Abundance Wimbledon Newsletter
August 31, 2021
Welcome to Abundance Wimbledon - 31 August 2021 Newsletter
Its been a very busy couple of weeks with fruit finally ripening and allowing us to pick a great selection of apples, plums, pears, berries and rhubarb.
Our jam maker's stoves have been running hot and heaving with all the fruit that has been donated.
A number of local charities have benefited from our drop offs there this fortnight.
And we are sincerely hoping that this pace keeps up as we are well on our way to our ambitious target 1,500kgs of fruit! The weather has certainly been against us this season.
Another bumper issue this time (with some great photos sent in by oiur picking teams) so please read on for more of our latest news:
SATURDAY 18 SEPTEMBER, 2021
11.00am - 2.30pm
St Mark's Church Hall & Grounds
St Mark's Pl, Wimbledon, London SW19 7ND
This year featuring:
Don't forget to pick up your Abundance Wimbledon Cotton Tote bag for just £2.00!
How do you know when the Elderberries are ripe?
The elderberries are slowly ripening and we have picked about 1kg of them in the last fortnight. Elderberries are very versatile - the flowers are perfect for making elderberry cordial and the actual berries are great for Sue's home made Hedgerow Jam. This jam is always a hit on Fruit Day with it flying out the door as soon as it hits the table!
But the question is when are they ripe? Well, once flowering, the green berries appear. They slowly turn to a very dark plum/purple colour and then black. The black ones are perfect for the jam.
There are some great elderberries out at the moment - as long as you get them before the birds! A lovely bush with bright reddish stalks on the berry branches. Don't forget to get the jam!
Do you pick fruit in my area?
We are just a small team of organisers here at Abundance Wimbledon so we use local area coordinators to organise the picks for us with their own teams of trusty volunteers. We can come and pick in the following local locations:
Anyone free to pick blackberries?
Replies from a recent Facebook post tell us that the blackberries are finally ripening and they are plentiful in the local commons - Wimbledon, Mitcham and beyond.
If you have any time to pick some for our jam makers, we would be most grateful. Please email Juliet at [email protected] if you have some spare and we will arrange to get them to the jam makers (or we can tell you where to drop them off).
Any donations are gratefully accepted - the apple and blackberry jam we sell each year at our Annual Fruit Day is a crowd favourite!
Making the most of a (social) pick!
Liz tells us that she always has a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit during a pick (can take anywhere from 30 mins to a couple of hours) but recently she stepped that up a bit with her home made blackberry and redcurrant muffins. They were very popular with the picking team and were soon gone!
Cookers vs Eaters vs Windfall
When we pick the fruit each year, we separate the "cookers" from the "eaters"/ The cookers - as the name suggests are those apples/fruit which may be mishappen or have some marks or may even be "windfalls" (those collected from the ground around the trees). Just because the fruit is marked or "imperfect" does not mean they are wasted! Local charities will happily accept cookers for making apple pies, cakes, strudels and the like and of course the eaters are always welcome - particularly for groups like Dons Local Action Group and the local Foodbank. Cookers are also often cut up and used for making our famous Apple Juice on Fruit Day each year.
So we don't mind whether we get cookers, eaters or windfall fruit - we make sure as little of the fruit we pick is wasted and do as much as we can with whatever is picked!
How close are you to your target 1,500kg?
Picking activities have increased significantly in the last fortnight and we are now at almost 850+kgs of saved Fruit. More than half way to our target with 3 weeks to go!
The great news is that our recent Facebook post garnered some more fruit from locals and the picking teams have been going out most days to collect fruit. This year we have completed more than 50 picks - half way to the total of 100 picks completed last year.
This fortnight we send our sincere thanks to the following pickers: Motoko, Liz, Adam, Hugo, Karoline, Juliet, Ruth, Alyson, Rosie, Joan, Caroline, Gabriel, Brian, Gilli, Ron, June, Lisa, Byrony, Jane, Carole, Pam and Lucy. Apologies if I have missed anyone!
The types of fruit saved so far (and compared to 2020)
You have to love some statistics to inspire! At 24/8/2020 we had picked 845 kgs of fruit so far in the season, with 562kgs of fruit picked in the fortnight ending 24/8/2020.
So far this year (as mentioned above) as at 27/8/2021, we have picked 850+ kgs of fruit - so you never know - we might just beat our 1,500 kg target (depending on how the fruit ripens)!
