Natural Kirklees Charity Fete – 13th August 2017

Natural Kirklees Charity Fete

Sunday 13th August 2017

From 1pm to 4pm

Venue: Greenhead Park, Huddersfield

Park information
Map & directions

Join us in the park this Sunday for local food & family fun

Natural Kirklees, Friends of Greenhead Park and the Parks and Greenspaces Team at Kirklees Council are hosting a special Charity Fete for groups who are involved in parks and green spaces in Kirklees. The Fete is a great opportunity to meet local environmental groups and there are lots of fun activities to try, both in the event marquee and around the park.

Join us in Greenhead Park on Sunday 13th August for family fun games and activities including mindful movement workshops, making fruit kebabs and drinks, a duck salad bar, nordic walking, pond dipping, forest school fun, origami, raffles, crafty activities and a chance to try out different mountain bikes. You can also purchase seasonal fruit, herbs and vegetables. There will be music from Hade Edge Band and the Ukulele Band. The Friends of Greenhead Park will be serving tea and cakes in the marquee.

Growing Newsome will be there with plenty of home made treats, made from fruit and vegetables that have been grown in Newsome and donated by our generous volunteers and friends. Please come and visit us in the marquee on the event field near the top of the park (just across from the miniature train tracks). Our stall is open from 1pm to 4pm.

At 2pm Enjoy the sound of brass in the great outdoors with Hade Edge Band. They will be performing on the Greenhead Park bandstand as part of a programme of concerts organised by the Friends of Greenhead Park. Limited seating is available and you are welcome to bring your own folding chairs or rugs.  Free – there will be a collection in aid of the Friends of Greenhead Park.

At 1.30pm, 2.30pm & 3.30pm Take part in Nordic Walking or Pond Dipping in the park. You can register at the information stall.

We hope to see you there.

Big Plant Swap – Saturday 20th May 2017

Big Plant Swap

Saturday 20th May 2017
10am to 1pm

Free admission – all weclome

Newsome Scout Hall, Newsome Road South, Huddersfield HD4 6JJ

Take your pick from hundreds of plants – great for growers, super for sharers.

You can choose from:

Vegetables
Salads
Herbs
Fruit
Wildlife-friendly flowers

You’re very welcome to bring along plants, seedlings, cuttings or seeds to swap – but you don’t need to bring something to be able to take something (you can make a donation to Growing Newsome in exchange for your plants).

 

Lots more to enjoy…

Seed Swap – lots of vegetable seeds to swap or buy.

Children’s craft activities.

Local produce on sale.

Plant some seeds to grow on your windowsill.

Reading Circle book stall with all sorts of books.

Tea, coffee and home made cakes.

Information about growing and sharing food in Newsome.

Find out about other local projects and events.

Local food lunch:
served 12 noon to 1pm

Enjoy a healthy lunch at Newsome Scout Hall – with recipes for you to take home. We’ll be serving a selection of tasty salads (including warm salads) from our Spring salad bar, plus a fruit pudding.

We ask for a small donation to cover the costs of making your lunch.

Print our poster for your venue – or share with a friend:

Big Plant Swap poster 2017 (PDF)

What happens at the Plant Swap?
Here’s a short film about Growing Newsome’s Plant Swap, made by Alistair I Macdonald at Curlew Films for Plant it Grow it Eat it.

You can see more food growing films on the Food Kirklees web site:
10 short films about food growing in Kirklees

Can you sow a few extra seeds to swap or share?

Get plant swapping

Every May we hold a big plant swap that’s bursting with vegetables, salads, fruit, herbs, seeds and wildlife-friendly flowers. If you’d like to get involved, you can:

– Sow a few extra seeds this Spring.
– Bring along your spare seedlings.
– Take cuttings or divide perennial plants.
– Save your seeds to share.

What would you like to grow?

Please let us know if there are particular plants that you’d like to be able to pick up from our Plant Swap, and we’ll ask our network if anyone can bring them along. We’ve already been asked for Cardoons, Globe Artichokes, Patty Pan Squash, Dill, Peppers and soft fruit. Please let us know about anything you can bring, or anything you’d like to get – and we’ll do our best to find it. 

