Autumn has arrived (and here’s a lovely article from the BBC on when the season actually starts, meteorologically and astronomically!), so it’s time to embrace the wonderful bounty of seasonal food.
Here in the UK we are blessed with an abundance of seasonal fruit: apples, blackberries, damsons, plums, many available locally. If you’re lucky enough to have access to fruit trees, the Library of Things has some useful bits of kit to help you harvest your crop, including a long-handled fruit picker, and ladders to get to the hard to reach fruit at the top of the tree. If you’ve collected more than you can carry, we also have various buckets, wheelbarrows and festival wagons to transport your haul.
Help with harvesting
If you have more fruit than you can manage, there are several groups across Oxford that can help:
- Abundance Oxford harvest surplus fruit and redistribute it to local communities.
- The Oxford Food Hub collect and distribute all kinds of surplus food.
- Cherwell Collective runs the Harvest@Home initiative, which is helping to support those growing food in the local community. They also coordinate the Waste Innovation Station Hubs.
- You can find other local community action groups here, and if you’d like to find out more about other projects working to make healthy and sustainable food available to everyone in Oxfordshire, check out Good Food Oxford Oxfordshire.
Oxford City Farm were due to hold their Autumn Festival FUNdraiser on 5 October, but unfortunately they have been significantly impacted by the recent floods and have had to cancel the event. They are now crowdfunding to try and provide resilience to future extreme weather, and build back the loss of income both from the loss of the produce and their main fundraising event.
Autumn is also the best time of year to find fruit for free. Blackberries and elderberries have mostly finished for this year, but can be found along many footpaths in the city and beyond.
The Woodland Trust provides some useful advice about foraging safely and legally, as does the Oxford foraging and wild food map.
Enjoying the fruits of your labours
Everyone has favourite autumn fruit recipes (personally I don’t think you can beat a traditional crumble!); for more ideas check out BBC Good Food for autumn dessert recipes. If you’re feeling adventurous the Woodland Trust has some ideas for things to make with elderberries and blackberries.
Don’t have the right kit? We can help! Borrow a large saucepan and thermometer for making jam, or our dehydrator to make healthy snacks and preserve your fruit for later use. We have two juicers, and two apple presses, one small for use at home, the other for larger groups. You can also borrow equipment from the other Libraries of Things in the county.
Preparing the garden for winter
Autumn is also a busy time for gardeners, and the National Trust has some great tips for things to do. You can borrow lots of gardening tools from the Library of Things. Oxford also has some great community gardens, including Barracks Lane Community Garden, Flo’s in Florence Park, Oxgrow near Abingdon Road, and the Children’s Allotment in Cricket Road. Check out the community action groups website to find one near you!