In 2020 there was an abundance of pears, but so far this year, we have picked just 70kgs of pears - with many pears still ripening and not ready to pick. However, our plum count is much larger this year with 217kgs of plums picked so far, along with 560kgs of apples. The rest of our picks are made up of a sundry lot of rhubarb and berries.
And to prove that no pick is too small - our smallest pick so far has been 0.5kgs of mixed small plums picked by Jane & Pam. The largest pick has been 64.5kgs - picked from Ron & Jean's garden with our biggest picking team of Gilli, Brian, Ron, June, Kate, Lisa and Gabriel.
We are always on the lookout for more fruit, so please don't hesitate to contact Juliet if your fruit is ripening and you have too much! ([email protected])
Thanks to all our donors!
We could not do everything that we do in rescuing fruit without the generosity of our Fruit Donors! In the last fortnight we have enjoyed fruit from Martin Way Allotments, Paula, Tim, Paul, Jean, Jo, Cathy, Liz, Rana, Ron, June, Helen, Priya, Rachel, Mandy, Rosemary and Sally. Sincere thanks to you all for your kindness.
We have also been out picking fruit from local street trees, as well as from Haines Park, a Church Orchard, Colliers Wood Recreation Ground and Durnsford Park Recreation Ground. We are always on the look out for other community locations so please let us know if you see trees with an abundance of fruit which you think will be available for our pickers.
Local charities have received more than 130kgs of fruit
An important part of what we do at Abundance Wimbledon is to donate good fruit to local charities. So far this year, we have donated more than 130kgs of fruit to local charities, including:
Vacant volunteering positions
There are some great opportunities to get involved in this friendly community group which is active during the picking season, but quiet throughout the rest of the year. Perfect for those who like to volunteer for "projects" rather than a strong monthly commitment. We have added a new position this fortnight - that of social media coordinator for the 2022 season and beyond. This involves the fortnightly newsletter (including compiling the statistics), plus the facebook and twitter posts/tweets. A great role for someone who is keen on social media and likes a fun project with great people for 3 months a year. Can totally recommend! Other volunteering opportunities include:
Daily Updates - Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
Each day we are posting information about our activities on Facebook and Twitter. To get the true experience of being a part of Abundance Wimbledon, please follow us:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbundanceWim/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abundancewim
Website: http://www.abundancewimbledon.com/
Sue's Apple and Blackberry Jam Recipe
Ingredients:
Plant Stall - do you have any spare plants?
Our plant stall is very popular each year and relies on donated plants to sell. Sarah has been collecting spider plant babies, but we would love a selection of local plants which can be sold at reasonable prices, with proceeds forming part of our donations to local charities each year.
If you have any plants that you would like to donate - anything from potted plants and flowers to herbs and bushes, please email Juliet at a[email protected] with your details.
Our next newsletter
Just one more newsletter between now until the end of the season - with a post Fruit Day wrap up about a week after.
Feel free to send any news to our editor - Sally at [email protected].
** To get in touch about any of the above information, please just reply to this email **
Best wishes and sincere thanks from us all
Juliet and the team at Abundance Wimbledon
Its been a very busy couple of weeks with fruit finally ripening and allowing us to pick a great selection of apples, plums, pears, berries and rhubarb.
Our jam maker's stoves have been running hot and heaving with all the fruit that has been donated.
A number of local charities have benefited from our drop offs there this fortnight.
And we are sincerely hoping that this pace keeps up as we are well on our way to our ambitious target 1,500kgs of fruit! The weather has certainly been against us this season.
Another bumper issue this time (with some great photos sent in by oiur picking teams) so please read on for more of our latest news:
- Save the date!
- How do you know when the Elderberries are ripe?
- Do you pick fruit in my area?
- Anyone free to pick blackberries?
- Making the most of a (social) pick!
- Cookers vs Eaters vs Windfall
- How close are you to your target 1,500kg?
- The types of fruit saved so far (and compared to 2020)
- Thanks to all our donors!
- Local charities have received more than 130kgs of fruit
- Vacant volunteering positions
- Daily Updates - Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
- Sue's Apple and Blackberry Jam Recipe
- Plant Stall - do you have any spare plants?
