MCA Workday Saturday 10th of December 2011

Poster by Ryan O'Reilley (MCA)

Christmas Hamper

'MCA Christmas Hamper'

MCA will be selling raffle tickets for this beautiful hamper full of all sorts of lovely goodies.Thanks to all the Leaseholders who contributed to the hamper.

The Draw will Take place on  Saturday 10th December 2011 @ Minnowburn National Trust office. 

'Celebration of Food' Mount Stewart October 2011

Minnowburn Community Allotments had their very own stall at the 'Celebration of Food' Event at Mount Stewart on the 8th and 9th of October 2011. It was a fantastic occassion and showcased the best of what a community allotment can achieve by working togeather. Here are a selection of photographs which capture the stall in full swing.

 'Chutney and Jams made by Muriel, Emma and Martin'.

 'Cathys Cakes'.

'Seeds from MCA'.

'Keith & Magda showing off the bee keepers honey'

'Ainda and Sinead working at the stall enticing the customers in'

'Serious work this chutney tasting Kevin'

'MCA Stall'

MCA would like to thank all the gardeners and their families for helping set up,work on, and  make produce for the MCA stall which was a great learning experience and event for MCA to be involved in. We even managed to make a profit of £220 pounds for MCA. 

Fidelma Maher

(Secretary MCA)

look at all the pretty colours

It's not just the autumn leaves that give a dazzling show of colour. Couldn't resist sharing more photos of our wonderful mca. It really is a haven, good for body, soul and mind.

Lorna mca

hello autumn, my old friend

whilst at my wee patch this morning I took time to sit back and enjoy all the wonderful autumn colours of the plots. Yes, there's quite a lot of bare earth but there are quite a few surprises too, if you look...



hibernating caterpillar, anyone know what type?



Large white caterpillar enjoying chinese greens






Bee foraging on nasturtium




type of squash



 

We often tend to forget that October can be a good month for plants to grow, especially prerennial weeds!! So after removing as many perennial weeds (dock, creeping buttercup and dandelion) as possible I had a wander and checked out the other plots. While some gardeners have taken the full clearance option,
some have got impressive crops still intact.



amazing celery



come on slugs, check out this lettuce!!



very, very impressive, massive leeks

Lorna mca



Celebration of Food

It would seem the food Glorious food event is going by a different name - 'CELEBRATION OF FOOD'
See you there!

Minnowburn is not just an allotment - it is an experience!

Belfast Health & Social Care Trust have been involved in the Minnowburn Community Allotments project from the early days. A Social worker heard about the project and contacted the Community Day Services team - This group provides Day Support for Adults with Learning Disabilities in the community, rather than in traditional Day Centres.

Initially in Spring 2009 there was little interest as all that could be seen was a blank field with some bamboo canes marking out the area where plots would be. We kept in touch and this view changed this winter when some of the group visited to see real plots where veg was growing and the New Poly Tunnel. - The place looked like a garden!

After initial digging over our wee raised bed, we planted Potatoes & Onions in March.  The sense of community support was evident from the start with other gardeners offering us, not only practical help and advice, but cuttings of Chives and strawberry plants and ½ packets of seeds for us to try out.
By Mid May we had green shoots coming up -  promise of things to come.

Getting young people interested in weeding & digging can be difficult, but Minnowburn is not just an allotment - it is an experience!

Many people who visited, commented on the sense of peace and tranquillity of the site.  Over the summer it became a place for quiet picnics and not much gardening!

The CDS Group are very active, and as part of our summer programme we were working with Mobile Team Adventure, doing activities on and around the River Lagan.  This culminated in a Multi activity day, starting from Shaws Bridge, Canoeing up the Lagan to Minnowburn car park and then walking up to the allotment through the National Trust Paths for a BBQ at the allotment.

The lettuce, onions, herbs and strawberries were all fresh from the allotment and there was a great Buzz from the 30+ people in attendance. 

Eating fresh picked salad in the Gardens and having a BBQ was certainly a great advertisement for fresh rather than fast food... hopefully there will be continued interest and when we come to plant next year there will be renewed enthusiasm for the Grow Your Own way of life.

'Drew Smiley

Senior Day Care Worker

Community Day Services

Food Glorious Food

The National trust “Food Glorious Food” Event 

8th and 9th of October 2011 @ Mount Stewart.

MCA will be selling plants, chutneys, seeds, recipe book and more. Please come along it will be a fun day for all.

Social BBQ



At our end of the summer season event, the gardeners got together and preparations were made for our plant sale at Mount Stewart in October. We got spring veg, flowers and strawberries potted up.

 



special 60th birthday treat for Ian - potting up lettuce


After the hard work, the BBQ was fired up and we all relaxed with some fantastic live traditional music. Many thanks again to all the musicians and to Fidelma and Declan for organising, they really made the event special. Happy 60th birthday wishes to Ian from all the gardeners. We hope you had a fantastic birthday party with friends and family.

Best plot winner, Martin (middle) intimidates NT warden

Tommy and Keith smokin'

The 'Pied Piper of Minnowburn'



The splendid musicians



time to eat

Here's looking forward to more fun events in mca's 4th year. Look out for details of autumn and winter events, ideas welcome!

