Abundance Fruit Fair Fun At St Michaels
The Big Fruit Press, toffee apples and home-made cider
There was fun for all at the Abundance London annual Fruit Fair at St Michaels & All Angels.
The Big Fruit Press turned fruit donated by local people into pure apple juice, and there were lots of goodies on sale at stalls run by local schools.
The organisers estimate that they picked and dealt with around a tonne of fruit, mostly apples, with some pears, a few quince trees, redcurrants, mulberries and grapes.The longest peel was peeled by Imogen at 2m80, smashing the previous record by 65cm. Everyone who peeled over 2m will receive a prize, and Abundance will be contacting them directly.
For weeks beforehand, volunteers had been running picks with local schools including Grove Park, Belmont, St Peters, William Hogarth and John Betts to help local residents pick their fruit gluts - mainly apples and pears from their overflowing trees.
A refreshing drink of home-made cider
Apple ID’s can still be handed in to Hack & Veldt on Turnham Green Terrace until 10th October. Bring your labelled apple (your name & email) to Hack & Veldt, along with any further information and Steve Oram from the People’s Trust for Endangered Species will identify what type of apple it is.
William Hogarth School stall
Delicious toffee apples are always popular
The organisers would like to thank all those who helped from the St. Michael's team, to those who made chutneys and jams, to the tree owners who were generous with their fruit, the schools who picked and processed the fruit with children and parents. Thanks also to the fruit pressing team, the bottling team, those who ran the preserves stall, and organised the apple-bobbing, and the ice-cream stall. More details on the Abundance website- www.abundancelondon.com
Other essential help was provided by the Chiswick Horticultural Society who donated a prize-winning pumpkin, and the Chiswick House Kitchen Garden who gave several enormous marrows, which Sam’s Brasserie made into a soup. Grove Park School and Hammersmith Community Garden Association lent important equipment (display stands, van) and the Hanbury-Williams gave apple storage.
The proceeds from the Abundance Fruit Day will go towards rolling out the project to further schools next year, and to other horticultural/educational projects. If anyone has such a project and needs a small amount of funding to get it off the ground, please get in touch.
More info on Abundance London available on the website
October 7, 2013