Join us for our Big Plant Swap

You’re very welcome to join us between 10am and 1pm on Saturday 20th May at Newsome Scout Hall to swap or share whatever you’ve grown and to meet other local food growers. Full event details will be available on our web site nearer the time.

 

Spring planting – Saturday 8th April 2017

Spring planting
Saturday 8th April
from 10am to 12 noon

Ashenhurst Allotments, entrance between 67 & 69
Ashenhurst Avenue, Newsome, Huddersfield HD4 6PX

Come and join us for an informal, fun planting session.

Help us to start planting up our community allotment with vegetable seeds this Spring.

Meet other local growers and take a tour of our plot.

You can sit down in our potting shed to sow some seeds, or plant some vegetables out in our plot.

Everyone is welcome. Refreshments provided.

We have space undercover in case it rains!

 

Growing Newsome Community Allotment

 

Seed potatoes for sale 2017

Photo: Huddersfield Examiner. Growing Newsome Potato Day at Newsome Scout Hall. Left to right: Jacqui Sullivan, Cherry Holding, Jan Siddall and Monica Plested.

If you missed out on our recent Potato Day, we still have some varieties of seed potato available for you to buy.

They’re for sale at £2 per dozen, mix and match (or 20p each). Available for collection from Newsome or from Huddersfield town centre. We may also be able to deliver locally.

Maris Bard – Organic (first early) sold
Smooth skinned, delicious when cooked or steamed. Successful for local growers.

Pentland Javelin (first early) 18 remaining
Heavy crops with pure white tasty flesh. Very good disease resistance.

Red Duke of York (first early) 27 remaining
Deep red in colour and a vigorous grower. Great flavour. Good for baking, boiling, mashing and chipping.

British Queen – Heritage variety (second early) 12 remaining
Dry, floury texture. High yields of general purpose potatoes. White oval tubers.

Jazzy (second early) 6 remaining
New waxy potato variety. Small, set-skinned tubers. Boil, steam, crush or roast.

Maris Peer – Organic (second early) sold
Waxy textured and well-flavoured potatoes that do not disintegrate when cooked.

Nicola – Organic (second early)
Small, firm, waxy potatoes. Good for salads or boiling. Grows long if given space.

Ambo – Organic (early main crop) 20 remaining
Attractive, white-skinned tubers with a splash of red. White creamy flesh. High yielding.

Foxton – Organic (early main crop) 10 remaining
Boils well with no discolouration, makes excellent bakers and roasties. Also good for chips and crisping.

International Kidney – Heritage variety (early main crop) 10 remaining
A classic maincrop variety, sold early in the season by Jersey growers under the trademark “Jersey Royals”.

Golden Wonder – Organic, Heritage variety (late main crop)
Russet skin. One of the best for baking, frying and roasting, with a rich flavour that improves on storage.

Pink Fir Apple – Heritage variety (late main crop)
We highly recommend Pink Fir Apples – they’re our biggest seller. You can cook them whole and there’s no need for peeling.

We also have some Sturon onion sets and some Jerusalem Artichoke tubers.
Let us know if you’d like some.

Full list of descriptions:
Seed Potatoes for sale 2017 list (PDF)

Please email:
growingnewsome@gmail.com
if you’d like some.

First come, first served!

Potato varieties available in 2017

Apache potatoes

If you’re going to grow some spuds this year, you might want to have a look at some of the 30 varieties of seed potato we’ll have available at our Seed Swap and Potato Day. There’s something for everyone, from old favourites to some more unusual varieties.

All our potatoes are £2 per dozen, pick and mix (or 20p each). You can choose just what you need – and you’ll be supporting our community activities at the same time.

Our full list of varieties:

Potato picker 2017 – full list of varieties (pdf)

or you might like to try one of our top five…

---

Our top five potato picks

Home Guard is one of the eight heritage varieties that we have available this year. It was the main potato during World War II, being introduced in 1942 and promoted by the Home Guard. It has consistent high and early yields of tasty potatoes. The last time we had Home Guard available, it proved very successful – one participant told us that these were “the best potatoes I’ve ever grown”. So we have jumped at the chance to offer them again this year. 