- Our next newsletter
SATURDAY 18 SEPTEMBER, 2021
11.00am - 2.30pm
St Mark's Church Hall & Grounds
St Mark's Pl, Wimbledon, London SW19 7ND
This year featuring:
- Opening by Merton Mayor Cr Michael Brunt
- Home made Jams, Chutneys, Cordials and Butters stall
- Home made Bakes and Cakes stall
- Freshly Squeezed Apple Juice (have a go at the manual press!)
- Local Honey stall by Alison and David (Cash only) Martin Way Allotments and Tooting Honey
- Plant stall
- Coffee Van
- Children's activities (Cash only)
- About Abundance Wimbledon
- Merton Friends of the Earth
- Sustainable Merton
- Merton U3A
- Performances by Songs on Wheels
- Performances by Ukulele Orchestra
Don't forget to pick up your Abundance Wimbledon Cotton Tote bag for just £2.00!
How do you know when the Elderberries are ripe?
The elderberries are slowly ripening and we have picked about 1kg of them in the last fortnight. Elderberries are very versatile - the flowers are perfect for making elderberry cordial and the actual berries are great for Sue's home made Hedgerow Jam. This jam is always a hit on Fruit Day with it flying out the door as soon as it hits the table!
But the question is when are they ripe? Well, once flowering, the green berries appear. They slowly turn to a very dark plum/purple colour and then black. The black ones are perfect for the jam.
There are some great elderberries out at the moment - as long as you get them before the birds! A lovely bush with bright reddish stalks on the berry branches. Don't forget to get the jam!
Do you pick fruit in my area?
We are just a small team of organisers here at Abundance Wimbledon so we use local area coordinators to organise the picks for us with their own teams of trusty volunteers. We can come and pick in the following local locations:
- Martin Way Allotments (Coordinator Alison)
- Morden and Mitcham (Coordinator Liz)
- Motspur Park (Coordinator Gilli)
- Raynes Park (Coordinator - vacant position - please contact us if you would like to do this role at [email protected])
- Wimbledon (Coordinator - Juliet)
- Wimbledon Park (Coordinator Jane)
Anyone free to pick blackberries?
Replies from a recent Facebook post tell us that the blackberries are finally ripening and they are plentiful in the local commons - Wimbledon, Mitcham and beyond.
If you have any time to pick some for our jam makers, we would be most grateful. Please email Juliet at [email protected] if you have some spare and we will arrange to get them to the jam makers (or we can tell you where to drop them off).
Any donations are gratefully accepted - the apple and blackberry jam we sell each year at our Annual Fruit Day is a crowd favourite!
Making the most of a (social) pick!
Liz tells us that she always has a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit during a pick (can take anywhere from 30 mins to a couple of hours) but recently she stepped that up a bit with her home made blackberry and redcurrant muffins. They were very popular with the picking team and were soon gone!
Cookers vs Eaters vs Windfall
When we pick the fruit each year, we separate the "cookers" from the "eaters"/ The cookers - as the name suggests are those apples/fruit which may be mishappen or have some marks or may even be "windfalls" (those collected from the ground around the trees). Just because the fruit is marked or "imperfect" does not mean they are wasted! Local charities will happily accept cookers for making apple pies, cakes, strudels and the like and of course the eaters are always welcome - particularly for groups like Dons Local Action Group and the local Foodbank. Cookers are also often cut up and used for making our famous Apple Juice on Fruit Day each year.
So we don't mind whether we get cookers, eaters or windfall fruit - we make sure as little of the fruit we pick is wasted and do as much as we can with whatever is picked!
How close are you to your target 1,500kg?
Picking activities have increased significantly in the last fortnight and we are now at almost 850+kgs of saved Fruit. More than half way to our target with 3 weeks to go!
The great news is that our recent Facebook post garnered some more fruit from locals and the picking teams have been going out most days to collect fruit. This year we have completed more than 50 picks - half way to the total of 100 picks completed last year.
This fortnight we send our sincere thanks to the following pickers: Motoko, Liz, Adam, Hugo, Karoline, Juliet, Ruth, Alyson, Rosie, Joan, Caroline, Gabriel, Brian, Gilli, Ron, June, Lisa, Byrony, Jane, Carole, Pam and Lucy. Apologies if I have missed anyone!
The types of fruit saved so far (and compared to 2020)
You have to love some statistics to inspire! At 24/8/2020 we had picked 845 kgs of fruit so far in the season, with 562kgs of fruit picked in the fortnight ending 24/8/2020.