Lorna and Craig

End of Season BBQ

Minnowburn End of Season Social BBQ

Saturday 3^rd of September 2011

@ 3p.m

Live Music

Vegetable competition

Best Plot Awards

Bring your own food and Drink

All family and friends

of MCA welcome!!!

make cookies while it rains

My allotment may not be the most productive as I am weak and cannot weed out flowers especially if they seed themselves, therefore it is covered in callendula marigolds,sunflowers and poppies. I've been told poppy seeds are great for baking with. As I am useless at bread, time to get out the old family favourite cookie recipe.

Recipe makes loads and can be adapted - raisins, chocolate, berries etc, etc

225g unsalted butter, softened

375g light brown sugar

50g caster sugar

3 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

400g plain flour

2 level tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tbsp poppy seeds

Oven 170C (150C fan) 12-14 minutes.

Cream butter and sugars in large bowl along with vanilla extract. Beat in eggs one at a time. Sift in flour and bicarbonate of soda. Add poppy seeds, collected from site when thouroughly dry, and mix well. Spoon onto a lightly greased baking tray - be careful, a little dollop expands so 9- 12 dessert spoons or 6 -9 tablespoons on large tray. Bake until barey puffed and starting to colour at edges, 12 - 14 minutes. Freeze surplus dough, in logs and slice off when required. Excellent cooked or uncooked with ice cream.

Shall not be making chocolate beetroot muffins just yet - beetroot crop failed. Harvested some rather small and rather tough beetroot, which dyed my only good top. My lesson for not watering enough...

Lorna mca

strawberry jam





Strawberry season, at least for some of us is over. So wether you've dug them all up and brought them home in the back of the car or left the tangled mess of runners to pot up another day I hope you had the sense to make some stawberry jam.

'farewell dear strawberries its home time'

Despite my own crop being scant I very cunningly got my hands on a huge haul by offering to water a fellow gardeners plot while they were on holiday. They just so happened to have amazing strawberries, yummy yummy strawberry jam!

Lorna mca

Homework

Since it has basically rained non-stop since Tuesday night its time to get some homework done. MCA have been asked to attend an event in October hosted by the National Trust at Mount Stewart, 'Food Glorious Food'. After weeks of washing and disinfecting pots its time to fill them with the help of my 2 year old daughter, who is really helpful and quite good, though alas, we lost some spring cabbage seedlings.

At least I've been able to collect rainwater, its supposedly the best for watering young seedlings. After all that hunching over pots and hands in water, soil and gloves, I would love to get myself down to Irish Seed Savers based in Co Clare for their herbal spa workshop.. wonder would they come to mca sometime...

http://store.irishseedsavers.ie/Herbal_spa_day_1_day_workshop_p/1212.htm

Lorna and Eva mca

Delightful Rhubarb & Fruit Crumble Sundays Dessert

I would just like to share my favourite use of Rhubarb from my allotment 

this dish I make on a regular basis as I am not the biggest fan of Rhubarb on its own,

I have improvised by adding other fruits to the mix to make it not so Rhubarby but more sweet and tasty. 

Recipe

Ingredients:

Rhubarb 2-3 stalks

Strawberries (or any fruit of your choice raspberries, tinned pears in winter)

100 g Sugar (can be adapted to suit personal preference)

200 g Plain Flour or gluten free plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

100g margarine

Method:

1. Chop rhubarb and strawberries/fruit up into baking dish. Sprinkle 50g of sugar over fruit, you can add more if you like it sweeter but the fruit adds natural sweetness.

2. Crumble: Sieve 200 g of plain flour and salt into a bowl or food processor with sharp blade. Chop margarine into the flour using a knife and rub between fingers or whiz up in food processor until mixture looks like fine bread crumbs.

3. Add 50 g of sugar to crumble mix and mix up. Scatter over chopped rhubarb and strawberries.

4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 5 for 40 minutes. Check to make sure crumble is golden brown and rhubarb and fruit mixture is bubbling up the sides. Remove from oven and allow to cool until warm. Serve with cream/ice cream.

Fidelma Maher

MCA 

 

When slugs attack...

ATTACK BACK, naturally
This year the National Trust kindly provided us with an automatic watering system for our polytunnel. It does a great job; plants are provided with water, automatically, all day long and it is a moist environment - perfect for slugs! They have particulary liked nibbling the chilli plants and the aubergines have suffered too. 
To defend the chillies, copper tape has been put around pots with the bottoms cut out. These are then placed over the plant. Slugs hate copper, it sends an electic shock through their slimey bodies when they come in contact with it.

A different tactic has been used with the aubergines, double defences - chives and sharp sand. Slugs produce mucus or slime to move so sharp or dry objects cause them to over produce slime and exhaust themselves. Onions and members of the onion family are a long used natural deterrent for pests but will they defend the aubergines?

Lorna mca

We all work together

At mca, we all work together. All ages take part in looking after the site with the best of tools. We are lucky to have such a beautiful place to be part of.

Lorna and Arthur mca

Lazy Sundays

In Minnowburn Community Allotments we have 25 plots, 9 raised beds, mixed species native hedge, a gazebo and communal herb garden, orchard, soft fruits and a polytunnel. Sunday morning is my turn on the polytunnel rota and time for a few hours of peace and pottering.

Lorna MCA