---

Pink Gypsy is one of the new varieties we’re trying this time. It’s quite distinctive looking, with deep pink and cream skins. The tasty white and creamy flesh has a lovely, fluffy texture when cooked. Great whether baked, roasted or mashed. If striking-coloured spuds are your thing, you might also like to try Apache (which has similar markings), Salad Blue, Shetland Black or Highland Burgundy Red.

 

---

Jazzy is popular with our local growers. This exciting new second early variety has been awarded an RHS Award of Garden Merit for its superb garden performance. It’s a waxy, set-skinnned potato which is both versatile and good looking – boil, steam, crush or roast. Described as a “small potato that packs a big punch” because it’s full of flavour and has performed well in trials.

 

---

Sarpo potatoes are grown by the Sarvari Research Trust in North Wales. These potatoes all have excellent resistance to blight, so they are ideal for organic growers. Our participants have had great success with them. This year we have Sarpo Kifli and Sarpo Mira on offer. Ideal if you want a reliable main crop. The Sarpo Mira is organic – it’s one of fourteen different organic varieties that we’re offering this year.

 

---

Pink Fir Apple potatoes are always in high demand here – and rightly so. They’re one of our all time favourites, great tasting both hot and cold. You can cook them whole in their skins, so don’t worry about peeling this unusual shaped spud. To make sure that you don’t miss out on this firm favourite, we keep lots of them in stock. Enjoy!

Growing Newsome Seed Swap & Huddersfield Potato Day – Saturday 4th March 2017

Get your growing year off to a great start with our bumper early Spring event…

Seed Swap and Potato Day

Saturday 4th March 2017
10am to 1pm

Newsome Scout Hall
Newsome Road South
Huddersfield HD4 6JJ

---

Huddersfield Potato Day

Choose from 30 different types of seed potato, including popular easy-to-grow varieties and some more unusual types. All seed potatoes are £2 per dozen (pick and mix) or 20p each. Our 2017 varieties are:

1st Earlies:
Casablanca (organic), Home Guard, Lady Christl, Maris Bard (organic), Pentland Javelin, Red Duke of York, Rocket, Sharpe’s Express, Swift.

2nd Earlies:
Apache, British Queen, Charlotte (organic), Jazzy, Kestrel, Maris Peer (organic), Nicola (organic).

Mains:
Ambo (organic), Cara (organic), Desiree (organic), Foxton (organic), Golden Wonder (organic), Highland Burgundy Red (organic), International Kidney, Pink Gypsy (organic), Pink Fir Apple, Rooster, Salad Blue (organic), Sarpo Kifli, Sarpo Mira (organic), Shetland Black.

Potato picker 2017 (PDF) – more info about all our 2017 seed potato varieties

Potato varieties available in 2017 – our top five potato picks

---

Seed Swap

Seeds galore – We’ll also have vegetable and salad seeds, sprouted garlic, onion sets and shallots on offer. You can either swap, or pick up some seeds in exchange for a small donation. Try our seed starter packs – ideal for growing in small spaces.

Activities – Seed planting and crafts for kids.

Local food – Jam, pickles, chutney etc. made from fruit and veg grown in Newsome.

Books – Reading Circle book stall with all sorts of books.

Refreshments – Tea, coffee and home made cakes available all day.

Help with growing – Please ask for advice.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust – Stirley Community Farm will be here to tell you about what’s happening at the farm and how you can get involved. Fresh, farm-grown veg will also be on sale.

Plant pot & jam jar amnesty – Bring along your spare small plant pots or small jam jars (1Ib or less).

---

Composting advice

Want to start composting at home or on your allotment but not sure how? Want some tips about improving your compost? Or want to find out how to set up a wormery? Kirklees Council’s recycling officer, Rachel Palmer, will be on hand at our event to help you learn more about composting.

---

Join us for lunch

served 12 noon to 1pm 

Enjoy a warming cooked lunch, featuring some local ingredients.

Free admission. All welcome. And please tell all your friends!

Seed Swap 2017 leaflet (pdf)

Huddersfield Potato Day leaflet (pdf)

---

Organised by Growing Newsome

Our special thanks to the
West Yorkshire Organic Group
for supporting our Potato Day.

---

Want to help?

We’re looking for volunteers to help out with our events and activities. Contact us at growingnewsome@gmail.com to find out more, or ask on the day.

---