So far this year (as mentioned above) as at 27/8/2021, we have picked 850+ kgs of fruit - so you never know - we might just beat our 1,500 kg target (depending on how the fruit ripens)!
In 2020 there was an abundance of pears, but so far this year, we have picked just 70kgs of pears - with many pears still ripening and not ready to pick. However, our plum count is much larger this year with 217kgs of plums picked so far, along with 560kgs of apples. The rest of our picks are made up of a sundry lot of rhubarb and berries.
And to prove that no pick is too small - our smallest pick so far has been 0.5kgs of mixed small plums picked by Jane & Pam. The largest pick has been 64.5kgs - picked from Ron & Jean's garden with our biggest picking team of Gilli, Brian, Ron, June, Kate, Lisa and Gabriel.
We are always on the lookout for more fruit, so please don't hesitate to contact Juliet if your fruit is ripening and you have too much! ([email protected])
Thanks to all our donors!
We could not do everything that we do in rescuing fruit without the generosity of our Fruit Donors! In the last fortnight we have enjoyed fruit from Martin Way Allotments, Paula, Tim, Paul, Jean, Jo, Cathy, Liz, Rana, Ron, June, Helen, Priya, Rachel, Mandy, Rosemary and Sally. Sincere thanks to you all for your kindness.
We have also been out picking fruit from local street trees, as well as from Haines Park, a Church Orchard, Colliers Wood Recreation Ground and Durnsford Park Recreation Ground. We are always on the look out for other community locations so please let us know if you see trees with an abundance of fruit which you think will be available for our pickers.
Local charities have received more than 130kgs of fruit
An important part of what we do at Abundance Wimbledon is to donate good fruit to local charities. So far this year, we have donated more than 130kgs of fruit to local charities, including:
- Wimbledon Guild
- Sunshine Recovery Cafe
- St Teresa's Care Home
- YMCA
- Regenerate Rise
- Wimbledon Foodbank
- Homeless Project, Mitcham
- Faith in Action
- Age UK Lunch Club
- Lee House
Vacant volunteering positions
There are some great opportunities to get involved in this friendly community group which is active during the picking season, but quiet throughout the rest of the year. Perfect for those who like to volunteer for "projects" rather than a strong monthly commitment. We have added a new position this fortnight - that of social media coordinator for the 2022 season and beyond. This involves the fortnightly newsletter (including compiling the statistics), plus the facebook and twitter posts/tweets. A great role for someone who is keen on social media and likes a fun project with great people for 3 months a year. Can totally recommend! Other volunteering opportunities include:
- Fruit donors
- Charities requiring fruit
- Fruit pickers (and distributors)
- Jam. chutney and cordial makers
- Raynes Park North Coordinator
- Volunteers for Fruit Day (September 18, 2021)
- Social Media coordinator - 2022 season and beyond
Daily Updates - Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
Each day we are posting information about our activities on Facebook and Twitter. To get the true experience of being a part of Abundance Wimbledon, please follow us:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbundanceWim/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abundancewim
Website: http://www.abundancewimbledon.com/
Sue's Apple and Blackberry Jam Recipe
Ingredients:
- 500g blackberries
- 500g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1kg jam sugar
- Put fruit and lemon juice with 100ml of water into preserving pan. Simmer gently for 10-15 minutes until tender and reduced.
- Put a couple of saucers in fridge to chill
- Add the sugar to the pan and cook, stirring to dissolve. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 5 minutes
- Put a teaspoonful onto the chilled saucer and test for wrinkle. If not ready put back onto the boil and test again in a few minutes. When wrinkle test is positive remove pan from heat. Ladle into sterilised jars seal. Label when cool
Plant Stall - do you have any spare plants?
Our plant stall is very popular each year and relies on donated plants to sell. Sarah has been collecting spider plant babies, but we would love a selection of local plants which can be sold at reasonable prices, with proceeds forming part of our donations to local charities each year.
If you have any plants that you would like to donate - anything from potted plants and flowers to herbs and bushes, please email Juliet at a[email protected] with your details.
Our next newsletter
Just one more newsletter between now until the end of the season - with a post Fruit Day wrap up about a week after.
Feel free to send any news to our editor - Sally at [email protected].
** To get in touch about any of the above information, please just reply to this email **
Best wishes and sincere thanks from us all
Juliet and the team at Abundance Wimbledon
