, as we look towards leading more sustainable lives by growing our own food and creating dishes in line with seasonal eating, or head to our handy ‘Month by Month’ guides to find out what we have been doing here at Bridge Cottage as the months go by:

Many thanks for reading.

With Facebook and Instagram algorithms being fickle friends at times, be sure to get all new posts from The Bridge Cottage Way by signing up for the mailing list here. This will go our four times a year, with the seasons in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. We, of course, will not share your details with third parties, and you have the right to unsubscribe at any time.

Soft Fruit for Making Jam and Jellies

Both my Nans made their own jam and jellies. Nanny Gwen would buy punnets of fruit from the greengrocer and make tiny batches of jam in paste pots. She would serve little homemade drop scones with a paste pot of raspberry jam on plates with doilies and serve tea from a delicate rose bloom bone china tea set. My other Nan, Nanny Dora, grew her own fruit, and a loganberry will always make me think of her. She was more of a Woolworth’s girl, with serviceable seventies pottery and thick, heavy scones with raspberry jam and a tin of sterilised cream. I can see the packet of ready-cut greaseproof paper circles, elastic bands and cellophane tops that she bought and kept in the pantry.

Nanny Dora

My own kids, now grown up and left home, love to come back and raid the homemade jam cupboard. I had a look in the store cupboard the other day and saw we have plenty of chutney left, but no jam whatsoever. It is July, the fruit bushes are dripping and the jam-making is beginning in earnest. this year, from 25 July to 2 August, it is National Preserving Awareness Week, encouraging those who make their own preserves to help those who are new to the game. How great that jam making and preserving is having a revival. My Nans would be very pleased.

Preserving is yet another way to lead a more sustainable lifestyle – recycling jars, using homegrown produce, and reducing the need for transportation and factory-produced food. You will also know exactly what has gone into your jars, with sugar and vinegar being the only preservatives; no colourings or nasty additives. Once you have mastered a few basic skills, preserving is relatively easy and the rewards numerous. A well-stocked pantry cupboard is a delight and will see you through the colder months with reminders of summer.

Jam and Jelly Making Equipment

preserving pan for jam making

Jam Pan – you will need a good, solid bottomed jam pan – a heavy-bottomed saucepan will work, but if you are looking to drop hints for Christmas presents, a jam pan is a great investment. It allows the ‘rolling boil’ and stops the bottom getting burnt. It will also have a handle and some come with a handy pouring dint at the top.

Jam Jars – collect these all year round – don’t throw any jars away. If you are going to be living a sustainable lifestyle, making preserves, drying herbs, making herbal teas, then jam jars are invaluable. Go to the effort of soaking and scrubbing off the labels (we use a wire scrubber and some washing up liquid), and store, lids off, in a cupboard or box til needed.

Jam Thermometer – not vital, but very useful. The setting point of jams is 104.5°C and this can be done using a cold plate and your finger (see below), but a thermometer will save you the hassle. We have one with a probe that is used to test the temperature of all sorts of cooking.

Wooden Spoon – use a long handled wooden spoon – this will become stained and jammy over time. I’m fine with that, but you may want to keep one just for preserves.

jelly bag

Jelly bag and stand, or (muslin and string!) – you can buy jelly bags and stands from Lakeland or other shops, but I use a piece of muslin or double cheesecloth, or a clean tea towel, and hand it from a cupboard handle, letting the jelly drip over-night.

Kitchen Scales

Jam Setting Point

As long as you have got your proportions right, your jam or jelly should set once it is sufficiently cooked. Here are two methods, one without a thermometer and one with:

Crinkle Test – when you start your jam making, pop a small plate or saucer in the fridge and leave it there to chill. Once you think setting point is reached, pop a teaspoon in the plate. Give it a few seconds, then gently push your finger over the jam. If setting point has been reached, a skin will have formed which crinkles when you push your finger over.

Temperature Test – place a preserving thermometer or probe thermometer into the jam when it has reached a rolling boil. When it reads 104.5°C it is done. Pectin rich fruits will set a degree or two, lower.

fruit picking for jam making

That’s all you need, so let’s get fruit picking and jam making. I’ll start with an easy one, Raspberry Fridge Jam.

Preserves by Pam Corbin and River Cottage

One recommendation I do have is to get yourself a copy of Pam Corbin’s excellent book from The River Cottage Series, ‘Preserves’. It has lots of great recipes, some traditional and some fantastic ideas, such as making fruit leather for sweeties, or nasturtium pesto – who knew, this was a thing? Tim’s favourite is Pontak Sauce, made from elderberries, which takes seven years to fully mature.

I’m off out to pick some raspberries and will get recipes up on the website as and when I make them.

Happy jam and jelly making!

Homemade Jam and Jelly

As ever, we’d love you to share your thoughts, either by leaving a comment here or on our social media pages, where this article will be shared.

You can find the Bridge Cottage Way on Facebook Twitter and Instagram.

You might enjoy some of the writing and ideas in other section of this website, as we look towards leading more sustainable lives by growing our own food and creating dishes in line with seasonal eating, or head to our handy ‘Month by Month’ guides to find out what is seasonal and on topic:

Many thanks for reading.

With Facebook and Instagram algorithms being fickle friends at times, be sure to get all new posts from The Bridge Cottage Way by signing up for the mailing list here. This will go our four times a year, around the Summer and Winter Solstices, and the Spring and Autumn Equinox. We, of course, will not share your details with third parties, and you have the right to unsubscribe at any time.

Thanks for reading. Best wishes, Tim and Sue Reed

Tag Archive for: sustainability

Hexham Fresh Foodbank Group

Make Your Own Jam and Jelly