greentapestry : Meanwhile At The Allotment .....

Friday 20 July 2012

Meanwhile At The Allotment .....

Just getting to my plot is in danger of becoming an extreme sport as you can see from the above photo - maybe slippery, squelchy mud sliding could feature in the imminent Olympiads. Last Saturday though a few of us plot holders ventured out away from our plots. I have mentioned in an earlier post that our allotment association has been successful securing funding towards the purchase and instalment of a composting toilet on site. Between submitting our bid and hearing the outcome, prices rose so we were left with a shortfall. Various fund raising ideas were discussed and inevitably selling plants and produce came up. We were not keen to organise our own plant sale but were quite happy to attend local events. We have been quite fortunate and three such opportunities came our way, the third being last weekend.
After a day of non stop rain on the Friday I must admit that I was not looking forward to braving the elements and being outdoors for a good part of Saturday. However although rather breezy (the gazebo protecting the stall next but one to us blew away mid afternoon) the rain miraculously held off. We had a busy but enjoyable afternoon and were delighted to sell as much as we did. The fresh produce - punnets of strawberries, rhubarb, broad beans, spring onions and new potatoes flew off the table. Made up bunches of flowers - crocosmias, cornflowers, marigolds and little white daisies which we sold for a pound a bunch were popular. Plants were in demand too especially pots of rhubarb, clumps of day lilies, lilies as well as our collection of fifty pence pocket money plants. We tucked in little slips with suggestions of allotment growing reading matter and relevant websites into our customer's bags.


As well as raising money for our funds we were also able to make a contribution to the charitable trust that invited us to have a stall at their annual fun day. This is held in a local green space that was going to be sold for building in the late '90s until a group of residents got together to make sure that this did not happen. The land was bought and has been managed since by volunteers who maintain the green, cut the grass, have installed paths, picnic benches, dog bins etc. as well as developing a wildflower meadow. A free fun day is held each year. They have recently achieved Fields In Trust status but maybe that and the story of our composting toilet are both posts for the future. What was most enjoyable about the afternoon was spending it in the most pleasant company of fellow plot holders - we usually chat on the hoof as it were, so it was great to be able to spend some time together away from homeground. Meanwhile back at the allotment the toilet has been installed and awaits a few finishing touches before it is officially opened.

8 comments:

  1. What a lovely idea to raise money - the table of goodies looks great - a composting toilet eh - does that mean no more ducking behind the bedge or standing with your legs crossed. I can't believe how much standing water there is - you see - in a few weeks time we'll all be moaning about the parched earth - well, perhaps not!

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  2. Sorry - that should be hedge not bedge - can't get my fingers to work this morning!

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  3. What a great way to raise the extra funds, and managing to help a good cause too. Let's hope our allotments dry out over the next couple of weeks, the forecast is for some sunshine so let's hope it materialises, it's raining here at the moment.

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  4. I thought our site was wet but yours wins hands down. We have just gone self managing, I'm not at all convinced its a good idea but we shall see. A compost toilet is still on the agenda but the cost is the stumbling block.
    Some of our members did a stall back in May and did a sow a seed thing for kids. Might be an idea with some quick seeds like lettuces, radish?

    Discovered all my potatoes have blight today in fact it seems every plot on the site has blight. So this weekend I have to go and clear the tops. It has been suggested that as there is quite a lot of slug damage I should lift the tubers as well. Thats a lot of potatoes in one go :(

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  5. What a fantastic idea to raise funds and for such a good cause too. Marvellous that the local people were able to buy the land and keep it for everyones enjoyment, should be more of that.Hope the water soon dries up on your allotment and you are able to get back to normal.

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  6. Now will there be a ceremony around the loo? Cut the ribbon kinda thing. Well done!

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  7. Yay. All for a great cause. Those puddles look quite menacing but I love how huge the allotment is. Wow.

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  8. Don't know how I missed this post. My feed sometimes has hissy fits on me which is frustrating. Anyway, it sounds like you have such a great community spirit on your allotment. I am quite envious. My plot is on a very small site and I haven't seen some people since last year. It is a very traditional site with a lot of traditional growers. I can only imagine the response if I was to suggest a composting toilet!! Well done in your fundraising efforts.

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All your comments are much appreciated and treasured. I wil try to reply to everyone who leaves a comment, but it may take me a few days, especially when I start spending more time in the garden and at the lottie. I know that you will understand :) I am sure that I will also visit your blog if I have not already done so. If you have any specific questions I will either reply to them here or you can email me at : thegreentapestry@gmail.com

Namasté

- Anna.